The story of Hungary 17

The story of Hungary 17

This remarkable document, which terminated the internal strife

extending over a period of a hundred years, and to which for six

centuries the past generations of Hungary were in the habit of proudly

referring as the foundation of the constitution of the Hungarian

nobility, reads, omitting passages of minor importance, as follows:

 

“In the name of the Holy Trinity and of the indivisible Unity,

Andrew, by the grace of God, hereditary king of Hungary, Dalmatia,

Croatia, Rama, Servia, and Galicia: Whereas the nobles and others in

our realm have suffered detriment in many parts of their liberties,

as established by King St. Stephen, through the power of some

kings—who, either from anger revenged themselves, or listened to the

counsels of wicked advisers, or sought their own advantage,—and our

nobles have frequently appealed to our Majesty’s and our ancestors’

ears with petitions and complaints concerning the amelioration of

our land—we, therefore, as in duty bound, desirous of satisfying

their request, grant to them as well as to the other inhabitants of

our realm the liberty granted by the sacred king, and we further

ordain other matters pertaining to the improvement of the land in

this wise: We ordain that we are bound annually to celebrate the

day of the sacred king at Stuhlweissenburg and that, if we should

be prevented from being present, the palatine shall be there in our

place and shall hear the causes as our representative, and all the

nobles may freely assemble there according to their pleasure. It is

also our will, that neither we nor our successors shall detain or

oppress the nobles on account of any powerful person, unless they

be first summoned and sentenced by due process of law. Further we

shall not cause taxes to be collected on the estates of the nobles

or of the clergy of the Church. If a noble shall die without male

issue his daughter shall be entitled to one fourth of his property;

as to the rest he may dispose of it as he pleases, and if death

should intervene before his doing so it shall descend to his nearer

relatives, and if he is absolutely without kin then the inheritance

shall go to the king. If the king is desirous of taking troops out

of the country the nobles shall not be bound to go with him unless

at his expense; if, however, an army should invade the country all

the nobles are bound to go. The palatine shall be judge over all

the people of our realm without distinction; but in capital cases

and matters of property which concern the nobles the palatine shall

not decide without the king’s knowledge. If foreigners come to the

country they shall not be elevated to dignities without the consent

of the council of the realm; land shall not be given to those who

are strangers to the realm. The king shall not grant entire counties

or offices of any kind in perpetuity. Officers of the treasury, salt

bureaux, and customs must be nobles of our realm; Ishmaelites and

Jews shall be incapable of holding such offices. Excepting these four

great lords, the palatine, the banus, the court judges of the king

and queen, no one shall have two dignities at the same time. Should,

however, we, or any of our successors, at any time be disposed to

infringe upon any of these our orders, the bishops as well as the

other lords and the nobles of the realm, shall be at liberty, jointly

or singly, by virtue of this letter, to oppose and contradict us and

our successors, forever, without incurring the penalty of treason.

Given by the hand of Kletus, the chancellor of our court, in the year

of grace one thousand two hundred and twenty-two.”

 

King Andrew, who had to be compelled by force to issue the Golden Bull,

could, however, not be coerced by any power to observe the promises

he had made therein. The exertions of the heir presumptive and the

nobility as well as the wrath of the pope were of no avail. Nine years

later he confirmed its contents by a fresh oath, but hardly two years

elapsed when he incurred the curse of Rome for again disregarding his

oath. Struggles, extending over many centuries, were necessary to

realize the words of the Golden Bull. Time had then already effaced the

memory of Andrew’s follies and frailties, and posterity saw him only in

the reflected light of the great concessions made by his royal missive.

The estates of the diet which met at Rákos in 1505 spoke of him in

terms of extravagant praise as the king “who had made the Hungarians

great and glorious, and had raised their fame to the very stars.”

 

The struggles which resulted in the issuing of the Golden Bull were by

no means over. The nobility had obtained from royalty the concession

of their rights, but were lacking the power to maintain them, and to

secure their permanency. The very charter of their liberties furnished

matter for fresh disputes and dissensions. In these contests, however,

the nobility now seldom attacked royalty, the weakening of which

would have proved injurious to their own interests, but they usually

allied themselves with the kings against the oligarchs, who treated

with contempt both law and right, having no need of the protection of

either, and who indulged in tyrannical violence against the throne

as well as the nation. The licentiousness and increasing power of the

oligarchs were the sore spot in the body politic during the period of

the last Árpáds, and in a greater and lesser degree, now apparently

healed, now more envenomed than ever, it continued to be for centuries

a disturbing element in the public life of the country.

 

The struggle between royalty, supported by the nation, and the unruly

great lords had just commenced, when the storm of the Mongol invasion

broke loose upon the country, shaking it to its very foundations. When

the storm subsided only the weak ones were found to have suffered, the

strong ones came out of the nation’s calamity more powerful than ever.

The national misfortunes only served to advance the interests of the

oligarchs, who, about this time, began more frequently to surround

the crests of the mountains with stone walls, and, dwelling in their

rocky nests, defied royalty with increasing boldness, and oppressed the

people with greater impunity than ever. The chroniclers in recalling

this period mourn with bitter wailing the gloom which had settled upon

the country, the incapacity of the kings, the pride and violence of the

lords, and the miserable condition of the people. That the power of

the nation was not entirely gone, however, was shown by the cheering

fact, casting a ray of light into the gloom of those days, that at the

very time when the authority of royalty had sunk to the lowest ebb,

the Hungarian arms were able to cope with the powerful Slavic empire

ruled by Ottokar, king of Bohemia, and to assist in establishing the

power of the Hapsburgs. Unfortunately the national strength was for the

most part divided against itself, and the very triumph of the Hungarian

arms against Ottokar proved injurious to the nation at large, for it

redounded only to the glory of the oligarchy, and tended to confirm

their power.

 

After the death of Andrew II., his son, Béla IV. (1235-1270), devoted

himself with youthful energy to the task of restoring the ascendancy of

the royal power and authority, of insuring respect to the laws, and of

humbling the pride of the oligarchy. He removed the evil counsellors

of his father, sent the principal ringleaders to prison, surrounded

himself with good patriots, and where gentle words proved inefficacious

he resorted to arms in order to obtain possession of the royal domains

and county lands which single oligarchs had contrived to acquire by

grant during his father’s life or from his ancestors, or which had been

lawlessly appropriated by them. The efforts made by the youthful king

were, however, of no avail. The very successes which attended here and

there his policy served only to excite to a higher pitch the anger and

resentment of the great lords, and deepened the estrangement between

them and the throne. The disaffected oligarchs, whose selfishness

was not tempered by patriotism, and whose passions did not know the

bridle of the law, were so base as to elevate a foreign prince, Duke

Frederic of Austria, to the throne, in opposition to their lawful

king. The watchfulness of Béla alone prevented the royal inheritance

from passing, at that time already, from the Árpáds into foreign

hands. Béla succeeded in driving back Frederic, and in defeating the

treasonable schemes of the oligarchy, but he became, at the same time,

convinced that until he was able to present to the opposing lords a

more formidable front he would have to renounce the realization of the

fond hopes of his youth.

 

Béla looked about him for fresh resources to strengthen his authority

and to add to his power. Pious Dominican monks, just then returning to

the country from the regions of the Volga, told the tale that in the

far east, along the banks of that river, they met with that fraction

of the Hungarians who, during the period preceding the occupation of

Hungary, had parted from their brethren near the Black Sea, where the

latter continued their march westward. These accounts suggested to

Béla the scheme of inviting the distant Eastern brothers to settle

in his realm, hoping to augment the royal power by the aid of the

new settlers, and to be thus enabled to resume successfully his

contest with the proud lords. This scheme, however, failed, but the

same circumstances which frustrated his plans as to his countrymen

near the Volga, assisted him in obtaining aid from another quarter.

The Mongol hordes, which came rushing from Central Asia toward the

western world, swept in their impetuous onward march the Hungarians

near the Volga out of existence; but the same wild current drove

also the Kuns (Cumans) out of their habitations near the Black Sea,

and the latter, after having roamed about homeless for a time, and

then reached the frontiers of Hungary, begged of King Béla to allow

them to come into the country and to settle there. Forty thousand

families were in search of a new country, and forty thousand fierce

warriors offered their services to King Béla. The people of Hungary

were averse to receiving immigration on so large a scale, and the

great lords loudly protested against the reception of the new comers,

being convinced that the latter would only enhance the king’s power,

and become instrumental in humbling their order. The king, however,

considering the good of the country only, braved the opposition, and

admitting Kuthen, king of the Kuns, with his people, into the land,

assigned to them as their future abode the plain of the Theiss. Nor

did he forget to make their conversion to Christianity a condition of

their admission. The good effects Béla had anticipated from his new

colony were slow in showing themselves, but the evil consequences of

the recent settlement became manifest at once. The great numbers of

this rude and barbarous element, who were as little disposed to live