Nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary
Encyclopedia
The origin of the nobility
in the Kingdom of Hungary
can be traced to the Magyar conquest of Pannonia in the 9th century, and it developed over the course of the Middle Ages. If flourished during the Late Middle Ages
, up to the partial Ottoman conquest
of the 16th century.
The origin of the Hungarian aristocracy (with regard to rank but not different in function from the minor nobility) derives from "men distinguished by birth and dignity" (maiores natu et dignitate) mentioned in the charters of the first kings. They descended partly from the leaders of the Magyar tribes
and clan
s and including immigrant (mainly German
, Italian and French
) knights (by invitation by the kings of Hungary) who settled in the kingdom in the course of the 10-12th centuries.
Local Slavic leaders were also recognized as nobles during the centuries. By the 13th century, the royal servants
(servientes regis), who mainly descended from the wealthier freemen (liberi), managed to ensure their liberties and their privileges were confirmed in the Golden Bull
issued by King Andrew II of Hungary
in 1222. Several families of the soldiers of the royal fortresses
(iobagio castri) could also strengthen their liberties and they received the status of the "true nobles of the realm" (veri nobiles regni) by the end of the 13th century, although most of them lost their liberties and became subordinate to private castle-holders. Many leaders of the mainly Slavic
, German
and Romanian
colonists who immigrated to the kingdom during the 11th-15th centuries also merged into the nobility. Kings had the authority to reward commoners with nobility and thenceforward, they enjoyed all the liberties of other nobles.
From the 14th century, the idea of "one and the same liberty" (una eademque libertas) appeared in the public law
of the kingdom; the idea suggested that all the nobles enjoyed the same privileges independently of their offices, birth or wealth. In reality, even the legislation made a distinction partly between the members of the upper nobility
(i.e., the nobles who held the highest offices in the Royal Households and in the royal administration or, from the 15th century, who used distinctive noble titles granted by the kings) and other nobles, and partly between nobles possessing lands and those without land possession. Moreover, public law
also recognized the existence of some groups of the "conditional nobility" (conditionarius) whose privileges were limited; e.g., the "nobles of the Church
" (nobilis ecclesiæ) were burdened with defined services to be provided to certain prelate
s. In some cases, not individuals but a group of people was granted a legal status similar to that of the nobility; e.g., the Hajdú people enjoyed the privileges of the nobility not as individuals but as a community.
Beginning in the 14th century, Hungarian nobility was based on a Patent of Nobility with a coat of arms
issued by the monarch and constituted a legal and social class. Privileges of nobility—e.g. no taxation but obligatory military service at war at own cost—were abolished 1848, titles of nobility were abolished in 1947, and the abolishment of titles of nobility were again confirmed in 1990.
Similarly to other countries in Central Europe
, the proportion of the nobility in the population of the Kingdom of Hungary was significantly higher than in the Western countries: by the 18th century, about 5% of its population qualified a member of the nobility.
The "cardinal liberties" of the nobility were clearly summarized in the Tripartitum (a law book collecting the body of common laws of the Kingdom of Hungary) in 1514. According to the Tripartitum, the nobles enjoyed personal freedom, they were submitted exclusively to the authority of the king and they were exempted of taxation but were required to serve in war at own cost; until 1681, they were also entitled to resist any actions of the monarchs that would jeopardize their liberties.
The core privileges of the nobility were abolished or expanded to other citizens by the "April laws
" in 1848, but the members of the upper nobility could reserve their special political rights (they were hereditary members of the Upper House of the Parliament) and the usage of names of the nobles also distinguished them from the commoners. All the distinctive features of nobility incl. titles were abolished in 1947
following the declaration of the Republic of Hungary, and the abolishment of titles of nobility was confirmed by parliament legislation in 1990.
The Latin term Natio Hungarica ("Hungarian nation") during the medieval period was used to subsume those groups with the right to representation in the Hungarian Diet: the nobility, the Catholic
clergy, and a few enfranchised burghers.
Natio Hungarica came to refer to the privileged group that had corporate political rights of parliamentary representation, i.e. the prelates, the magnates and the nobles, in the 18th century.
geographers mentioned that the Magyars
The freemen were organized into seven (later, after the Kabar
s had joined their tribal federation, eight) tribes
, and each tribe was made of clan
s . Although, the Magyars lived in a stratified society, but the legal position of the freemen was still equal.
Around 896, the Magyars invaded the Carpathian Basin and occupied its whole territory by 902. The occupied territory had been inhabited by mainly Slavs, Avars
and Germans
who became subject to the dominion of the Magyars; on the other hand, the name of Slavic origin of certain leaders of the Magyar armies suggest that some notabilities of the local population may have integrated themselves into the nomadic society. In the 13th century, Simon of Kéza described in his chronicle that
Following the conquest, the Magyars made several raids to the territories of present-day Italy
, Germany, France and Spain
and also to the lands of the Byzantine Empire
. On one hand, the regular raids contributed to the differentiation of their society because the leaders of the military actions were entitled to reserve a higher share of the booty for themselves, but on the other hand, these actions could also ensure that their commoner participants kept their independent status. These military actions also contributed to the formation of the retinues of the heads of the tribes and the clans. The regular military actions continued westwards until the Battle of Augsburg
in 955; while the raids against the Byzantine Empire finished only in 970. After (or even before) the close of the period of the military raids, the Magyar society underwent a gradual transformation, and several freemen was obliged to give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle down, because the Carpathian Basin did not provide vast pastures that could have sustained a numerous nomadic population.
The christianization
of the Magyars commenced during the reign of Géza
, Grand Prince of the Magyars
(before 972-997) who also invited western knight
s to settle down in his court and granted estates to them.
During the reign of Géza's son, King Stephen I (1000/1001-1038), who established the Kingdom of Hungary, the Hungarian society was legally divided into two major groups.
During the regin of King Stephen I., several foreign knight
s immigrated to the kingdom and they received estates from the king; families of the leaders of the Magyar tribes and clans could also reserve a part of their former possessions, provided that they accepted the king's supremacy.
The immigrant knights contributed to the development of the Hungarian army, because most of them were horse-mounted men-at-arms, while during the previous centuries the Magyar troops had exclusively been made of horse archers; only the wealthiest members of the Hungarian tribal aristocracy could follow their example, because the maintenance of their equipment required considerable financial resources. On the other hand, light cavalry
still took a prominent part in the Hungarian military strategy and therefore other "freemen" could also reserve their independent status provided that earned sufficient revenues from their possessions.
The legal differentiation of certain groups of the "freemen" commenced during King Stephens rule and his decrees contained different rules applicable to the "heads of counties
", the "warriors" and the "common freemen"; on the other hand, the size of the weregild
payable by their murderer was still the same according to his decrees which suggests that in theory, the "freemens" legal status was still equal.
By the second half of the 11th century, the equal legal status of the "freemen" had already loosened and the decrees of King Ladislaus I (1077–1095) often referred to them as thieves or vagabonds who were to be punished with serfdom
. The decisions of the Synod
of Szabolcs
(1092) prove that by that time, many of the "freemen" had gone into the service of the prelate
s and the "counts", although the synod also prescribed that their superiors should respect their personal freedom. Nevertheless, several "warriors" could reserve their own possessions and independent status and they became exempted from taxation according to the decrees of King Coloman (1095–1116).
The decrees of King Ladislaus I distinguished two groups of the freemen:
A new group of soldiers also appeared in the royal documents; they were the "royal castle's serfs
" who did not enjoy all the liberties of the "freemen" and were personally bound to a royal castle, but they had a share in both the royal estates attached to the castle and the tax paid by the people who were obliged to provide services to the royal fortress.
Before 1104, King Coloman introduced a new principle when regulating the inheritance of real estates and he differentiated the lands granted by King Stephen I on one hand, and the possessions granted by his successors on the other hand: the former were inherited by all the male descendants of the person who received the grant, while the latter could only be inherited by the owner's sons or (in the lack of sons) by his brothers or their sons.
s. The first example of this practise was documented by a grant made by King Géza II
(1141–1162) to a serf named Botus who had been serving in a prelate's household before, but who became absolved from his former duties and received a smaller portion of land from the monarch. During the period, the "notabilities" who descended from the same ancestor usually owned jointly their inherited possessions, but several examples could already be found when the members of the family divided their inheritance among themselves.
King Béla III
(1172–1196) was the first monarch who alienated a whole "county
" (Modrus
in Croatia
) when transferred the ownership of all the royal estates in the "county" to Bartolomej
who became the ancestor of the Frankopan
family.
(1205–1235) radically changed the internal policy his predecessors had been following and he started to grant enormous domains to his partisans. When he expressed the substance of his "new arrangements" in one of his charters, he mentioned that
From 1216, the royal charters began to mention the dignitaries of the royal administration and the Royal Households as the "barons of the realm" which prove that they wanted to distinguish themselves from other nobles. They, however, could not form a hereditary aristocracy
.
The king's novæ institutiones endangered the liberties of the "freemen" who owned estates in the "counties" the king had granted to his partisans, because up that time, they had been obliged to render military services only to the kings, but the new lords of the former royal estates in the "counties" endeavored to expand their supremacy over them. Thus, freemen serving in the kings' army commenced to call themselves "royal servants" in order to express that they were linked only to the monarch.
In 1222, the "royal servants" led by former "barons of the realm" who had been dismissed by King Andrew II enforced the king to issue the Golden Bull
in order to confirm their liberties. Although, the Golden Bull still make a distinction between the "nobles" and the "royal servants", but it also summarized the latter's liberties in writing.
According to the Golden Bull, "royal servants" could not be arrested without a verdict and they were exempt from several taxes payable by other freemen; moreover, the Golden Bull also declared that they were exempt from the jurisdiction of the heads of the "counties". The privileges of the "royal servants" summarized in the royal decree established the basis upon which the "cardinal liberties" of the nobility could be developing during the next centuries. The last provision of the Golden Bull introduced the "right to resist" based on which the prelates and the "nobles" were authorized to resist any royal measures that could endanger their liberties confirmed by the Golden Bull.
In 1231, King Andrew II issued a new charter confirming not only the provisions of the Golden Bull, but also the liberties of the "royal castle's serfs" whose position had also been endangered by the emerging power of the new owners of the former royal estates.
indicated a new step towards the formation of institutes of their self-government: in the deed, they passed a judgment in a case, which proved that the "counties", that had been the basic units of the royal administration, commenced to turn into an administrative unit governed by the developing nobility.
From the 1230s, the terminology used in the royal charters when they referred to "royal servants" began to change and finally, the Decree of 1267 issued by King Béla IV
(1235–1270) identified them with the nobles. Thenceforward, the former "royal servants" could enjoy all the privileges of the nobles and if the kings wanted to advance commoners they rewarded them with noble status in a charter issued for this specific purpose.
In the second half of the 13th century, the kings ennobled several "royal castle's serfs" and thus they got rid of the burden to provide services to the castle holders. "Royal castle's serfs" whose estate was not charged by specific services to be provided to the castle-holders could reach the status of nobility even without royal grant, provided that the nobles of the "county" where their estates were situated received them into their community.
Following the Mongol invasion of the kingdom in 1241-42, King Béla IV endeavoured the landowners to build strongholds in their domains and therefore, he often granted lands to his partisans with the obligation that they should build a fortress there.
The wealthier members of the landed nobility endeavored to strengthen their position and they often rebelled against the kings. They began to employ the members of the lesser nobility in their households and thus the latter (mentioned as familiaris in the deeds) became subordinate to them. On the other hand, a familiaris kept the ownership of his former estates and in this regard, he still reserved his liberties and fell under the jurisdiction of the royal courts of justice.
The last member of the Árpád dynasty
, King Andrew III (1290–1301) tried to restore the royal power and thus he strengthened the position of the lesser nobility against the "barons of the realm": he prescribed the involvement of "noble judges" in judicial proceedings in assize courts and he also encouraged the nobles to take part in the law-making process by convoking assemblies for this purpose.
King Andrew III, however, could not hinder the strengthening of the most powerful barons who commenced to govern their domains de facto independently of the monarch and they usurped the royal prerogative
s on their territories. Following the king's death, the largest part of the kingdom became subject to the de facto rule of oligarch
s like Máté Csák, Amade Aba
and Ladislaus Kán.
, which originated its own historical legitimacy from the Hungarian warrior tribes that allegedly founded the Kingdom. This expression referred only to the nobility, hence Nobilis Hungarus was a member of the aristocracy. Natio Nobillium became synonymous to Natio Hungarica in the 16th century.
King Charles I Robert
(1308–1342), who was a matrilineal descendant of the Árpád dynasty
, could strengthen his position on the throne only following a long period of internal struggles (1301–1323) against his opponents and the most powerful oligarchs. Based on the estates he had acquired by force from the rebellious oligarchs, the king introduced a new system in the royal administration: when he appointed his followers to an office, he also granted them the possession of one or more royal castles and the royal domains attached to them, but he reserved the ownership of the castle and its belongings for himself and thus his dignitaries could only enjoy the revenues of their possessions while they held the office.
King Charles I endeavoured the implementation of the ideas of chivalry
; in 1318, he established the Order of Saint George
. He also set up the body of "knights-at-the-court" who acted as his personal delegates on an ad hoc basis. King Charles I was the first king of Hungary who granted crests
to his followers.
In 1324, in order to reward the nobles of Transylvania for their aid in suppressing the Saxons'
rebellion, King Charles abolished the tax they had been obliged to pay, which contributed to the unification of the nobility of the whole realm. On the other hand, during his reign, the holders of the 20 highest offices in the public administration and the Royal Households obtained the honorific
magnificus vir that distinguished them from other nobles.
In 1332, King Charles I declared in one of his charters issued to Margaret de genere Nádasd, whose male relatives had been murdered in 1316 during the internal struggles, that she was entitled to inherit her father's possessions. Although this privilege contradicted the customs of the kingdom that prescribed that daughters can only inherit one-fourth of their father's estates, it set a precedent for future cases and thenceforward "putting her into a son's place" became a royal prerogative
and both King Charles I and his successors exercised it occasionally in spite of the sharp opposition of the nobility.
(1347–1350) and the ravages of the Black Death
(1347–1349) in the kingdom, King Louis I (1342–1382) convoked the assembly of the "barons, notabilities and nobles" in 1351 and at their request, he reissued the Golden Bull of 1222 with one modification. The Act also declared the principle of "one and the same liberty" of the nobility when prescribed that
The modification of the Golden Bull introduced the entail
system when regulating the inheritance of the nobles' estates; according to the new system, the nobles' real property could not be devised by will, but it passed by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death. The Act of 1351 introduced a new tax called "ninth" that was payable by all the villein
s to their lords; and the Act also prescribed, in order to prevent the wealthier land-owners from enticing the villeins working on the smaller nobles' estate, that all the land-owners were obliged to assess the nex tax otherwise it was payable to the king. On the other hand, King Louis I abolished the taxes the nobles living in Slavonia had been obliged to pay thus ensuring that thenceforward they enjoyed all the liberties of the nobility of the kingdom.
Following the death of King Louis I, his daughter Queen Mary I
(1382–1385, 1386–1395) acceded to the throne, but the majority of the nobles opposed her rule. In 1385, the young queen had to abdicate in favor of his distant cousin, King Charles II
(1385–1386), but her partisans murdered the new king soon and thus she could ascend the throne again. However, the followers of her murdered opponent's son, King Ladislaus of Naples rose up in open rebellion and captured her; thus the realm stayed without a monarch.
In 1386, when the young Queen Mary I
(1382–1385, 1386–1395) had been captured by rebellious nobles, the prelates and the "barons of the realm" set up a council and they commenced to issue decrees in the name of the "prelates, barons, notabilities and all nobles of the realm". Shortly afterwards, the members of the council entered into a contract with Queen Mary's fiancé and elected him king; in the contract, King Sigismund
(1387–1437) accepted that his
The contract also recorded that the king and his counsillors would form a league and the king could not dismiss his counsillors without the consent of the other members of the Royal Council. In 1401, King Sigismund who had been imprisoned by the discontent members of the Royal Council, concluded a new agreement with some members of the upper nobility who set him free.
The public law
of the kingdom also started to differentiate the descendants of the "barons of the realm", even if they did not held any higher offices, from other nobles: the Act of 1397 referred to them as the "barons' sons" while later documents called them "magnate
s" .
During his reign, King Sigismund granted several royal castles and the royal domains attached to them to the members of the barons' leagues. The king, however, wanted to strengthen his position and for this purpose, in 1408, he founded the Order of the Dragon
. In contrast to the promises he had made, King Sigismund involved foreigners and members of the lesser nobility in the royal administration who were mentioned as his "special counsillors" in his documents.
The king expanded the jurisdiction of the assize courts when abolished the exemptions he or his predecessors had granted to several bodies corporate and individuals. He tried to exempt the poorest nobles from the obligation to serve personally in his armies, but the Estates of the realm
refused his proposal, probably because exactly those who were concerned thought that this releaf could lead to the abolishment of their personal tax-exemption.
The unequal distribution of the landed property enabled the formation of several major groups within the nobility.
The "nobles' in-laws" formed also a specific group within the nobility; they were commoners who married a noble woman or descended from the marriage of a noble woman and a commoner. According to the customary law, the daughters of nobles inherited one-quarter of their father's estates but their inheritance was to be delivered in cash; however, a noble's daughter was entitled to receive her inheritance in-kind, if she married to a commoner. In this case, she and her husband became the owners of one or more noble estates and under the customary law, her husband and their children were regarded nobles. From the 16th century, a noble woman's commoner husband was not counted among the nobles and only their children could reach the status of nobility provided that they inherited landed property from their mother.
(1437–1439) was proclaimed king, he had to take a solemn oath that he would exercise his prerogative powers
only with the consent of the Royal Council. The Diet convoked in 1439 enacted that even the nobles who did not have villeins be exempted from the payment of the tithe.
Following King Albert's death, a civil war broke out between the followers of his posthumous son, King Ladislaus V (1440–1457) and the partisans of his opponent, King Vladislaus I (1440–1444). Although the infant king was crowned by the Holy Crown, but the assembly of the Estates declared his coronation void and the Diet formulated the principle that
Between 1440 and 1458, the Diet was convoked in each year (with the exception of 1443 and 1449), and its functions changed radically: previously, the assemblies of the Estates functioned mainly as a consultative body and the monarch passed his decrees in the Royal Council, but thenceforward, the Diet was involved in the legislative process of law-making and the bills were to be passed by the Diet before receiving the Royal Assent
. The monarch (or the regent
) sent a personal invitation to the prelates, "barons of the realm" and "magnates" when he convoked a Diet and they attended in person at the assembly; other nobles were represented by their deputies elected at their assemblies held in each county. Occasionally (e.g., in 1441, 1446, 1456), all the nobles were invited to attend in person at the Diet. The constitution of the Diets ensured the predominance of the nobility, because the "magnates" and the "counties'" deputies had an overwhelming majority over the prelates and the towns' representatives.
In 1446, the assembly of the Estates proclaimed John Hunyadi
to Regent and he was to govern the realm in cooperation with the Estates until 1453 when King Ladislaus V returned to the kingdom. John Hunyadi was the first "magnate" who received a hereditary title from a king of Hungary.
King Matthias I
(1443–1490) rewarded his partisans with hereditary titles and appointed them hereditary heads of "counties" and he also entitled them to use the red sealing wax. During his reign, all the members of the wealthier families descending from the "barons of the realm" received the honorific magnificus which was a next step towards their separation from other nobles.
In 1487, a new expression appeared in a deed of armistice
signed by King Matthias: 18 families were mentioned as "natural barons of Hungary" in contrast to the "barons of the realm" who were still the holders of the highest offices in the public administration and the Royal Households.
During the reign of King Vladislaus II
(1490–1516), the Diet unambiguosly expressed that certain noble families were in a distinguished position and mentioned them as barons irrespectively of the office they held which prove that by that time, public law had acknowledged their special legal status and their privilege to use distinctive titles.
" of the nobility, although the independence of the kingdom became more and more jeopardized by the emerging power of the Ottoman Empire
.
One of the two major political groupings (the "national party") was led by duke John Corvin
(the illegitimate son of King Matthias I) and later, by count John Szapolyai and it was followed by the majority of the "lesser nobles"; they wanted to establish a "national kingdom", i.e., they wanted to proclaim one of the barons to king. The "court party" was composed mainly of the barons and their familiaris and it preferred a close alliance with the Habsburgs. On the other hand, the conflict between the "upper nobility" (the "magnates") and the "lesser nobility" also existed, because the former endeavoured to develop their special privileges, while the latter wanted to reserve the ideology of "one and the same liberty".
In 1514, the great rebellion of the peasants led by György Dózsa
broke out, and their troops occupied and burgled several manors, murdered many landowners and raped noble women. The peasants' troops were defeated by the combined forces of the nobility led by count John Szapolyai.
The acts of revenge against the peasants were enacted by the legislation of 1514: according to the new legal provisions, thenceforward, villeins had to work one day of each week on their lords' demesne
without remuneration and their right to free movement became abolished.
, who had been a member of the Royal Court, presented his work collecting the costumary law of the realm to the Estates. Although the Diet passed a decision confirming Werbőczy's work and his work also received the Royal Assent, but it was never promulgated
, probably because it was obviously biased towards the intresests of the "lesser nobility".
Nevertheless, István Werbőczy published his work under the title The customary law of the renowned Kingdom of Hungary: a work in three parts and his book would be followed by the courts of justice in the Kingdom of Hungary during the next centuries. The Tripartitum, in contrast to the development of the public law during the 15th century, declared the principle of "one and the same liberty" of the nobility, although it also referred to some distinctive privileges of the barons (e.g., the size of their weregeld was higher).
The Tripartitums Primæ Nonus (i.e., the Ninth Title of its First Part) summarized the "cardinal liberties" of the nobility:
On 29 August 1526, the military forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II
(1516–1526) suffered a catastrophic defeat from the Ottoman
armies led by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
(1520–1566) at the Battle of Mohács
. When the young king left the battlefield, he was thrown from his horse in a river and died, weighed down by his armor. Following their victory, the Ottoman troops entered Buda
and pillaged the castle and the surroundings, but they retreated soon afterwards.
The "national party" of the nobility proclaimed its leader to king, but his opponents did not accept his rule, and shortly afterwards, they elected the Habsburg claimant to king; thus a civil war broke out among the followers of King John I (1526–1540) and King Ferdinand I
(1526–1564). When King John I died, his followers proclaimed his infant son to king, but in 1541, the Sultan Suleiman invaded the kingdom and occupied its central parts. However, by the Sultan's grace, the infant King John II Sigismund
(1540–1570) could reserve the government in the eastern parts of the kingdom which led to the formation of a semi-independent polity on those territories.
Thenceforward, the medieval Kingdom of Hungary became divided into three parts:
The lack of landed property that the kings could have granted led to the practise that the monarchs commenced to ennoble communers without granting them estates; consequently, the "nobles with only letters patent" could not serve personally in the kings' army in the lack of proper revenues. Similarly to them, the "nobles with one parcel" neither could finance the expenses of their personal military service.
However, the permanent state of war
on the borders of the Royal Hungary required the maintenance of permanent military forces; therefore, the Estates accepted the idea that the nobles who did not owne estates cultivated by villeins (who were obliged to pay taxes) should contribute to the expenses of the wars and in 1595, they ordered that the "nobles with only letters patent" and the "nobles with one parcel" should pay a military contribution. Shortly afterwards, the same nobles became subject to the tax payable for the "counties". Thenceforward, the nobles who became subject to taxation were referred to as "nobles paying tax" .
's first adherents in the Kingdom of Hungary appeared around 1521 among the (mainly) German-speaking
citizens of the towns of Transdanubia
, Upper Hungary
(today Slovakia
) and (from the 1530s) Transylvania
(today in Romania). Moreover, some members of German origin
of the court of Mary of Austria, the queen of King Louis II also became the follower of the church reformer
's ideas. The nobility, however, endeavoured to hinder the spreading of the ideas of the Reformation
during the first half of the 16th century and the Diets of 1523, 1524 and 1525 enacted specific provisions against its followers.
The Lutheran position changed when King Ferdinand I entrusted the defence of the royal fortresses to mercenaries
whose majority had become the adherent of Martin Luther and they were followed by Lutheran
preacher
s. From the 1530s, more and more "magnates" converted to the Lutheran ideas and the members of the lesser nobility also followed their example.
age and the relative quiet Maria Theresa's era, Joseph II
(1780–90) brought important alterations for the Hungarian nobles. He was a dynamic leader who was influenced by the Enlightenment. He decreed that German replaces Latin as the empire's official language and granted peasants the freedom to leave their holdings, to marry, and to place their children in trades. Hungary, Slavonia
, Croatia
, the Military Frontier and Transylvania
became a single imperial territory under one administration, called the Kingdom of Hungary or "Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen
" (before Royal Hungary form was used). When the Hungarian nobles again refused to waive their exemption from taxation, Joseph banned imports of Hungarian manufactured goods into Austria
and began a survey to prepare for imposition of a general land tax. Joseph II.'s reforms outraged nobles and clergy
of Hungary. Hungarians perceived Joseph's language reform as German cultural hegemony, and they reacted by insisting on the right to use their own tongue. As a result, Hungarian lesser nobles sparked a renaissance
of the Hungarian language and culture, and a cult of national dance and costume flourished. The lesser nobles questioned the loyalty of the magnates, of whom less than half were ethnic Hungarians, and even those had become French- and German-speaking courtiers. The Hungarian national reawakening subsequently triggered national revivals among the Slovak, Romanian, Serbian, and Croatian minorities within Hungary and Transylvania, who felt threatened by both German and Hungarian cultural hegemony.
Natio Hungarica came to refer to the privileged group that had corporate political rights of parliamentary representation, i.e. the prelates, the magnates and the nobles. This conception was accepted in Szatmar Treaty
of 1711 and in the Pragmatic Sanction
of 1722; it remained valid until 1848.
based on the French model.
Ľudovít Štúr
indirectly demanded that all people (including peasants) living in the Kingdom of Hungary have their own representatives in the Diet. He indicated thenew constitutional subject that is all the peoples in the Kingdom of Hungary should become the Natio Hungarica. This involved the amendment of the meaning of the traditional class concept Natio Hungarica and the extension of its frame to all the peoples in the Hungarian Kingdom. His attempt at the transformation of all the peoples in kingdom into Natio Hungarica constituted an attempt at the transformation of all ethnic groups in Hungarian Kingdom into Natio Hungarica.
Only with the abolition of nobility and the development of Hungarian nationalism
did natio Hungarica begin to develop an ethnic sense.
Lajos Kossuth
identified the historical-political rights of king and corporations in the Kingdom of Hungary with the national rights of the
Magyars.
Source (open-access academic journal, copyright Purdue University Press: released to Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek):
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (Library): West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2010.
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
in the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
can be traced to the Magyar conquest of Pannonia in the 9th century, and it developed over the course of the Middle Ages. If flourished during the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
, up to the partial Ottoman conquest
Ottoman Hungary
History of Ottoman Hungary refers to the history of parts of the Ottoman Empire situated in what today is Hungary, in the period from 1541 to 1699.-History:...
of the 16th century.
The origin of the Hungarian aristocracy (with regard to rank but not different in function from the minor nobility) derives from "men distinguished by birth and dignity" (maiores natu et dignitate) mentioned in the charters of the first kings. They descended partly from the leaders of the Magyar tribes
Magyar tribes
The Magyar tribes were the fundamental political units whose framework the Hungarians lived within, until these clans from Asia, more accurately from the region of Ural Mountains, invaded the Carpathian Basin and established the Principality of Hungary.The locality in which the Hungarians, the...
and clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s and including immigrant (mainly German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, Italian and French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
) knights (by invitation by the kings of Hungary) who settled in the kingdom in the course of the 10-12th centuries.
Local Slavic leaders were also recognized as nobles during the centuries. By the 13th century, the royal servants
Royal servant (Kingdom of Hungary)
A royal servant was a freeman in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 13th century who owned possession and was subordinate only to the king. The expression was documented for the first time in a charter issued in 1217...
(servientes regis), who mainly descended from the wealthier freemen (liberi), managed to ensure their liberties and their privileges were confirmed in the Golden Bull
Golden Bull of 1222
The Golden Bull of 1222 was a golden bull, or edict, issued by King Andrew II of Hungary. The law established the rights of the Hungarian nobility, including the right to disobey the King when he acted contrary to law . The nobles and the church were freed from all taxes and could not be forced to...
issued by King Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II the Jerosolimitan was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was the younger son of King Béla III of Hungary, who invested him with the government of the Principality of Halych...
in 1222. Several families of the soldiers of the royal fortresses
Royal castle's serf (Kingdom of Hungary)
A "royal castle's serf" was a wealthier member of the group of peoples living within the royal castle system in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 11-15th centuries....
(iobagio castri) could also strengthen their liberties and they received the status of the "true nobles of the realm" (veri nobiles regni) by the end of the 13th century, although most of them lost their liberties and became subordinate to private castle-holders. Many leaders of the mainly Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
, German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
colonists who immigrated to the kingdom during the 11th-15th centuries also merged into the nobility. Kings had the authority to reward commoners with nobility and thenceforward, they enjoyed all the liberties of other nobles.
From the 14th century, the idea of "one and the same liberty" (una eademque libertas) appeared in the public law
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
of the kingdom; the idea suggested that all the nobles enjoyed the same privileges independently of their offices, birth or wealth. In reality, even the legislation made a distinction partly between the members of the upper nobility
Upper nobility (Kingdom of Hungary)
The upper nobility was the highest stratum of the temporal society in the Kingdom of Hungary until the 20th century. In the course of the 11-15th centuries, only people who held specific high offices in the royal administration or in the Royal Households were distinguished by law within the...
(i.e., the nobles who held the highest offices in the Royal Households and in the royal administration or, from the 15th century, who used distinctive noble titles granted by the kings) and other nobles, and partly between nobles possessing lands and those without land possession. Moreover, public law
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
also recognized the existence of some groups of the "conditional nobility" (conditionarius) whose privileges were limited; e.g., the "nobles of the Church
Nobles of the Church (Kingdom of Hungary)
The "nobles of the Church" were a group of privileged people in the Kingdom of Hungary who possessed lands on the domains of wealthier prelates and were obliged to provide military and other services to their lords....
" (nobilis ecclesiæ) were burdened with defined services to be provided to certain prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
s. In some cases, not individuals but a group of people was granted a legal status similar to that of the nobility; e.g., the Hajdú people enjoyed the privileges of the nobility not as individuals but as a community.
Beginning in the 14th century, Hungarian nobility was based on a Patent of Nobility with a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
issued by the monarch and constituted a legal and social class. Privileges of nobility—e.g. no taxation but obligatory military service at war at own cost—were abolished 1848, titles of nobility were abolished in 1947, and the abolishment of titles of nobility were again confirmed in 1990.
Similarly to other countries in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, the proportion of the nobility in the population of the Kingdom of Hungary was significantly higher than in the Western countries: by the 18th century, about 5% of its population qualified a member of the nobility.
The "cardinal liberties" of the nobility were clearly summarized in the Tripartitum (a law book collecting the body of common laws of the Kingdom of Hungary) in 1514. According to the Tripartitum, the nobles enjoyed personal freedom, they were submitted exclusively to the authority of the king and they were exempted of taxation but were required to serve in war at own cost; until 1681, they were also entitled to resist any actions of the monarchs that would jeopardize their liberties.
The core privileges of the nobility were abolished or expanded to other citizens by the "April laws
April laws
The April laws, also called March laws, were a collection of laws legislated by Lajos Kossuth with the aim of modernizing Kingdom of Hungary into a nation state. The imperative program included Hungarian control of its popular national guard, national budget and Hungarian foreign policy, as well as...
" in 1848, but the members of the upper nobility could reserve their special political rights (they were hereditary members of the Upper House of the Parliament) and the usage of names of the nobles also distinguished them from the commoners. All the distinctive features of nobility incl. titles were abolished in 1947
Statute IV of 1947 regarding the abolition of certain titles and ranks (Hungary)
The Statute IV of 1947 regarding the abolition of certain titles and ranks, a law still in force in the Republic of Hungary, declares the abolition of hereditary noble ranks and related styles and titles, also putting a ban on their use....
following the declaration of the Republic of Hungary, and the abolishment of titles of nobility was confirmed by parliament legislation in 1990.
The Latin term Natio Hungarica ("Hungarian nation") during the medieval period was used to subsume those groups with the right to representation in the Hungarian Diet: the nobility, the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
clergy, and a few enfranchised burghers.
Natio Hungarica came to refer to the privileged group that had corporate political rights of parliamentary representation, i.e. the prelates, the magnates and the nobles, in the 18th century.
Origins (prehistory)
In the 9th century, the nomadic Magyar society was composed mostly of freemen who were engaged in regular raids against the neighboring (mainly Slavic) peoples. MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
geographers mentioned that the Magyars
The freemen were organized into seven (later, after the Kabar
Kabar
The Khavars or erroneously Kabars were Khazarians, therefore Turkic people who joined to the Magyars in the 8th century.- History :...
s had joined their tribal federation, eight) tribes
Magyar tribes
The Magyar tribes were the fundamental political units whose framework the Hungarians lived within, until these clans from Asia, more accurately from the region of Ural Mountains, invaded the Carpathian Basin and established the Principality of Hungary.The locality in which the Hungarians, the...
, and each tribe was made of clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s . Although, the Magyars lived in a stratified society, but the legal position of the freemen was still equal.
Around 896, the Magyars invaded the Carpathian Basin and occupied its whole territory by 902. The occupied territory had been inhabited by mainly Slavs, Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
and Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
who became subject to the dominion of the Magyars; on the other hand, the name of Slavic origin of certain leaders of the Magyar armies suggest that some notabilities of the local population may have integrated themselves into the nomadic society. In the 13th century, Simon of Kéza described in his chronicle that
Following the conquest, the Magyars made several raids to the territories of present-day Italy
Italy in the Middle Ages
This is the history of Italy during the Middle Ages.- Transition from Late Antiquity :Italy was invaded by the Visigoths in the 5th century, and Rome was sacked by Alaric in 410. The last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 by an Eastern Germanic general, Odoacer...
, Germany, France and Spain
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
and also to the lands of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. On one hand, the regular raids contributed to the differentiation of their society because the leaders of the military actions were entitled to reserve a higher share of the booty for themselves, but on the other hand, these actions could also ensure that their commoner participants kept their independent status. These military actions also contributed to the formation of the retinues of the heads of the tribes and the clans. The regular military actions continued westwards until the Battle of Augsburg
Battle of Lechfeld
The Battle of Lechfeld , often seen as the defining event for holding off the incursions of the Hungarians into Western Europe, was a decisive victory by Otto I the Great, King of the Germans, over the Hungarian leaders, the harka Bulcsú and the chieftains Lél and Súr...
in 955; while the raids against the Byzantine Empire finished only in 970. After (or even before) the close of the period of the military raids, the Magyar society underwent a gradual transformation, and several freemen was obliged to give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle down, because the Carpathian Basin did not provide vast pastures that could have sustained a numerous nomadic population.
The christianization
Christianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
of the Magyars commenced during the reign of Géza
Géza of Hungary
Géza , Grand Prince of the Hungarians .Géza was the son of Taksony of Hungary, Grand Prince of the Hungarians and his Pecheneg or Bulgar wife. Géza's marriage with Sarolt, the daughter of Gyula of Transylvania, was arranged by his father.After his father's death , Géza followed him as Grand Prince...
, Grand Prince of the Magyars
Grand Prince of the Magyars
Grand Prince was the title used by contemporary sources to name the leader of the federation of the Hungarian tribes in the tenth century.-The title:...
(before 972-997) who also invited western knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s to settle down in his court and granted estates to them.
Immigrant knights, tribal leaders and free warriors
- The freemen or "people of the realm" still enjoyed their "golden liberties" ; i.e., they could move within the kingdom without restrictions and they were involved into the arrangement of public affairs.
- The serfs were treated as property of others.
During the regin of King Stephen I., several foreign knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s immigrated to the kingdom and they received estates from the king; families of the leaders of the Magyar tribes and clans could also reserve a part of their former possessions, provided that they accepted the king's supremacy.
The immigrant knights contributed to the development of the Hungarian army, because most of them were horse-mounted men-at-arms, while during the previous centuries the Magyar troops had exclusively been made of horse archers; only the wealthiest members of the Hungarian tribal aristocracy could follow their example, because the maintenance of their equipment required considerable financial resources. On the other hand, light cavalry
Light cavalry
Light cavalry refers to lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
still took a prominent part in the Hungarian military strategy and therefore other "freemen" could also reserve their independent status provided that earned sufficient revenues from their possessions.
The legal differentiation of certain groups of the "freemen" commenced during King Stephens rule and his decrees contained different rules applicable to the "heads of counties
Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)
A county is the name of a type of administrative units in the Kingdom of Hungary and in Hungary from the 10th century until the present day....
", the "warriors" and the "common freemen"; on the other hand, the size of the weregild
Weregild
Weregild was a value placed on every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code...
payable by their murderer was still the same according to his decrees which suggests that in theory, the "freemens" legal status was still equal.
- The "heads of counties" lead the administration of the basic administrative unitsComitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)A county is the name of a type of administrative units in the Kingdom of Hungary and in Hungary from the 10th century until the present day....
of the kingdom; they were appointed and dismissed by the king and thus their office was not hereditary - in contrast to the practise the western countries had already been following by that time. - The "warriors" owned lands and they provided military service to the kings or to the "counts" and King Stephen's decrees expressively urged them to join to the ispáns' retinue. The foreign knights who were not appointed to higher offices also increased their number. The size of the weregeld payable by them suggest that the "warriors'" financial conditions must have been close to that of the "common freemen".
- The "common freemen" still enjoyed their liberties (e.g., the right to free movement) and they were invited to occasional assemblies convoked by the kings, but the number of "common freemen" who were obliged to settle down on the estates of wealthier landowners was increasing during the period.
Notabilities, commoners and fighting serfs
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
. The decisions of the Synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
of Szabolcs
Szabolcs (village)
The village Szabolcs lies in the county Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg in the north-east of Hungary.It got its name from the Hungarian leader Szabolcs who founded it and settled there in the 9th/10th century...
(1092) prove that by that time, many of the "freemen" had gone into the service of the prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
s and the "counts", although the synod also prescribed that their superiors should respect their personal freedom. Nevertheless, several "warriors" could reserve their own possessions and independent status and they became exempted from taxation according to the decrees of King Coloman (1095–1116).
The decrees of King Ladislaus I distinguished two groups of the freemen:
- The "notabilities" or "nobles" held the highest offices in the Royal Households and the royal administration. Their financial conditions ensured that they could set up monasteriesMonasteryMonastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
and grant possessions to them. - The "non-nobles" were composed of the "warriors" and the "common freemen".
A new group of soldiers also appeared in the royal documents; they were the "royal castle's serfs
Royal castle's serf (Kingdom of Hungary)
A "royal castle's serf" was a wealthier member of the group of peoples living within the royal castle system in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 11-15th centuries....
" who did not enjoy all the liberties of the "freemen" and were personally bound to a royal castle, but they had a share in both the royal estates attached to the castle and the tax paid by the people who were obliged to provide services to the royal fortress.
Development in the 12th century
In the course of the 12th century, the "freemen" who owned real estate and thus earned enough revenue to serve in the kings' army strengthened their position; even their number started to increase when the kings began to grant freedom to "royal castle's serfs" and serfSERF
A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...
s. The first example of this practise was documented by a grant made by King Géza II
Géza II of Hungary
Géza II , , King of Hungary, King of Croatia, Dalmatia and Rama . He ascended the throne as a child and during his minority the kingdom was governed by his mother and uncle...
(1141–1162) to a serf named Botus who had been serving in a prelate's household before, but who became absolved from his former duties and received a smaller portion of land from the monarch. During the period, the "notabilities" who descended from the same ancestor usually owned jointly their inherited possessions, but several examples could already be found when the members of the family divided their inheritance among themselves.
King Béla III
Béla III of Hungary
Béla III was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was educated in the court of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I who was planning to ensure his succession in the Byzantine Empire till the birth of his own son...
(1172–1196) was the first monarch who alienated a whole "county
Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)
A county is the name of a type of administrative units in the Kingdom of Hungary and in Hungary from the 10th century until the present day....
" (Modrus
Modruš-Rijeka
The Modruš-Rijeka County was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen , the Hungarian part of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its territory is presently in western Croatia...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
) when transferred the ownership of all the royal estates in the "county" to Bartolomej
Frankopan
The Frankopans are a Croatian noble family. Also called Frankapan, Frangepán in Hungarian, and Frangipani in Italian.The Frankopan family is the leading princely Croatian aristocratic family which dates back to the 12th Century and even earlier to Roman times...
who became the ancestor of the Frankopan
Frankopan
The Frankopans are a Croatian noble family. Also called Frankapan, Frangepán in Hungarian, and Frangipani in Italian.The Frankopan family is the leading princely Croatian aristocratic family which dates back to the 12th Century and even earlier to Roman times...
family.
Novæ institutiones
King Andrew IIAndrew II of Hungary
Andrew II the Jerosolimitan was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was the younger son of King Béla III of Hungary, who invested him with the government of the Principality of Halych...
(1205–1235) radically changed the internal policy his predecessors had been following and he started to grant enormous domains to his partisans. When he expressed the substance of his "new arrangements" in one of his charters, he mentioned that
From 1216, the royal charters began to mention the dignitaries of the royal administration and the Royal Households as the "barons of the realm" which prove that they wanted to distinguish themselves from other nobles. They, however, could not form a hereditary aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
.
The king's novæ institutiones endangered the liberties of the "freemen" who owned estates in the "counties" the king had granted to his partisans, because up that time, they had been obliged to render military services only to the kings, but the new lords of the former royal estates in the "counties" endeavored to expand their supremacy over them. Thus, freemen serving in the kings' army commenced to call themselves "royal servants" in order to express that they were linked only to the monarch.
The Golden Bull of 1222
Golden Bull of 1222
The Golden Bull of 1222 was a golden bull, or edict, issued by King Andrew II of Hungary. The law established the rights of the Hungarian nobility, including the right to disobey the King when he acted contrary to law . The nobles and the church were freed from all taxes and could not be forced to...
in order to confirm their liberties. Although, the Golden Bull still make a distinction between the "nobles" and the "royal servants", but it also summarized the latter's liberties in writing.
According to the Golden Bull, "royal servants" could not be arrested without a verdict and they were exempt from several taxes payable by other freemen; moreover, the Golden Bull also declared that they were exempt from the jurisdiction of the heads of the "counties". The privileges of the "royal servants" summarized in the royal decree established the basis upon which the "cardinal liberties" of the nobility could be developing during the next centuries. The last provision of the Golden Bull introduced the "right to resist" based on which the prelates and the "nobles" were authorized to resist any royal measures that could endanger their liberties confirmed by the Golden Bull.
In 1231, King Andrew II issued a new charter confirming not only the provisions of the Golden Bull, but also the liberties of the "royal castle's serfs" whose position had also been endangered by the emerging power of the new owners of the former royal estates.
The development of the lesser nobility
A deed issued, in 1232, by the "royal servants" living in Zala countyZala (former county)
Zala was a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is currently in southwestern Hungary, northern Croatia and eastern Slovenia...
indicated a new step towards the formation of institutes of their self-government: in the deed, they passed a judgment in a case, which proved that the "counties", that had been the basic units of the royal administration, commenced to turn into an administrative unit governed by the developing nobility.
From the 1230s, the terminology used in the royal charters when they referred to "royal servants" began to change and finally, the Decree of 1267 issued by King Béla IV
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV , King of Hungary and of Croatia , duke of Styria 1254–58. One of the most famous kings of Hungary, he distinguished himself through his policy of strengthening of the royal power following the example of his grandfather Bela III, and by the rebuilding Hungary after the catastrophe of the...
(1235–1270) identified them with the nobles. Thenceforward, the former "royal servants" could enjoy all the privileges of the nobles and if the kings wanted to advance commoners they rewarded them with noble status in a charter issued for this specific purpose.
In the second half of the 13th century, the kings ennobled several "royal castle's serfs" and thus they got rid of the burden to provide services to the castle holders. "Royal castle's serfs" whose estate was not charged by specific services to be provided to the castle-holders could reach the status of nobility even without royal grant, provided that the nobles of the "county" where their estates were situated received them into their community.
The emerging power of the barons
The wealthier members of the landed nobility endeavored to strengthen their position and they often rebelled against the kings. They began to employ the members of the lesser nobility in their households and thus the latter (mentioned as familiaris in the deeds) became subordinate to them. On the other hand, a familiaris kept the ownership of his former estates and in this regard, he still reserved his liberties and fell under the jurisdiction of the royal courts of justice.
The last member of the Árpád dynasty
Árpád dynasty
The Árpáds or Arpads was the ruling dynasty of the federation of the Hungarian tribes and of the Kingdom of Hungary . The dynasty was named after Grand Prince Árpád who was the head of the tribal federation when the Magyars occupied the Carpathian Basin, circa 895...
, King Andrew III (1290–1301) tried to restore the royal power and thus he strengthened the position of the lesser nobility against the "barons of the realm": he prescribed the involvement of "noble judges" in judicial proceedings in assize courts and he also encouraged the nobles to take part in the law-making process by convoking assemblies for this purpose.
King Andrew III, however, could not hinder the strengthening of the most powerful barons who commenced to govern their domains de facto independently of the monarch and they usurped the royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
s on their territories. Following the king's death, the largest part of the kingdom became subject to the de facto rule of oligarch
Oligarch
Oligarch may refer to:* A member of an oligarchy, a form of government* Business oligarch* Russian oligarch...
s like Máté Csák, Amade Aba
Amade Aba
Amade Aba, sometimes Amadeus Aba was a Hungarian oligarch in the Kingdom of Hungary who ruled de facto independently the northern and north-eastern counties of the kingdom...
and Ladislaus Kán.
The age of chivalry - 14th century
At the time when the House of Árpád became extinct, a regional symbolism, Natio Hungarica was developing during the late medieval centuriesLate Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
, which originated its own historical legitimacy from the Hungarian warrior tribes that allegedly founded the Kingdom. This expression referred only to the nobility, hence Nobilis Hungarus was a member of the aristocracy. Natio Nobillium became synonymous to Natio Hungarica in the 16th century.
Changes in the administration and in the Royal Households
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I , also known as Charles Robert , was the first King of Hungary and Croatia of the House of Anjou. He was also descended from the old Hungarian Árpád dynasty. His claim to the throne of Hungary was contested by several pretenders...
(1308–1342), who was a matrilineal descendant of the Árpád dynasty
Árpád dynasty
The Árpáds or Arpads was the ruling dynasty of the federation of the Hungarian tribes and of the Kingdom of Hungary . The dynasty was named after Grand Prince Árpád who was the head of the tribal federation when the Magyars occupied the Carpathian Basin, circa 895...
, could strengthen his position on the throne only following a long period of internal struggles (1301–1323) against his opponents and the most powerful oligarchs. Based on the estates he had acquired by force from the rebellious oligarchs, the king introduced a new system in the royal administration: when he appointed his followers to an office, he also granted them the possession of one or more royal castles and the royal domains attached to them, but he reserved the ownership of the castle and its belongings for himself and thus his dignitaries could only enjoy the revenues of their possessions while they held the office.
King Charles I endeavoured the implementation of the ideas of chivalry
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
; in 1318, he established the Order of Saint George
Order of Saint George (Kingdom of Hungary)
The Order of Saint George was the first secular chivalric order in the world established by King Charles I of Hungary in 1326.The Order was awarded to only 50 knights, and the admission of a new member required the unanimous vote of the former members. New members had to swear fidelity to the...
. He also set up the body of "knights-at-the-court" who acted as his personal delegates on an ad hoc basis. King Charles I was the first king of Hungary who granted crests
Crest (heraldry)
A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
to his followers.
In 1324, in order to reward the nobles of Transylvania for their aid in suppressing the Saxons'
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
rebellion, King Charles abolished the tax they had been obliged to pay, which contributed to the unification of the nobility of the whole realm. On the other hand, during his reign, the holders of the 20 highest offices in the public administration and the Royal Households obtained the honorific
Style (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
magnificus vir that distinguished them from other nobles.
In 1332, King Charles I declared in one of his charters issued to Margaret de genere Nádasd, whose male relatives had been murdered in 1316 during the internal struggles, that she was entitled to inherit her father's possessions. Although this privilege contradicted the customs of the kingdom that prescribed that daughters can only inherit one-fourth of their father's estates, it set a precedent for future cases and thenceforward "putting her into a son's place" became a royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
and both King Charles I and his successors exercised it occasionally in spite of the sharp opposition of the nobility.
The Act of 1351
Following the unsuccessful campaigns against the Kingdom of NaplesKingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
(1347–1350) and the ravages of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
(1347–1349) in the kingdom, King Louis I (1342–1382) convoked the assembly of the "barons, notabilities and nobles" in 1351 and at their request, he reissued the Golden Bull of 1222 with one modification. The Act also declared the principle of "one and the same liberty" of the nobility when prescribed that
The modification of the Golden Bull introduced the entail
Entail
Entail may refer to:* Fee tail, a term of art in common law describing a limited form of succession....
system when regulating the inheritance of the nobles' estates; according to the new system, the nobles' real property could not be devised by will, but it passed by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death. The Act of 1351 introduced a new tax called "ninth" that was payable by all the villein
Villein (feudal)
Villein was the term used in the feudal era to denote a peasant who was legally tied to the land he worked on. An alternative term is serf . A villein could not leave the land without the landowner's consent. Villeins thus occupied the social space between a free peasant and a slave...
s to their lords; and the Act also prescribed, in order to prevent the wealthier land-owners from enticing the villeins working on the smaller nobles' estate, that all the land-owners were obliged to assess the nex tax otherwise it was payable to the king. On the other hand, King Louis I abolished the taxes the nobles living in Slavonia had been obliged to pay thus ensuring that thenceforward they enjoyed all the liberties of the nobility of the kingdom.
Groups of "conditional nobility"
Although the Act of 1351 declared the principle of a uniform nobility, but in reality, the legal status of some other groups of people in the kingdom was close to that of the "real nobles of the realm", but they were burdened with defined services linked to their estates and thus their liberties were limited.- The "nobles of the ChurchNobles of the Church (Kingdom of Hungary)The "nobles of the Church" were a group of privileged people in the Kingdom of Hungary who possessed lands on the domains of wealthier prelates and were obliged to provide military and other services to their lords....
" possessed estates on some wealthier prelates' domains and served as horsemen in their lord's retinue. In contrast to the "real nobles of the realm", they fell under the jurisdiction of the prelates, but they also set up their own organization of self-government called "seatSeat (territorial-administrative unit)Seats were territorial-administrative units in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The seats were autonomous regions within the Kingdom, and were independent from the feudal county system...
" . The special legal status of the "nobles of the Church" disappeared only in 1853. - The "nobles with ten lances" lived in Szepes countySzepes (county)Szepes is the Hungarian name of the historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary officially called Scepusium before the late 19th century. It now lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small area in southeastern Poland...
(today Spiš in Slovakia). They were exempted from the jurisdiction of the head of the county and they were organized into an autonomous "seat". At the beginning, each of them were liable to military service, but from 1243, they had to arm only ten lance-bearers for the kings' army. The "nobles with ten lances" could reserve their autonomy until 1804 when their "seat" was merged into Szepes county. - The "noble cnezes and voivodes" were the leaders of the RomaniansRomaniansThe Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
and RutheniansRutheniansThe name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
who immigrated into the kingdom and settled down there in the course of the 13-15th centuries. The kings rewarded some voivodes and cnezes for their military service with noble status, but, initially, that status was circumscribed: they remained obligated to pay taxes in kind for their estates, and to provide precisely-defined military services. In the 14th century, judicial affairs in the Hátszeg (today Haţeg in Romania) district were dealt by the cnez "seats", chaired by the Hátszeg castellan. The bishops of VáradRoman Catholic Diocese of Oradea MareThe Diocese of Oradea is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Romania, with the episcopal see in the city of Oradea. It covers most of Crişana—the counties of Bihor and Arad, 10.5% of which are Catholic. Its adherents are predominantly Hungarian. It is subordinate to the Bucharest...
(today Oradea in Romania) and TransylvaniaRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba IuliaThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia is an archdiocese in Transylvania, Romania. It was established as the Diocese of Transylvania in 1009 by Stephen I of Hungary and was renamed as the Diocese of Alba Iulia on 22 March 1932...
rewarded Romanian voivodes who served in their military escorts with the "nobility of the Church". The bishops' semi-noble voivodes remained in this state of dependence until the early modern period, when the Reformation did away with church estates. In contrast, the crown's semi-noble voivodes and cnezes soon rose to the ranks of "true nobles of the realm". After the cnezes were ennobled, their "seat" in the Hátszeg district merged with the nobiliary court of HunyadHunyadHunyad was the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in Romania in Transylvania. The capital of the county was Deva .-Geography:...
(today Hunedoara in Romania) county.
The rule of the barons' leagues
Mary of Hungary
Mary of Anjou was queen regnant of Hungary from 1382 until her death in 1395.-Childhood:...
(1382–1385, 1386–1395) acceded to the throne, but the majority of the nobles opposed her rule. In 1385, the young queen had to abdicate in favor of his distant cousin, King Charles II
Charles III of Naples
Charles the Short or Charles of Durazzo was King of Naples and titular King of Jerusalem from 1382 to 1386 as Charles III, and King of Hungary from 1385 to 1386 as Charles II. In 1382 Charles created the order of Argonauts of Saint Nicholas...
(1385–1386), but her partisans murdered the new king soon and thus she could ascend the throne again. However, the followers of her murdered opponent's son, King Ladislaus of Naples rose up in open rebellion and captured her; thus the realm stayed without a monarch.
In 1386, when the young Queen Mary I
Mary of Hungary
Mary of Anjou was queen regnant of Hungary from 1382 until her death in 1395.-Childhood:...
(1382–1385, 1386–1395) had been captured by rebellious nobles, the prelates and the "barons of the realm" set up a council and they commenced to issue decrees in the name of the "prelates, barons, notabilities and all nobles of the realm". Shortly afterwards, the members of the council entered into a contract with Queen Mary's fiancé and elected him king; in the contract, King Sigismund
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
(1387–1437) accepted that his
The contract also recorded that the king and his counsillors would form a league and the king could not dismiss his counsillors without the consent of the other members of the Royal Council. In 1401, King Sigismund who had been imprisoned by the discontent members of the Royal Council, concluded a new agreement with some members of the upper nobility who set him free.
The public law
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
of the kingdom also started to differentiate the descendants of the "barons of the realm", even if they did not held any higher offices, from other nobles: the Act of 1397 referred to them as the "barons' sons" while later documents called them "magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
s" .
King Sigismund's rule
Order of the Dragon
The Order of the Dragon was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,founded in 1408 by Sigismund, King of Hungary and later Holy Roman Emperor The Order of the Dragon (Latin Societas Draconistrarum) was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,founded in 1408 by Sigismund,...
. In contrast to the promises he had made, King Sigismund involved foreigners and members of the lesser nobility in the royal administration who were mentioned as his "special counsillors" in his documents.
The king expanded the jurisdiction of the assize courts when abolished the exemptions he or his predecessors had granted to several bodies corporate and individuals. He tried to exempt the poorest nobles from the obligation to serve personally in his armies, but the Estates of the realm
Estates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
refused his proposal, probably because exactly those who were concerned thought that this releaf could lead to the abolishment of their personal tax-exemption.
Groups within the nobility
Following the death of King Louis I (1382), the distribution of landed property underwent a significant change in the kingdom: in parallel with a radical decrease of the size of the royal domains, the importance of private estates increased considerably. In 1382, less than 50% of the territory of the country was owned by nobles, but by 1437, about 65% of its territory had already been owned by them.The unequal distribution of the landed property enabled the formation of several major groups within the nobility.
- The size of the domains of the "magnates" (about 40 families) exceeded the 60,000 hectareHectareThe hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s (600 km2), but some of them owned landed properties whose territory exceeded even the 300,000 hectares (3,000 km2). Their lands were cultivated by about 1,000-3,500 villeins and they organized their domains into smaller units centered around their castles. The "magnates" employed "lesser nobles" in their households; thus their seats turned into social and political centers in the countryside. - The "wealthier nobles" (about 200-300 families) employed 200-1,000 families of landed villeins on their estates whose size ranged from 5,000 to 60,000 hectares (from 50 to 600 km2). Most of them descended from the members of the wealthier clans of the 13th century who did not hold higher offices. They were rich enough not to enter into the service of the magnates; therefore, they preferred to retire to their manors.
- The "nobles of the counties" (about 3,000-5,000 families) owned about 20-200 villein's parcels; the size of their estates ranged from 500 to 5,000 hectares (from 5 to 50 km2 respectively) They were employed by the "magnates" and held the highest offices in their households. Several of them held offices in the "counties'" administration and thus became the leaders of the local "lesser nobility". It is important to note that the boundary between this group and the "nobles with one parcel" was constantly in flux, which created the particular dynamic of Hungarian lesser nobility.
- The "nobles with one parcel" (about 12,000-16,000 families) formed the most numerous group within the nobility; the size of their estate typically did not exceed the 3 hectares (0,3 km2) and their parcels were often cultivated by themselves without the assistance of villeins. They were often employed as mercenaries but they also preferred the legal career; however, plenty of them worked as tailor, blacksmith, butcher or carried out similar profession. In fact, they were peasants or craftsmen who enjoyed all the liberties of the nobility. The majority of the "nobles with one parcel" lived in separate "noble villages", although some of them lived together with villeins in the same settlements. According to the customary lawCustom (law)Custom in law is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law." Customary law exists where:...
, brothers each were entitled to an equal share in their father's inheritance; therefore, the number of the "nobles with one parcel" were increasing during the period because even larger estates may have been divided among their owner's descendants from generation to generation.
The "nobles' in-laws" formed also a specific group within the nobility; they were commoners who married a noble woman or descended from the marriage of a noble woman and a commoner. According to the customary law, the daughters of nobles inherited one-quarter of their father's estates but their inheritance was to be delivered in cash; however, a noble's daughter was entitled to receive her inheritance in-kind, if she married to a commoner. In this case, she and her husband became the owners of one or more noble estates and under the customary law, her husband and their children were regarded nobles. From the 16th century, a noble woman's commoner husband was not counted among the nobles and only their children could reach the status of nobility provided that they inherited landed property from their mother.
The triumph of the Estates
When King Albert IAlbert II of Germany
Albert the Magnanimous KG was King of Hungary from 1438 until his death. He was also King of Bohemia, elected King of Germany as Albert II, duke of Luxembourg and, as Albert V, archduke of Austria from 1404.-Biography:Albert was born in Vienna as the son of Albert IV, Duke of Austria, and Johanna...
(1437–1439) was proclaimed king, he had to take a solemn oath that he would exercise his prerogative powers
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
only with the consent of the Royal Council. The Diet convoked in 1439 enacted that even the nobles who did not have villeins be exempted from the payment of the tithe.
Following King Albert's death, a civil war broke out between the followers of his posthumous son, King Ladislaus V (1440–1457) and the partisans of his opponent, King Vladislaus I (1440–1444). Although the infant king was crowned by the Holy Crown, but the assembly of the Estates declared his coronation void and the Diet formulated the principle that
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
. The monarch (or the regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
) sent a personal invitation to the prelates, "barons of the realm" and "magnates" when he convoked a Diet and they attended in person at the assembly; other nobles were represented by their deputies elected at their assemblies held in each county. Occasionally (e.g., in 1441, 1446, 1456), all the nobles were invited to attend in person at the Diet. The constitution of the Diets ensured the predominance of the nobility, because the "magnates" and the "counties'" deputies had an overwhelming majority over the prelates and the towns' representatives.
In 1446, the assembly of the Estates proclaimed John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János , Medieval Latin: Ioannes Corvinus or Ioannes de Hunyad, Romanian: Iancu (Ioan) de Hunedoara, Croatian: Janko Hunjadi, Serbian: Сибињанин Јанко / Sibinjanin Janko, Slovak: Ján Huňady) John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János , Medieval Latin: ...
to Regent and he was to govern the realm in cooperation with the Estates until 1453 when King Ladislaus V returned to the kingdom. John Hunyadi was the first "magnate" who received a hereditary title from a king of Hungary.
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
Matthias Corvinus , also called the Just in folk tales, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, at the age of 14 until his death...
(1443–1490) rewarded his partisans with hereditary titles and appointed them hereditary heads of "counties" and he also entitled them to use the red sealing wax. During his reign, all the members of the wealthier families descending from the "barons of the realm" received the honorific magnificus which was a next step towards their separation from other nobles.
In 1487, a new expression appeared in a deed of armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
signed by King Matthias: 18 families were mentioned as "natural barons of Hungary" in contrast to the "barons of the realm" who were still the holders of the highest offices in the public administration and the Royal Households.
Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary
Vladislaus II, also known as Ladislaus Jagiellon ; was King of Bohemia from 1471 and King of Hungary from 1490 until his death in 1516...
(1490–1516), the Diet unambiguosly expressed that certain noble families were in a distinguished position and mentioned them as barons irrespectively of the office they held which prove that by that time, public law had acknowledged their special legal status and their privilege to use distinctive titles.
Conflicts within the nobility and the Great Peasants' War of 1514
The period following the death of King Matthias (1490) was characterized by conflicts among the several "partiesPolitical party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
" of the nobility, although the independence of the kingdom became more and more jeopardized by the emerging power of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
One of the two major political groupings (the "national party") was led by duke John Corvin
János Corvinus
John Corvinus King of Bosnia . He was the illegitimate son of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and Barbara, supposed to be the daughter of a burgess of Breslau while there have been claims that he was actually the son of Beatrice of Naples, his father's second wife who was 16...
(the illegitimate son of King Matthias I) and later, by count John Szapolyai and it was followed by the majority of the "lesser nobles"; they wanted to establish a "national kingdom", i.e., they wanted to proclaim one of the barons to king. The "court party" was composed mainly of the barons and their familiaris and it preferred a close alliance with the Habsburgs. On the other hand, the conflict between the "upper nobility" (the "magnates") and the "lesser nobility" also existed, because the former endeavoured to develop their special privileges, while the latter wanted to reserve the ideology of "one and the same liberty".
In 1514, the great rebellion of the peasants led by György Dózsa
György Dózsa
György Dózsa was a Székely Hungarian man-at-arms from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary who led a peasants' revolt against the kingdom's landed nobility...
broke out, and their troops occupied and burgled several manors, murdered many landowners and raped noble women. The peasants' troops were defeated by the combined forces of the nobility led by count John Szapolyai.
The acts of revenge against the peasants were enacted by the legislation of 1514: according to the new legal provisions, thenceforward, villeins had to work one day of each week on their lords' demesne
Demesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
without remuneration and their right to free movement became abolished.
The "cardinal liberties" of the nobility - The Tripartitum
At the Diet of 1514, István WerbőczyIstván Werboczy
István Werbőczy or Stephen Werbőcz was a Hungarian jurist and statesman who first became known as a scholar and theologian of such eminence that he was appointed to accompany the emperor Charles V to Worms, to take up the cudgels against Martin Luther.He began his political career as the deputy of...
, who had been a member of the Royal Court, presented his work collecting the costumary law of the realm to the Estates. Although the Diet passed a decision confirming Werbőczy's work and his work also received the Royal Assent, but it was never promulgated
Promulgation
Promulgation is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring a new statutory or administrative law after its enactment. In some jurisdictions this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect....
, probably because it was obviously biased towards the intresests of the "lesser nobility".
Nevertheless, István Werbőczy published his work under the title The customary law of the renowned Kingdom of Hungary: a work in three parts and his book would be followed by the courts of justice in the Kingdom of Hungary during the next centuries. The Tripartitum, in contrast to the development of the public law during the 15th century, declared the principle of "one and the same liberty" of the nobility, although it also referred to some distinctive privileges of the barons (e.g., the size of their weregeld was higher).
The Tripartitums Primæ Nonus (i.e., the Ninth Title of its First Part) summarized the "cardinal liberties" of the nobility:
- a noble could not be arrested without having been summonsed to appear before a court of justize and judged guilty;
- a noble was subordinate only to the power of the monarch legally crowned;
- a noble was exempt from any taxes and obligatory services with the exemption of military service in case of an attack on the realm;
- nobles were entitled to resist any act of the monarchs that could jeopardize their liberties.
The Ottoman conquest
Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia
Louis II was King of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia from 1516 to 1526.- Early life :Louis was the son of Ladislaus II Jagiellon and his third wife, Anne de Foix....
(1516–1526) suffered a catastrophic defeat from the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
armies led by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
(1520–1566) at the Battle of Mohács
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent....
. When the young king left the battlefield, he was thrown from his horse in a river and died, weighed down by his armor. Following their victory, the Ottoman troops entered Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
and pillaged the castle and the surroundings, but they retreated soon afterwards.
The "national party" of the nobility proclaimed its leader to king, but his opponents did not accept his rule, and shortly afterwards, they elected the Habsburg claimant to king; thus a civil war broke out among the followers of King John I (1526–1540) and King Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
(1526–1564). When King John I died, his followers proclaimed his infant son to king, but in 1541, the Sultan Suleiman invaded the kingdom and occupied its central parts. However, by the Sultan's grace, the infant King John II Sigismund
John II Sigismund Zápolya
John II Sigismund Zápolya was King of Hungary from 1540 to 1570 and Prince of Transylvania from 1570–1571.-Family:The son of King John I and Isabella Jagiełło, he succeeded his father as an infant...
(1540–1570) could reserve the government in the eastern parts of the kingdom which led to the formation of a semi-independent polity on those territories.
Thenceforward, the medieval Kingdom of Hungary became divided into three parts:
- the western and northern territories of the kingdom were ruled by kings from the Habsburg dynasty (Royal HungaryRoyal HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary between 1538 and 1867 was part of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, while outside the Holy Roman Empire.After Battle of Mohács, the country was ruled by two crowned kings . They divided the kingdom in 1538...
); - the central territories of the kingdom became parts of the Ottoman EmpireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(Ottoman HungaryOttoman HungaryHistory of Ottoman Hungary refers to the history of parts of the Ottoman Empire situated in what today is Hungary, in the period from 1541 to 1699.-History:...
); - Transylvania and other eastern territories of the kingdom turned into a semi-independent principality under Ottoman suzerainty (Eastern Hungarian KingdomEastern Hungarian KingdomThe Eastern Hungarian Kingdom was the name of the area under the rule of King John I of Hungary. John I of Hungary was the former voivode of Transylvania and the wealthiest and the most powerful landlord after Mohács, secured the eastern part of the kingdom with the help of the Ottomans...
, Principality of Transylvania).
New groups within the nobility
The Ottoman conquest of the central territories of the kingdom enforced several nobles to leave their estates and they had to move to the territories that had not become subject to the Ottoman rule. Several of them received a parcel on the domains of the "magnates", but their parcels did not turn into noble estates and therefore, they had to pay remuneration for the use of their parcels which loosened the principle of the personal tax-exemption of the nobility.The lack of landed property that the kings could have granted led to the practise that the monarchs commenced to ennoble communers without granting them estates; consequently, the "nobles with only letters patent" could not serve personally in the kings' army in the lack of proper revenues. Similarly to them, the "nobles with one parcel" neither could finance the expenses of their personal military service.
Perpetual war
Perpetual war refers to a lasting state of war with no clear ending conditions. It also describes a situation of ongoing tension that seems likely to escalate at any moment, similar to the Cold War.-In past history:...
on the borders of the Royal Hungary required the maintenance of permanent military forces; therefore, the Estates accepted the idea that the nobles who did not owne estates cultivated by villeins (who were obliged to pay taxes) should contribute to the expenses of the wars and in 1595, they ordered that the "nobles with only letters patent" and the "nobles with one parcel" should pay a military contribution. Shortly afterwards, the same nobles became subject to the tax payable for the "counties". Thenceforward, the nobles who became subject to taxation were referred to as "nobles paying tax" .
The Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary
Martin LutherMartin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
's first adherents in the Kingdom of Hungary appeared around 1521 among the (mainly) German-speaking
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
citizens of the towns of Transdanubia
Transdanubia
Transdanubia is a traditional region of Hungary.-Traditional interpretation:The borders of Transdanubia are the Danube river , the Drava and Mura rivers and the foothills of the Alps roughly along the border between Hungary and Austria .Transdanubia comprises the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron,...
, Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia...
(today Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
) and (from the 1530s) Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
(today in Romania). Moreover, some members of German origin
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
of the court of Mary of Austria, the queen of King Louis II also became the follower of the church reformer
Protestant Reformers
Protestant Reformers were those theologians, churchmen, and statesmen whose careers, works, and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century...
's ideas. The nobility, however, endeavoured to hinder the spreading of the ideas of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
during the first half of the 16th century and the Diets of 1523, 1524 and 1525 enacted specific provisions against its followers.
The Lutheran position changed when King Ferdinand I entrusted the defence of the royal fortresses to mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
whose majority had become the adherent of Martin Luther and they were followed by Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
s. From the 1530s, more and more "magnates" converted to the Lutheran ideas and the members of the lesser nobility also followed their example.
The Modern Age
After the obscure kurucKuruc
The kuruc was a term used to denote the armed anti-Habsburg rebels in Royal Hungary between 1671 and 1711....
age and the relative quiet Maria Theresa's era, Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
(1780–90) brought important alterations for the Hungarian nobles. He was a dynamic leader who was influenced by the Enlightenment. He decreed that German replaces Latin as the empire's official language and granted peasants the freedom to leave their holdings, to marry, and to place their children in trades. Hungary, Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, the Military Frontier and Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
became a single imperial territory under one administration, called the Kingdom of Hungary or "Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen
Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen
The historical term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was used to denote a group of territories connected to the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary...
" (before Royal Hungary form was used). When the Hungarian nobles again refused to waive their exemption from taxation, Joseph banned imports of Hungarian manufactured goods into Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and began a survey to prepare for imposition of a general land tax. Joseph II.'s reforms outraged nobles and clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
of Hungary. Hungarians perceived Joseph's language reform as German cultural hegemony, and they reacted by insisting on the right to use their own tongue. As a result, Hungarian lesser nobles sparked a renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
of the Hungarian language and culture, and a cult of national dance and costume flourished. The lesser nobles questioned the loyalty of the magnates, of whom less than half were ethnic Hungarians, and even those had become French- and German-speaking courtiers. The Hungarian national reawakening subsequently triggered national revivals among the Slovak, Romanian, Serbian, and Croatian minorities within Hungary and Transylvania, who felt threatened by both German and Hungarian cultural hegemony.
Natio Hungarica came to refer to the privileged group that had corporate political rights of parliamentary representation, i.e. the prelates, the magnates and the nobles. This conception was accepted in Szatmar Treaty
Treaty of Szatmár
The Treaty of Szatmár was signed at Szatmár on April 30, 1711 between Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, Hungarian Commander-in-Chief Sándor Károlyi and Imperial Field Marshal János Pálffy. Based on the terms of the accord, Charles promised to maintain the integrity of both Transylvanian and...
of 1711 and in the Pragmatic Sanction
Pragmatic sanction
A pragmatic sanction is a sovereign's solemn decree on a matter of primary importance and has the force of fundamental law. In the late history of the Holy Roman Empire it referred more specifically to an edict issued by the Emperor....
of 1722; it remained valid until 1848.
Abolition of nobility and development of ethnic nationalism
The old concept of Natio Hungarica came to play a role in the development of early nationalismHungarian nationalism
Hungarian nationalism developed in the early nineteenth century along the classic lines of scholarly interest leading to political nationalism and mass participation.-History:...
based on the French model.
Ľudovít Štúr
Ludovít Štúr
Ľudovít Štúr , known in his era as Ludevít Velislav Štúr, was the leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century, the author of the Slovak language standard eventually leading to the contemporary Slovak literary language...
indirectly demanded that all people (including peasants) living in the Kingdom of Hungary have their own representatives in the Diet. He indicated thenew constitutional subject that is all the peoples in the Kingdom of Hungary should become the Natio Hungarica. This involved the amendment of the meaning of the traditional class concept Natio Hungarica and the extension of its frame to all the peoples in the Hungarian Kingdom. His attempt at the transformation of all the peoples in kingdom into Natio Hungarica constituted an attempt at the transformation of all ethnic groups in Hungarian Kingdom into Natio Hungarica.
Only with the abolition of nobility and the development of Hungarian nationalism
Hungarian nationalism
Hungarian nationalism developed in the early nineteenth century along the classic lines of scholarly interest leading to political nationalism and mass participation.-History:...
did natio Hungarica begin to develop an ethnic sense.
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
identified the historical-political rights of king and corporations in the Kingdom of Hungary with the national rights of the
Magyars.
Sources
- Bán, Péter (editor): Magyar Történelmi Fogalomtár; Gondolat, Budapest, 1989;
ISBN 963 282 202 1. - Benda, Kálmán (editor): Magyarország történeti kronológiája ("The Chronology of the History of Hungary"); Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981; ISBN 963 05 2661 1.
- Bóna, István: A magyarok és Európa a 9-10. században ("The Magyars and Europe during the 9-10th centuries"); História - MTA Történettudományi Intézete, 2000, Budapest; ISBN 963 8312 67 X.
- Bónis, György: Hűbériség és rendiség a középkori magyar jogban (Vassalage and Feudality in the Medieval Hungarian Law); Osiris Kiadó, 2003, Budapest; ISBN 963 389 426 3.
- Engel, Pál - Kristó, Gyula - Kubinyi, András: Magyarország története - 1301-1526 (The History of Hungary - 1301-1526); Osiris Kiadó, 1998, Budapest; ISBN 963 379 171 5.
- Fügedi, Erik: Ispánok, bárók, kiskirályok (Counts, Barons and Petty Kings); Magvető Könyvkiadó, 1986, Budapest; ISBN 963 14 0582 6.
- Kristó, Gyula (editor): Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon - 9-14. század (Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History - 9-14th centuries); Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994, Budapest; ISBN 963 05 6722 9.
- Kristó, Gyula: Magyarország története - 895-1301 (The History of Hungary - 895-1301); Osiris Kiadó, 1998, Budapest; ISBN 963 379 442 0.
- László, Gyula: The Magyars - Their Life and Civilisation; Corvina, 1996; ISBN 963 13 4226 3.
- Tóth, Sándor László: Levediától a Kárpát-medencéig ("From Levedia to the Carpathian Basin"); Szegedi Középkorász Műhely, 1998, Szeged; ISBN 963 482 175 8.
Further reading
Select Sources of Historical Nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary- Alapi, Gyula. Komáromvármegye nemes családai. Komárom, 1911.
- Áldásy, Antal. A magyar Nemzeti Múzeum könyvtárának címjegyzéke. Címereslevelek. Budapest, 1937.
- Andretzky, József. Baranya vármegye nemesei. Pécs, 1909.
- Balogh, Gyula. Vasvármegye nemes családjai. Szombathely: Bertalanffy, 1894.
- Balogh, Gyula, & Márton Szluha. Vasvármegye nemes családjai. Budapest: Heraldika, 1999.
- Barcsay-Amant, Zoltán, ed. Nemesi évkönyv. Luzern: Kéziratként kezelendő, 1935-1980.
- Baross, Károly. Magyarország földbirtokosai. Az összes 100 holdnál többet bíró magyar birtokosok névsora a tulajdonukban levő földterületek művelési ágak szerinti feltüntetésével. Budapest: Hungaria, 1893.
- Borovszky Samu, ed. Magyarország vármegyéi és városai. Magyarország monográfiája. Buda-pest: Apolló, 1896-1913.
- Borovszky, Samu. Név- és tárgymutató a Turul 1883–1892. évfolyamához. Budapest, 1893.
- Daróczy, Zoltán. Nemesi Évkönyv Budapest: May, 1923-1934.
- Dudás, Gyula. A bácskai nemes családok. Zombor, 1893.
- Dukovits, István. "Nemesi kihirdetések Veszprém vármegyében". Közlemények Dunántúl történetéhez (1911).
- Fejérpataky, László, ed. Magyar Nemzetiségi Zsebkönyv. Főrangú családok. Budapest, 1888.
- Fekete Nagy, Antal, ed. Név- és tárgymutató a Turul 1893–1936. évfolyamaihoz. Budapest, 1901–1902.
- Fényes, Elek. Magyarország geográphiai szótára. Pest: Kozma Vazul, 1851. Rpt. Budapest: MKKE, 1984.
- Förster, Jenő. "Szepes vármegye nemes családainak összeírása 1591-1595-1754/55-1835 évekből". Közlemények Szemes megye múltjából (1909).
- Fröhlichsthal, Georg Freiherr von. Der Adel der Habsburgermonarchie im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Insingen bei Rotherburg ob der Tauber: Bauer & Raspe, 2008.
- Gerő, József. A királyi könyvek. Az I. Ferenc József és IV. Károly király által 1867-től 1918-ig adományozott nemességek, főnemességek, előnevek és címerek jegyzéke. Budapest, 1940.
- Gerő, József. A Magyar Kir. Belügymin. által igazolt nemesek. Budapest, 1940.
- Gudenus, János József. A magyarországi főnemesség XX. századi genealógiája. Budapest: Heraldika, 1990-1999. 5 vols.
- Gudenus, János József. Örmény eredetű magyar nemesi családok genealógiája. Budapest: Erdélyi Örmény Gyökerek Kulturális Egyesület, 2000.
- Gyalókay, Jenő. Bihar vármegye és az útólsó nemesi insurrectio. Nagyvárad, 1902.
- Horánszky, Pál. Liptó vármegye az 1790-1843. évek között kiadott nemességigazoló és egyéb-bizonyítványok jegyzéke. Budapest, 1940.
- Horváth, Sándor. A M.Kir. Országos Levéltárnak az 1886-1907. években bemutatott czímeres nemeslevelek jegyzéke. Budapest, 1908.
- Illésy, János, & Béla Pettkó. A Királyi Könyvek. Jegyzéke a bennük foglalt nemesség, czím, czímer, előnév és honosság adományozásoknak 1527-1867. Budapest: Magyar Országos Levéltár, 1895.
- Illésy, János, & Béla Pettkó. Az 1754-55. évi országos nemesi összeírás. Budapest, 1902.
- Iványi, Béla. "Fogaras vidéki nemesség összeírása 1637-ből". Turul 32 (1927): 88-89.
- Jäger Sunstenau, Hanns. General Index zu dem Siebmacher'schen Wappenbüchern 1605–1961. Graz, 1964.
- Kempelen, Béla. Családkönyv I. Nemes családok. Budapest, 1940.
- Kempelen, Béla. Magyar főrangú családok. Budapest, 1931.
- Kempelen, Béla. Magyar nemesi almanach. Az 1867–1909. magyar nemességre, bárói, grófi és herczegi méltóságra emelt családok. Budapest, 1910.
- Kempelen, Béla. Magyar nemesi családkönyv. Budapest, 1927.
- Kempelen, Béla. Magyar nemes családok. Budapest: Grill, 1911-1932. 11 vols.
- Kempelen, Béla. Magyar nemes családok címerei. Budapest, 1914.
- Kempelen, Béla. Magyar zsidó és zsidóeredetű családok. Budapest, 1937-1939. 3 Vols.
- Kiss, R. István. Az utolsó nemesi felkelés. Budapest, 1911.
- Kőszeghi, Sándor. Nemes családok Pestvármegyében. Budapest: Hungária, 1899.
- Kővári, László. Erdély nevezetesebb családai. Kolozsvár, 1854.
- Lendvai, Miklós. Temes vármegye nemes családjai. Budapest, 1905. 3 vols.
- Lengyel, Alfréd. Győr vármegye nemességvizsgálatai és az 1725. évi invesztigacio. Mo-sonmagyaróvár, 1942.
- Lengyel, Alfréd. Moson megye 1754-ben igazolt nemes családjai. Mosonmagyaróvár, 1943.
- Nagy, Iván. Családtörténeti értesítő czímerekkel és leszármazási táblákkal. Budapest, 1899-1901.
- Nagy, Iván. Magyarország családai czímerekkel és nemzedékrendi táblákkal. Pest: Ráth Mór, 1857-1868. 12 vols.
- Pettkó, Béla, & Ede Reiszig. Magyar Nemzetségi Zsebkönyv. Nemes családok. Budapest, 1905.
- Rédei, Ferencz, & Emil Elek. A Magyar földbirtok 1903. Magyarország 100 holdon felüli földbirto-kosainak és haszonbérlőinek czímtára a mezőgazdasági ingatlan becsértékének és a munkásviszonyok ismertetésével. Budapest: Pátria, 1903.
- Romhányi, Vilmos. "Nyitra vármegye 1754-55. évi nemesi igazolása. Levéltári Közlemények (1914).
- Sándor, Imre, & József Sebestyén, ed. Genealógiai füzetek. Családtörténeti folyóirat czímerekkel és leszármazási táblákkal. Kolozsvár, 1908–1914.
- Scheftsik, György. Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok vármegye nemes családjai. Szolnok, 1935.
- Schneider, Miklós, Vas vármegye 1835. évi nemesi összeírása. Szombathely, 1939.
- Schneider, Miklós. Fejér megye 1843 évi nemesi összeírása. Székesfehérvár, 1936.
- Schneider, Miklós. Fejér megye nemesi összeírása (1754, 1809, 1818-21, 1828). Székesfe-hérvár, 1934.
- Schneider, Miklós. Fejér megyei nemességvizsgálatok. Székesfehérvár, 1947.
- Schneider, Miklós. Fejérmegyei nemes családok. Székesfehérvár: Csitáry G. Jenő, 1935.
- Schneider, Miklós. Trencsén megye 1725-32. évi nemességvizsgálata. Szombathely, 1938.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye 1558. évi nemesi összeírása. Szombathely, 1943.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye 1696. évi nemesi összeírása. Szombathely, 1943.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye 1717. évi nemességvizsgálata. Szombathely, 1939.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye 1726/27. évi nemességvizsgálata. Szombathely, 1940.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye 1754. évi nemesi összeírása. Szombathely, 1939.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye kétségtelen nemesei 1733-ban. Szombathely, 1940.
- Schneider, Miklós. Vas vármegye nemesi összeírásai 1781. Szombathely, 1941.
- Schönherr, Gyula. "Czímeres nemes levelek a mármarosi levéltárban". Családtörténeti értesítő 2 (1900): 175-79, 231.
- Segner, Felix Ladislaus von. Der ungarische Adel. Grafenau: By the author, 1969.
- Siebmacher. Der Adel von Ungarn samt den Nebenländern der St. Stephanskrone. Ed. Iván Nagy & Géza Csergheő. Nürnberg, 1885-1893. rpt. Neustadt an der Aisch: Bauer & Raspe, 1982.
- Szluha, Márton. Bács-Bodrog, Csanád, Liptó, Nyitra, Udvarhely és Vas vármegyék nemes családjai. CD-ROM. Budapest: Arcanum, 2004.
- Tagányi, Károly. Jegyzéke a Magyar Országos Levéltárban a magyar és erdélyi udvari kancellária fölállításáig található herczegi, grófi, bárói, honossági és nemességi okleveleknek. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár, 1886.
- Tagányi, Károly, & Béla Pettkó. Pótlék Tagányi Károly nemesi jegyzékéhez. Budapest, 1888.
- Vajay, Szabolcs. A Johannita Rend lovagjai, 1854-1987. München: By the author, 1987.
- Vajay, Szabolcs. A máltai lovagrend magyar lovagjai 1530-2000. Budapest: Magyar Máltai Lovagok Szövetsége, 2002.
Source (open-access academic journal, copyright Purdue University Press: released to Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek):
- Nobilitashungariae: List of Historical Surnames of the Hungarian Nobility / A magyar történelmi nemesség család neveinek listája. Ed. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (Library): West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2010.
- Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven. Records of the Tötösy de Zepetnek Family / A Zepetneki Tötösy család adattára.
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (Library): West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2010.
External links
- docs.lib.purdue.edu, nobilitashungariae: List of Historical Surnames of the Hungarian Nobility. Ed. Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek.