In the Late Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary, a country in Central Europe, experienced a period of interregnum in the early 14th century. Royal power was restored under Charles I (1308–1342), a scion of the Capetian House of Anjou. Gold and silver mines opened in his reign produced about one third of the world's total production up until the 1490s. The kingdom reached the peak of its power under Louis the Great (1342–1382) who led military campaigns against Lithuania, southern Italy and other faraway territories.

The expansion of the Ottoman Empire reached the kingdom under Sigismund of Luxembourg (1387–1437). In the next decades, a talented military commander, John Hunyadi, directed the fight against the Ottomans. His victory at Nándorfehérvár (present-day Belgrade, Serbia) in 1456 stabilized the southern frontiers for more than half a century. The first king of Hungary without dynastic ancestry was Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490), who led several successful military campaigns and also became the King of Bohemia and the Duke of Austria. With his patronage Hungary became the first country which adopted the Renaissance from Italy.

Background

The Kingdom of Hungary came into being when Stephen I, grand prince of the Hungarians, was crowned king in 1000 or 1001. He reinforced central authority and forced his subjects to accept Christianity. Although written sources emphasize the role played by German and Italian knights and clerics in the process, a significant part of the Hungarian vocabulary for agriculture, religion was taken from Southern Slavic languages. Civil wars, pagan uprisings and the Holy Roman Emperors' unsuccessful attempts to expand their authority over Hungary jeopardized the new monarchy. Its position stabilized under Ladislaus I (1077–1095) and Coloman (1095–1116). Following the succession crisis in Croatia as a result of their campaign the Kingdom of Croatia entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102. Both of them were regarded as a successor by hereditary rightsMárta Font - Ugarsko Kraljevstvo i Hrvatska u srednjem vijeku (Hungarian Kingdom and Croatia in the Middle Ages) , p. 8-9 Coloman was crowned in Biograd in 1102 and the title now claimed by Coloman was "King of Hungary, Dalmatia, and Croatia".

Rich in uncultivated lands and in silver, gold, and salt deposits, the kingdom became a preferred target of the continuous immigration of mainly German, Italian and French colonists. The colonists were mostly peasants who settled in villages, but also large number of townsfolk arrived as craftsmen and merchants. Their arrival contributed to the development of Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and many other cities and large number of villages in various parts of the Kingdom. Situated at the crossroads of international trade routes, Hungary was affected by several cultural trends. Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance buildings, and literary works written in Latin prove the predominantly Roman Catholic character of the culture of the Kingdom, but Orthodox, and even non-Christian ethnic minority communities also existed. Latin was the language of legislation, administration and judiciary, but "linguistic pluralism" (János M. Bak)Bak 1993, p. 269. contributed to the survival of a number of tongues, including a great variety of Slavic dialects.

The predominance of royal estates initially ensured the sovereign's preeminent position, but the alienation of royal lands gave rise to the emergence of a self-conscious group of lesser landholders. They forced Andrew II to issue his Golden Bull of 1222, "one of first examples of constitutional limits being placed on the powers of a European monarch" (Francis Fukuyama). The kingdom received a major blow from the Mongol invasion of 1241–1242. Thereafter, Cuman and Jassic groups were settled in the central lowlands and colonists arrived from Moravia, Poland and other nearby countries.

History

Interregnum (1301–1323)

Andrew III died on January 14, 1301.Kontler 1999, p. 84. His death created an opportunity for about a dozen lords, or "oligarchs", who had by that time achieved de facto independence of the monarch to strengthen their autonomy.Engel 2001, p. 111., 124. They acquired all royal castles in a number of counties where everybody was obliged either to accept their supremacy or to leave.Makkai 1994, p. 34. For instance, Matthew III Csák ruled over fourteen counties in the lands now forming Slovakia,Kirschbaum 2005, pp. 44-45. Ladislaus Kán administered Transylvania, and Ugrin Csák controlled large territories between the rivers Száva and Dráva.Engel 2001, p. 126. In Croatia the situation for the crown became even more dire, as viceroy Paul Šubić and the Babonić family achieved de facto independence, with Paul Šubić even minting his own coin and being called by contemporary Croatian historians as the "uncrowned king of the Croats".

At the news of Andrew III's death, viceroy Šubić invited Charles I of Anjou, the late Charles Martel's son, to claim the throne, who hurried to Esztergom where he was crowned king.Engel 2001, p. 128. However, most secular lords opposed his rule and proposed the throne to King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia's namesake son.Kontler 1999, p. 87. The young Wenceslaus could not strengthen his positionEngel 2001, p. 129. and renounced in favor of Otto III, Duke of Bavaria in 1305. The latter was forced to leave the kingdom in 1307 by Ladislaus Kán.Engel 2001, p. 130. A papal legate persuaded all the lords to accept Charles of Anjou's rule in 1310, but most territories remained out of royal control.Makkai 1994, p. 37.

Assisted by the prelates and a growing number of lesser nobles, Charles I launched a series of expeditions against the great lords.Engel 2001, p. 132. Taking advantage of the lack of unity among them, he defeated them one by one.Kontler 1999, p. 88. He won his first victory in the battle of Rozgony (present-day Rozhanovce, Slovakia) in 1312.Engel 2001, p. 131.Makkai 1994, pp. 37-38. However, the most powerful lord, Matthew Csák preserved his autonomy up until his death in 1321, while the Babonić and Šubić families were only subjugated in 1323.Engel 2001, p. 133.

The Angevins' monarchy (1323–1382)

Charles I introduced a centralized power structure in the 1320s.Engel 2001, p. 140. Stating that "his words has the force of law", he never again convoked the Diet. Even his most faithful partisans depended on revenues from their temporary honours,Molnár 2001, p. 46. because the king rarely made land grants.Kontler 1999, p. 89. This practice ensured the loyalty of the Drugeths, Lackfis, Szécsényis, and other families who emerged in his reign.

The king even afforded to grant privileges which contradicted customary law.Engel 2001, p. 141. For instance, he occasionally authorized daughters of noblemen to inherit their fathers' estates, although local customs required that a deceased nobleman's inherited lands were to be transferred to his agnates in lack of a son.Rady 2000, pp. 107-109. Nevertheless, Roman law never replaced customary which gave rise to the appearance of lay officials who possessed "a good command of Latin and a fair knowledge of common law" (Pál Engel).Engel 2001, pp. 192-193.

Charles I reformed the system of royal revenues and monopolies.Kontler 1999, p. 90. For instance, he imposed the "thirtieth" (a tax on goods transferred through the kingdom's frontiers), and authorized landholders to retain one third of the income from mines opened in their estates.Engel 2001, pp. 155-156. The new mines produced around of gold and of silver annually, which made up more than 30 percent of the world's production up until the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the 1490s. However, most profits from the mines were transferred to Italian and South German merchants, because the value of imported fine textiles and other goods always exceeded the price of cattle and wine exported from the kingdom.Bak 1994, p. 58.

Charles I also ordered the minting of stable golden coins modelled on the florin of Florence.Sedlar 1994, p. 346. His ban on trading with uncoined gold produced shortage in the European market which lasted until his death in 1342.Sedlar 1994, p. 348. Following this, in 1343, the Romanian-led Voivodeship of Maramureș was established, which would exist until 1402. Thereafter his widow, Elisabeth of Poland transported enormous quantities of gold to Italy in order to promote the claim of their younger son, Andrew to the Kingdom of Naples. Andrew who was Queen Joanna I of Naples's consort was assassinated in 1345.Engel 2001, p. 159. His brother, Louis I of Hungary accused the queen of his murder and led two campaigns against her in 1347 and 1350.Engel 2001, pp. 159-160. Although he twice conquered her kingdom,Molnár 2001, p. 50. she regained it on both occasions.Molnár 2001, p. 51.

The first campaign against Naples was abandoned because of the arrival of the "Black Death".Kontler 1999, p. 93. In Hungary, fewer locals fell victim to the epidemic than in Western Europe, because the kingdom was still an underpopulated territory with well nourished inhabitants.Engel 2001, p. 161. Indeed, colonization also continued in the 14th century.Engel 2001, p. 269. The new settlers mainly came from Moravia, Poland and other neighboring countries.Engel 2001, p. 270. They were customarily exempted of taxation for 16 years, which is reflected by the lehota ("lightening") placenames in present-day Slovakia.Engel 2001, pp. 269-270.

Earlier distinctions between freemen, serfs and udvornici disappeared in the 14th century, because all peasants had acquired the right to free movement by the 1350s.Kontler 1999, p. 97. Most of them cultivated well defined parcels with a hereditary right to use it for a rent in cash and in-kind "gifts" due to the landowner.Kontler 1999, p. 98. The legal position of "true noblemen" was also standardized when the idea of "one and the same liberty" was enacted in 1351.Engel 2001, p. 175. For instance, all noblemen received the right to "adjudicate all offences committed" by the peasants living in their estates (Martyn Rady).Rady 2000, pp. 57-58.

Most towns were still dominated by German merchants,Engel 2001, p. 261. but more and more Croat, Hungarian and Slovak peasants arrived from the nearby villages to settle in the towns in the 14th century.Bak 1993, p. 277. Louis I's Privilegium pro Slavis ("Privilege for the Slavs") from 1381 was the first indication of official bilingualism in a town.Kirschbaum 2005, p. 46. It ensured that the Slovaks in Zsolna (present-day Žilina, Slovakia) would enjoy the same privileges as the town's German burghers.

Louis I who was heir presumptive to Casimir III of Poland assisted the Poles several times against Lithuania and the Golden Horde.Engel 2001, p. 167. The foundation of Moldavia, a Romanian principality east of the Carpathians is also connected to these campaigns.Georgescu 1991, p. 18. Along the southern frontiers, Louis I compelled the Venetians to withdraw from Dalmatia in 1358Goldstein 1999, p. 27. and forced a number of local rulers (including Tvrtko I of Bosnia, and Lazar of Serbia) to accept his suzerainty.Engel 2001, pp. 162-165. However, his vassals often rebelled against him in the 1360s.Engel 2001, p. 165. Bogdan, a Romanian voivode even achieved the independence of Moldavia. Louis I's suzerainty over Moldavia was only restored when he was elected king of Poland in 1370.

His control over Wallachia, the other Romanian principality always remained doubtful.Engel 2001, pp. 165-166. Vladislav I of Wallachia even allied with the emerging Ottoman Empire in 1375. Therefore, Louis I was the first Hungarian monarch who had to fight against the Ottomans.