The story of Hungary 19

The story of Hungary 19

Ladislaus IV. (1272-1290) not only did not possess the qualities which

might have enabled him to oppose the corruption of his age, but, by his

levity, undermined even the last remnant of the royal authority which

had become more and more feeble in the course of the last century.

The king, unmindful of his crown, and indifferent to the interests of

the nation, deserted his ancestral court, and, pitching his residence

amongst the tents of the Kuns, passed there his life in the society of

his boon companions in riotous living and revels, destructive alike

of his dignity as a man and king, and detrimental to the hopes of the

nation. The great of the land imitated the example set by their king.

They were led exclusively by their insatiate self-indulgence, and

neither the law of the land nor the commands of the Church, the voice

of faith or morality, could prevail upon them to respect themselves,

and to have regard for the rights of others. The weak became the

victims of the strong, and the most powerful were making preparations

to divide amongst themselves the masterless and defenceless country.

The Brebiris along the sea-shore, the Németujváris beyond the

Danube, the Csák family in the regions of the Vág, and the Apors in

Transylvania, were in reality the little kings of the country. They

broke off a piece from the domain of St. Stephen whenever it suited

them, and of the size they wanted. They let their troops loose upon

the people, and carried on wars in their own way with one another,

and with the neighbors. And if any thing escaped the greed of the

oligarchs, it fell into the hands of the Kuns, who, trusting in the

protection and favor of the king, plundered and devastated the land

like marauding armies. “Then descended,” says the chronicler, “Hungary

from the grandeur of her glory. Owing to the domestic wars the cities

became deserted and the villages reduced to ashes, peace and harmony

were trampled upon, the wealthy became impoverished, and the nobles,

in their misery, turned peasants. It was at this period that the

two-wheeled cart got the name of St. Ladislaus’ wagon, for owing to the

universal plundering of the draught-cattle, the number of the latter

had decreased to such an extent that people were compelled to draw

these carts themselves.”

 

The country before long, however, was free from the misrule of

Ladislaus, but his death did not extricate it from the misery into

which he had plunged it. A number of Kun youths, apparently from

motives of private vengeance, assassinated him in his tent. The death

of Ladislaus became a new source of trouble to the country, for there

was now but one male descendant of the house of Árpád to ascend the

throne, Duke Andrew, the grandson of Andrew II., the king who had given

the Golden Bull to the Hungarians. Stephen, the father of Duke Andrew,

had left Hungary early in life, and, settling in Venice, married there

Tomasina Morozzoni, a lady descended from a distinguished patrician

family.

 

Andrew III. (1290-1301), the last king of Hungary of the Árpád line,

was born in Venice, where he received his education and remained until

he attained the age of manhood. Hitherto he had lived entirely a

stranger to the events which had plunged the country with rapid strides

into the uttermost misery. There were many within the land, and among

the neighbors abroad, who did not look upon him as a genuine Hungarian

and who refused to acknowledge his right to the inheritance of the

Árpáds. During his brief reign he gave, nevertheless, ample proofs

of possessing abilities befitting an eminent ruler, and no blame can

attach to him for having been unable with his inadequate strength and

power to contend against the difficulties of that period. To put down

the little kings in the country, and to keep away from the borders

those foreign powers who, under the pretence of kinship and led by

unblushing avariciousness, announced their claims to the inheritance

at this early date, was a task to which Andrew III. was not equal. But

he struggled bravely and manfully against the difficulties that beset

his royal path. He opposed to the oligarchs the gentry, whose ancient

immunities he confirmed, and whom he attached to his person by granting

them new ones. Duke Albert of Austria, the son of Rudolph of Hapsburg,

who was the first to claim the throne, was driven from the country,

but the diplomacy of Andrew turned him subsequently from an enemy into

a friend and ally. He entered upon the contest with the Neapolitan

Anjous, who, being the descendants in the female line of the Árpáds,

were the most pressing and determined claimants to the throne. But

at the very outset of the struggle, when the shock of the collision

of hostile interests is generally most severe, and just as Andrew was

preparing to enter upon the campaign against Charles Robert of Naples,

death suddenly took him in 1301. The chronicles contain traces of a

suspicion that he died by poison administered by his Italian cook, who

had been hired for that foul purpose by the Neapolitan party, and that

thus, the doom of the house of Árpád was sealed by the wiles of an

assassin. The sun of the Árpáds set amidst dark and storm-portending

clouds, and the new dynasty of Anjou inherited the great task of

reconciling the oligarchs with the gentry, and both classes with the

crown, and thus of restoring the ancient power and splendor of the

Hungarian kingdom.

 

[Illustration]

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

 

THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY.

 

 

The male line of the house of Árpád became extinct by the death of

Andrew III. His only daughter, Elizabeth, retired to a convent, and

the nation was once more called upon to exercise its ancient right

of electing a king, and three candidates, a Czech, a German, and an

Italian, at once came into the field. Each of these claimants had a

party in the country, and not until the strength of the nation had been

wasted by internal strife and warfare during a period of eight years

did the Italian party succeed in placing on the throne Charles Robert,

who became the founder of the Hungarian Anjous. It will be our task now

to relate how the newly elected ruler, taking the reins of government

into his own hands, introduced into the country the glorious era of

chivalry. Under the reign of the Anjous we shall see the culture and

customs of Western Europe gradually taking root in Hungarian soil, the

name of Hungary becoming the object of respect and admiration abroad,

the boundaries of the kingdom extended by a powerful hand, the crown

of a brave and chivalrous neighbor, the Polish nation, placed upon the

brows of the Hungarian king, until, at last, as the Hungarian poet

Bajza sings, “the shores of three seas formed the frontier walls of the

kingdom.”

 

At first the Czech party was victorious. Wenceslaus, the aged king of

the Czechs, who, through the female line, was related to the house of

Árpád, not feeling equal to the task of governing Hungary himself,

offered to his party, in his place, his son and namesake, who was but

thirteen years old. On the 27th of August, 1301, at Stuhlweissenburg

the sacred crown of St. Stephen was placed on the head of young

Wenceslaus; but his reign was of short duration. The curse of the

Church of Rome was pronounced against his partisans, but the citizens

of Buda were little affected by this interdict, and caused the curse

to be hurled back on the anathematizers by their own prelates. Yet the

party of the boy-king grew so weak that his father deemed it advisable

to recall him home. Wenceslaus the elder entered Hungary, pillaged the

wealthier cathedrals, and expressed but one wish concerning his son—to

see him for once attired in the royal Hungarian robes. His adherents

complied with the wish of the old king, and, dressed in the royal

robes and bearing the crown on his head, young Wenceslaus proceeded

homeward, surrounded by his soldiers and under the protection of armed

body-guards.

 

The Italian party, intent upon avenging this affront, invaded the

territory of the Czechs, and by frightful massacres made the people

atone for the abduction of the king. The fierce Kuns, or Cumans,

throwing Czech children, strung together by means of holes bored

through the palms of their hands, across their saddlebows, wildly tore

through the land, devastating every thing. Very soon Albert, emperor of

Germany, with Otto the Bavarian, came to the rescue of Wenceslaus, who,

grateful for their assistance, delivered the crown to Otto.

 

[Illustration: CASTLE OF ÁRVA.]

 

The German party, in their turn, were now victorious, and obtained

possession of the crown of St. Stephen, the most sacred relic of the

nation. Otto marched into the country, but under the auspices of a bad

omen. The crown was, through some accident, lost on the road, although

his attendants discovered it afterwards, buried in the mire. Otto,

whose vanity prompted him to display, marched in a procession through

the capital, Buda, adorned with all the paraphernalia of royalty, and

from that day on, every king succeeding him has, after the coronation,

repeated this special pageant. Otto was as much the shadow of a king

as Wenceslaus had been before him. In order to consolidate his power

he asked in marriage the daughter of the most powerful Hungarian lord,

Ladislaus Apor, the _vayvode_ of Transylvania. Receiving a favorable

reply, he hastened, full of hope, to Transylvania, but on his arrival

was thrown into prison by the wily vayvode. After his liberation, which

took place soon afterward, he turned his back for ever upon Hungary,

and was satisfied with the empty title of King of Hungary. The crown,

however, remained in the possession of the vayvode.

 

The Italian party were now left masters of the field. The most

obstinate and uncontrollable oligarchs were by this time tired of the

disorders prevailing in the country, and all combined with a hearty

good-will to place Charles Robert, of Anjou, upon the throne of Árpád.

On the 27th of August, 1310, Charles Robert was crowned for the fourth

time, but in this instance with the sacred crown, which had been at

length obtained from Apor. Charles was now the lawful king (1309-1342),

and could, without interference, set about the task of restoring order

in the country, a work to which he proved fully equal.

 

The king had many difficulties in his way. The ruler _de facto_ and _de

jure_ could call but a small portion of the kingdom really his own.

The endless dividing up of the territory, which was characteristic of

Germany at the close of the last century, was to be found in miniature

also in Hungary. The disorders prevailing under the rule of the

last Árpád, and of the two kings succeeding him, had encouraged the

lawlessness of the marauding nobles. Every one appropriated as much

territory as he could, and exercised royal or princely authority in the

domains thus acquired by him. While so many had become the possessors

of large estates, the king was without any personal patrimony. These

little kings had to be reduced, one by one, to submission, and deprived

of the usurped lands. The most powerful of them was Matthias Csák of