Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Magyar tradition holds that the Country of the Magyars (Magyarország) was founded by Árpád, who led the Magyars into the Pannonian plain in approximately 896 AD, and - according to the legend - was a distant relative to Attila. The "Ten Arrows" mentioned above referred to ten tribes, the alliance of which was the foundation of the army of the invading Magyars.
The Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 by King Saint Stephen. Originally named Vajk, Stephen was a direct descendant of Árpád, and was baptised as a child. He married Giselle of Bavaria, the daughter of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria in 996, and after the death of his father Prince Géza in 997, he assumed the mantle of ruler and became the first Christian king of Hungary. St. Stephen I received his crown and the double cross from Pope Silvester II in 1000. As a Christian king, he established the Hungarian Church with ten dioceses and the royal administration of the country that was divided into counties (comitatus or vármegye). Hungary became a patrimonial kingdom where the majority of the land was the private property of the ruler. In 1083, he was canonised along with his son, Imre of Hungary. Initially, Hungarian history and politics developed in close association with that of Poland and Bohemia, driven by the interventions of various Popes and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Between 241-1242, under King Béla IV, Hungary was devastated, suffering great loss of life at the hands of the Mongol (Tatar) armies of Batu Khan who defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Muhi. Despite the victory, the Mongols did not occupy Hungary, but withdrew shortly after upon the news of the death of Ögedei Khan, leaving behind a country in ruins. Following the Mongol invasion, King Béla IV invited 40 to 60 thousand Cumans and a smaller group of Jazyges to settle in depopulated areas of the Great Hungarian Plain that would become Kunság and Jazygia. An area between Szolnok and Debrecen became Greater Cumania while an area between Kalocsa and Szeged became Little Cumania.
Gradually, under the rule of the dynasty of the Árpáds and even before it (since the ninth century), Hungary joined the greater West European civilizations. Ruled by the Angevins since 1308, the Kingdom of Hungary slowly lost control over territories later called Wallachia (1330) and Moldavia (1359).
János Hunyadi, the Regent of Hungary, fought offensive-defensive wars - with intermittent success - against the aggressive Ottoman Empire mostly outside Hungary. The custom of sounding the noon bell is closely related to an important battle won against the Ottomans that took place on June 29, 1456, at Nándorfehérvár.
János's son, King Matthias Corvinus, ruled the Kingdom of Hungary from 1458 to 1490. He newly strengthened Hungary and its government: under his rule, Hungary became an important artistic and cultural centre of Europe during the Renaissance. Matthias, whose wife was Italian, imported artisans from Italy and France. Likewise, Hungarian culture influenced others--for example, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However successful in many battles against the Ottomans he only postponed the final conflict with the strengthened Ottoman Empire
The forthcoming two centuries were dominated by constant warfare against the Ottoman Empire this time inside the Hungarian ethnic heartland.
The Ottomans gained a decisive victory over the Hungarian army at the battle of Mohács in 1526. Austria and its Christian allies regained the territories of the Kingdom from the Ottoman Empire. After the final retreat of the Ottomans, struggle began between the Hungarian nation and the Habsburg kings for the protection of noblemen' rights (thus guarding the autonomy of Hungary). The fight against Austrian absolutism resulted in an unsuccessful revolt for popular freedom between 1703 and 1711, led by a Transylvanian nobleman, Ferenc II Rákóczi. The revolution and war of 1848-1849 eliminated serfdom and secured civil rights. The Austrians were finally able to prevail, but only with Russian help. The defeat suffered in World War I led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Hungary developed closer ties with Western Europe as well as with other Central European countries. With Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic it formed the Visegrad Group in 1991, joined NATO in 1999, and became a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004. (to be continued) (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 17/7/2007; righe 55, parole 734)
