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King of Hungary

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The King of Hungary (Hungarian: magyar király) was the head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918.

File:Saint Stephen Crown.jpg

Beginnings

The first King of Hungary, Stephen I was crowned on 25 December 1000 (or 1 January 1001) with the crown Pope Sylvester II had sent him with the consent of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III.

Following King Stephen I's coronation, all the monarchs of Hungary used the title of king. Although Stephen Bocskai and Francis II Rákóczi were proclaimed Prince of Hungary, but their legitimacy was not generally accepted, either in the Kingdom of Hungary.

International status

The Kings of Hungary were sovereign monarchs, ie, they did not submit themselves to others. Although Emperors and Sultans of the Ottoman Empire sometimes claimed supremacy over them, but only some of the kings, and only in specific historical situations, did homage to foreign monarchs.

The Kings of Hungary, as heads of the Archiregnum Hungaricum ("High Kingdom of Hungary"), also tried to extend their supremacy over the rulers of the neighbouring countries and provinces during the 13th-16th centuries. Although these claims were usually rejected, some foreign monarchs were obliged to swear fidelity to the King of Hungary. In any case, these rulers have to be differentiated from the dignitaries of the Kingdom of Hungary who governed provinces (e.g., Transylvania, Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia), since the latters were not vassals but high-officers of the kings.

From 1097 onwards, the Kings of Hungary were also Kings of Croatia, because of the political union of the the two states. During the rule of the Habsburgs, a real union developed step by step between the Lands of the Holy Crown and the other countries and provinces of the royal house, but it never became a political union[1].

Claims to supremacy over them

Holy Roman Emperors

In 1045, King Peter I did homage to the Emperor Henry III, but the king was dethronised in 1046, and his successor, King Andrew I refused the Emperor's supremacy. The Emperor's successor, King Henry IV of Germany acknowledged the independence of the kingdom in the peace concluded with Andrew I in 1058.

King Solomon also swore allegiance to King Henry IV of Germany in 1074, but by that time he had been ruling over only some counties of the kingdom and he abdicated in 1081. King Solomon's opponent, King Ladislaus I never recognised the Emperor's claims.

During the Mongol invasion of Hungary (tatárjárás), in 1241, King Béla IV accepted Emperor Frederick II's supremacy hoping that the Emperor would provide him military assistance against the Mongols. But Frederick II did not intervene in the struggle, and Béla IV was later absolved of his oath by Pope Innocent IV in 1245. Eventually, King Rudolf I of Germany referred to Béla IV's homage when he invested, in 1290, his son, Duke Albert I of Austria with the Kingdom of Hungary that he regarded as a derelict fiefdom after King Ladislaus IV's death. Finally, Duke Albert I waived his claim, already in 1291, in the peace he concluded with King Andrew III of Hungary.

Afterwards, the Holy Roman Emperors never claimed the allegiance of the Kings of Hungary.

Byzantine Emperors

Byzantine Emperors, as heirs to the ancient Roman Emperors, tended to regard themselves as heads of the Christian Commonwealth (oikumené)[2]. However, they could rarely enforce their claims. Although, King Stephen IV swore allegiance to Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1163, but only after he had been expelled from Hungary.

Sultans of the Ottoman Empire

In 1529, King John I visited Sultan Suleiman I, who had been supported him against his opponent, King Ferdinand I, and swore allegiance to him. Based on this oath, Sultan Suleiman I, having occupied the Central parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, invested, in 1541, King John I's son King John II Sigismund with the Eastern territories of the kingdom, and the young king governed his realm by the Sultan's grace. However, King John I's and King John II Sigismund's rule extended only over parts of the kingdom, and their opponents from the House of Habsburg never accepted the Sultan's supremacy.

In 1605, Sultan Ahmed I sent a royal crown to Stephen Bocskai, who had been proclaimed Prince of Hungary by the Estates, but Stephen Bocskai never was proclaimed king and crowned.

Their vassals

Bans and Kings of Bosnia

Coat of arms of Rama.
Coat of arms of Rama.

From the 12th century, the Kings of Hungary was regarding the Bans of Bosnia as their high-officers, but the bans were, in practise, elected by the local nobility. The first ban who swore allegiance to a king of Hungary (Emeric I) was Ban Kulin in 1203, but during the 13th century the supremacy of the Kings of Hungary over Bosnia was only theoretical.

Around 1323, Ban [Stephen II of Bosnia|Stepan II Kotromanić]] did homage to King Charles I, but his successor Tvrtko I separated from the Holy Crown and even had himself crowned King of Bosnia in 1377. In 1394 King Stjepan Dabiša swore allegiance to King Sigismund I, but his successors (Tvrtko II, Stjepan Ostoja) and their powerfull vassals (Dukes Hrvoje Vukčić and Sandalj Hranić) often turned against the supremacy of the King of Hungary.

Finally, in 1425 King Tvrtko II of Bosnia was reconciled with Sigismund I and from this reconciliation the Kings of Bosnia were faithful vassals of the Kings of Hungary till the occupation of their kingdom by the Ottoman Empire in 1463. King Matthias I granted, in 1471, the empty title of "King of Bosnia" to one of the Hungarian magnates, Miklós Újlaki.

Despots and tzars of Bulgaria

In 1266, King Stephen V compelled Despot Jakov Svetoslav, who was ruling over Vidin, to swear allagiance to him, but after the king's death the rulers of Bulgaria did not accept the supremacy of the Kings of Hungary.

In 1369, King Louis I invested Tzar Ivan Stratsimir with the fiefdom of the territories around Vidin, the King had occupied before, and the tzar acknowledged the overlordship of the King of Hungary till 1388 when he became the vassals of the the Ottoman Empire.

Chieftains of the Cumans

Coat of arms of Cumania

Bartz and Membrok, Chieftains of the Cuman tribes settled down in the territories west of the Dniester River, were baptized and they acknowledged the overlordship of King Béla IV around 1228. However, the Mongol invasion of Europe obliged the Cumans to take refuge in Hungary in 1241.

After immigrating to Hungary, the Cuman, after a long series of conflicts with the Hungarians, settled down in two regions of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Kiskunság and Nagykunság.

Princes of Moldavia

File:Moldavia CoA.svg
Coat of arms of Moldavia

Despots of Serbia

Princes of Volhynia

Princes of Wallachia

The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary

Titles

During the centuries, the Kings of Hungary acquired or claimed the crowns of several neighbouring countries, and they began to use the royal titles connected to those countries. By the time of the last kings, their precise style was: "By the Grace of God, Apostolic King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria, Grand Prince of Transylvania, Count of the Szeklers".

The "Apostolic King" title was confirmed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 and used afterwards by all the Kings of Hungary.

The title of "King of Slavonia" referred to the territories between the Drava and the Sava Rivers and was used by Ladislaus I for the first time. It was also Ladislaus I who adopted the title "King of Croatia" in 1091. Coloman the Book-lover added the phrase "King of Dalmatia" to the royal style in 1105.

The title "King of Rama", referring to the claim to Bosnia, was firstly used by Béla II in 1136. It was Emeric I who adopted the title "King of Serbia". The phrase "King of Galicia" was used to indicate the supremacy over Halych, while the title "King of Lodomeria" referred to Volhynia; both titles were adopted by Andrew II in 1205. In 1233, Béla IV began to use the title "King of Cumania" which expressed the rule over the territories settled by the Cumans (ie, Wallachia and Moldavia) at that time. The phrase "King of Bulgaria" was added to the royal style by Stephen V.

Transylvania was originally a province of the Kingdom of Hungary, but became a principality subordinated to the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 16th century, and to the King of Hungary in 1686. In 1696, after dethronizing Prince Michael II Apafi, Leopold I took the title Prince of Transylvania. In 1765, Maria Theresa elevated Transylvania to Grand Principality. The Count (ispán) of the Szeklers was originally a dignitary of the Kingdom of Hungary, but the title was later used by the Princes of Transylvania.

Ascending the throne

Seniority or primogeniture - The Árpáds

Hungary was originally a hereditary kingship, but the order of succession was not clearly defined. The Hungarian tradition preferred seniority (senioratus) which gave preference the oldest patrilineal member of the royal family, while the Christian tradition supported the principle of primogeniture pursuant to which the eldest son of the deceased king inherited the throne. The two principles caused several civil wars during the 11th-12th centuries. Béla I, Ladislaus I, Ladislaus II and Stephen IV ascended the throne based on the principle of seniority, while other members of the Árpád dynasty inherited the throne from their fathers.

The cases of Peter I and Samuel I were exceptional; the former (son of Stephen I's sister) was appointed to inherit the throne by Stephen I's, while the latter (Stephen I's brother-in-law) was elected after Peter I's dethronisation.

Succession or election - The 14th-16th centuries

When the male line of the Árpád dynasty extinguished in 1301, all the claimants to the throne were matrilineal descendant of the dynasty. The struggle among the pretenders took till 1310 when Charles I, the great-grandson of Stephen V of Hungary, having been elected by the prelates, barons and nobles, was crowned with the Holy Crown (Szentkorona).

During the reign of the Angevin dynasty the principle of succession was strengthening, and the Estates followed the principle even in the case of Louis I's daughter Mary I who ascended the throne after his father's death without any resistance in 1382. However, the transient success of Charles II in 1385, who claimed the throne as the last male descendant of the Angevin dynasty, proved that the public opinion were not in favour of women's succession.

In 1387, Sigismund, himself also a (multiple) matrilineal descendant of the Árpád dynasty, was proclaimed king by the Estates by the right of his wife, Queen Mary I, who had been arrested by the partisans of her opponent Charles II. However, when Queen Mary I died in 1395, the Estates refused the claims to the throne of her sister, Queen Jadwiga of Poland, and they confirmed the widowed Sigismund's reign. By this action, the principle of election overcame for the following three centuries.

Although, during the period, the Estates usually preferred the deceased king's son or other claimants connected to the royal family (ie, son-in-laws or matrilineal descendants of previous kings) when deciding on the throne, but it was not a law. Wladislaus I, for example, was proclaimed king against the deceased king's son, Ladislaus V in 1440. He was, at least, a distant matrilineal descendant of the Árpáds, but in the case of Matthias I, in 1458, the Estates preferred a person without any royal ancestry to the claimants descending from King Sigismund.

In 1505, the Diet passed a bill which prohibited the election of foreigners to the throne, but it would never received the Royal Assent. In practise, the bill was aimed at the exclusion of the members of the Habsburgs from the succession, but finally the Estates had to be reconciled to the reign of the foreign dynasty.

Junior Kings

Because of the above-mentioned uncertainties around the order of succession, the kings endeavored to strengthen their heir's position; therefore they had their heir apparent crowned in their lifetime. The first example was Solomon, the son of Andrew I, who was crowned in 1057 when his father was still alive; however, this action could not rescued Solomon from the later dethronisation.

A Junior King (rex iunior) usually did not excercised prerogative powers, with the exception of Stephen V, but in the 13th century he was entrusted with the government of certain provinces of the kingdom. The first example was Emeric I who was governing Croatia and Dalmatia when he was rex iunior. The Junior Kings of Árpád dynasty were to be crowned again when ascended the throne after their father's death.

During the 14-15th centuries, the heirs apparent were never crowned while their predecessor was still alive. The custom revived only in 1508, when Louis II was crowned during his father's lifetime to ensure, despite of the strengthening of the principle of election, his succession. He and the later Junior Kings do not excercised prerogative powers before the death of their father and they were not crowned again.

After 1688, when the principle of hereditary monarchy was enacted, the institution became unnecessary and disappeared. However, the last of the Junior Kings was Ferdinand V, crowned in 1830; he had been considered incapable of ruling, consequently confirment of his succession rights by the ceremony seemed rational.

Victory of the hereditary monarchy - The Habsburgs

Although the Habsburgs deemed themselves as hereditary rulers of Hungary, the Estates insisted on the principle of election. As a first step towards the revival of the hereditary monarchy, already in 1547, the Diet declared that Estates had submitted themselves not only to Ferdinand I but also to his heirs[3].

However, the liberation of the Central and Eastern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary from the rule of the Ottoman Empire changed radically the Estates's attitude towards the hereditary monarchy, and they declared the hereditary claims of Leopold I and his legitimate male descendants to the throne[4]. The hereditary claims were extended also to King Charles II of Spain and his legitimate male descendants, but the Estates reserved the right to elect a new king in case the male line both of Leopold I and King Charles II of Spain extinguished[5].

Moreover, in 1722, when it had become obvious that Charles III would not father male descendants, the hereditary claims of the female descendants of Charles III, Leopold I and Joseph I were also confirmed by the Diet[6].

By the end of the 13th century, the customs of the Kingdom of Hungary prescribed that all the following three requirements shall be fulfilled when a new king ascended the throne:

Afterwards, from 1387 the customs also required the election of the new king. Although, this requirement dissapeared when the principle of the hereditary monarchy overcome, but afterwards kings were required to issue a formal declaration (credentionales litterae) in which they swore on respecting the constitution of the kingdom.

The first requirement (coronation by the Archbishop of Esztergom) was confirmed by Béla III, who had been crowned by the Archbishop of Kalocsa based on the special authorisation of Pope Alexander III, but after his coronation he declared that his coronation would not harm the costumary claim of the Archbishops of Esztergom to crown the kings. In 1211, Pope Innocent III denied to confirm the agreement of Archbishop John of Esztergom and Archbishop Berthold of Kalocsa on the transfer of the claim, and he declared that it is only the Archbishop of Esztergom who is entitled to crown the King of Hungary.

List of the Kings of Hungary

Sources

  • Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század), főszerkesztő: Kristó, Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel, Pál és Makk, Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)
  • Magyarország Történeti Kronológiája I-III. – A kezdetektől 1526-ig; 1526-1848, 1848-1944, főszerkesztő: Benda, Kálmán (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981, 1982, 1993)
  • Magyar Történelmi Fogalomtár I-II. – A-K; L-ZS, főszerkesztő: Bán, Péter (Gondolat, Budapest, 1989)

References

  1. ^ "(...) the countries and provinces which are under the rule of one common monarch, pursuant to the established order of succession, are to be held together indivisibly and inseparably. Based on this principle declared definitely, the future defence and maintatance of the common security by making joint efforts is a common and mutual obligation (...). However, besides this established obligation, the pragmatica sanctio also reserved, definitely, that Hungary's constitutional independence, under the public law and also relating to the internal affairs, is to be maintaned without injury." (Sections 2 and 3 of Article XII of 1867).
  2. ^ Obolensky, Dimitri: The Byzantine Commonwealth.
  3. ^ "(...) the Estates of the realm have submitted themselves not only to His Majesty's, but also his heirs' power and rule for ever (...)" (Section 5 of Article V of 1547).
  4. ^ "(...) all the Estates of this Hungary and its connected parts reveal that they would accept, from now and for ever, nobody else than the first born among of the male heirs descending from the groins of the above-mentioned Imperial and Royal Majesty (...)" (Section 1 of Article II of 1687).
  5. ^ Article III of 1687.
  6. ^ Article II of 1723.

See also

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