The story of Hungary 9

The story of Hungary 9

The third and decidedly the most dangerous rising took place in 1046,

when a certain Vatha, a zealous adherent of the former pagan religion,

and an offspring of Duke Gyula, availing himself of the disturbances

arising from the contest for the succession to the throne, incited the

people against the Christian religion and its institutions. They urged

Andrew, the pretender to the throne of the country, “to abolish the

Christian religion and its institutions; to re-establish the ancient

religion and the laws brought from Asia, and demanded that they should

be permitted to pull down the churches, and to drive out the priests

and the foreign immigrants.” Unaware of the number and strength of the

rebels the prince did not venture to refuse their request. This the

rebels took for a tacit compliance, and, emboldened by it, they fell,

with wild rage, upon the Christians. The Germans and Italians that

were found in the country, especially the bishops and priests, were

persecuted with most inhuman cruelty. The churches and other places

devoted to Christian piety were destroyed, the ancient pagan religion

was restored, and everywhere the people resumed the former mode of

life according to their ancient customs and heathen faith, offering up

sacrifices, as before, in woods and groves and near springs. During

these disorders St. Gerhard, the former tutor of St. Emeric, and at

that time bishop of Csanád, lost his life. He was on his way to Pesth,

to meet Andrew, when he fell into the hands of the enraged populace,

was killed by them on the mountain opposite Pesth, called Gellérthegy

(Mount Gerhard) to this day, and his body was thrown into the Danube.

Utterly dangerous as the symptoms of these risings were, we see,

however, how deeply even at that time Christianity had taken root in

Hungary. It very soon became apparent that the revolution was not only

of a religious but of a political and social character. King Andrew

issued rigorous laws, menacing every one who did not return to the

Christian religion and renounce the practice of heathenish customs,

with loss of life and property. The destroyed churches were to be

rebuilt, and the order of things introduced by Stephen be respected

again. These laws and the punishments inflicted upon some of the

stubborn adherents of paganism did not fail to produce their effect,

and, in a short time, the rebellion was crushed and order and quiet

gradually restored throughout the country.

 

And, strange to say, just as the Mohammedan Turks of our day ascribe

the decline and downfall of their power to the many innovations

introduced into their religious and social life, and discover the

main source of their ruin in the assimilation to the West, precisely

so spoke and argued the Hungarians of that day. They laid particular

stress upon the fact that the nation, whilst adhering to the religion

and customs of its ancestors, had been independent, strong, and mighty,

and had even made the whole of Europe tremble; but that now, since

it had adopted the religion and customs of the West, the nation was

weakened by internal dissensions, strangers had become her masters,

foreign armies had penetrated into the very heart of the country—nay,

Hungary had lost her independence and had become the vassal of a

foreign power. Such representations could not fail to produce their

effect. It was easy to convince the uncultivated Hungarians, who

were not yet confirmed in the Christian religion and but ill brooked

its severe discipline, that all those troubles and misfortunes which

had visited the country were the consequences of the introduction of

Christianity, and that to achieve a splendid future for the nation, in

harmony with its glorious past, this must be done upon the ruins of

Christianity and of the institutions introduced by Stephen.

 

This great change, however repugnant it may have seemed to the

Hungarians, was, nevertheless, unavoidable. As previously stated, the

foreign elements which flooded the country, owing to the very large

number of captives the Hungarians brought with them from every part

of Europe, had wrought that change in the manners and habits of life

in spite of all the reluctance of the former Asiatic nomads. These

captives greatly outnumbering their masters, were mostly used for

agricultural purposes, but their close contact with the ruling class

unavoidably produced a mitigation of the rude military habits of

the latter. The Hungarians eagerly listened to the Christian chants

and prayers of their subjects. They imitated them in their food and

dress, and, although nearly two centuries had to pass before the

former wanderers on the Central-Asian steppes could get accustomed to

permanent habitations, and, despite the aversion the proud warrior felt

to the plow, the ice, nevertheless, began to break. The Asiatic mode of

thinking had to be given up, and with the tenets of Christian tradition

habits of Christian life were gradually introduced.

 

This process of transformation was greatly quickened by the personal

intercourse and family connections of Duke Geyza and his chieftains

with the court and nobility of the neighboring countries. Besides the

involuntary immigration caused by the forays, we meet with a remarkable

influx of foreign noblemen who, on the invitation of Duke Geyza,

settled in the country, towards the end of the tenth century. The

brothers Hunt and Pázmán came from Suabia, Count Buzád from Meissen,

Count Hermann from Nuremberg; the Czech knights Radovan, Bogát, and

Lodán came with large retinues; many others immigrated from Italy and

Greece, so that the high nobility of Hungary, already at the beginning

of the conversion of the Magyars, had a large infusion of foreign

blood. It may be added that the entire clergy of that day was composed

of Czechs, Germans, and Italians. The ground was, therefore, duly

prepared, and it wanted only the iron hand of a resolute and wise ruler

to achieve the work of conversion, and to accomplish the great task of

transforming a formerly warlike and nomadic nation into a Christian and

peaceful community. This ruler was King Stephen I.

 

[Illustration]

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VI.

 

ST. STEPHEN, THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY.

 

997-1038.

 

 

King Stephen led the Hungarian nation from the darkness of paganism

into the light of Christianity, and from the disorders of barbarism

into the safer path of western civilization. He induced his people to

abandon the fierce independence of nomadic life, and assigned to them

a place in the disciplined ranks of European society and of organized

states. Under him, and through his exertions, the Hungarian people

became a western nation. Never was a change of such magnitude, and

we may add such a providential change, accomplished in so short a

time, with so little bloodshed, and with such signal success as this

remarkable transformation of the Hungarian people. The contemporaries

of this great and noble man, those who assisted him in guiding the

destinies of the Hungarian nation, gave him already full credit for the

wise and patriotic course pursued by him, and the Hungarian nation of

the present day still piously and gratefully cherishes his memory. To

the Hungarians of to-day, although eight and a half centuries removed

from St. Stephen, his form continues to be a living one, and they

still fondly refer to his exalted example, his acts, his opinions, and

admonitions, as worthy to inspire and admonish the young generations in

their country.

 

This need be no matter for surprise, for at no period of Hungary’s

history has her political continuity been interrupted in such a way as

to make her lose sight of the noble source from which its greatness

sprang. No doubt a complete change has taken place in the political

and social order, in the course of so many centuries, but the state

structure, however modified, still rests upon the deep and sure

foundations laid by the wisdom of her first king. One day in the year,

the 20th of August—called St. Stephen’s day—is still hallowed to his

memory. On that day his embalmed right hand is carried about with great

pomp and solemnity, in a brilliant procession, accompanied by religious

ceremonies, through ancient Buda, and shown to her populace. The

kingdom of Hungary is called the realm of St. Stephen to this day, the

Hungarian kings are still crowned with the crown of St. Stephen, and

the nation acknowledges only him to be its king whose temples have been

touched by the sacred crown. The Catholic Church in Hungary although

it no more occupies its former pre-eminent position in the state,

still retains enough of power, wealth, and splendor to bear ample

testimony to the lavish liberality of St. Stephen. Thus the historian

meets everywhere with traces of his benignant activity, and whilst the

fame and saintliness of the great king have surrounded his name with

a luminous halo in the annals of his nation, that very brilliancy

has prevented from coming down to posterity such mere terrestrial and

every-day details as would assist in drawing his portrait. The grand

outlines of his form detach themselves vividly and sharply from the

dark background of his age—but there is a lack of contemporary accounts

which would help to fill up these outlines, and the legends of the

succeeding generations, which make mention of him, can but ill supply

this want, for they regard in him the saint only, and not the man. His

deeds alone remain to guide us in the task of furnishing a truthful

picture of the founder of his country, and well may we apply to him the

words of scripture, that the tree shall be known by its fruit.

 

[Illustration: CORONATION OF ST. STEPHEN.]

 

Stephen was born in Gran (Esztergom), the first and most ancient

capital of Hungary, about 969, at a time when his father had not

yet succeeded to the exalted position of ruler over Hungary, and a

magnificent memorial chapel in the Roman style of the tenth century,

erected there, marks the event of his birth in that place. His mother

Sarolta, Geyza’s first wife, was the daughter of that Gyula, Duke of

Transylvania, who, whilst upon a mission to Constantinople, in 943,

had embraced the Christian faith and subsequently endeavored to spread

it at home. Thus a Christian mother watched prayerfully at the cradle

of young Stephen, and in early childhood, already, the tender mind of

the boy was guided by the pious Count of San Severino. Adalbert, the

Archbishop of Prague, who sought a martyr’s death and subsequently won

the martyr’s crown, introduced him to the community of professing

Christians. With his wife Gisella, a Bavarian princess, at his side,

he took his place among the Western rulers as their kinsman. While his

long reign proved him to be true to his country and his nation, yet the

paganism of the ancient Hungarians was quite foreign to his soul.