Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/610

 HUNGARY

550

HUNGARY

taken in time of war and then not without the con- sent of the bishop. It was in this period that the Cistercians, Premonstratensians, and Knights of St. John settled in Hungarj'; in the thirteenth centurj' these orders were followed by the Dominicans and Franciscans. About 1150 Saxon colonists, of the Catholic Faith, settled in upper Hungarj' and in Transylvania. The Cistercians grew rapidly in Hun- gary during the reign of Bela III (1173-96) as the king granted the order the same privileges as it en- joyed in France. Fresh disorders sprang up in Hungarj- after the death of King Bela III. King Emeric (1196-120-1) was engaged in war with his brother Andrew, who coveted the throne, until Emeric's death put an end to the fratricidal struggle.

l.ICA. BUDAPF>

Andrew II (1205-O.5), who was now king, was soon involved in a struggle with the oligarchy. At his accession he was obliged to swear to protect the liberties of the land and the independence of the roj-al dignitj'. When he failed to obser\'e these obliga- tions, the nobles forced him to issue the Golden Bull (1222), the Magna Charta of Hungarj'. This instru- ment confirmed the rights of the nobles and gave them the privilege to take up arms against the king when he failed to obser\'e the conditions here agreed upon, but it did not fulfil the hopes it had raised: its provisions were not carried out, and the disorders continued. Neither did Andrew, who in 1217 took part in an unsuccessful crusade to the Holy Land. ■ obser\e the agreement confirming the liberty of ecclesiastics, and the Catholic Church saw itself en- dangered bj' the continuallj' growing influence exerted over the king by the Ishmaclites and Jews. After all warnings to the king had failed. Archbishop Robert of Gran placed Hungarj' under an interdict (12.32). in orilor to force the king to put an end to the prevailing abuses and to guard the interests of the Church. The king promised the correction of the abuses and, e.spociallj'. to guard the interests of the Catholic Church, but he was too weak a man for energetic action. His son Bela IV (1235-70) endeavoured to restore order, above all he tried to carrj' out the pro- visions of the Golden Bull, hut his efforts were inter- fered with bj' an invasion of the Tatars, which nearly ruined the covmtry. After the battle near Muhi (1241), thej' devastated the entire land; thousands of the inhabitants were massacred, himdreds of churches were plundered and razed to the ground, and six of the dioceses were ncarlj- destroj-ed. Con- sequentlj', when the Tatars left the coimtrj'. King Bela was obliged to take up the reorganization both of ecclesiastical and secular affairs. The damage suf- fered was repaired through the self-sacrifice of the roj'al familj' and the people: new monasteries and churches were built, those that had been dcstroj'ed were restored, and colonists were brought in to repair

the losses in population. These colonists were partly CathoHc Germans and Bohemians, and partlj' pagan Cumans. Those of the Cumans who lived apart from the others were soon converted, but the majoritj' held to paganism and did not become Christians until the middle of the fourteenth centurj'.

The last j'ears of the reign of Bela IV were disturbed bj' a quarrel with the Curia concerning the appoint- ment to the vacant Diocese of Zagrdb (Agram), and by the revolt of his son Stephen, who succeeded him. Stephen V reigned onlj' two j-ears (1270-72); he was followed by his son Ladislaus IV (1272-90) who, when he came to the throne, was still a minor. In this reign efforts were made to restore church disci- pline that had fallen into decaj' during the disorders of the previous j-ears. For this decline of church discipline and of ecclesiastical conditions the pagan Cumans were largely responsible; thej' wandered about the land plundering and damaging the churches. The king was on good terms with them and main- tained relations with Cumanian women ; his example was followed bj' others. It is not surprising that under the circumstances disorders broke out once more in Hungarj', and that the authority of the Church suffered. Philip, Bishop of Fermo, came to ■ Hungarj' in 1279 as papal legate and held a great sj'nod at Buda (Ofen), where various decisions were reached concerning the preservation of the interests of the Church and the restoration of canon law, but the sj'nod was forciblj' dissolved bj' the king, and its members driven away. The appeals made by the Hungarian bishops and the Holj' See to the king were in vain: Ladislaus promised, indeed, to act differently, and to reform the disordered [)olitical and ecclesias- tical conditions, but he failed to keep his word. After the murder of Ladislaus, the last of the .Vrpdd dj-nasty. Andrew III, grandson of Andrew II, became king. During his reign of ten j'ears (1290-1301) he was engaged in a constant struggle with foreign claimants to the throne, and could give no care to tJbe internal and ecclesiastical conditions of the country. Rudolf of Hapsburg endeavoured to wrest Hungary from Andrew for his son Albrecht, and the grandson of Stephen V, Charles Martell of Naples, also claimed it. After the death of the latter, who had the support of the Holy See, his son. Charles Robert, maintained the father's claims, and from 1295 assumed the title of King of Hungary.

After the death of Andrew III a series of wars broke out over the succession. A part of the people and clergj' held to King Wenceslaus, another to Otto, Duke of Bavaria, and still another to Charles Robert. The Holy See strongly espoused the cause of Charles Robert and sent Cardinal Gentile to Hungary. Notwithstanding these efforts in his favour, it was not until 1309 that Charles Robert (1.309-42) was able to secure the throne of Hungarj' for himself. There now began for the country a long period of consolidation. The new king regulated the internal administration, brought the state finances into good order, imposing for this purpose in 1.323 a land tax, reorganized the armj-, and sought to increase his dynastic power bj' forming connexions with foreign countries. In church affairs he encroached largely on ecclesiastical rights; he filled the vacant sees and the church offices without regard to the electoral rights of the cathedral chapters. He claimed the revenues of vacant benefices for himself, confiscated the incomes of other benefices, granted large numbers of expectancies, and forced those appointed to eccle- siastical benefices to pay a larger or smaller sum before taking office. In 1338 a part of the Hun- garian episcopate sent a memorial to the Ajiostolic See, in which, with some exaggeration, t hej' presented an account of the encroachments of the king. The pope notified the king of the memorial, an act which created no ill-feeUng between the two; the Holy