When it comes to the impression that the Hungarian state gives us, many people often think of the strong image of the "Christian shield", the Hungarian hussars, and the Hungarian hussars, rather than the Hungarian Republic of Today," which is developed capitalism. In fact, this does not blame everyone, after all, the development process of Hungarian civilization is relatively late, to what extent? When the European states were at the height of the Middle Ages, and the early feudal state of Hungary had just been established...
In the 10th century, the island nation of Japan entered the middle and late Heian period; the Korean Peninsula was experiencing the post-Three Kingdoms era; the Central Plains was also the Period of the Five Dynasties of the Northern Song Dynasty; the Holy Roman Empire in Europe had just begun; and Eastern Europe established Kievan Rus'. The Hungarian state had only just entered the early feudal period
Although the Magyars established the so-called "Arpad Dynasty" as early as 889 AD; the Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896, the true Hungarian feudal state began with the difficult establishment of the 10th century AD
Archduke Alpard
In the last issue, we talked about the archduke of the Hungarian state, Archduke Arpad, and we also said that archduke Arpad was not only the self-proclaimed archduches, but also not the founder of the real Hungarian international (for details, see the Arpad dynasty, the beginning of the establishment of the Hungarian state - A Brief History of Hungary 4)
Archduke Alpard
Many of the deeds of Archduke Arpard are more legends and stories of today's Hungary, more legendary in nature. As for the image of Archduke Arpard in the historical data, it is more the appearance of a tribal alliance leader
In other words, in the era of military democracy in the era of tribal alliances, Archduke Arpard was not a "dictator", he was only the leader of the ten tribal chiefs of the Magyars, and it was the tribal elders who really decided the major affairs of the whole clan, and Archduke Arpard was more like the initiator and supporter of the tribal council
Archduke Arpard led the people
Therefore, the early Hungarian state did not have the so-called "succession to the throne", at most it was the elderly succession system, choosing the most prestigious family elder to take over the leader, and continuing to lead and unite the people
Thus, after the death of Archduke Alpad in 907 and the succession of his son Zoltan (Zoltan 907-946) to the throne, he was no longer able to unite the various tribes due to prestige and other issues, so that the Magyar tribes that had just settled in the Carpathian Basin were independent
As a result, Hungary's external power was loose, and it was gradually defeated by the feudal centralized monarchy developed in Western Europe, which was marked by the defeat of the Hungarians in Augsburg in 955 AD
Of course, Grand Duke Soltan was no longer in office at the time, and after Archduke Soltan, the Arpad dynasty was succeeded by Val 946-952, the grandson of Archduke Alpard
And Fais also reigned for just 6 years, and then was succeeded by Alcsony (Taksony 952-972), another son of Grand Duke Arpard, and what happened in this struggle for the throne and the transfer of power needless to say, we who are familiar with the power struggle in ancient China are all too familiar with it
And it was during the time of Archduke Taksoni that the Hungarians were defeated at Augsburg, and from then on they converged, stopped killing and plundering neighboring countries, and began internal changes, gradually transitioning from barbaric nomads to semi-civilized farming, and the early feudal era of Hungary began...
The founder of the country, Archduke Geisa
After the defeat at the Battle of Augsburg in 955, the Hungarians completely lost the military superiority of the cold weapon era, on the one hand, because of the powerful monarchy of the European countries and the development of military technology, on the other hand, because of the disunity within Hungary after the Archduke of Alpard
Battle of Augsburg
After the development of the three grand dukes of Soltan, Fais and Taxison after archdukes of Alpard, Hungary was finally unified in the period of the fifth grand duke, the grand duke of Gessa (also translated as grand duke of Gicha).
In August 955, the Hungarians, led by Rael (the Hungarian legend of Lycher) and Burchu, were defeated by Otto I, the founder of the Holy Roman Empire, at Lechfeld, annexed to Augsburg
Otto I the Great
At the Battle of Lechfeld, it is recorded that only seven Hungarians survived (mostly exaggerated), and the fiasco of Rael and Burchu forced the Hungarians to face a choice:
Is it to continue this development until the aftermath of the Huns and Avars is doomed? Or is it "thinking of change when you are poor" and learning from the more developed Western countries around you?
Eventually, the Enlightened Hungarians decided to change: they expelled their herds, stopped living by water and grass, chose to transition to settled agricultural production, and began the transition from nomadic to agricultural
With the development of agricultural civilization, the internal division of rich and poor has arisen, resulting in the emergence of a small number of dominant landlord classes and the majority of the ruled peasants and poor classes
With the strong power of the upper feudal landlords, the acquisition of more land and slaves, and gradually becoming the early feudal lords, that is, the ruling class of Hungary at that time, the conditions for Hungary to establish a state are ripe!
It was in this context that Archduke Gessa of Hungary completed the decisive final step in the establishment of the Hungarian state, succeeding his father Archduke Taksoni as the new Archduke in 972 AD
The image of Archduke Geisa on a stamp
In fact, as the eldest son of Grand Duke Taksoni, Geisa, at the moment of inheriting his father's position, he destroyed the traditional Hungarian elder succession system and became the eldest son inheritance system, which has a historical significance equivalent to the "Xia Chuanzi, Family World" in the early Xia Dynasty of China.
Of course, Grand Duke Geisa took office by force, and for the sake of his position, he defeated all hostile forces, killed all opposing enemies, and even slaughtered all other family members
The iron-blooded Grand Duke of Geissa, who had unified the Tribes of Hungary as soon as he took office (972), sent envoys to the Holy Roman Emperor in Quedlinburg in the Harz Mountains to request the dispatch of clerics and knights to Hungary
This move undoubtedly declares two things: Hungary intends to convert to Christianity in religious belief and to integrate ideologically and culturally into the cultural circles of Western Europe; Want to exchange "favor" for nominal "surrender"
Although Archduke Geissa personally maintained his pagan habits thereafter, he nominally received Catholic baptism and became a Catholic, gaining a political advantage
At the same time, he did not put eggs in a basket, and married Sharot, the daughter of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Eldai,D'Djula family, to strengthen his position by marriage
His son István also married Giselle, the daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, and successfully opened up relations with the West. After several sets of combined punches, Archduke Geissa completed the preparations for the establishment of the state
Bavarian location
With the introduction of Christianity (975), Hungary, a country with a mixed Ural-Turkic culture, began to gradually integrate into European civilization, and for a long time thereafter, the main faith in Hungary was Catholic
The legend of The Archduke of Geissa, on the other hand, was highly controversial: he was said to have been quite ruthless at home, and was even more ruthless with his enemies, but he was fond of foreign knights
What many people don't know is that his actions were actually preparations for his son to establish a state. In 997 his son István I succeeded to the throne as Grand Duke, and the new Grand Duke had a more resounding name, St. John's. Stephen I!
The founding of Istevan I
István I is also translated as "Holy. Szent István" (Szent István), which of course was his Hungarian name, and he also had an English name called "St. István". Saint Stephen
saint. István
His original name was Voyk, the son of the Grand Duke of Geisa, who became the last Grand Duke of The Arpad (997-1000) in 997 AD. He was also the first King of the Kingdom of Hungary (1000-1038)
Yes, he was the true founder of the Hungarian state (the previous Archduke of Alpard was more of an honorary title for later generations). It was only after him that the Hungarian feudal state, the Kingdom of Hungary, was truly established
And as the only son of Grand Duke Geissa. He converted to Catholicism at an early age, and at the behest of his father, he used marriage to open relations with Western countries, and finally "ascended the throne" in 997 and won the recognition of the Western world
After the death of Archduke Geissa, some opposition forces openly opposed István I, especially the introduction of Catholicism, and even more so, such as the local chief of Shomoji, Kobani, who set off an armed explosion
The young István I (then 27 years old) turned to the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, and finally succeeded in quelling the rebellion with the help of Bavarian warriors, German knights and ecclesiastical forces
Afterwards, the rebel Kobani and others were divided into four pieces. Hang on the gates of different cities to make an example. The remaining rebel forces surrendered, and in this way, Ishtwan succeeded in conquering the rebellion at the beginning of his reign
After the quelling of the civil unrest, around 1000 AD, Ishtwan I carried forward the exploits of his father and promoted Catholicism throughout the country. An application was also made to the Holy See, from which it received the emblem of royal power
According to tradition, on Christmas Day 1000 AD, István I was officially crowned the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II, and the Kingdom of Hungary was born!
Crown of István I at the time of his coronation
Later, István I established a network of archbishops and bishoprics in Hungary, and gained support for strengthening the monastery with generous donations
The tribe, the basic unit of traditional Hungary's society, disappeared, the Hungarian state entered an era of early feudalism, and with the reform and founding system of the late István I, a new European state, the Kingdom of Hungary rose rapidly...
So what kind of state-building and reform did Ishtwan I carry out in the later period? How has Hungary's national development been frustrated? Why did Hungary suffer again?
Stay tuned for this series, and stay tuned for the next issue!