1.
Stephen I of Hungary
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Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen, was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first King of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his birth is uncertain, but many details of his life suggest that he was born in or after 975 in Esztergom, at his birth, he was given the pagan name Vajk. The date of his baptism is unknown and he was the only son of Grand Prince Géza and his wife, Sarolt, who was descended from the prominent family of the gyulas. Although both of his parents were baptized, Stephen was the first member of his family to become a devout Christian and he married Gisela of Bavaria, a scion of the imperial Ottonian dynasty. After succeeding his father in 997, Stephen had to fight for the throne against his relative, Koppány and he defeated Koppány mainly with the assistance of foreign knights, including Vecelin, Hont and Pázmány, but also with help from native lords. He was crowned on 25 December 1000 or 1 January 1001 with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II, in a series of wars against semi-independent tribes and chieftains—including the Black Hungarians and his uncle, Gyula the Younger—he unified the Carpathian Basin. He protected the independence of his kingdom by forcing the troops of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor. Stephen established at least one archbishopric, six bishoprics and three Benedictine monasteries, thus the Church in Hungary developed independently of the archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire and he encouraged the spread of Christianity with severe punishments for ignoring Christian customs. His system of administration was based on counties organized around fortresses. Hungary, which enjoyed a period of peace during his reign, became a preferred route for pilgrims. He survived all of his children and he died on 15 August 1038 and was buried in his new basilica, built in Székesfehérvár and dedicated to the Holy Virgin. His death caused civil wars which lasted for decades and he was canonized by Pope Gregory VII, together with his son, Emeric, and Bishop Gerard of Csanád, in 1083. Stephen is a saint in Hungary and the neighboring territories. In Hungary, his feast day is also a holiday commemorating the foundation of the state. Stephens birth date is uncertain because it was not recorded in contemporaneous documents, Hungarian and Polish chronicles written centuries later give three different years,967,969 and 975. Géza promoted the spread of Christianity among his subjects by force, however, this identification is not unanimously accepted, historian György Györffy states that it was not Sarolts father, but his younger brother, who was baptized in the Byzantine capital. Stephen was born as Vajk, a derived from the Turkic word baj, meaning hero, master. Stephens Greater Legend narrates that he was baptized by the saintly Bishop Adalbert of Prague, however, Saint Adalberts nearly contemporaneous Legend, written by Bruno of Querfurt, does not mention this event
2.
Charles I of Austria
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Charles I was the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the last Emperor of Austria, the last King of Hungary, and he spent the remaining years of his life attempting to restore the monarchy until his death in 1922. Following his beatification by the Catholic Church in 2004, he has become known as Blessed Charles of Austria. Charles was born 17 August 1887 in the Castle of Persenbeug in Lower Austria and his parents were Archduke Otto Franz of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. At the time, his granduncle Franz Joseph reigned as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as a child, Archduke Charles was reared a devout Roman Catholic. He spent his early years wherever his fathers regiment happened to be stationed, later on he lived in Vienna and he was privately educated, but, contrary to the custom ruling in the imperial family, he attended a public gymnasium for the sake of demonstrations in scientific subjects. In 1907, he was declared of age and Prince Zdenko Lobkowitz was appointed his chamberlain, in the next few years he carried out his military duties in various Bohemian garrison towns. In 1911, Charles married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma and they had met as children but did not see one another for almost ten years, as each pursued their education. In 1909, his Dragoon regiment was stationed at Brandýs nad Labem in Bohemia and it was during one of these visits that Charles and Zita became reacquainted. Due to Franz Ferdinands morganatic marriage in 1900, his children were excluded from the succession, as a result, the Emperor severely pressured Charles to marry. Zita not only shared Charles devout Catholicism, but also a royal lineage. Zita later recalled, Charles became heir presumptive after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, only at this time did the old Emperor take steps to initiate the heir-presumptive to his crown in affairs of state. But the outbreak of World War I interfered with this political education, Charles spent his time during the first phase of the war at headquarters at Teschen, but exercised no military influence. Charles then became a Feldmarschall in the Austro-Hungarian Army, in the spring of 1916, in connection with the offensive against Italy, he was entrusted with the command of the XX. Corps, whose affections the heir-presumptive to the throne won by his affability, the offensive, after a successful start, soon came to a standstill. Shortly afterwards, Charles went to the front as commander of an army operating against the Russians and Romanians. Charles succeeded to the thrones in November 1916, after the death of his grand-uncle, on 2 December 1916, he assumed the title of Supreme Commander of the whole army from Archduke Friedrich. His coronation as King of Hungary occurred on 30 December, in 1917, Charles secretly entered into peace negotiations with France
3.
Buda Castle
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Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, and was first completed in 1265. In the past, it has been called Royal Palace and Royal Castle and it is linked to Clark Ádám Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by the Castle Hill Funicular. The castle is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, the first royal residence on the Castle Hill was built by King Béla IV of Hungary between 1247 and 1265. It is uncertain whether it was situated on the tip of the hill or on the northern elevation. The oldest part of the palace was built in the 14th century by Stephen, Duke of Slavonia. Only the foundations remain of the keep, which was known as Stephens Tower. The Gothic palace of King Louis I was arranged around a courtyard next to the keep. King Sigismund significantly enlarged the palace and strengthened its fortifications, Sigismund, as a Holy Roman Emperor, needed a magnificent royal residence to express his prominence among the rulers of Europe. He chose Buda Castle as his residence, and during his long reign it became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. Buda was an important artistic centre of the International Gothic style, construction began in the 1410s and was largely finished in the 1420s, although some minor works continued until the death of the king in 1437. The palace was first mentioned in 1437, under the name fricz palotha, the most important part of Sigismunds palace was the northern wing, known as the Fresh Palace. On the top floor was a hall called the Roman Hall with a carved wooden ceiling. Great windows and balconies faced toward the city of Buda, the façade of the palace was decorated with statues, a and coat-of-arms. In front stood the bronze statue of Sigismund, later repaired by King Matthias Corvinus. The southern part of the residency was surrounded with narrow zwingers. Two parallel walls, the so-called cortina walls, run down from the palace to the River Danube across the steep hillside, the most imposing structure, the Broken Tower, on the western side of the cour dhonneur, remained unfinished. The basement of the tower was used as a dungeon, the top floors were probably the treasury of the royal jewels, the last phase of large-scale building activity took place under King Matthias Corvinus. During the first decades of his reign the king finished the work on the Gothic palace, the Royal Chapel, with the surviving Lower Church, was likely built at that time
4.
Karl von Habsburg
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Born in Starnberg, Germany in 1961, he is the son of Otto von Habsburg and Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, and the grandson of the last Austrian emperor, Charles I. He served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Austrian Peoples Party 1996–1999, like his father, he is known as an advocate for the Pan-European movement. Since 1986, Karl von Habsburg has been president of the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union, after studying law for 12 years, in 1992/1993, he hosted a TV game show with Austrian public TV broadcaster ORF, called Who Is Who. In October 1996, he was elected to the European Parliament for the Austrian Peoples Party and his father exacerbated the controversy when he complained that his son was being attacked unfairly and drew a parallel between the name Habsburg and a yellow badge. ÖVP did not nominate Karl von Habsburg again for the 1999 elections, in 2004, Karl von Habsburg paid 37,000 euros to the new World Vision Austria branch. On 19 January 2002, he was appointed Director General of UNPO by the UNPO Steering Committee, since 7 December 2008, he is the President of the Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield. In 1961, his father Otto von Habsburg renounced all claims to the Austrian throne, as a necessary legal condition to being allowed to return to Austria. On 30 November 2000, Karls father transferred over to him the position of head and sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece and in 2008 he also became the Grand Master of the Order of St. George. In 2005, Karl von Habsburg filed a lawsuit before Austrias constitutional court after a failed attempt to have former properties of the Habsburg family returned. The familys estates had been expropriated by the First Republic, this had in part been reverted under Austrofascism, the family tried to get their former property returned under rules for victims of the Nazi regime. The attempt failed because the law of expropriation still has constitutional status, on 1 January 2007, his father relinquished his position as the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, a status which then devolved on Karl. Karl von Habsburg is one of the three co-founders of BG Privatinvest, a Vienna-based investment company, in December 2010 the company acquired the two most important Bulgarian daily newspapers, Dneven Trud and 24 Chasa. After ongoing conflicts with Bulgarian partners, BG Privatinvest sold the newspapers in April 2011, since 2009, Karl von Habsburg is a shareholder in a media group in the Netherlands, consisting of radio stations, a magazine and a music television channel. Karl von Habsburg was born in Germany and he was baptised in Pöcking, Bavaria, as Archduke Karl of Austria, the name entered in the baptismal records. At the time of his birth, his father was de facto stateless and possessed a Spanish diplomatic passport, like his father and siblings, he was banished from Austria for the first years of his life. The Austrian Republic was later forced to repeal the banishment of him and his family and he has lived in Salzburg, Austria, since 1981. He resides in Casa Austria, formerly called Villa Swoboda, in Anif, Karl and Francesca separated in 2003. The diadem belonged to his wife who intended to wear it at a wedding ceremony
5.
Holy Crown of Hungary
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The Holy Crown of Hungary was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence, kings have been crowned with it since the twelfth century. The Crown was bound to the Lands of the Hungarian Crown, no king of Hungary was regarded as having been truly legitimate without being crowned with it. In the history of Hungary, more than fifty kings were crowned with it, up to the last, Charles IV, the enamels on the crown are mainly or entirely Byzantine work, presumed to have been made in Constantinople in the 1070s. The crown was presented by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Doukas to King Géza I of Hungary and it is one of the two known Byzantine crowns to survive, the other being the slightly earlier Monomachus Crown, which is also in Budapest, in the Hungarian National Museum. However, the Monomachus Crown may have had another function, and the Holy Crown has probably been remodelled, the date assigned to the present configuration of the Holy Crown varies, but is most commonly put around the late 12th century. The Hungarian coronation insignia consists of the Holy Crown, the sceptre, the orb, the orb has the coat-of-arms of Charles I of Hungary. In popular tradition the Holy Crown was thought to be older, dating to the time of the first King Stephen I of Hungary and it was first called the Holy Crown in 1256. During the 14th century, royal power came to be represented not simply by a crown, but by just one specific object and he also depicts that the Holy Crown is the same for the Hungarians as the Lost Ark is for the Jewish. Since 2000, the Holy Crown has been on display in the central Domed Hall of the Hungarian Parliament Building, the Crown’s shape is elliptic and is larger than a human head. During coronations, the king had to wear a leather liner, made to fit. The weight of the Crown is 2056 g, the gold-silver alloys in the upper and the lower parts of the Crown differ in alloy ratio. The lower part of the Crown is asymmetric, as is the case with all European Christian crowns, it symbolizes a halo and thus signifies that the wearer rules by Divine Right. According to popular tradition, St Stephen I held up the crown during the coronation to offer it to the Nagyboldogasszony to seal a contract between her and the divine crown. After this, the Nagyboldogasszony was depicted not only as patrona for the Kingdom of Hungary and this contract was supposed to empower the crown with divine force to help the future kings of Hungary and did help reinforce the political system based on the so-called Doctrine of the Holy Crown. Péter Révay, a Crown Guard, expounded this doctrine in his works Commentarius De Sacra Regni Hungariae Corona, at the core of this doctrine was the notion that the crown itself had personhood and as a legal entity is identical to the state of Hungary. It is superior to the monarch, who rules in the name of the crown. It was created during the reign of Béla III under Byzantine influence, the crowning of Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, who was later canonized Saint Stephen, marks the beginning of Hungarian statehood. The date is given as Christmas 1000 or 1 January 1001
6.
Hungarian language
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Hungarian is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary it is spoken by communities of Hungarian people in neighbouring countries. Like Finnish and Estonian, it belongs to the Uralic language family, its closest relatives being Mansi and it is one of several European languages not part of the Indo-European languages, and the most widely-spoken European language that does not belong to the Indo-European family. The Hungarian name for the language is magyar or magyar nyelv, the word Magyar is used as an English and Hungarian word to refer to Hungarian people as an ethnic group. Hungarian is a member of the Uralic language family, the name of Hungary could be a result of regular sound changes of Ungrian/Ugrian, and the fact that the Eastern Slavs referred to Hungarians as Ǫgry/Ǫgrove seemed to confirm that. Current literature favors the hypothesis that it comes from the name of the Turkic tribe Onogur, there are numerous regular sound correspondences between Hungarian and the other Ugric languages. For example, Hungarian /aː/ corresponds to Khanty /o/ in certain positions, for example, Hungarian ház house vs. Khanty xot house, and Hungarian száz hundred vs. Khanty sot hundred. The distance between the Ugric and Finnic languages is greater, but the correspondences are also regular, during the later half of the 19th century, a competing hypothesis proposed a Turkic affinity of Hungarian. Following an academic debate known as Az ugor-török háború, the Finno-Ugric hypothesis was concluded the sounder of the two, foremost based on work by the German linguist Josef Budenz. The traditional view argues that the Hungarian language separated from its Ugric relatives in the first half of the 1st millennium b. c. e. in western Siberia, east of the southern Urals. The Hungarians gradually changed their lifestyle from settled hunters to nomadic pastoralists, in Hungarian, Iranian loans date back to the time immediately following the breakup of Ugric and probably span well over a millennium. Among these include tehén ‘cow’, tíz ‘ten’, tej ‘milk’, increasing archaeological evidence from present-day southern Bashkortostan found in the previous decades confirms the existence of Hungarian settlements between the Volga River and Ural Mountains. The Onogurs later had a influence on the language, especially between the 5th-9th centuries. This layer of Turkic loans is large and varied, and includes words borrowed from Oghur Turkic, e. g. borjú ‘calf’, dél ‘noon, many words related to agriculture, to state administration or even to family relations have such backgrounds. Hungarian syntax and grammar were not influenced in a dramatic way during these 300 years. After the arrival of the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin the language came into contact with different speech communities, Turkic loans from this period come mainly from the Pechenegs and Cumanians who settled in Hungary during the 12th-13th centuries, e. g. koboz ‘cobza’, komondor ‘mop dog’. Hungarian borrowed many words from especially the neighbouring Slavic languages, in exchange, these languages also borrowed words from Hungarian, e. g. Serbo-Croatian ašov from Hung ásó ‘spade’. Approximately 1. 6% of the Romanian lexicon is of Hungarian origin, on the basis of the growing genetic evidence, the accepted origin theory is contested by geneticists too
7.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
8.
Head of state
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A head of state is the public persona that officially represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state. In some countries, the head of state is a figurehead with limited or no executive power, while in others. Former French president Charles de Gaulle, while developing the current Constitution of France, some academic writers discuss states and governments in terms of models. An independent nation state normally has a head of state, the non-executive model, in which the head of state has either none or very limited executive powers, and mainly has a ceremonial and symbolic role. In parliamentary systems the head of state may be merely the chief executive officer, heading the executive branch of the state. This accountability and legitimacy requires that someone be chosen who has a majority support in the legislature and it also gives the legislature the right to vote down the head of government and their cabinet, forcing it either to resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution. In parliamentary constitutional monarchies, the legitimacy of the head of state typically derives from the tacit approval of the people via the elected representatives. In reality, numerous variants exist to the position of a head of state within a parliamentary system, usually, the king had the power of declaring war without previous consent of the parliament. For example, under the 1848 constitution of the Kingdom of Italy, the Statuto Albertino—the parliamentary approval to the government appointed by the king—was customary, so, Italy had a de facto parliamentarian system, but a de jure presidential system. These officials are excluded completely from the executive, they do not possess even theoretical executive powers or any role, even formal, hence their states governments are not referred to by the traditional parliamentary model head of state styles of His/Her Majestys Government or His/Her Excellencys Government. Within this general category, variants in terms of powers and functions may exist, the constitution explicitly vests all executive power in the Cabinet, who is chaired by the prime minister and responsible to the Diet. The emperor is defined in the constitution as the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people and he is a ceremonial figurehead with no independent discretionary powers related to the governance of Japan. Today, the Speaker of the Riksdag appoints the prime minister, Cabinet members are appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the prime minister. In contrast, the contact the President of Ireland has with the Irish government is through a formal briefing session given by the taoiseach to the president. However, he or she has no access to documentation and all access to ministers goes through the Department of the Taoiseach. The president does, however, hold limited reserve powers, such as referring a bill to the court to test its constitutionality. The most extreme non-executive republican Head of State is the President of Israel, semi-presidential systems combine features of presidential and parliamentary systems, notably a requirement that the government be answerable to both the president and the legislature. The constitution of the Fifth French Republic provides for a minister who is chosen by the president
9.
Kingdom of Hungary
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The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed from the Middle Ages into the twentieth century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen I at Esztergom in about the year 1000, by the 12th century, the kingdom became a European middle power within the Western world. The House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács until 1918, 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, the kingdom was nominally restored during the Regency of 1920–46, ending with the Soviet occupation in 1946. From 1102 it also included Croatia, being in union with it. Today, the feast day of the first king Stephen I is a holiday in Hungary. The Latin forms Regnum Hungariae or Ungarie, Regnum Marianum, or simply Hungaria, were the used in official documents in Latin from the beginning of the kingdom to the 1840s. The German name Königreich Ungarn was used officially from 1784 to 1790, the Hungarian name was used in the 1840s, and then again from the 1860s to 1946. The non-official Hungarian name of the kingdom was Magyarország, which is still the colloquial, in Austria-Hungary, the unofficial name Transleithania was sometimes used to denote the regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Officially, the term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was included for the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, 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, 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 and he fought against Koppány and in 998, with Bavarian help, defeated him near Veszprém. The Catholic Church received powerful support from Stephen I, who with Christian Hungarians, 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, and for his benevolence to the former followers of his nephew, Solomon. The second greatest Hungarian king, also from the dynasty, was Ladislaus I of Hungary. He was also canonized as a saint, however, kingship over all of Croatia would not be achieved until the reign of his successor Coloman
10.
Pope Clement XIII
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Pope Clement XIII, born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was Pope from 6 July 1758 to his death in 1769. He was consecrated on 16 July 1758 and his pontificate was overshadowed by the constant pressure to suppress the Society of Jesus but despite this, he championed their order and also proved to be their greatest defender at that time. These efforts ultimately bore little fruition, born to Giovanni Battista Rezzonico and Vittoria Barbarigo, his brother was Aurelio. He received a Jesuit education in Bologna and later studied at the University of Padua where he obtained his doctorate in canon law, from there, he travelled to Rome where he attended the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles. Rezzonico became the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura and remained in position from 1716 to 1718 when he was appointed as the Governor of Fano. He was then ordained to the priesthood on 23 December 1731 in Rome, Pope Clement XII appointed him to the cardinalate in 1737 as the Cardinal-Deacon of San Nicola in Carcere and also filled various important posts in the Roman Curia. Rezzonico was chosen as Bishop of Padua in 1743 and he received consecration in Rome by Pope Benedict XIV himself. Rezzonico visited his diocese on frequent occasions and reformed the way that the diocese ran and he was the first to do this in five decades. He later opted to become the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in 1747, Pope Benedict XIV died of gout in 1758 and the College of Cardinals gathered at the papal conclave in order to elect a successor. Direct negotiations between the factions resulted in the proposal for the election of Rezzonico. On the evening of 6 July 1758, Rezzonico received 31 votes out of a possible 44 and he selected the pontifical name of Clement XIII in honor of Pope Clement XII, who elevated him to the cardinalate. Rezzonico was crowned as pontiff on 16 July 1758 by the protodeacon, in the same year, the Rezzonico family celebrated Ludovico Rezzonicos marriage into the powerful Savorgnan family. Rezzonico was notorious for his rampant nepotism throughout his pontificate, notwithstanding the meekness and affability of his upright and moderate character, he was modest to a fault and generous with his extensive private fortune. Clement XIIIs pontificate was repeatedly disturbed by disputes respecting the pressures to suppress the Jesuits coming from the progressive Enlightenment circles of the philosophes in France. Clement XIII placed the Encyclopédie of DAlembert and Diderot on the Index, more unexpected resistance came from the less progressive courts of Spain, the Two Sicilies, and Portugal. In 1758 the reforming minister of Joseph I of Portugal, the Marquis of Pombal, expelled the Jesuits from Portugal, in 1760, Pombal sent the papal nuncio home and recalled the Portuguese ambassador from the Vatican. Louis XVs ministers could not permit such an abrogation of French law, in Spain, they appeared to be safe, but Charles III of Spain, aware of the drawn-out contentions in Bourbon France, decided on a more peremptory efficiency. Much the same fate awaited them in the territories of the Bourbon Duke of Parma and Piacenza, in 1768, Clement XIII issued a strong protest against the policy of the Parmese government
11.
Pope Sylvester II
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Pope Sylvester II or Silvester II was Pope from 2 April 999 to his death in 1003. Originally known as Gerbert of Aurillac, he was a prolific scholar and he is said to be the first to introduce in Europe the decimal numeral system using Arabic numerals. He was the first French Pope, Gerbert was born about 946 in the town of Belliac, near the present-day commune of Saint-Simon, Cantal, France. Around 963, he entered the monastery of St. Gerald of Aurillac, in the following years, Gerbert studied under the direction of Atto, Bishop of Vic, some 60 km north of Barcelona, and probably also at the nearby Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll. Neither place was under Islamic rule at the time, Borrell II of Barcelona was facing major defeat from the Andalusian powers so he sent a delegation to Córdoba to request a truce. Bishop Atto was part of the delegation met with Al-Hakam II of Cordoba. Atto was mesmerized by the palaces in Cordoba and returned with great respect for the Arabs, Gerbert insisted that Atto teach him more about these Arabic princes who seemed to him more interested in the sciences and literature than warfare. This sparked Gerberts veneration for the Arabs and his passion for mathematics, in 969, Count Borrell II made a pilgrimage to Rome, taking Gerbert with him. There Gerbert met Pope John XIII and the Emperor Otto I, the Pope persuaded Otto I to employ Gerbert as a tutor for his young son, the future Emperor Otto II. Some years later, Otto I gave Gerbert leave to study at the school of Rheims where he was soon appointed a teacher by Archbishop Adalberon. After the death of Otto II in 983, Gerbert became involved in the politics of his time, in 985, with the support of his archbishop, he opposed Lothair of Frances attempt to take the Lorraine from Emperor Otto III by supporting Hugh Capet. Capet became King of France, ending the Carolingian line of Kings in 987, Adalberon died on 23 January 989. Gerbert was a candidate for his succession, but Hugh Capet appointed Arnulf. Arnulf was deposed in 991 for alleged treason against the King, there was so much opposition to Gerberts elevation to the See of Rheims, however, that Pope John XV sent a legate to France who temporarily suspended Gerbert from his episcopal office. Gerbert sought to show that this decree was unlawful, but a further synod in 995 declared Arnulfs deposition invalid, Gerbert now became the teacher of Otto III, and Pope Gregory V, Otto IIIs cousin, appointed him Archbishop of Ravenna in 998. With the Emperors support, he was elected to succeed Gregory V as Pope in 999, Gerbert took the name of Sylvester II, alluding to Pope Sylvester I, the advisor to Emperor Constantine I. Soon after he was elected pope, Sylvester II confirmed the position of his former rival Arnulf as archbishop of Rheims, in 1001, the Roman populace revolted against the Emperor, forcing Otto III and Sylvester II to flee to Ravenna. Otto III led two expeditions to regain control of the city and died on a third expedition in 1002
12.
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Otto III was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his early death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the son of the Emperor Otto II. Otto III was crowned as King of Germany in 983 at the age of three, shortly after his fathers death in southern Italy while campaigning against the Byzantine Empire, though the nominal ruler of Germany, Otto IIIs minor status ensured his various regents held power over the Empire. His cousin Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, initially claimed regency over the young king, Otto III was then still a child, so his grandmother, the Dowager Empress Adelaide of Italy, served as regent until 994. In 996, Otto III marched to Italy to claim the titles King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor, Otto III also sought to reestablish Imperial control over the city of Rome, which had revolted under the leadership of Crescentius II, and through it the papacy. Crowned as Emperor, Otto III put down the Roman rebellion and installed his cousin as Pope Gregory V, after the Emperor had pardoned him and left the city, Crescentius II again rebelled, deposing Gregory V and installing John XVI as Pope. Otto III returned to the city in 998, reinstalled Gregory V, when Gregory V died in 999, Otto III installed Sylvester II as the new Pope. Otto IIIs actions throughout his life further strengthened imperial control over the Catholic Church, from the beginning of his reign, Otto III faced opposition from the Slavs along the eastern frontier. Following the death of his father in 983, the Slavs rebelled against imperial control, Otto III would fight to regain the Empires lost territories throughout his reign with only limited success. While in the east, Otto III strengthened the Empires relations with Poland, Bohemia, returning to Rome in 1001, Otto III faced a rebellion by the Roman aristocracy, which forced him to flee the city. While marching to reclaim the city in 1002, however, Otto III suffered a sudden fever, with no clear heir to succeed him, his early death threw the Empire into political crisis. Otto III was born in June or July 980 somewhere between Aachen and Nijmegen, the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu, Otto III was the youngest of the couples four children. Immediately prior to Otto IIIs birth, his father had completed military campaigns in France against King Lothar, on 14 July 982, Otto IIs army suffered a crushing defeat against the Muslim Emirate of Sicily at the Battle of Stilo. Otto II had been campaigning in southern Italy with hopes of annexing the whole of Italy into the Holy Roman Empire, Otto II himself escaped the battle unharmed but many important imperial officials were among the battles casualties. This was the first time a German ruler had been elected on Italian soil, after the assembly was concluded, Otto III and his mother Theophanu travelled across the Alps in order for Otto to be crowned at Aix, the traditional location of the coronation of the German kings. Otto II stayed behind to address military action against the Muslims, while still in central Italy, however, Otto II suddenly died on 7 November 983, and was buried in St. Peters Basilica in Rome. Otto III was crowned as king on Christmas Day 983, three weeks after his fathers death, by Willigis, the Archbishop of Mainz, and by John, news of Otto IIs death first reached Germany shortly after his sons coronation. The unresolved problems in southern Italy and the Slavic uprising on the Empires eastern border made the Empires political situation extremely unstable, with a minor on the throne, the Empire was thrown into confusion and Otto IIIs mother Theophanu assumed the role of regent for her young son
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Stephen Bocskai
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Stephen Bocskai or Bocskay was Prince of Transylvania and Hungary from 1605 to 1606. He was born to a Hungarian noble family and his fathers estates were located in the eastern regions of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, which developed into the Principality of Transylvania in the 1570s. He spent his youth in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, Bocskais career started when his underage nephew, Sigismund Báthory, became the ruler of Transylvania in 1581. He became a member of the council and the royal council. After the Diet of Transylvania declared Sigismund of age in 1588, Sigismund made Bocskai captain of Várad in 1592. Bocskai signed the treaty about the membership of Transylvania in the Holy League on Sigismunds behalf in Prague on 28 January 1595 and he led the Transylvanian army to Wallachia which had been occupied by the Ottomans. The Christian troops liberated Wallachia and defeated the retreating Ottoman army in the Battle of Giurgiu on 29 September 1595, after a series of Ottoman victories, Sigismund Báthory abdicated in early 1598. The commissioners of Maximilians successor, Rudolph, took possession of Transylvania, Bocskai persuaded Sigismund to return, but Sigismund again abdicated in March 1599. The new prince, Andrew Báthory, confiscated Bocskais estates in Transylvania proper, Andrew Báthory was dethroned by Michael the Brave of Wallachia. During the following period of anarchy, Bocskai was forced to stay in Prague for months and he rose up against Rudolph after his secret correspondence with the Grand Vizier, Lala Mehmed Pasha, was captured in October 1605. Bocskai hired Hajdús and defeated Rudolphs military commanders and he expanded his authority over Transylvania proper, the Partium and the nearby counties with the support of the local noblemen and burghers who had been also stirred up by Rudolphs tyrannical acts. Bocskai was elected prince of Transylvania on 21 February 1605, the Ottomans supported him, but his partisans thought that the Ottomans intervention threatened the independence of Royal Hungary. To put an end to the war, Bocskai and Rudolphs representatives signed the Treaty of Vienna on 23 June 1606. Rudolph acknowledged Bocskais hereditary right to rule the Principality of Transylvania, the treaty also confirmed the Protestant noblemen and burghers right to freely practise their religion. In his last will, Bocskai emphasized that only the existence of the Principality of Transylvania could secure the status of Royal Hungary within the Habsburg Empire. Stephen was the sixth or seventh child of György Bocskai and Krisztina Sulyok and his father was a Hungarian nobleman whose inherited estates were located in Bihar and Zemplén Counties. Stephens mother was related to the influential Török and Héderváry families, one of her two sisters was the wife of István Dobó. Ferdinand I, King of Hungary, made Dobó Voivode of Transylvania in 1553, György Bocskai accompanied Dobó to Transylvania and received new estates in the province from Ferdinand
14.
John Hunyadi
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John Hunyadi was a leading Hungarian military and political figure in Central and Southeastern Europe during the 15th century. According to most contemporary sources, he was the son of a family of Romanian ancestry. He mastered his skills on the southern borderlands of the Kingdom of Hungary that were exposed to Ottoman attacks. Appointed voivode of Transylvania and head of a number of southern counties, Hunyadi adopted the Hussite method of using wagons for military purposes. He employed professional soldiers, but also mobilized local peasantry against invaders and these innovations contributed to his earliest successes against the Ottoman troops who were plundering the southern marches in the early 1440s. John Hunyadi was also an eminent statesman and he actively took part in the civil war between the partisans of Wladislas I and the minor Ladislaus V, two claimants to the throne of Hungary in the early 1440s, on behalf on the former. Popular among the nobility, the Diet of Hungary appointed him, in 1445. The next Diet went even further, electing Hunyadi as sole regent with the title of governor, when he resigned from this office in 1452, the sovereign awarded him with the first hereditary title in the Kingdom of Hungary. He had by this time one of the wealthiest landowners in the kingdom. This Athleta Christi, as Pope Pius II referred to him, however, his victories over the Turks prevented them from invading the Kingdom of Hungary for more than 60 years. His fame was a factor in the election of his son, Matthias Corvinus. Hunyadi is a historical figure among Hungarians, Romanians, Serbians, Bulgarians. A royal charter of grant issued on 18 October 1409 contains the first reference to John Hunyadi, in the document, King Sigismund of Hungary bestowed Hunyad Castle and the lands attached to it upon Johns father, Voyk and Voyks four kinsmen, including John himself. According to the document, Johns father served in the household as a court knight at that time. Two 15th-century chroniclers—Johannes de Thurocz and Antonio Bonfini—write that Voyk had moved from Wallachia to Hungary upon King Sigismunds initiative, László Makkai, Malcolm Hebron, Pál Engel and other scholars accept the two chroniclers report of the Wallachian origin of John Hunyadis father. In contrast with them, Ioan-Aurel Pop says that Voyk was a native of the region of Hunyad Castle. According to this anecdote, John was actually not Voyks child, the story became especially popular during the reign of John Hunyadis son, Matthias Corvinus who erected a statue for King Sigismund in Buda. The 16th-century chronicler Gáspár Heltai repeated and further developed the tale, but modern scholars—for instance, Cartledge, Hunyadis popularity among the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula give rise to further legends of his royal parentage
15.
Lajos Kossuth
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With the help of his talent in oratory in political debates and public speeches, Kossuth emerged from a poor gentry family into regent-president of Kingdom of Hungary. As the most influential contemporary American journalist Horace Greeley said of Kossuth, “Among the orators, patriots, statesmen, exiles, he has, living or dead, no superior. ”Kossuths powerful English and American speeches so impressed and touched the most famous contemporary American orator Daniel Webster, that he wrote a book about Kossuths life. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in Great Britain, Kossuths bronze bust can be found in the United States Capitol with the inscription, Father of Hungarian Democracy, Hungarian Statesman, Freedom Fighter, 1848–1849. Kossuth was born in Monok, Kingdom of Hungary, a town in the county of Zemplén. His father, László Kossuth, belonged to the nobility, had a small estate and was a lawyer by profession. László Kossuth had two brothers and one sister, the House of Kossuth originated from the county of Turóc. They acquired the rank of nobility in 1263 from King Béla IV, the mother of Lajos Kossuth, Karolina Weber was born to a Lutheran family of partial German descent, living in Upper Hungary. His mother raised the children as strict Lutherans, as a result of his mixed ancestry, and as was quite common during his era, he spoke three languages - Slovak, Hungarian and German. Kossuth studied at the Piarist college of Sátoraljaújhely and one year in the Calvinist college of Sárospatak, aged nineteen, he entered his fathers legal practice. He was popular locally, and having been appointed steward to the countess Szapáry and he was subsequently dismissed on the grounds of some misunderstanding in regards to estate funds. Shortly after his dismissal by Countess Szapáry, Kossuth was appointed as deputy to Count Hunyady at the National Diet, the Diet met during 1825–1827 and 1832–1836 in Pressburg, then capital of Hungary. Only the upper aristocracy could vote in the House of Magnates, however, at the time, a struggle to reassert a Hungarian national identity was beginning to emerge under leaders such as Wesselényi and the Széchenyis. In part, it was also a struggle for economic and political reforms against the stagnant Austrian government, Kossuths duties to Count Hunyady included reporting on Diet proceedings in writing, as the Austrian government, fearing popular dissent, had banned published reports. The high quality of Kossuths letters led to their being circulated in manuscript among other liberal magnates, readership demands led him to edit an organized parliamentary gazette, spreading his name and influence further. Orders from the Official Censor halted circulation by lithograph printing, distribution in manuscript by post was forbidden by the government, although circulation by hand continued. In 1836, the Diet was dissolved, Kossuth continued to report, covering the debates of the county assemblies. The newfound publicity gave the national political prominence. Previously, they had had little idea of each others proceedings and his embellishment of the speeches from the liberals and reformers enhanced the impact of his newsletters
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Coronation of the Hungarian monarch
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The Coronation of the Hungarian monarch was a ceremony in which the king or queen of the Kingdom of Hungary was formally crowned and invested with regalia. It corresponded to the ceremonies that occurred in other European monarchies. In the Middle Ages, all Hungarian coronations took place in Székesfehérvár Basilica, the Archbishop of Esztergom anointed the king or queen. The Archbishop then placed the Holy Crown of Hungary and mantle of Saint Stephen on the head of the anointed person, the king was given a sceptre and a sword which denoted military power. Upon enthronement, the crowned king took the traditional coronation oath. Other clergy and members of the nobility also had roles, most participants in the ceremony were required to wear uniforms or robes. Many other government officials and guests attended, including representatives of foreign countries, as the legends say, the first Hungarian monarch, Saint Stephen I was crowned in the St Adalbert Cathedral in Esztergom in the year of 1000. After his death he was buried in the Cathedral of Székesfehérvár which he started to build and had buried his son Saint Emeric, since then, the following Hungarian monarchs starting with Peter Orseolo, Saint Stephens nephew in 1038. The huge Romanic cathedral was one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, however he had to be crowned three times because of the internal conflicts with the aristocrats that werent willing to accept his rule. He was crowned for the first time in may of 1301 by the archbishop of Esztergom and this meant that two of the conditions for the legitimacy were not being fulfilled. Finally, after obtaining the Holy Crown, Charles was crowned for his third time, only after this, Matthias started with internal and institutional reforms in the Kingdom, having been considered as the legitimate ruler of Hungary. The Ottomans used the cathedral for gunpowder storage, and during the attack the building was destroyed, rulers of Hungary were not considered legitimate monarchs until they were crowned King of Hungary with the Holy Crown of Hungary. As women were not considered fit to rule Hungary, the two queens regnant, Mary and Maria Theresa, were crowned kings of Hungary. Even during the personal union of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The only Habsburg who reigned without being crowned in Hungary was Joseph II, the final such rite was held in Budapest on 30 December 1916, when Emperor Charles I of Austria and Empress Zita were crowned as King Charles IV and Queen Zita of Hungary. The ceremony was rushed, due both to the war and the requirement for the Hungarian monarch to approve the state budget prior to the end of the calendar year. Charles IVs coronation was filmed however, and thus remains the only coronation of an Hungarian monarch ever documented in this way, the Austro-Hungarian empire perished with the end of World War I, although Hungary would later restore a titular monarchy from 1920-45—while forbidding Charles to resume the throne. A communist takeover in 1945 spelled the end of this kingdom without a king
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Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest
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The archbishopric of Esztergom was the most prominent historical archdiocese in Hungary. It was created in 1000 under Stephen I of Hungary largely on the territory of Upper Hungary, after the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, its territory was reduced to its present-day extent, it became the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest on 31 May 1993. The rest became part of the Catholic structures of Czechoslovakia. S. B, jános Csernoch Jusztinián György Serédi, O. S. B. Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest Roman Catholicism in Hungary History of the Archdiocese Herbermann, Charles, ed. Archdiocese of Gran
18.
Pope Alexander III
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Pope Alexander III, born Roland of Siena, was Pope from 7 September 1159 to his death in 1181. He also laid the stone for the Notre-Dame de Paris. Pope Alexander III was born in Siena, from 14th century he is referred to as a member of the aristocratic family of Bandinelli, although this has not been proven. Noonan and Rudolf Weigand have shown this to be another Rolandus and he probably studied at Bologna, where Robert of Torigni notes that he taught theology. In October 1150, Pope Eugene III created him Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano, later he became Cardinal-Priest of St Mark. In 1153, he became chancellor and was the leader of the cardinals opposed to German Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. He negotiated the Treaty of Benevento, which restored peaceful relations between Rome and the Kingdom of Sicily, on 7 September 1159, he was chosen the successor of Pope Adrian IV. A minority of the cardinals, however, elected the cardinal priest Octavian and this meant that Alexanders legitimacy was gaining strength, as soon proved by the fact that other monarchs, such as the king of France and King Henry II of England, recognized his authority. Because of imperial strength in Italy, Alexander was forced to reside outside of Rome for a part of his pontificate. The first period he spent in France, the latter chiefly in Gaeta, Benevento, Anagni, Alexander III was the first pope known to have paid direct attention to missionary activities east of the Baltic Sea. The latter appointed a Benedictine monk Fulco as a bishop in Estonia, in 1171, Alexander became the first pope to address the situation of the Church in Finland, with Finns allegedly harassing priests and only relying on God in time of war. Besides checkmating Barbarossa, Alexander humbled King Henry II of England for the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170, to whom he was unusually close and this was the second English saint canonized by Alexander, the first being Edward the Confessor in 1161. Nonetheless, he confirmed the position of Henry as Lord of Ireland in 1172, even as a fugitive, Alexander enjoyed the favour and protection of Louis VII of France. In March 1179, Alexander III held the Third Council of the Lateran, one of the most important mediaeval church councils, the rule was altered slightly in 1996, but was restored in 2007. This synod marked the summit of Alexander IIIs power, by the judicious use of money, however, Alexander III got him into his power, so that he was deposed in January 1180. In 1181, Alexander III excommunicated King William I of Scotland and he died at Civita Castellana on 30 August 1181. Herbermann, Charles, ed. Pope Alexander III and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Alexander. Myriam Soria Audebert, Pontifical Propaganda during the Schisms, Alexander III to the reconquest of Church Unity, in Convaincre et persuader, poitiers, Université de Poitiers-centre détudes supérieures de civilisation médiévale,2007
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Pope Innocent III
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Pope Innocent III reigned from 8 January 1198 to his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni, Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential popes. He exerted an influence over the Christian states of Europe. Pope Innocent was central in supporting the Catholic Churchs reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and this resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. Pope Innocent is notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, Innocent called for Christian crusades against Muslim Spain and the Holy Land, as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. One of Pope Innocents critical decisions was organizing the Fourth Crusade, originally intended to attack Jerusalem through Egypt, a series of unforeseen circumstances led the crusaders to Constantinople, where they ultimately sacked the city in 1204. Lotario de Conti was born in Gavignano, near Anagni and his father was Count Trasimund of Segni and was a member of a famous house, Conti, which produced nine Popes, including Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Innocent XIII. Lotario was the nephew of Pope Clement III, his mother, as Pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. He subscribed the papal bulls between 7 December 1190 and 4 November 1197, as a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis. The work was popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts. Although he never returned to the work he intended to write, On the Dignity of Human Nature. Celestine III died on 8 January 1198 and he was only thirty-seven years old at the time. He took the name Innocent III, maybe as a reference to his predecessor Innocent II, as pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187 was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes and he was also determined to protect what he called the liberty of the Church from inroads by secular princes. The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, the early death of Henry VI left his 4-year-old son Frederick II as king. Henry VI’s widow Constance of Sicily ruled over Sicily for her son before he reached the age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III, before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV, the Pope invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198
20.
Charles I of Hungary
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Charles I, also known as Charles Robert was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the son of Charles Martel. His father was the eldest son of Charles II of Naples and she laid claim to Hungary after her brother, Ladislaus IV of Hungary, died in 1290, but the Hungarian prelates and lords elected her cousin, Andrew III, king. Instead of abandoning her claim to Hungary, she transferred it to her son, Charles Martel, on the other hand, her husband, Charles II of Naples, made their third son, Robert, heir to the Kingdom of Naples, thus disinheriting Charles. Charles came to the Kingdom of Hungary upon the invitation of an influential Croatian lord, Paul Šubić, Andrew III died on 14 January 1301, and within four months Charles was crowned king, but with a provisional crown instead of the Holy Crown of Hungary. Most Hungarian noblemen refused to yield to him and elected Wenceslaus of Bohemia king, Charles withdrew to the southern regions of the kingdom. Pope Boniface VIII acknowledged Charles as the king in 1303. Wenceslaus abdicated in favor of Otto of Bavaria in 1305, because it had no central government, the Kingdom of Hungary had disintegrated into a dozen provinces, each headed by a powerful nobleman, or oligarch. One of those oligarchs, Ladislaus Kán, captured and imprisoned Otto of Bavaria in 1307. Charles was elected king in Pest on 27 November 1308, Charles won his first decisive victory in the Battle of Rozgony on 15 June 1312. After that his troops seized most fortresses of the powerful Aba family, during the next decade, Charles restored royal power primarily with the assistance of the prelates and lesser noblemen in most regions of the kingdom. He was not able to hinder the development of Wallachia into an independent principality after his defeat in the Battle of Posada in 1330. Charless contemporaries described his defeat in battle as a punishment from God for his cruel revenge against the family of Felician Záh who had attempted to slaughter the royal family. In the second half of his reign, Charles did not hold Diets and he established the Order of Saint George, which was the first secular order of knights. He promoted the opening of new mines, which made Hungary the largest producer of gold in Europe. The first Hungarian gold coins were minted during his reign, at the congress of Visegrád in 1335, he mediated a reconciliation between two neighboring monarchs, John of Bohemia and Casimir III of Poland. Treaties signed at the congress also contributed to the development of new commercial routes linking Hungary with Western Europe. Charless efforts to reunite Hungary, together with his administrative and economic reforms, established the basis for the achievements of his successor, Charles was the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno, and his wife, Clemence of Austria
21.
Elizabeth of Luxembourg
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Elizabeth of Luxembourg was queen consort of Germany, Hungary and Bohemia. The only child of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Elizabeth was expected to ascend his thrones along with her husband, Albert of Austria. Her rights were ignored by the Hungarian nobility when Sigismund died in 1437 and only her husband was accepted as monarch, Albert died in 1439, leaving Elizabeth a pregnant dowager with two daughters, Anne and Elizabeth. She was determined to contend for her patrimony on her sons behalf, the conflict ended with the queens death at the age of 33. Vladislaus himself died in battle in 1444, opening the path for Elizabeths son to be recognized as king of Hungary, because this feast falls on 4 October, it must have happened in the previous year, that is,1409 and in October. In addition, Itinerary of King Sigismund shows that he stayed in Visegrad between 9–19 October 1409. In the end one concludes that her birth in Prague, on 28 February 1409, Elizabeth was born into the powerful House of Luxembourg. Her parents were the 41-year-old King Sigismund of Hungary and his second wife, hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, the rebellious baron with whom Sigismund had recently come to terms, was the infants godfather. The year after her birth, Elizabeths father was elected king of the Romans, as the kings only child, Elizabeth was seen as de facto heiress presumptive to the throne, or at least as the princess whose eventual marriage would provide a king. Elizabeths hereditary right was in fact rather slim, as her father had acquired it by marrying his first wife, Queen Mary, the same year, Sigismund betrothed Elizabeth to the Habsburg Duke Albert V of Austria, then aged 14. Queen Barbara was very unpopular among the nobility, who resented her sympathy for the Hussites, in 1418, they accused her of having committed adultery while her husband was attending the Council of Constance. The resulting strain in the marriage led to the queens banishment and confinement, first in Várad and subsequently in Szakolca. Nevertheless, Sigismund simultaneously negotiated her marriage to the Habsburg Duke Albert V of Austria, the Habsburgs, Sigismunds long-standing friends and allies, evidently did not question Elizabeths legitimacy or, at least, were not deterred by the accusations made against her mother. Sigismund reconciled with Barbara in 1419 and Elizabeth returned to his favour along with her mother, the same year, he inherited the Bohemian crown from his elder brother, King Wenceslaus IV. On 28 September 1421, the friendship between King Sigismund and the House of Habsburg culminated in a marriage treaty signed in Vienna. The treaty confirmed Elizabeths status as heiress presumptive of both Hungary and Bohemia, but only for as long as she remained Sigismunds only child. It stipulated that the birth of another daughter would leave Elizabeth with the right to one of her fathers kingdoms. Should she gain a brother, however, she would be deprived of both crowns in his favour, the Margraviate of Moravia was ceded to Albert as Elizabeths dowry
22.
Ladislaus the Posthumous
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Ladislaus the Posthumous, known also as Ladislas, was Duke of Austria, and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was the son of Albert of Habsburg and Elizabeth of Luxembourg. Albert had bequeathed all his realms to his son on his deathbed. Fearing of an Ottoman invasion, the majority of the Hungarian lords, the Hussite noblemen and towns of Bohemia did not acknowledge the hereditary right of Alberts descendants to the throne, but did not elect a new king. After Ladislauss birth, his mother seized the Holy Crown of Hungary and had Ladislaus – known as Ladislaus V in Hungary – crowned king in Székesfehérvár on 15 May 1440, However, the Diet of Hungary declared Ladislauss coronation invalid and elected Vladislaus king. A civil war broke out which lasted for years, Elizabeth appointed her late husbands distant cousin, Frederick III, King of the Romans, Ladislauss guardian. Ladislaus lived in Fredericks court, where Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote a treatise of his education, Ladislauss rival in Hungary, Vladislaus, fell in the Battle of Varna in November 1444. Next year, the Diet of Hungary offered to acknowledge Ladislaus as king if Frederick III renounced his guardianship, after Frederick III rejected the offer, the Diet of Hungary elected John Hunyadi regent in 1446. In Bohemia, the head of the moderate Hussites, George of Poděbrady, the Estates of Austria forced Frederick III to resign the guardianship and hand over Ladislaus to them in September 1452. Royal administration was restored in Hungary after Hunyadi resigned the regency in early 1453. Ulrich II, Count of Celje became Ladislauss main advisor, but an Austrian baron, Ulrich Eytzinger, although Ladislaus was crowned king of Bohemia on 28 October 1453, Poděbrady remained in full control of the government. During the following years, Eytzinger, Hunyadi and Poděbrady closely cooperated to secure their positions. Ladislaus was reconciled with Celje in early 1455, with the support of the leading Hungarian barons, Ladislaus persuaded Hunyadi to withdraw his troops from most royal castles and renounce the administration of part of the royal revenues. After the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II decided to invade Hungary, Ladislaus, the sultan laid siege to Nándorfehérvár. Hunyadi relieved the fortress on 22 July 1456, but he died two weeks later, However, most Hungarian barons were hostile towards Ladislaus Hunyadi. With their support, Ladislaus captured him and his brother, Matthias, after Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed in March 1457, his relatives stirred up a rebellion against Ladislaus, forcing him to flee from Hungary. He was the last male member of the Albertinian Line of the House of Habsburg, Ladislaus was the posthumous son of Albert of Habsburg and Elizabeth of Luxembourg. Albert was the hereditary Duke of Austria, while Elizabeth was the child of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund
23.
Matthias Corvinus
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Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and he was the son of John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary, who died in 1456. In 1457, Matthias was imprisoned along with his brother, Ladislaus Hunyadi. Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed, causing a rebellion that forced King Ladislaus to flee Hungary, after the King died unexpectedly, Matthiass uncle Michael Szilágyi persuaded the Estates to unanimously proclaim Matthias king on 24 January 1458. He began his rule under his uncles guardianship, but he took control of government within two weeks. As king, Matthias waged wars against the Czech mercenaries who dominated Upper Hungary and against Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, in this period, the Ottoman Empire conquered Serbia and Bosnia, terminating the zone of buffer states along the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary. Matthias signed a treaty with Frederick III in 1463, acknowledging the Emperors right to style himself King of Hungary. The Emperor returned the Holy Crown of Hungary with which Matthias was crowned on 29 April 1464, in this year, Matthias invaded the territories that had recently been occupied by the Ottomans and seized fortresses in Bosnia. He soon realized he could expect no aid from the Christian powers. Matthias introduced new taxes and regularly collected extraordinary taxes and these measures caused a rebellion in Transylvania in 1467, but he subdued the rebels. The next year, Matthias declared war on George of Poděbrady, the Hussite King of Bohemia, and conquered Moravia, Silesia, and Lausitz, but he could not occupy Bohemia proper. The Catholic Estates proclaimed him King of Bohemia on 3 May 1469, instead, they elected Vladislaus Jagiellon, the eldest son of Casimir IV of Poland. A group of Hungarian prelates and lords offered the throne to Vladislauss younger brother Casimir, having routed the united troops of Casimir IV and Vladislaus at Breslau in Silesia in late 1474, Matthias turned against the Ottomans, who had devastated the eastern parts of Hungary. He sent reinforcements to Stephen the Great, Prince of Moldavia, in 1476, Matthias besieged and seized Šabac, an important Ottoman border fort. He concluded a treaty with Vladislaus Jagiellon in 1478, confirming the division of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown between them. Matthias waged a war against Emperor Frederick and occupied Lower Austria between 1482 and 1487, Matthias patronized art and science, his royal library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was one of the largest collections of books in Europe. With his patronage, Hungary became the first country to embrace the Renaissance from Italy, as Matthias the Just, the monarch who wandered among his subjects in disguise, he remains a popular hero of Hungarian folk tales. Matthias was born in Kolozsvár on 23 February 1443 and he was the second son of John Hunyadi and his wife, Elisabeth Szilágyi
24.
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Frederick III, called the Peaceful or the Fat, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death, the first emperor of the House of Habsburg. He was the emperor to be crowned by the Pope. Prior to his coronation, he was duke of the Inner Austrian lands of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1424. He was elected and crowned King of Germany in 1440 and he was the longest-reigning German monarch when in 1493, after ruling his domains for more than 53 years, he was succeeded by his son Maximilian I. During his reign, Frederick concentrated on re-uniting the Habsburg hereditary lands of Austria, nevertheless, by his dynastic entitlement to Hungary as well as by the Burgundian inheritance, he laid the foundations for the later Habsburg Empire. Mocked as Arch-Sleepyhead of the Holy Roman Empire during his lifetime, according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, the Leopoldinian branch ruled over the duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, or what was referred to as Inner Austria. Only three of Fredericks eight siblings survived childhood, his younger brother Albert, and his sisters Margaret and Catherine. In 1424, nine-year-old Fredericks father died, making Frederick the duke of Inner Austria, as Frederick V, with his uncle, Duke Frederick IV of Tyrol, from 1431, Frederick tried to obtain majority but for several years was denied by his relatives. Finally, in 1435, Albert V, duke of Austria, almost from the beginning, Fredericks younger brother Albert asserted his rights as a co-ruler, as the beginning of a long rivalry. Already in these years, Frederick had begun to use the symbolic A. E. I. O. U, signature as a kind of motto with various meanings. In 1436 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, accompanied by numerous nobles knighted by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, upon the death of his uncle Duke Frederick IV in 1439, Frederick took over the regency of Tyrol and Further Austria for the dukes heir Sigismund. Again he had to ward off the claims raised by his brother Albert VI, likewise he acted as regent for his nephew Ladislaus the Posthumous, son of late King Albert II and his consort Elizabeth of Luxembourg, in the duchy of Austria. Frederick was now the head of the Habsburg dynasty, though his regency in the lands of the Albertinian Line was still viewed with suspicion. In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi, burgomaster of Zurich, against the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Old Zurich War but lost. In 1448, he entered into the Concordat of Vienna with the Holy See, as a cousin of late King Albert II, Frederick became a candidate for the imperial election. In 1452, at the age of 37, Frederick III travelled to Italy to receive his bride and his fiancée, the 18-year-old infanta Eleanor, daughter of King Edward of Portugal, landed at Livorno after a 104-day trip. Her dowry would help Frederick alleviate his debts and cement his power, the couple met at Siena on 24 February and proceeded together to Rome. As per tradition, they spent a night outside the walls of Rome before entering the city on 9 March, where Frederick and Pope Nicholas V exchanged friendly greetings
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Pannonian Basin
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The Pannonian Basin or Carpathian Basin is a large basin in Central Europe. It is a subsystem of the Alps-Himalaya system. Most of the consists of the Great Hungarian Plain and the Little Hungarian Plain. The Pannonian Basin lies in the part of Central Europe. It forms a discrete unit set in the European landscape, surrounded by imposing geographic boundaries - the Carpathian Mountains, the Alps, the Dinarides. The Rivers Danube and Tisza divide the basin roughly in half and it extends roughly between Vienna in the northwest, Zagreb in the southwest, Belgrade in the southeast and Satu Mare in the northeast. The name Pannonian comes from Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire, in English, the terms Pannonian Basin and Carpathian Basin are used synonymously. The name Pannonian is taken from that of Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire, the historical province overlapped but was not coterminous with the geographical plain or basin. Pannonia Inferior covered much of the half of the basin. Pannonia Superior included the western fringe of the basin as well as part of the Eastern Alps, the southern fringe of the basin was in Dalmatia and Moesia. The eastern half of the basin was not conquered by the Romans, likewise, the parts north of the Danube were not in the empire, they were considered part of Germania, inhabited by the Quadi. The term Pannonian Plain refers to the parts of the Pannonian Basin as well as those of some adjoining regions like Lower Austria, Moravia, Bosnia. The lands adjoining the plain proper are also called peri-Pannonian. In Hungarian geographical literature various subdivisions of the Carpathian Mountains are also considered parts of the Carpathian Basin on the basis of traditional geopolitical divisions, julius Pokorny derived the name Pannonia from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root *pen-, swamp, water, wet. For its early settlers, the plain offered few sources of metals or stone, thus when archaeologists come upon objects of obsidian or chert, copper or gold, they have almost unparalleled opportunities to interpret ancient pathways of trade. The Pannonian plain is divided into two parts along the Transdanubian Mountains, the northwestern part is called Western Pannonian plain and the southeastern part Eastern Pannonian plain. The plain was named after the Pannon named Medes, various different peoples inhabited the plain during its history. In the first century BC, the parts of the plain belonged to the Dacian state
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Ladislaus I of Hungary
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Ladislaus I or Ladislas I, also Saint Ladislaus or Saint Ladislas was King of Hungary from 1077 and King of Croatia from 1091. He was the son of King Béla I of Hungary. Géza and Ladislaus cooperated with Solomon for the next decade, Ladislauss most popular legend, which narrates his fight with a Cuman who abducted a Hungarian girl, is connected to this period. Gézas and Ladislauss relationship with Solomon deteriorated in the early 1070s, Géza was proclaimed king in 1074, but Solomon maintained control of the western regions of his kingdom. During Gézas reign, Ladislaus was his brothers most influential adviser, Géza died in 1077, and his supporters made Ladislaus king. Solomon resisted Ladislaus with the assistance of King Henry IV of Germany, Ladislaus supported Henry IVs opponents during the Investiture Controversy. In 1081, Solomon abdicated and acknowledged Ladislauss reign, but he conspired to regain the royal crown, Ladislaus canonized the first Hungarian saints in 1085. He set Solomon free during the canonization ceremony, after a series of civil wars, Ladislauss main focus was the restoration of public safety. He introduced severe legislation, punishing those who violated property rights with death or mutilation and he occupied almost all Croatia in 1091, which marked the beginning of an expansion period for the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Ladislauss victories over the Pechenegs and Cumans ensured the security of his kingdoms eastern borders for about 150 years and his relationship with the Holy See deteriorated during the last years of his reign, as the popes claimed that Croatia was their fief, but Ladislaus denied their claims. Ladislaus was canonized on 27 June 1192 by Pope Celestine III, legends depict him as a pious knight-king, the incarnation of the late-medieval Hungarian ideal of chivalry. He is a saint in Hungary and neighboring nations, where many churches are dedicated to him. Ladislaus was the son of the future King Béla I of Hungary and his wife, Richeza. Ladislaus and his brother, Géza, were born in Poland. Ladislauss physical and spiritual makeup testified to Gods gracious will even at his birth, the almost contemporaneous Gallus Anonymus wrote that Ladislaus was raised from childhood in Poland and almost became a Pole in his ways and life. He received a Slavic name, Ladislaus is the Hungarian version of Vladislav, Béla and his family returned to Hungary around 1048. Béla received the so-called Duchy – which encompassed one-third of the kingdom – from his brother, the Illuminated Chronicle mentions that Andrews son, Solomon, was anointed king with the consent of Duke Bela and his sons Geysa and Ladislaus in 1057 or 1058. Béla, who had been Andrews heir before Solomons coronation, left for Poland in 1059 and they returned with Polish reinforcements and began a rebellion against Andrew
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Andrew II of Hungary
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Andrew II, also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 1188 until 1189/1190, and he was the younger son of Béla III of Hungary, who entrusted him with the administration of the newly conquered Principality of Halych in 1188. Andrews rule was unpopular, and the boyars expelled him, Béla III willed property and money to Andrew, obliging him to lead a crusade to the Holy Land. Instead, Andrew forced his brother, King Emeric of Hungary. The following year, Andrew occupied Hum, despite the fact that Andrew did not stop conspiring against Emeric, the dying king made Andrew guardian of his son, Ladislaus III, in 1204. After the premature death of Ladislaus, Andrew ascended the throne in 1205, Andrew introduced a new grants policy, the so-called new institutions, giving away money and royal estates to his partisans despite the loss of royal revenues. He was the first Hungarian monarch to adopt the title of King of Halych and he waged at least a dozen wars to seize the two Rus principalities, but the local boyars and neighboring princes prevented him from conquering the principalities. He participated in the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1217–1218, when the servientes regis, or royal servants, rose up, Andrew was forced to issue the Golden Bull of 1222, confirming their privileges. This led to the rise of the nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary and his Diploma Andreanum of 1224 listed the liberties of the Transylvanian Saxon community. The employment of Jews and Muslims to administer the royal revenues led him into conflict with the Holy See, Andrew pledged to respect the privileges of the clergymen and to dismiss his non-Christian officials in 1233, but he never fulfilled the latter promise. Andrews first wife, Gertrude of Merania, was murdered in 1213, because her blatant favoritism towards her German kinsmen, the veneration of their daughter, Elizabeth of Hungary, was confirmed by the Holy See during Andrews lifetime. After Andrews death, his sons, Béla and Coloman, accused his wife, Beatrice dEste, of adultery and never considered her son, Stephen. Andrew was the son of King Béla III and Bélas first wife. The year of Andrews birth is not known, but modern historians agree that he was born around 1177, Andrew was first mentioned in connection to his fathers invasion of the Principality of Halych in 1188. That year, Béla III invaded Halych upon the request of its prince, Vladimir II Yaroslavich. Béla forced the new prince, Roman Mstislavich, to flee, after conquering Halych, he granted it to Andrew. Béla also captured Vladimir Yaroslavich and imprisoned him in Hungary, after Bélas withdrawal from Halych, Roman Mstislavich returned with the assistance of Rurik Rostislavich, Prince of Belgorod Kievsky. They tried to expel Andrew and his Hungarian retinue, but the Hungarians routed the forces of Mstislavich and Rostislavich
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Mary of Hungary, Queen of Naples
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Mary of Hungary, of the Árpád dynasty, was Queen consort of the Kingdom of Naples. She was a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary and his wife Elizabeth the Cuman, Mary served as Regent in Provence in 1290–1294 and in Naples in 1295–96, 1296–98, and 1302, during the absences of her consort. Marys mother followed the Shamanist religion, like other Cumans and she was considered a Pagan by contemporary Christians of Europe and Elizabeth had to convert to Catholicism in order to marry Marias father, Stephen. Its unknown at what age she chose Christianity, but could be possible that she was raised as an Orthodox in the Hungarian royal court since her childhood. Mary was the second of six children and her sisters, Elizabeth and Catherine both became Queen of Serbia. Another sister, Anna married Andronikos II Palaiologos, Marys only brother was Ladislaus IV of Hungary. Her paternal grandparents were Béla IV of Hungary and his wife Maria Laskarina and her maternal grandparents could have been Köten, leader of a tribe of Cumans and unknown mother. In 1270, when Mary was only years of age. The wedding took place in Naples on 6 August 1270, Maria accompanied Charles on his trips and spent 1278-82 in Provence with her consort. In 1284, she made her first political act, when Charles was taken captive by Aragon, in 1285, Charles became monarch but remained in Aragonese prison. She did not take part in the regency for him in Naples, but remained in Provence, in 1288, she took part in the negotiations of her consorts release, and the same year, she made a peace treaty with Aragon. Charles was release the year, and they returned to Naples together. In 1290-94, she was regent for him in Provence, on 10 July 1290, Marys brother, Ladislaus IV of Hungary died childless. The question now was who would succeed him, he had four sisters, on 21 September 1290, Mary claimed the throne of Hungary. She was up against her two sisters, Catherine and Elisabeth, and their children, plus the children of her younger sister Anna, Mary was crowned Queen by a Papal legate in Naples, but immediately transferred her rights to her eldest son, Charles Martel of Anjou. The Pope confirmed her sole rights in Hungary on 30 August 1295, however, Catherines son, Stephen Vladislav II of Syrmia, was still a dangerous rival for Mary and Charles Martel. In the end, Charles Martel gave his cousin Slavonia as a compromise, Charles Martel was only titular King of Hungary, it was Marys grandson who became King, Charles I of Hungary. Ultimately the claims of the sisters Mary and Catherine were united in a common descendant when the pairs great-great-granddaughter, Mary of Hungary, ascended to the Hungarian throne in 1382
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Stephen V of Hungary
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Stephen V was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1270 and 1272, and Duke of Styria from 1258 to 1260. He was the oldest son of King Béla IV and Maria Laskarina, King Béla had his son crowned king at the age of six and appointed him Duke of Slavonia. Still a child, Stephen married Elizabeth, a daughter of a chieftain of the Cumans whom his father settled in the Great Hungarian Plain, King Béla appointed Stephen Duke of Transylvania in 1257 and Duke of Styria in 1258. The local noblemen in Styria, which had been annexed four years before, assisted by King Ottokar II of Bohemia, they rebelled and expelled Stephens troops from most parts of Styria. After Ottokar II routed the army of Stephen and his father in the Battle of Kressenbrunn on 12 July 1260, Stephen left Styria. Stephen forced his father to all the lands of the Kingdom of Hungary to the east of the Danube to him. In two years, a war broke out between father and son, because Stephen accused Béla of planning to disinherit him. They concluded a treaty in 1266, but confidence was never restored between them. Stephen succeeded his father, who died on 3 May 1270, without difficulties, Ottokar II invaded Hungary in the spring of 1271, but Stephen routed him. In next summer, a rebellious lord captured and imprisoned Stephens son, shortly thereafter, Stephen unexpectedly fell ill and died. Stephen was the child and first son of King Béla IV of Hungary and his wife, Maria. Archbishop Robert of Esztergom baptised him on 18 October, the child, heir apparent from birth, was named after Saint Stephen, the first King of Hungary. Béla and his family, including Stephen, fled to Zagreb after the Mongols had annihilated the army in the Battle of Mohi on 11 April 1241. The Mongols crossed the frozen Danube in February 1242 and the family ran off as far as the well-fortified Dalmatian town of Trogir. The King and his family returned from Dalmatia after the Mongols unexpectedly withdrew from Hungary in March, a royal charter of 1246 mentions Stephen as King, and Duke of Slavonia. The seven-year-old Stephens provinces—Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia—were administered by royal governors, in a letter addressed to Pope Innocent IV in the late 1240s, Béla IV wrote that n behalf of Christendom we had our son marry a Cuman girl. The bride was Elizabeth, the daughter of a leader of the Cumans whom Béla had invited to settle in the plains along the river Tisza. Elizabeth had been baptized, but ten Cuman chieftains present at the ceremony nevertheless took their oath upon a dog cut into two by a sword
30.
Mary, Queen of Hungary
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Mary, also known as Maria, was Queen regnant of Hungary and Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, Marys marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, a member of the imperial Luxembourg dynasty, was already decided before her first birthday. A delegation of Polish prelates and lords confirmed her right to succeed her father in Poland in 1379, Mary was crowned king of Hungary on 17 September 1382, seven days after Louis the Greats death. Her mother, who assumed regency, absolved the Polish noblemen from their oath of loyalty to Mary in favor of Marys younger sister, Hedwig, in early 1383. The idea of a female monarch remained unpopular among the Hungarian noblemen, to strengthen Marys position, the queen mother wanted her to marry Louis, the younger brother of Charles VI of France. Their engagement was announced in May 1385, Charles III of Naples landed in Dalmatia in September 1385. Sigismund of Luxemburg invaded Upper Hungary, forcing the queen mother to give Mary in marriage to him in October, however, they could not prevent Charles from entering Buda. After Mary renounced the throne, Charles was crowned king on 31 December 1385, Mary was restored, but the murdered kings supporters captured her and her mother on 25 July. Queen Elizabeth was murdered in January 1387, but Mary was released on 4 June 1387, Mary officially remained the co-ruler with Sigismund, who had meanwhile been crowned king, but her influence on the government was minimal. She and her son died after her horse threw her during a hunting trip. Mary was born in the half of 1371 to Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland. She was the daughter of her parents. They had been childless for over a decade before Marys older sister, Mary and Catherine gained another sibling, Hedwig, in 1374. Before Marys first birthday, her father made a promise to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Louis confirmed his promise in a deed in June 1373. Mary and Sigismund were closely related, because her grandmother, Elizabeth of Poland, was the sister of his great-grandfather. Pope Gregory XI issued the necessary for their marriage on 6 December 1374. The leading Hungarian and Polish lords confirmed Louiss promise of Marys, Marys older sister, Catherine, who had been betrothed to Louis of France, died in late 1378. Louis the Great confirmed his promise of Marys and Sigismunds marriage to Sigismunds brother, Wenceslaus, King of the Romans
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Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
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Sigismund von Luxembourg was the leader of the last West European Crusade - the Crusade of Nicopolis of 1396. Afterwards he founded the Dragon Order to fight the Turks and he was regarded as highly educated, spoke several languages and was an outgoing person who also took pleasure in the tournament. He was named after Saint Sigismund of Burgundy, the saint of Sigismunds father. From Sigismunds childhood he was nicknamed the fox in the Crown of Bohemia. King Louis named him as his heir and appointed him his successor as King of Hungary, King Wenceslaus also gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland. Instead, the landlords of Lesser Poland gave it to Marys younger sister Jadwiga I of Poland, on the death of her father in 1382, his betrothed, Mary, became queen of Hungary and Sigismund married her in 1385 in Zólyom. The next year, he was accepted as Marys future co-ruler by the Treaty of Győr, Sigismunds mother-in-law was strangled, while Mary was liberated. Having secured the support of the nobility, Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary at Székesfehérvár on 31 March 1387. Having raised money by pledging Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, margrave of Moravia, the central power was finally weakened to such an extent that only Sigismunds alliance with the powerful Czillei-Garai League could ensure his position on the throne. The restoration of the authority of the administration took decades of work. Not until 1395 did Nicholas II Garay succeed in suppressing them, Mary died heavily pregnant in 1395. To ease the pressure from Hungarian nobles, Sigismud tried to employ foreign advisors, which was not popular, however, this was not applied to Stibor of Stiboricz, who was Sigismunds closest friend and advisor. On a number of occasions, Sigismund was imprisoned by nobles, in 1396 Sigismund led the combined armies of Christendom against the Turks, who had taken advantage of the temporary helplessness of Hungary to extend their dominion to the banks of the Danube. This crusade, preached by Pope Boniface IX, was popular in Hungary. Sigismund set out with 90,000 men and a flotilla of 70 galleys, after capturing Vidin, he camped with his Hungarian armies before the fortress of Nicopolis. Sultan Bayezid I raised the siege of Constantinople and, at the head of 140,000 men, the disaster in Nicopolis angered several Hungarian lords, leading to instability in the kingdom. However, he was unable to support Wenceslaus when he was deposed in 1400, on his return to Hungary in 1401, Sigismund was imprisoned once and deposed twice. In 1401 Sigismund helped an uprising against Wenceslaus, during the course of which the Bohemian king was taken prisoner, and Sigismund ruled Bohemia for nineteen months
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Louis II of Hungary
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Louis II was King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia from 1516 to 1526. He was killed during the Battle of Mohács fighting the Ottomans, born prematurely in Buda on 1 July 1506, the court doctors kept him alive by slaying animals and wrapping him in their warm carcasses as a primitive incubator. He was the son of Vladislaus II Jagiellon and his third wife. In 1515 Louis II was married to Mary of Austria, granddaughter of Emperor Maximilian I and his sister Anne was married to Marys brother Ferdinand, then a governor on behalf of his brother Charles V, and later Emperor Ferdinand I. As king of Bohemia, Louis II became known as Ludovicus the Child, the first thaler coins were minted during his reign in Bohemia, later giving the name to the dollars used in different countries. After his fathers death in 1516, the minor Louis II ascended to the throne of Hungary, Louis was adopted by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1515. When Maximilian I died in 1519, Louis was raised by his guardian, his cousin George. Following the accession to the throne of Suleiman I, the sultan sent an ambassador to Louis II to collect the tribute that Hungary had been subjected to. Louis refused to pay tribute and had the Ottoman ambassador executed. Louis believed that the Papal States and other Christian States including Charles V and this event hastened the fall of Hungary. Hungary was in a state of anarchy in 1520 under the rule of the magnates. The kings finances were a shambles, he borrowed to meet his household expenses despite the fact that they totaled about one-third of the national income. The countrys defenses weakened as border guards went unpaid, fortresses fell into disrepair, in 1521 Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was well aware of Hungarys weakness. The Ottoman Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Hungary, Suleiman postponed his plan to besiege Rhodes, Louis failed to coordinate and gather his forces. At the same time, Hungary was unable to get assistance from other European states, Belgrade and many strategic castles in Serbia were captured by the Ottomans. This was disastrous for Louis kingdom, without the important cities of Belgrade and Šabac, Hungary. After the siege of Rhodes, in 1526 Suleiman made an expedition to subdue all of Hungary. Louis made an error when he tried to stop the Ottoman army in an open field battle with a medieval army, insufficient firearms
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House of Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
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Lands of the Hungarian Crown
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The Lands of the Hungarian Crown were the territories that the King of Hungary ruled nominally or absolutely, and therefore the phrase denominates the royal demesnes of Hungary. Therefore the Lands of the Hungarian Crown constituted part of the later Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, st. King Ladislaus I used the title of King of Slavonia in 1091. Therefore successive Hungarian kings bore the title of King of Croatia and Dalmatia. In 1136, King Béla II invaded the Kingdom of Bosnia for the first time and initiated the long enduring subjection of Bosnia to the Hungarian Crown. In 1137, King Béla II assumed the title of King of Rama to signify his rule of Bosnia, Rama being the name of a river in Bosnia, and his successors were also so styled. King Béla II also instituted the title of Duke of Bosnia as an honorary title for his adult son. After Stefan Nemanja and his son Vukan Nemanjić swore fealty to King Emeric, the Principality of Halych was annexed to the Lands of the Hungarian Crown during the reign of King Andrew II, who adopted the title of King of Galicia. Successive kings usually bore the title of King of Lodomeria and Galicia, Lodomeria denominating the City of Volhynia. Béla IV of Hungary began expansionist politics towards Cumania and he promoted Christian missions among the pagan Cumans who dwelled in the plains south of the Carpathians. In 1228, he established the Diocese of Cumania which was initially under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Esztergom, local chieftains acknowledged his suzerainty and he adopted the title of King of Cumania in 1233. King Stephen V conquered territory in Bulgaria, received its local nobles as his vassals, between 1526 and 1541 Hungary disintegrated into three parts. From the 16th century, Hungary proper, Croatia and Transylvania were the three regna of the Crown and these lands had some links with each other but became more and more autonomous during the centuries. Galicia was acquired by the Habsburgs in the name of the Hungarian Crown, after World War One, Transylvania was ceded to Romania and Croatia merged into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
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