Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania, the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is equidistant from Bucharest and Belgrade. Located in the Someșul Mic River valley, the city is considered the unofficial capital to the historical province of Transylvania. From 1790 to 1848 and from 1861 to 1867, it was the official capital of the Grand Principality of Transylvania; as of 2011, 324,576 inhabitants lived within the city limits, marking a slight increase from the figure recorded at the 2002 census. The Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area has a population of 411,379 people, while the population of the peri-urban area exceeds 420,000 residents; the new metropolitan government of Cluj-Napoca became operational in December 2008. According to a 2007 estimate provided by the County Population Register Service, the city hosts a visible population of students and other non-residents—an average of over 20,000 people each year during 2004–2007.
The city spreads out from St. Michael's Church in Unirii Square, built in the 14th century and named after the Archangel Michael, the patron saint of Cluj-Napoca; the boundaries of the municipality contain an area of 179.52 square kilometres. Cluj-Napoca experienced a decade of decline during the 1990s, its international reputation suffering from the policies of its mayor at the time, Gheorghe Funar. Today, the city is one of the most important academic, cultural and business centres in Romania. Among other institutions, it hosts the country's largest university, Babeș-Bolyai University, with its botanical garden. Cluj-Napoca held the titles of European Youth Capital in 2015 and European City of Sport in 2018. On the site of the city was a pre-Roman settlement named Napoca. After the AD 106 Roman conquest of the area, the place was known as Municipium Aelium Hadrianum Napoca. Possible etymologies for Napoca or Napuca include the names of some Dacian tribes such as the Naparis or Napaei, the Greek term napos, meaning "timbered valley" or the Indo-European root *snā-p-, "to flow, to swim, damp".
The first written mention of the city's current name – as a Royal Borough – was in 1213 under the Medieval Latin name Castrum Clus. Despite the fact that Clus as a county name was recorded in the 1173 document Thomas comes Clusiensis, it is believed that the county's designation derives from the name of the castrum, which might have existed prior to its first mention in 1213, not vice versa. With respect to the name of this camp, it is accepted as a derivation from the Latin term clausa – clusa, meaning "closed place", "strait", "ravine". Similar senses are attributed to the Slavic term kluč, meaning "a key" and the German Klause – Kluse; the Latin and Slavic names have been attributed to the valley that narrows or closes between hills just to the west of Cluj-Mănăștur. An alternative hypothesis relates the name of the city to its first magistrate, Miklus – Miklós / Kolos; the Hungarian form Kolozsvár, first recorded in 1246 as Kulusuar, underwent various phonetic changes over the years. Its Saxon name Clusenburg/Clusenbvrg appeared in 1348.
The Romanian name of the city used to be spelled alternately as Cluj or Cluș, the latter being the case in Mihai Eminescu's Poesis. In 1974, the communist authorities added "-Napoca" to the city's name as a nationalist gesture, emphasising its pre-Roman roots; the full name is used outside of official contexts. In Yiddish it is known as קלאזין or קלויזענבורג; the nickname "treasure city" was acquired in the late 16th century, refers to the wealth amassed by residents, including in the precious metals trade. The phrase is kincses város in Hungarian, given in Romanian as orașul comoară; the Roman Empire conquered Dacia in AD 101 and 106, during the rule of Trajan, the Roman settlement Napoca, established thereafter, is first recorded on a milestone discovered in 1758 in the vicinity of the city. Trajan's successor Hadrian granted Napoca the status of municipium as municipium Aelium Hadrianum Napocenses. In the 2nd century AD, the city gained the status of a colonia as Colonia Aurelia Napoca. Napoca became thus the seat of a procurator.
The colonia was evacuated in 274 by the Romans. There are no references to urban settlement on the site for the better part of a millennium thereafter. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, two groups of buildings existed on the current site of the city: the wooden fortress at Cluj-Mănăștur and the civilian settlement developed around the current Piața Muzeului in the city centre. Although the precise date of the conquest of Transylvania by the Hungarians is not known, the earliest Hungarian artifacts found in the region are dated to the first half of the 10th century. In any case, after that time, the city became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. King Stephen I made the city the seat of the castle county of Kolozs, King Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary founded the abbey of Cluj-Mănăștur, destroyed during the Tatar invasions in 12
Ferenc Dávid
Ferenc Dávid was a Unitarian preacher from Transylvania, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, the leading figure of the Nontrinitarian movements during the Protestant Reformation. Studying Catholic theology in Wittenberg and in Frankfurt an der Oder and first as a Catholic priest a Lutheran and a Calvinist bishop in the Principality of Transylvania, he learnt the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant churches, but rejected several of them and came to embrace Unitarianism, he disputed the Christian view on the Holy Trinity. Born in Kolozsvár, Hungary to a Transylvanian Saxon father, David Hertel, who worked as a tanner and a Hungarian mother; the Hertel/Herthel family was an old Transylvanian Saxon aristoctratic family of Kolozsvár. In Latin and Hungarian he used his name as Francis Davidis or Dávid Ferenc after his father's forename David, he had at least three brothers Gregor and Nikolaus. Peter and Gregor inherited the job of their father in the guild.
Gáspár Heltai, the father of Peter's wife, Borbála, was a Protestant Reformer and Unitarian minister, outstanding author of the Hungarian late Renaissance era. He owned the paper mill and the press of Kolozsvár where several religious and scientific books were made in Hungarian and German. Ferenc Dávid was raised Catholic. After finishing his studies in the High School of Kolozsvár he went to the Holy Roman Empire to study Catholic theology first at the University of Wittenberg and later at the Alma Mater Viadrina where he became a Catholic parson. In 1542 the Lutheran reformator, Johannes Honterus introduced the Lutheran doctrines to the citizens of Kolozsvár. After arriving back in Transylvania Ferenc Dávid joined the Lutheran wing of the Reformation where he became a minister and a Lutheran bishop, he worked as headmaster of the Gymnasium of Beszterce as Lutheran pastor in Petres headmaster of the Gymnasium of Kolozsvár and from 1555 chief pastor of Kolozsvár. On 1 June 1557 the Diet of Torda stated that'everybody should live in a belief that he or she wants if it is done without the distrust of another' which meant for the population of the Principality of Transylvania that it became allowed to practise not just the Roman Catholic, but the Lutheran religion.
In 1559 he entered the Reformed Church where he was elected bishop of the Hungarian churches in Transylvania and he was the appointed court preacher to János Zsigmond Zápolya, Prince of Transylvania. The prince allowed him to research in the royal library and to work in the royal court on his theological theses. After the Battle of Mohács the political instability, the weakening of the Roman Catholic denomination prepared the way for the new ideas of the Reformation. A well known Italian antitrinitarian, Giorgio Biandrata moved to Transylvania in 1563 into the royal court of John II Sigismund Zápolya and became his own doctor. Biandrata co-operated with Ferenc Dávid on theological works. Dávid's discussion of the Holy Trinity began in 1565, with doubts of the personality of the Holy Spirit, because he could find no scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. One of his main points against the existence of the Holy Trinity was that what the Arians during the early ages of Christianity liked to refer to does not come up in the Bible.
He was influenced by the antitrinitarian and humanist views of Michael Servetus and Giovanni Valentino Gentile. Together with Giorgio Biandrata he published polemical writings against Trinitarian belief De falsa et vera unius Dei Patris, Filii et Spiritus Sancti cognitione, a summarized version of Servetus's Christianismi Restitutio, but in 1578 the collaboration broke up. An important difference between the views of the two theologians was that Ferenc Dávid became a nonadorant which meant that he renounced the necessity of invoking Christ in prayers. Working in the royal court, he convinced the prince about his point of view on religion, so that John II Sigismund Zápolya accepted his theses and became the first Unitarian ruler. In 1567 John II Sigismund Zápolya allowed him to use his press in Gyulafehérvár to propagate the religion; the aim of his life as Ferenc Dávid wrote was'the restoration of the pure Christianity of Jesus' which meant for him the search for the truth in the whole freedom of thought.
So he sought to persuade the prince, John II Sigismund Zápolya and several people in important positions to reach an agreement between the opposite sides of the religious debate. His attempts were successful. Between 6 and 13 January 1568 on the Diet of Torda the assembled representatives of the Hungarian nobility, the Szeklers, the Transylvanian Saxons and the royal court of the Principality of Transylvania proclaimed the Edict of Torda which included - as first in Europe - the practising and propagation of the recepta religios which were the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, the Calvinist and the Unitarian; this order can be seen as the first law for the'freedom of religion'. Thanks to that beside the three lawful nations of Transylvania the four lawful allowed religions could have an ecclesiastical and public law system in the Constitution of the Principality of Transylvania. From that moment on the constitution based on the equa
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the сonfluence of the Rika Rivers. Serving as the administrative center of Khust Raion, the city itself does not belong to the raion and is designated as a city of oblast significance, with the status equal to that of a raion. Population: 28,448 Khust was the capital of the short-lived republic of Carpatho-Ukraine; the name is most related to the name of the stream Hustets or Husztica, whose meaning is "kerchief". It is conceivable that the name of the city comes from a Romanian traditional food ingredient – husti. There are several alternative names used for this city:Ukrainian /Rusyn: Хуст, Romanian: Hust, Hungarian: Huszt and Slovak: Chust, Yiddish: חוסט, German: Chust. There is one fairy tale about the town's name: Once chort was walking around the town and mountain had appeared. A moment it fell down on his tail, he shouted “Hvust”. Another chort heard “Khust” … In that way, the name of the town was formed.
The settlement was first mentioned as terra Huzth, in 1324. Its castle, supposed to be built in 1090 by king St. Ladislaus of Hungary as a defence against the Cumans and destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Hungary, was mentioned in 1353; the town got privileges in 1329. In 1458 King Matthias imprisoned the rebellious Mihály Szilágyi in the castle. In 1514, during György Dózsa's peasant revolt local peasants captured the castle. In 1526 the area became a part of Transylvania; the army of Ferdinand I captured the town in 1546. In 1594 the Tartars could not take the castle; the castle was besieged in 1644 by the army of George I Rákóczi, in 1657 by the Polish, in 1661–62 by the Ottoman and Tartar hordes. Count Ferenc Rhédey, the ruling prince of Transylvania and high steward of Máramaros county died in the castle on May 13, 1667; the castle surrendered to the Kurucs on August 17, 1703, the independence of Transylvania was proclaimed here. It was the last castle the Habsburgs occupied when suppressing the freedom fight of the Kurucs, in 1711.
The damaged castle was struck by lightning and burnt down on July 3, 1766. Khust was renamed as Csebreny in 1882 during Magyarization process. In 1910 Khust had 5,230 Ruthenians, 3,505 Hungarians and 1,535 Germans; until the Treaty of Trianon it belonged to Hungary and was the seat of the Khust district of Máramaros county. After World War I, in summer 1919 the Rumanian troops took over the territory, but according to the St.-Germain treaty Czechoslovakia received the city, as part of newly formed Podkarpatsko region. Czechoslovakia had to provide the region a wide autonomy, but autonomy was realised only in 1938. In Autumn 1938 an autonomous government was organised; the day after the collapse of Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939, the Khust city government proclaimed, by the will of the local population, independence as Carpathian Ukraine on March 15, 1939. Next day, on March 1939, Hungarian troops invaded Khust and claimed it as part of Hungary. On October 24, 1944, Soviet troops occupied the city, annexed it into the Soviet Union.
The Soviet government deported much of the city's German and Hungarian populations. In 2001 it had 31,900 inhabitants, including: 28,500 Ukrainians 1,700 Hungarians 1,200 Russians 100 RomaUntil the 19th century the city's population included ethnic Romanians. Khust has an oceanic climate. Castle ruins Protestant fortress church 13th–14th century, Protestant since 1524, fortified in 1616, 1644, 1661 and 1670, restored in 1773 and 1888, its belfry is from the 15th century. Roman Catholic church Greek Orthodox church Jenő Benda, journalist was born here in 1882. Leslie Buck, American business executive and Holocaust survivor, designer of the Anthora coffee cup, was born in Khust in 1922. Myroslav Dochynets, Ukrainian writer was born here in 1959. Jaromír Hořec, Czech poet and journalist was born here in 1921. József Koller, historian of religion was born here in 1745. Antonín Moskalyk, Czech film director was born here in 1930. Ernő Szép writer was born here in 1894. Count József Teleki scientist was born here on December 21, 1738.
Veronica Vovchuk, Queen of the World, an international top model and actress with their own cosmetics line, "Queen Veronica" Rabbi Zeev ben Moshe Feuerlicht, studied in Romania, in yeshiva of Satu-Mare Rebbe, during the Liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany he joined as an active fighter the Gen. Ludvík Svoboda Army, served in Prague synagogue Alt-neu Shul as a Rabbi and shochet. Rabbi Feuerlicht should be credited for the survival of the Orthodox community in Czechoslovakia after WWII. Mikhailo Deyak, artist born in Zolotarevo In 1861, Rabbi Moshe Schick, known as the "Maharam Schick" established – what was at that time – the largest yeshiva in Eastern Europe, in Khust; this yeshiva had over 800 students. Grand Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, was the Town Chief Rabbi, was the Dean of one of the foremost Orthodox Jewish Seminaries, the Maharam Shiek Yeshiva. Grand Rabbi Moshe Greenwald, author of Arugas Habosem, a book of responsa, was the Rav from 1887–1910. Rabbi Yehoshua Greenwald, grandson of Rabbi Moshe G
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it came to include the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, numerous other territories. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the earlier ancient Western Roman Empire in 476; the title continued in the Carolingian family until 888 and from 896 to 899, after which it was contested by the rulers of Italy in a series of civil wars until the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar I, in 924. The title was revived again in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries.
Some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, describing a gradual assumption of the imperial title and role; the exact term "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, but the concept of translatio imperii, the notion that he—the sovereign ruler—held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome, was fundamental to the prestige of the emperor. The office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although controlled by dynasties; the German prince-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire elected one of their peers as "King of the Romans", he would be crowned emperor by the Pope. The empire never achieved the extent of political unification as was formed to the west in France, evolving instead into a decentralized, limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of sub-units: kingdoms, duchies, prince-bishoprics, Free Imperial Cities, other domains.
The power of the emperor was limited, while the various princes, lords and cities of the empire were vassals who owed the emperor their allegiance, they possessed an extent of privileges that gave them de facto independence within their territories. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806 following the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by emperor Napoleon I the month before. In various languages the Holy Roman Empire was known as: Latin: Sacrum Imperium Romanum, German: Heiliges Römisches Reich, Italian: Sacro Romano Impero, Czech: Svatá říše římská, Polish: Święte imperium rzymskie, Slovene: Sveto rimsko cesarstvo, Dutch: Heilige Roomse Rijk, French: Saint-Empire romain. Before 1157, the realm was referred to as the Roman Empire; the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was used beginning in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa: the term was added to reflect Frederick's ambition to dominate Italy and the Papacy. The form "Holy Roman Empire" is attested from 1254 onward.
In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, a form first used in a document in 1474. The new title was adopted because the Empire had lost most of its Italian and Burgundian territories to the south and west by the late 15th century, but to emphasize the new importance of the German Imperial Estates in ruling the Empire due to the Imperial Reform. By the end of the 18th century, the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" had fallen out of official use. Besides, contradicting the traditional view concerning that designation, Hermann Weisert has stated in a study on imperial titulature that, despite the claim of many textbooks, the name "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" never had an official status and points out that documents were thirty times as to omit the national suffix as include it. This, or the shortened "Roman Empire of the German Nation", is used in Germany to refer to the Holy Roman Empire. In a famous assessment of the name, the political philosopher Voltaire remarked sardonically: "This body, called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."
As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control. In the late 5th and early 6th centuries, the Merovingians, under Clovis I and his successors, consolidated Frankish tribes and extended hegemony over others to gain control of northern Gaul and the middle Rhine river valley region. By the middle of the 8th century, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel's son Pepin became King of the Franks, gained the sanction of the Pope; the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768, Pepin's son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an extensive expansion of the realm, he incorporated the territories of present-day France, northern Italy, beyond, linking the Frankish kingdom with Papal lands. In 797, the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VI was removed from the throne by his mother Irene who declared herself Empress; as the Church regarded a male Roman Emperor as the head of Christendom, Pope
Kraków
Kraków spelled Cracow or Krakow, is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second most important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was being reported as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 965. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre; the city has a population of about 770,000, with 8 million additional people living within a 100 km radius of its main square. After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, the newly defined Distrikt Krakau became the capital of Germany's General Government.
The Jewish population of the city was forced into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto, from which they were sent to German extermination camps such as the nearby Auschwitz never to return, the Nazi concentration camps like Płaszów. In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II—the first Slavic pope and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years; that year, UNESCO approved the first sites for its new World Heritage List, including the entire Old Town in inscribing Kraków's Historic Centre. Kraków is classified as a global city with the ranking of high sufficiency by GaWC, its extensive cultural heritage across the epochs of Gothic and Baroque architecture includes the Wawel Cathedral and the Royal Castle on the banks of the Vistula, the St. Mary's Basilica, Saints Peter and Paul Church and the largest medieval market square in Europe, the Rynek Główny. Kraków is home to Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in the world and traditionally Poland's most reputable institution of higher learning.
In 2000, Kraków was named European Capital of Culture. In 2013 Kraków was approved as a UNESCO City of Literature; the city hosted the World Youth Day in July 2016. The name of Kraków is traditionally derived from Krakus, the legendary founder of Kraków and a ruler of the tribe of Lechitians. In Polish, Kraków is an archaic possessive form of Krak and means "Krak's". Krakus's name may derive from "krakula", a Proto-Slavic word meaning a judge's staff, or a Proto-Slavic word "krak" meaning an oak, once a sacred tree most associated with the concept of genealogy; the first mention of Prince Krakus dates back to 1190, although the town existed as early as the 7th century, inhabited by the tribe of Vistulans. The city's full official name is Stołeczne Królewskie Miasto Kraków, which can be translated as "Royal Capital City of Kraków". In English, a person born or living in Kraków is a Cracovian. While in the 1990s the English version of the name was written Cracow, the most widespread modern English version is Krakow.
Kraków's early history begins with evidence of a Stone Age settlement on the present site of the Wawel Hill. A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski; the first written record of the city's name dates back to 965, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial centre controlled first by Moravia, but captured by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I in 955. The first acclaimed ruler of Poland, Mieszko I, took Kraków from the Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty towards the end of his reign. In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading centre of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle with St. Felix and Adaukt Rotunda, Romanesque churches such as St. Adalbert's, a cathedral, a basilica; the city was sacked and burned during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt identical, based on new location act and incorporated in 1257 by the high duke Bolesław V the Chaste who following the example of Wrocław, introduced city rights modelled on the Magdeburg law allowing for tax benefits and new trade privileges for the citizens.
In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. A third attack in 1287 was repelled thanks in part to the new built fortifications. In 1335, King Casimir III of Poland declared the two western suburbs to be a new city named after him, Kazimierz; the defensive walls were erected around the central section of Kazimierz in 1362, a plot was set aside for the Augustinian order next to Skałka. The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the University of Kraków, the second oldest university in central Europe after the Charles University in Prague. King Casimir began work on a campus for the Academy in Kazimierz, but he died in 1370 and the campus was never completed; the city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty. As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted many craftsmen and guilds as science and the arts began to flourish; the royal chancery and the University ensured a first flourishing of Polish literary culture in the city.
The 15th and 16th centuries were known as Poland's Złoty Golden Age. Many works of Pol
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen I at Esztergom around the year 1000. By the 12th century, the kingdom became a European middle power within the Western world. Due to the Ottoman occupation of the central and southern territories of Hungary in the 16th century, the country was partitioned into three parts: the Habsburg Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania; the House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács until 1918 and played a key role in the liberation wars against the Ottoman Empire. From 1867, territories connected to the Hungarian crown were incorporated into Austria-Hungary under the name of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen; the monarchy ended with the deposition of the last king Charles IV in 1918, after which Hungary became a republic.
The kingdom was nominally restored during the "Regency" of 1920–46, ending under the Soviet occupation in 1946. The Kingdom of Hungary was a multiethnic state from its inception until the Treaty of Trianon and it covered what is today Hungary, Slovakia and other parts of what is now Romania, Carpathian Ruthenia, Vojvodina and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders. From 1102 it included Croatia, being in personal union with it, united under the King of Hungary. Today, the feast day of the first king Stephen I is a national holiday in Hungary, commemorating the foundation of the state; the Latin forms Ungarie. The German name Königreich Ungarn was used from 1784 to 1790 and again between 1849 and the 1860s; the Hungarian name was used in the 1840s, again from the 1860s to 1946. The unofficial Hungarian name of the kingdom was Magyarország, still the colloquial, the official name of Hungary; the names in the other native languages of the kingdom were: Polish: Królestwo Węgier, Romanian: Regatul Ungariei, Serbian: Kraljevina Ugarska, Croatian: Kraljevina Ugarska, Slovene: Kraljevina Ogrska, Slovak: Uhorské kráľovstvo, Italian, Regno d'Ungheria.
In Austria-Hungary, the unofficial name Transleithania was sometimes used to denote the regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. The term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was included for the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, although this term was in use prior to that time; the Hungarians led by Árpád settled the Carpathian Basin in 895, established Principality of Hungary. The Hungarians led several successful incursions to Western Europe, until they were stopped by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in Battle of Lechfeld; the principality was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000. The first kings of the kingdom were from the Árpád dynasty, he fought with Bavarian help, defeated him near Veszprém. The Catholic Church received powerful support from Stephen I, who with Christian Hungarians and German knights wanted a Christian kingdom established in Central Europe. Stephen I of Hungary was canonized as a Catholic saint in 1083 and an Orthodox saint in 2000.
After his death, a period of revolts and conflict for supremacy ensued between the royalty and the nobles. In 1051 armies of the Holy Roman Empire tried to conquer Hungary, but they were defeated at Vértes Mountain; the armies of the Holy Roman Empire continued to suffer defeats. Before 1052 Peter Orseolo, a supporter of the Holy Roman Empire, was overthrown by king Samuel Aba of Hungary; this period of revolts ended during the reign of Béla I. Hungarian chroniclers praised Béla I for introducing new currency, such as the silver denarius, for his benevolence to the former followers of his nephew, Solomon; the second greatest Hungarian king from the Árpád dynasty, was Ladislaus I of Hungary, who stabilized and strengthened the kingdom. He was canonized as a saint. Under his rule Hungarians fought against the Cumans and acquired parts of Croatia in 1091. Due to a dynastic crisis in Croatia, with the help of the local nobility who supported his claim, he managed to swiftly seize power in northern parts of the Croatian kingdom, as he was a claimant to the throne due to the fact that his sister was married to the late Croatian king Zvonimir who died childless.
However, kingship over all of Croatia would not be achieved until the reign of his successor Coloman. With the coronation of King Coloman as "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" in Biograd in 1102, the two kingdoms of Croatia and Hungary were united under one crown. Although the precise terms of this relationship became a matter of dispute in the 19th century, it is believed that Coloman created a kind of personal union between the two kingdoms; the nature of the relationship varied through time, Croatia retained a large degree of internal autonomy overall, while the real power rested in the hands of the local nobility. Modern Croatian and Hungarian historiographies view the relations between Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Hungary from 1102 as a form of a personal union, i.e. that
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia is the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historical region of Transylvania, it has a population of 63,536. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and the latter Principality of Transylvania. At one point it was a center of Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan of Transylvania with suffragan to Vad diocese. Alba Iulia is important for Romanians and Transylvanian Saxons. In December 2018, Alba Iulia was declared Capital of the Great Union of Romania; the city administers four villages: Micești, Oarda and Pâclișa. During the Roman period the settlement was called Apulum; when the settlement – upon Roman ruins – became the seat of a dukedom in the 10th century, the population may have been Slavic. The early Slavic name of the settlement was Bălgrad; the old Romanian name of the town was Bălgrad, originated from Slavic.
The Hungarian name Gyulafehérvár is a translation of the earlier Slavic form, meaning "white castle of the Gyula" or "white city of Julius". Its prefix "Iulia" refers to Gyula, a mid-tenth-century Hungarian warlord, baptized in Constantinople. Among Ruthenians, the city was known as Bilhorod; the city's Latin name in the 10th century was Civitatem Albam in Ereel. The first part of the name "Alba" denotes the ruins of the Roman fort Apulum. In the Middle Ages, different names occurred as Frank episcopus Belleggradienesis in 1071, Albae Civitatis in 1134, Belegrada in 1153, Albensis Ultrasilvanus in 1177, eccl. Micahelis in 1199, Albe Transilvane in 1200, Albe Transsilvane in 1201, castrum Albens in 1206, canonicis Albensibus in 1213, Albensis eccl. Transsylvane in 1219, B. Michaelis arch. Transsilv. in 1231, Alba... Civitas in 1242, Alba sedes eptus in 1245, Alba Jula in 1291, Feyrvar in 1572, Feyérvár in 1574, Weissenburg in 1576, Belugrad in 1579, Gyula Feyervár in 1619, Gyula Fehérvár in 1690, Karlsburg in 1715.
Under the influence of the Hungarian Gyulafehérvár, the town's Latin name became Alba Julia or Alba Yulia. Its modern name Alba Iulia is an adoption of the town's medieval Latin name, it started to spread in Romanian common speech in the 18th century. The modern name has been used since the town became part of Romania; the sixteenth-century German name was Weyssenburg. The Saxons renamed the town to Karlsburg in honor of Charles VI. In Yiddish and Hebrew Karlsburg was prevalent. Alba Carolina was a medieval Latin form of its name; the modern city is located near the site of the important Dacian political and social centre of Apulon, mentioned by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy and believed by some archaeologists to be the Dacian fortifications on top of Piatra Craivii. After Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire, the capital of Dacia Apulensis was established here, the city was known as Apulum. Apulum was the seat of the XIII Gemina Legion. Apulum is the largest castrum located in Romania.
The Gesta Hungarorum mentions a Hungarian regent named Jula or Geula—the maternal grandfather of Stephen I of Hungary and lord of Transylvania—who built the capital of his dukedom there during the 10th century. Geula was baptized in the Byzantine Empire and built around 950 in Alba Iulia the first church of Transylvania; the ruins of a church were discovered in 2011. According to Ioan Aurel Pop and other historians, here lived Hierotheos the first bishop of Transylvania, who accompanied Geula back to Hungary after Geula had been baptized in Constantinople around 950. After Stephen I adopted Catholicism, the establishment of the Catholic Transylvanian bishopric, recent archaeological discoveries suggest that the first cathedral was built in the 11th century or before; the present Catholic cathedral was built in the 13th century. In 1442, John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, used the citadel to prepare for a major battle against the Ottoman Turks; the cathedral was enlarged during his reign and he was entombed there after his death.
In 1541 - after the partition of the Kingdom of Hungary - Alba Iulia became the capital of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and after the Principality of Transylvania and remained so until 1690. The Treaty of Weissenburg was signed in the town in 1551. During the reign of Prince Gábor Bethlen, the city reached a high point in its cultural history with the establishment of an academy; the former Turkish equivalent was "Erdel Belgradı" where Erdel was added to prevent confusion with Belgrat and Arnavut Belgradı. In November 29, 1599, Michael the Brave, Voivode of Wallachia, entered Alba Iulia following his victory in the Battle of Şelimbăr and became Voivode of Transylvania. In 1600 he gained control of Moldavia, uniting the principalities of Wallachia and Transylvania under his rule, which lasted for a year and a half until he was murdered in 1601, by General Giorgio Basta's agents. Alba Iulia became part of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1690; the fortress Alba Carolina, designed by architect Giovanni Morando Visconti, was built between 1716 and 1735, at th
