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256-512: Kunság was the result of a second and final Cuman colonization in Hungary; while not the only Cuman-inhabited area, it remained the only centre of Cuman self-rule after the end of Arpadian Hungary . Tradition dates its emergence to 1279, when Ladislaus IV , a half-Cuman King of Hungary , granted its first set of fiscal and judicial privileges. These were confirmed in the 15th century, when Cumans began organizing themselves into " seats " overseen by

512-669: A Palatine of the Kingdom . However, the consolidation of feudalism created dissatisfaction across the region, leading to its participation in György Dózsa 's uprising of 1514. The area was devastated during the Ottoman–Hungarian wars , and further depopulated by the Ottoman occupation of Hungary . It was recolonized by Cumans, Hungarians and Slovaks upon the establishment of Habsburg Hungary . The new regime granted Kunság to

768-594: A separate duchy under his brother's suzerainty. Throughout Coloman's reign, the brothers' relationship remained tense, which finally led to the blinding of Álmos and his infant son Béla . Coloman routed two bands of crusaders (the perpetrators of the Rhineland massacres ) who were plundering the Western borderlands, and defeated Petar Snačić in Croatia. The late 14th-century Pacta conventa states that Coloman

1024-668: A "strong, partly ethnic-religious identity" in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok , rather than in Kunság as a region; the authors surmised that the newer territorial unit had geographical coherence. Despite no longer being a living language after 1700, Cuman still produced a number of documents in the following centuries. A Lord's Prayer in Cuman, probably written during the Reformation , is known to have been circulated and recited in

1280-464: A "warlike spirit". In tandem, revivalists began referring to ancient Cuman customs and ethnic markers, which in some cases are suspect of being invented traditions . At the time, Horváth and Julius Klaproth introduced the theory according to which Cumans, Jazyges and Hungarians were Finno-Ugric, and therefore "kinsmen". This stance partly overlapped with a working hypothesis for early Hungarian archaeologists such as Miklós Jankovich and Géza Nagy. In

1536-527: A Cuman contingent led by a Captain Tatar, which became a nuisance to the locals after pillaging the local resources. Possibly Cuman " Saracen " troops assisted Géza II in his 1150s war against the Lombard League . In the early 13th century, Hungarian–Cuman relations were again tense, prompting Andrew II to create a system of border defences, which included granting the border region of Burzenland to

1792-609: A Zeihan Dux Cumanorum ("Duke of the Cumans") is mentioned here in 1255. The Jazyges colonized central areas in lands adjacent to the main Cuman settlements; however, some settled near the Borcsol, near the Maxond Dunes . Documentary and archeological evidence suggests that at least some Olás Cumans were sent to Bihar County (presently Bihor , Romania ). In 1323, tribal leader Demetrius owned Körösszeg fortress. A "Cuman Street"

2048-422: A ban on sale of native slaves to places abroad. His laws concerning his Muslim subjects aimed at their conversion; for instance, by obliging them to marry their daughters to Christians. The presence of Jewish and Muslim merchants in the kingdom was due to its position as a crossroad of trading routes leading towards Constantinople, Regensburg , and Kiev . Local trade also existed, which enabled Coloman to collect

2304-531: A catastrophic defeat at the Tryavna Pass . The emperor barely escaped with his life; the Imperial treasury, including the crown and the cross, were captured by the victorious Bulgarians. After their success, Asen was crowned emperor and became known as Ivan Asen I. Peter IV voluntarily stepped down to make way for his more energetic brother; Peter IV retained his title but Ivan Asen assumed authority. In

2560-475: A deterioration of relations with Serbia. This change of political course is explained by the rapid growth of Serbian power and its penetration into Macedonia. The Bulgarians and the Byzantines agreed to a joint campaign against Serbia, but it took five years until the differences and tensions between Bulgaria and Byzantium were overcome. Michael Shishman gathered 15,000 troops and invaded Serbia. He engaged

2816-686: A few months the Mongol Chaka ruled in Tarnovo. In 1300, Theodore Svetoslav , George I's eldest son, took advantage of a civil war in the Golden Horde, overthrew Chaka, and presented his head to the Mongol khan Toqta . This brought an end to Mongol interference in Bulgarian domestic affairs and secured Southern Bessarabia as far as Bolgrad to Bulgaria. The new emperor began to rebuild

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3072-497: A four-decade crisis. Stephen considered his cousin, Vazul , unsuitable for the throne and named his own sister's son, the Venetian Peter Orseolo , as his heir. After Vazul was blinded and his three sons were expelled, Peter succeeded his uncle without opposition in 1038. Peter's preference for his foreign courtiers led to a rebellion, which ended with his deposition in favor of a native lord, Samuel Aba , who

3328-459: A girl to be his wife without the consent of her parents, we decreed that the girl should be returned to her parents, even if he did anything by force to her, and the abductor shall pay ten steers for the abduction, although he may afterwards have made peace with the girl's parents. Stephen I:27, 1000–1038 From a legal perspective, Hungarian society was divided into freemen and serfs , but intermediate groups also existed. All freemen had

3584-569: A gold-threaded kaftan . Kecskemét's mayor would wear this garment while meeting Ottoman troops, reminding them of the pledge. "Under continuous harassment", other inhabitants of Kunság took to the marshes bordering the region, or fled Hungary altogether. This process saw them identifying more closely with their Hungarian neighbours, and resulted in a more accelerated adoption of the Hungarian identity. However, historian Nathalie Kálnoky argues that Cuman and Jazyg identities were unwittingly protected by

3840-635: A group of Cumans to accept Andrew II's suzerainty in 1228 and established a new march in Oltenia (known as the Banate of Szörény ) in 1231. Béla IV succeeded his father in 1235. His attempt to reacquire crown lands alienated by his predecessors created a deep rift between the monarch and the lords just as the Mongols were sweeping westward across the Eurasian steppes . The king was first informed of

4096-473: A group of local lords in 1213. A new uprising broke out while the king was in the Holy Land on his crusade in 1217 and 1218 . Finally, a movement of the royal servants , who were actually free landholders directly subordinated to the sovereign, obliged Andrew II to issue his Golden Bull in 1222. It summarized the royal servants' liberties, including their tax exemption. Its last provision authorized

4352-611: A hub for the East–West trade in Anatolian rugs . The area also involved itself in anti-Ottoman dissent. In 1641, Kecskemét paid homage to Leopold I 's Palatine, Nikolaus Esterházy , by awarding him one of its rugs. In 1662, the city became home to a large colony of Greeks who fled Ottoman repression. The long series of Habsburg expeditions weakened the Ottoman Empire and forced its military out of Hungary-proper. The country

4608-734: A large Christian army led by the Serbian brothers Vukašin Mrnjavčević and Jovan Uglješa in the Battle of Chernomen . They immediately turned on Bulgaria and conquered northern Thrace, the Rhodopes, Kostenets , Ihtiman , and Samokov , effectively limiting the authority of Ivan Shishman in the lands to the north of the Balkan mountains and the Valley of Sofia . Unable to resist, the Bulgarian monarch

4864-527: A list of merchandise brought to Ghent shows that Hungary exported wax and unminted gold and silver. Although threatening letters sent to Béla IV by the khans of the Golden Horde proved that the danger of a new Mongol invasion still existed, he adopted an expansionist foreign policy. Frederick II of Austria died fighting against Hungarian troops in 1246, and Béla IV's son-in-law, Rostislav Mikhailovich , annexed large territories along

5120-593: A major rebellion in 1211, Boril was forced to cede Belgrade and Braničevo to Hungary. A campaign against Serbia in 1214 also ended in defeat. I waged war in Romania , defeated the Greek army, and captured the Lord Emperor Theodore Comnenus himself and all his boyars . And I conquered all the land from Adrianople to Durazzo, Greek, Serbia and Albanian alike. The Franks hold only the cities in

5376-520: A major victory in the Battle of Klokotnitsa . Theodore Komnenos was captured along with his whole court and most of the surviving troops. Ivan Asen II released all ordinary soldiers and marched on the Epirote–controlled territories, where all cities and towns from Adrianople to Durazzo on the Adriatic Sea surrendered and recognized his rule. Theodore's brother Michael II Komnenos Doukas

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5632-606: A new wave of colonization that resulted in the arrival of a number of Germans, Moravians , Poles , and Romanians . The king re-invited the Cumans and settled them in the plains along the Danube and the Tisza . A group of Alans , the ancestors of the Jassic people , seems to have settled in the kingdom around the same time. New villages appeared, consisting of timber houses built side by side in equal parcels of land. For instance,

5888-521: A plot inspired by Constantinople. Peter IV besieged Tarnovo and Ivanko fled to the Byzantine Empire, where he was made governor of Philippopolis . Peter IV was murdered less than a year after his brother's death. The throne was succeeded by Kaloyan , Asen's and Peter IV's youngest brother. An ambitious and ruthless ruler, he wanted to gain international recognition and to complete the liberation of Bulgaria. Kaloyan also wanted revenge against

6144-545: A prince of dubious legitimacy. Andrew became the first monarch to take an oath respecting the liberties of the Church and the nobility before his coronation. He regularly convoked the prelates, the lords, and the noblemen's representatives to assemblies known as Diets , which started to develop into a legislative body. By 1300, when the kingdom had disintegrated into autonomous provinces ruled by powerful noblemen (including Matthew Csák , Ladislaus Kán , and Amadeus Aba ),

6400-475: A provisional crown, but most lords and bishops refused to yield to him because they regarded him as a symbol of the Holy See's attempts to control Hungary. They elected as king the twelve-year-old Wenceslaus of Bohemia , who was descended from Béla IV of Hungary in the female line. The young king could not consolidate his position because many lords, especially those who held domains in the southern region of

6656-595: A strictly political agenda in his negotiations with the Papacy, without sincere intentions to convert to Roman Catholicism . The union with Rome lasted until 1235 and did not affect the Bulgarian church, which continued its practices of Eastern Orthodox canons and rites. The ambition of Bulgaria to become the religious centre of the Orthodox world had a prominent place in the Second Empire's state doctrine. After

6912-523: A study of children's rhymes, positing that apparent nonsense verse could, in fact, be Cuman rhyming. Cuman words may be the origin of place names such as " Debrecen ". Kingdom of Hungary (1000%E2%80%931301) The high-medieval Kingdom of Hungary was a regional power in central Europe. It came into existence in Central Europe when Stephen I , Grand Prince of the Hungarians ,

7168-550: A successor, the Byzantines recaptured the city and other Bulgarian-seized towns in northern Thrace. The energetic despot of Vidin, Michael Shishman , was elected emperor the next year; he immediately turned on the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos , regaining the lost lands. In late 1324, the two monarchs signed a peace treaty, strengthened by a marriage between the Bulgarian ruler and Theodora Palaiologina . Michael Shishman divorced his Serbian wife Anna Neda , causing

7424-495: A temporary recovery and stability, but also the peak of Balkan feudalism as central authorities gradually lost power in many regions. Bulgaria was divided into three parts on the eve of the Ottoman invasion. Despite strong Byzantine influence, Bulgarian artists and architects created their own distinctive style. In the 14th century Bulgarian culture, literature, art, and architecture flourished. The capital city Tarnovo , which

7680-478: A tolerant attitude towards Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Muslim, Jewish, and Hungarian merchants from Hungary regularly visited the fairs at Prague, exchanging gold and Byzantine gold coins for slaves, tin, and fur. To Pereyaslavets , an important emporium on the Lower Danube, the Hungarians brought horses and silver. The Byzantine Church was the first to successfully proselytize among their leaders: in 948

7936-428: A visit to Tarnovo. The years of peace brought economic prosperity and boosted commerce; Bulgaria became a major exporter of agricultural commodities, especially wheat. During the early 1320s, tensions between Bulgaria and the Byzantines rose as the latter descended into a civil war and the new emperor George II Terter seized Philippopolis. In the confusion following George II's unexpected death in 1322 without leaving

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8192-410: A week; in 1332, it travelled 230 km (140 miles) in five days. Inside the fortress [Sofia] there is a large and elite army, its soldiers are heavily built, moustached and look war-hardened, but are used to consume wine and rakia —in a word, jolly fellows. Ottoman commander Lala Shahin on the garrison of Sofia . Bulgaria maintained extensive lines of fortresses to protect the country, with

8448-475: A worthy occupation, and adorned their homes with the skulls of horses. "Spectacular burials of Cuman leaders (with a full panoply of material objects and a horse)", though rare, still occurred even after 1300; actual kurgans were only rarely constructed in Kunság. Horváth introduced the concept of " Cumanian mounds " for tumuli located in the Great Plain. Most of these were nevertheless built long before

8704-420: Is also reflected in the assemblages of the " Bijelo Brdo culture ", which emerged in the mid-10th century. Archaeological finds—a few objects with short inscriptions—indicate the use of a special runiform script in medieval Hungary. The inscriptions have not been deciphered, and the script was probably never used for administrative or legislative purposes. Although they were pagan, the Hungarians demonstrated

8960-454: Is asked of the prince through his peers, ... no opportunity of defending himself is granted the accused, but the will of the prince alone is held by all as sufficient. Otto of Freising , The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa Béla II's son, Géza II , who ascended the throne in 1141, adopted an active foreign policy. He supported Uroš II of Serbia against Emperor Manuel I Komnenos , and launched at least six military campaigns to

9216-564: Is no suggestion that Cuman settlers were required to sedentarize: the first records of Cuman towns appear in Angevin Hungary , some two centuries after the colonization, and toponymy shows that they were all founded by chieftains, and named after them. The migration of Moldavian Cumans or their assimilation by Vlachs was probably complete by 1332; that year, the Cuman Bishopric was given an ethnically neutral name, taken from

9472-584: Is thus probable that before 1200 Cumans had acculturated a mass of the Kipchaks , which were also Turkic. Lyublyanovics describes the original Cumans as a loose confederation of various ethnic backgrounds, noting that they were "only brought together by the need to escape the Mongols". Their partial ethnogenesis began upon their arrival to the Great Plain: "the new social and economic environment they faced

9728-507: Is weak and fragile", he emphasized the advantages of the arrival of foreigners, or "guests". His laws were aimed at the adoption, even by force, of a Christian way of life. He especially protected Christian marriage against polygamy and other traditional customs. Decorated belts and other items of pagan fashion also disappeared. Commoners started to wear long woolen coats, but wealthy men persisted in wearing their silk kaftans decorated with furs. If any warrior debased by lewdness abducts

9984-534: The horka , and around 952 the gyula , were baptized in Constantinople . In contrast, the grand prince Géza who ruled from the early 970s received baptism into the Latin Church . He erected fortresses and invited foreign warriors to develop a new army based on heavy cavalry . Géza also arranged the marriage of his son, Stephen , with Giselle of Bavaria , a princess from the family of

10240-477: The marturina , the traditional in-kind tax of Slavonia, in cash. Coloman exempted those who lived on their own estates from the freemen's pennies, and allowed other freemen to redeem half of the tax through services provided. Modern scholars assume that the earliest Hungarian chronicle was composed under Coloman, but it did not survive. This "primary" chronicle is thought to have been expanded and rewritten in accordance with changing political expectations during

10496-566: The Balkan Peninsula and the lands east of the Carpathian Mountains , transforming their kingdom into one of the major powers of medieval Europe. Rich in uncultivated lands, silver, gold, and salt deposits, Hungary became the preferred destination of mainly German, Italian, and French colonists. These immigrants were mostly peasants who settled in villages, but some were craftsmen and merchants, who established most of

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10752-647: The Battle of Adrianople . His nephew Ivan Asen II defeated the Despotate of Epiros and made Bulgaria a regional power again. During his reign, Bulgaria spread from the Adriatic to the Black Sea and the economy flourished. In the late 13th century, however, the Empire declined under constant invasions by Mongols , Byzantines , Hungarians , and Serbs , as well as internal unrest and revolts. The 14th century saw

11008-482: The Bulgarian coinage , coins from the Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire, Venice, Serbia, the Golden Horde, and the small Balkan principalities were widely used. Due to the increase of production, there was a tendency to limit the circulation of foreign coins by the second half of the 14th century. Coins were minted by some independent or semi-independent Bulgarian lords, such as Jacob Svetoslav and Dobrotitsa. Following

11264-534: The Catholic Church , eventually increased pressures for assimilation and full conversion: already in 1279, the Diet of Hungary legislated on the mass baptism of still-pagan Cumans and promised to disperse them across the realm. Both conclusions were largely ignored by the king, although conversion from polytheism is traceable to the 13th century, which sees the first mentions of Cumans with Christian names. There

11520-513: The Csák , Kőszegi , and other leading families who attempted to control the central government in the name of the young Ladislaus IV. He was declared to be of age in 1277 at an assembly of the spiritual and temporal lords and of the noblemen's and Cumans' representatives, but he could not strengthen royal authority. Ladislaus IV, whose mother, Elisabeth , was a Cuman chieftain's daughter, preferred his Cuman kin, which made him unpopular. He

11776-728: The First Bulgarian Empire , it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the early 15th century. Until 1256, the Second Bulgarian Empire was the dominant power in the Balkans , defeating the Byzantine Empire in several major battles. In 1205, Emperor Kaloyan defeated the newly established Latin Empire in

12032-568: The Great Hungarian Plain . The migration reportedly involved some 40,000–70,000 Cumans, divided into 7 tribes: Olás, Csertán, Kór, Borcsol, Kondám, Honcsuk, and Jupogó. The culturally distinct Jazyges were closely allied with the various Cuman groups, their fate having become "intertwined in the wake of the Mongolian expansion." The 14th-century Chronicon Pictum shows Cumans as the king's yellow-clad army, in close proximity to

12288-592: The Holy Roman emperors to expand their authority over Hungary , jeopardized the new monarchy. The monarchy stabilized during the reigns of Ladislaus I (1077–1095) and Coloman (1095–1116). These rulers occupied Croatia and Dalmatia with the support of a part of the local population. Both realms retained their autonomous position. The successors of Ladislaus and Coloman—especially Béla II (1131–1141), Béla III (1176–1196), Andrew II (1205–1235), and Béla IV (1235–1270)—continued this policy of expansion towards

12544-669: The Latin Empire . The Bulgarians tried to establish friendly relations with the Latins but were rebuffed and the Latins claimed their lands despite Papal recognition. Facing a common enemy, Kaloyan and the Byzantine aristocracy in Thrace made an alliance and the latter promised they would accept Kaloyan as their emperor. The decisive battle between the Bulgarian army and the Crusaders took place on 14 April 1205, at Adrianople , at which

12800-690: The Milcov River . By then, the core areas of their settlement were emerging as the twin entities of Kunság and Jazygia . This separation had occurred in 1323, when 18 "family heads" of the Jazyges declared their secession from Kunság. In the late 14th century, at the end of a slow process, the Cumans' land was split into distinct subregions, both of them enclaves in Hungarian land. An area between Szolnok and Debrecen became Greater Cumania ( Nagykunság ) while an area between Kalocsa and Szeged became Little Cumania ( Kiskunság ). The origin of

13056-666: The Patriarch of Jerusalem to negotiate an anti-Byzantine alliance, which included the other two Eastern Patriarchs, but the mission achieved nothing. Disputes with the Patriarchate of Constantinople over the legitimacy of the Bulgarian Patriarchate intensified in the 14th century. In 1355, the Ecumenical patriarch Callistus I tried to assert his supremacy over the Bulgarian church and claimed that under

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13312-670: The Principality of Hungary ca. 900, describing the Aba tribesmen as Cumans. This account is nevertheless anachronistic, meaning that Gesta ' s "Cuman" is perhaps a stand-in for " Turkic ", " Khazar ", or " Bulgar ". The first verifiable attestations of Cumans in Arpadian Hungary were as raiders, during the 11th century; they later returned as mercenaries backing the Hungarian Kings . Stephen II 's retinue included

13568-427: The Second Bulgarian Kingdom to distinguish it from the First Bulgarian Empire . An alternative name used in connection with the pre-mid 13th century period is the Empire of Vlachs and Bulgarians ; variant names include the Vlach–Bulgarian Empire , the Bulgarian–Wallachian Empire , or the Romanian–Bulgarian Empire ; the latter name was used exclusively in Romanian historiography. However, Arabic chronicles from

13824-451: The Second Silesian War . Fused into "Jászkunság" or "Jazygia-Cumania", the two regions had judicial and executive autonomy under the Palatine; there was equality of taxation, and the tribes were allowed to accept or reject applications for individual membership. Within six years, the Cumans had paid in full the "security pledge" that they still owed to the Hungarian court, thus securing their freedom from serfdom. Upon liquidating its debt to

14080-476: The Teutonic Order and repressed Cuman separatism, especially after the inhabitants' willing participation in Rákóczi's War of Independence . Centralizing tendencies were nevertheless toned down under Maria Theresa and, in 1745, Kunság and Jazygia were merged into a single autonomous district, whose inhabitants were allowed to buy their way out of serfdom . The prosperous region had a population boom, which allowed its now-mixed population to colonize other parts of

14336-485: The Teutonic Order . This group streamlined the first effort to Christianize Cuman communities living outside the Pannonian Basin . The Cumans were themselves attacked and defeated by the Mongol Empire ; most Cumans fled to Hungary, the Bulgarian Empire , and the Byzantine Empire . By the 1220s, many were concentrated to the east of Hungary, in areas later known as Moldavia and Bessarabia . Their conversion to Christianity began here, under Hungarian auspices , leading to

14592-462: The Tisza . These Cumans arrived in 1239, but there was violence between the nomadic Cumans and the settled Hungarians. Cuman assassins murdered Köten on the behalf of some Hungarian nobles, and the Cumans returned to the Balkans in 1241, pillaging Syrmia as an act of revenge. Following the Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1246 , Béla re-invited Cumans and smaller group of Jazyges (an Ossetian tribe) back to Hungary, to settle in devastated areas of

14848-429: The Turkic family , the Cumans were probably ethnically diverse even before they entered Hungary. Scholar Simon Szyszman highlights this aspect by noting that "marriages between Cumans and other peoples were frequent". Archeologist Silviu Oța describes Cuman society as comprising "bits and pieces of previously destroyed tribes, whose collective memory of tribal origin had been preserved by the simple class of warriors". It

15104-467: The dermatoglyphics of Kiskunlacháza and neighbouring Hungarian localities. In 1981 T. Tóth used comparative cephalometry to argue that all Hungarians were racially similar to Ossetians , and as such Caucasian rather than Mongoloid . He also proposed that most inhabitants of Jászkunság shared racial traits with the mainline Hungarians. Such verdicts were partly contradicted by archaeologist Kinga Éry, who researched Perkáta 's cemetery and concluded that

15360-445: The ecclesiastic nobles , Romanian knezes , and other " conditional nobles ") owed services to their lords in exchange for the lands they held. In a growing number of counties, local nobility acquired the right to elect four "judges of the nobles" to represent them in official procedures (or two, in Transylvania and Slavonia). The idea of equating the Hungarian "nation" with the community of noblemen also emerged in this period. It

15616-399: The "vice captain" and "first notary of the Jazyges and Cumans", published his treatise of regional history. Pushes for autonomy were more often than not ignored by the Hungarian Diet, and sabotaged by local aristocrats. Sent as Jászkunság's first delegate to the Diet in 1832, János Illéssy fought to preserve judicial and fiscal equality for all Cumans, but lost to a noblemen's caucus. This trend

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15872-427: The 1070s, and the 1080s. The initial centre of the resistance was the theme of Bulgaria, in what is now Macedonia , where the massive Uprising of Peter Delyan (1040–41) and the Uprising of Georgi Voiteh (1072) took place. Both were quelled with great difficulty by Byzantine authorities. These were followed by rebellions in Paristrion and Thrace . During the Komnenian Restoration and the temporary stabilisation of

16128-402: The 1150s. Aspects of 12th-century French culture could also be detected in Béla's kingdom. His palace at Esztergom was built in the early Gothic style . Achilles and other names known from the Legend of Troy and the Romance of Alexander (two emblematic works of chivalric culture) were also popular among Hungarian aristocrats. According to the consensual scholarly view, "Master P",

16384-399: The 12th century. All scholarly attempts to reconstruct the original text based on chronicles from the 14th and 15th centuries have proved futile. The kingdom was sparsely populated, with an average population density of four or five people per 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi). The Olaszi ("Italians") streets or districts in Eger , Pécs and Várad (Oradea, Romania) point at

16640-503: The 13th century had used only the name of Wallachia instead of Bulgaria and gave the Arabic coordinates of Wallachia and specified that Walachia was named "al-Awalak" and the dwellers "ulaqut" or "ulagh". In 1018, when the Byzantine emperor Basil II ( r.   976–1025) conquered the First Bulgarian Empire, he ruled it cautiously. The existing tax system, laws, and the power of low-ranking nobility remained unchanged until his death in 1025. The autocephalous Bulgarian Patriarchate

16896-506: The 15th century, both groups were urbanized enough to be organized into " seats ", "universities", and "captaincies", all of which were under a Palatine of the Kingdom . The first seat was Szentelt-szék , mentioned in 1424 and located outside Kunság, among the Kór. Another one was organized in 1440 for the Olás tribe of Greater Cumania, at Kolbaz. While this transfer of power resembled the autonomous organization of Székely Land , Cumans and Jazyges enjoyed fewer collective privileges; likewise,

17152-412: The 1840s, Jászkunság autonomists became convinced that egalitarianism could only be achieved by the democratization of the contemporary feudal Hungary as a whole, which made them advocates of Hungarian nationalism . This trend was contrasted by a late-19th-century movement wishing for "Jász County" (Greater Cumania included) to secede from Szolnok, mainly on economic grounds. Presided upon by Orbán Sipos ,

17408-656: The 18th century. It reportedly existed in almost 100 variants, of which the surviving codified version may no longer reflect the vernacular of any actual Cuman tribe. This rendition was still being taught in public schools under the Second Hungarian Republic , before being taken out of the curriculum in 1948. Outside this occasional usage, Cuman was no longer spoken: Malte-Brun describes a final effort to collect Cuman phrases as having occurred at Karcag in 1770. Regional Hungarian dialects have preserved some Cuman words, which are also recorded and used in literary and scientific contributions by István Mándoky Kongur . His work includes

17664-454: The Black Sea coast, and the valleys of the Struma and Vardar rivers in Macedonia. Production of vegetables, orchards, and grapes became increasingly important since the beginning of the 13th century. The existence of large forests and pastures was favorable for livestock breeding, mainly in the mountainous and semi-mountainous regions of the country. Sericulture and especially apiculture were well developed. Honey and wax from Zagore were

17920-412: The Bulgarian army and its tactics. Since the beginning of the rebellion of Asen and Peter, the light, mobile Cuman cavalry was used effectively against the Byzantines and later the Crusaders. Kaloyan used 14,000 cavalrymen in the Battle of Adrianople. The Cuman leaders entered the ranks of the Bulgarian nobility; some of them received high military or administrative posts in the state. In the 14th century,

18176-415: The Bulgarian army increasingly relied on foreign mercenaries, which included Western knights, Mongols, Ossetians , or Wallachians. Both Michael III Shishman and Ivan Alexander had a 3,000-strong Mongol cavalry detachment in their armies. In the 1350s, emperor Ivan Alexander hired Ottoman bands, as did the Byzantine Emperor. Russians were also hired as mercenaries. The economy of the Second Bulgarian Empire

18432-481: The Bulgarian cause and called for a rebellion. That act had the desired effect on the religious population, who enthusiastically engaged in a rebellion against the Byzantines. Theodore, the elder brother, was crowned Emperor of Bulgaria under the name Peter IV, after the sainted Peter I (r.927–969). Almost all of Bulgaria to the north of the Balkan Mountains —the region known as Moesia —immediately joined

18688-496: The Bulgarian language, literature, and culture survived; surviving period texts refer to and idealize the Bulgarian Empire. Most of the newly conquered territories were included in the themes Bulgaria , Sirmium , and Paristrion . As the Byzantine Empire declined under Basil's successors, invasions of Pechenegs and rising taxes contributed to increasing discontent, which resulted in several major uprisings in 1040–41,

18944-611: The Bulgarians launched attacks in northern Thrace while the Byzantine army was fighting with the Normans , who had attacked Byzantine possessions in the Western Balkans and sacked Thessalonica , the Empire's second largest city. The Byzantines reacted in mid-1186, when Isaac II organized a campaign to crush the rebellion before it spread further. The Bulgarians had secured the passes but the Byzantine army found its way across

19200-484: The Bulgarians launched several campaigns and retook many towns in north-eastern Thrace. The Byzantines tried to counter the Bulgarian advance but suffered a major defeat in the battle of Skafida . Unable to change the status quo, they were forced to make peace with Bulgaria in 1307, acknowledging Bulgarian gains. Theodore Svetoslav spent the rest of his reign in peace with his neighbors. He maintained cordial relations with Serbia and in 1318, its king Stephen Milutin , paid

19456-409: The Byzantine katepanikion ), which were ruled by katepans who were subordinated to the dukes. During the reign of Ivan Asen II (1218–41), the provinces included Belgrade, Braničevo, Boruy , Adrianople, Dimotika , Skopje, Prilep , Devol , and Albania . During the Second Empire, Bulgarian society was divided into three social classes : clergy, nobility, and peasantry. The nobility included

19712-475: The Byzantine Empire in the first half of the 12th century, the Bulgarians were pacified and no major rebellions took place until later in the century. The disastrous rule of the last Komnenian emperor Andronikos I (r. 1183–85) worsened the situation of the Bulgarian peasantry and nobility. The first act of his successor Isaac II Angelos was to impose an extra tax to finance his wedding. In 1185, two aristocrat brothers from Tarnovo , Theodore and Asen , asked

19968-482: The Byzantine Empire under the ambitious Michael VIII Palaiologos further worsened Bulgaria's situation. A major Byzantine invasion in 1263 led to the loss of the coastal towns Messembria and Anchialus , and several cities in Thrace—including Philippopolis. Unable to effectively resist, Constantine Tikh organized a joint Bulgarian–Mongol campaign, but after ravaging Thrace the Mongols returned north of

20224-554: The Byzantines besieged Lovech but could not seize it; they signed an armistice that de facto recognized Bulgarian independence. In 1189, when the leader of the Third Crusade , emperor Frederick I Barbarossa was at the brink of war with the Byzantines, Asen and Peter IV offered him an army of 40,000 in return for official recognition, but relations between the Crusaders and the Byzantines eventually improved. In 1190, Isaac II led another anti-Bulgarian campaign that ended in

20480-464: The Byzantines for blinding 14,000 of emperor Samuel 's soldiers. Kaloyan called himself Romanoktonos (Roman-slayer) after Basil II , who was called Bulgaroktonos (Bulgar-slayer). He quickly allied himself with his brother's murderer, Ivanko. The Byzantines killed Ivanko, but the Bulgarians took the city of Constantia . In 1201, Kaloyan captured Varna , the last Byzantine stronghold in Moesia, which

20736-566: The Carpathian Basin at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. Here they found a predominantly Slavic-speaking population. From their new homeland, they launched plundering raids against East Francia , Italy , and other regions of Europe. Their raids were halted by the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto I , who defeated them at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. Hungarians lived in patrilineal families, which were organized into clans that formed tribes . The tribal confederation

20992-519: The Croatian lord, Paul I Šubić of Bribir , dared to invite the late Charles Martel's son, the twelve-year-old Charles Robert , to Hungary. The young pretender was marching from Croatia towards Buda when Andrew III unexpectedly died on January 14, 1301. With Andrew III's death, the male line of the House of Árpád became extinct, and a period of anarchy began. Charles Robert was crowned king with

21248-629: The Crown, Jászkunság emerged as a relatively prosperous entity, which by 1784 had a budget surplus. The restoration of its liberties made it an attractive destination for members of the lesser Hungarian nobility . As such, the final decades of the 18th century witnessed a steady growth of population, which led to the creation of new towns, including Kiskunfélegyháza and Szabadszállás . In Greater Cumania, six older towns were fully rebuilt: Karcag , Kisújszállás , Kunhegyes , Kunmadaras , Kunszentmárton , and Túrkeve . The Queen allowed Catholic Kunszentmárton

21504-616: The Cuman arrival, by a variety of peoples, and were not geographically tied to Kunság. One example of a regional tumulus is Asszonyszállás, near Karcag, which locals relate to Cuman folk hero Zádor of Túrkeve . By 1600, Cumans generally dressed like the other subjects of the Crown, and modern methods of animal husbandry had spread more profusely. The consolidation of Catholicism in the 15th century created samples of cultural synthesis. Though late-medieval Cumans continued to place much importance on belts, like their nomadic ancestors, their belt buckles were adorned with Western motifs—a Gothic one

21760-554: The Cuman legacy endures into the 21st century, with more emphasis placed on the region's Turkic roots, as well as on differences between Cuman and non-Cuman Hungarians. While the Hungarian tribes moved into Hungary , the Cumans still inhabited the vast areas of the Pontic–Caspian steppe , where they had created a powerful nomadic confederacy (see Cumania ) . The 13th-century Gesta Hungarorum claims that Cumans were present in

22016-402: The Danube with Cuman reinforcements, declaring he would continue the struggle until all Bulgarian lands were liberated. A new Byzantine army was assembled under the command of the emperor's uncle John Doukas Angelos , but as Isaac II feared he would be overthrown, Doukas was replaced by John Kantakouzenos , a blind man ineligible for the throne. The Bulgarians attacked Kantakouzenos' camp during

22272-404: The Danube. The emperor became crippled after a hunting accident in the early 1260s, and fell under the influence of his wife Maria Palaiologina , whose constant intrigues fueled divisions among the nobility. Constant Mongol raids, economic difficulties, and the emperor's illness led to a massive popular uprising in the north-east in 1277. The rebel army, led by the swineherd Ivaylo , defeated

22528-583: The Great Khan Ögödei in March 1242. Nevertheless, the invasion and the famine that followed it had catastrophic demographic consequences. At least 15 percent of the population died or disappeared. Transcontinental trading routes disintegrated, causing the decline of Bács (Bač, Serbia), Ungvár (Uzhhorod, Ukraine ) and other traditional centers of commerce. Local Muslim communities vanished, indicating they had suffered especially heavy losses during

22784-529: The Holy Roman emperors . When Géza died in 997, his son had to fight for his succession with Koppány , the eldest member of the House of Árpád . Assisted by German heavy cavalry, Stephen emerged the victor in the decisive battle of the conflict in 998. He applied for a royal crown to Pope Sylvester II ( r.  999–1003 ), who granted his request with the consent of Emperor Otto III . Stephen

23040-657: The Hungarian army was indeed on a par with the armies of the Byzantine and Holy Roman emperors. While crossing Hungary during the Second Crusade , Otto of Freising noticed Géza's nearly uncontrolled authority over his subjects. Géza promoted the colonization of the border zones. Flemish , German, Italian, and Walloon "guests" arrived in great numbers and settled in the Szepesség region (Spiš, Slovakia) and in southern Transylvania. Abu Hamid refers to mountains that "contain lots of silver and gold", which points at

23296-475: The Hungarian king Béla III and make a joint attack against Bulgaria, but was deposed and blinded by his brother Alexios III Angelos . The Byzantines tried to negotiate peace but Ivan Asen demanded the return of all Bulgarian lands and the war continued. In 1196, the Byzantine army was again defeated at Serres , far to the south. Upon his return to Tarnovo, Ivan Asen was murdered by his cousin Ivanko allegedly in

23552-537: The Hungarian king Sigismund , but after the Christian army was defeated in the Battle of Nicopolis the Ottomans immediately marched on Vidin and seized it, bringing an end to the medieval Bulgarian state. Resistance continued under Constantine and Fruzhin until 1422. The former was referred to by king Sigismund as the " distinguished Constantine, glorious Emperor of Bulgaria ". The Second Bulgarian Empire

23808-533: The Kievan Rus' against the enemies of his brother-in-law Iziaslav II of Kiev . He even recruited Muslim warriors in the Pontic steppes to serve in his army. Abu Hamid al-Gharnati , a Muslim traveler from Al-Andalus who lived in Hungary from 1150 to 1153 stated that Géza was "many times more powerful than that of the Byzantine ruler" as his troops were "innumerable". He overestimated Géza's military power but

24064-408: The Latins were defeated and their emperor Baldwin I was captured. The battle was a blow to the newly founded Latin Empire, which descended into chaos. After their victory, the Bulgarians retook most of Thrace, including the important city of Philippopolis. The unexpected Bulgarian successes caused the Byzantine nobility to plot against Kaloyan and ally themselves with the Latins. The plot in Tarnovo

24320-625: The Mongol threat by Friar Julian , a Dominican friar who had visited a Hungarian-speaking population in Magna Hungaria , in 1235. In the next years, the Mongols routed the Cumans who dominated the western parts of the Eurasian steppes . A Cuman chieftain, Kuthen , agreed to accept Béla IV's supremacy; thus he and his people were allowed to settle in the Great Hungarian Plain . The Cumans' nomadic lifestyle caused many conflicts with local communities. The locals even considered them as

24576-466: The Mongols twice, greatly boosting Ivaylo's popularity. Ivaylo then turned on and defeated the regular army under the command of Constantine Tikh. He personally killed the emperor, claiming the latter did nothing to defend his honour. Fearing a revolt in Byzantium, and willing to exploit the situation, the emperor Michael VIII sent an army led by Ivan Asen III , a Bulgarian pretender to the throne, but

24832-409: The Mongols' allies. Batu Khan , who was the commander of the Mongol armies invading Eastern Europe , demanded Béla IV's surrender without a fight in 1240. The king refused, and ordered his barons to assemble with their retinue in his camp at Pest . Here, a riot broke out against the Cumans and the mob massacred the Cuman leader, Kuthen. The Cumans soon departed and pillaged the central parts of

25088-454: The Nicaean dynasty as a ruling house. The Bulgarian–Latin cooperation was short-lived; Ivan Asen II remained at peace with his southern neighbours until the end of his reign. Shortly before his death in 1241, Ivan Asen II defeated part of the Mongol army returning to the east after a devastating attack on Poland and Hungary . Ivan Asen II was succeeded by his infant son Kaliman I . Despite

25344-459: The Ottoman invasion, since it interrupted the two group's "dissolution" into the estates of the realm . The Ottoman traveller Sheikh Ali still identified a distinct Cuman presence in their new provinces, describing Cumans as similar to Tatars , and noting that they still maintained their customs. Initially, this also referred to a preservation of the Cuman language , which nevertheless died out during

25600-713: The Ottoman trade in textiles, Kunság was not a consumer of such goods. According to art historian Ida Bodné Bobrovszky, this showed that the area consciously resisted being " Turkicized ", possibly influenced by Protestant preaching against Islamic proselytism. Within Habsburg Hungary, the return of autonomy resulted in another wave of cultural shifts and trading prohibitions, imposed by the Kunság authorities themselves. Collective autonomy came with social controls: "everyday culture [became] interspersed with privileges and standards laid down in local statutes [...]. The privileged district offered individual security in exchange for

25856-484: The Papacy. The joint campaign against the Latins was successful, but they failed to capture Constantinople . With John of Brienne's death two years later, Ivan Asen II—who could have again become a regent of Baldwin II—decided to end his cooperation with Nicaea. His decision was further based on the assumption that after an allied success, Constantinople would again have become the centre of a restored Byzantine Empire, with

26112-537: The Pope, emperor Kaloyan (r. 1197–1207) acquired the right to mint coins. Well-organized mints and engraving workshops were set up in the mid-13th century, producing copper, billon, and silver coinage. The reform was initiated by Constantine Tikh Asen (r. 1257–1277) and led to a stabilization of the monetary market in Bulgaria. The Uprising of Ivaylo and the pillage raids of the Mongols in the late 13th century destabilized

26368-462: The Serbian king Stephen Dečanski , who commanded an approximately equal force, near the border town of Velbazhd. The two rulers, both expecting reinforcements, agreed to a one-day truce but when a Catalan detachment under the king's son Stephen Dušan arrived, the Serbs broke their word. The Bulgarians were defeated in the ensuing Battle of Velbazhd and their emperor perished. Despite their victory,

26624-460: The Serbs and the Hungarians, provoking massive Ottoman invasions in 1388 and 1393. Despite strong resistance, the Ottomans seized a number of important towns and fortresses in 1388, and five years later they captured Tarnovo after a three-month siege. Ivan Shishman died in 1395 when the Ottomans, led by Bayezid I , took his last fortress Nikopol . In 1396, Ivan Sratsimir joined the Crusade of

26880-536: The Serbs did not risk an invasion of Bulgaria and the two sides agreed to peace. As a result, Ivan Stephen , the eldest son of the dead emperor by his Serbian wife, succeeded him in Tarnovo and was deposed after a brief rule. Bulgaria did not lose territory but could not stop the Serbian expansion in Macedonia. After the disaster at Velbazhd, the Byzantines attacked Bulgaria and seized a number of towns and castles in northern Thrace. Their success ended in 1332, when

27136-594: The Walloon "guests" in Székesfehérvár , including immunity from the jurisdiction of the local ispán . When Stephen died childless in 1172, his brother, Béla III , ascended the throne. He reconquered Dalmatia and the Szerémség in the 1180s. A contemporary list shows that Béla's total income was the equivalent of 32 tonnes of silver per year, but this number is clearly exaggerated. According to

27392-439: The [Latin] term Cumani covered all these. In the case of individual Cumans, when the designation Cumanus was added to their proper names it was used not as a cultural or ethnic term but as a sign of legal status". The only "ethnic marker" for all groups described by such terminology seems to have been their costume and hairstyle, including pigtails and kaftans which were not adopted by any other nomads in Hungary. Likewise,

27648-486: The aristocracy: the bolyars , whose origin was the older Bulgarian boilas from the First Empire, the judges, and the "whole army". The bolyars were subdivided into greater and lesser bolyars. The former possessed large estates, which at times included tens and even hundreds of villages, and held high administrative and military posts. The peasants formed the bulk of the third class and were subordinated either under

27904-471: The armies of the Fourth Crusade took Zadar in 1202. Emeric was succeeded in 1204 by his infant son, Ladislaus III . When the young king died in a year, his uncle, Andrew, mounted the throne. Stating that "the best measure of a royal grant is its being immeasurable", he distributed large parcels of royal lands among his partisans. Freemen living in former royal lands lost their direct contact to

28160-473: The author of the Gesta Hungarorum , a chronicle on the Hungarian "land-taking", was Béla's notary. The earliest text written in Hungarian, known as Funeral Sermon and Prayer , was preserved in the late 12th-century Pray Codex . Béla III's son and successor, Emeric , had to face revolts stirred up by his younger brother, Andrew . Furthermore, incited by Enrico Dandolo , Doge of Venice ,

28416-400: The best-quality bee products in the Byzantine markets and were highly praised. The forests produced wood for cutting ( бранища ); there were also fenced forests ( забели ), in which wood-cutting was banned. The increase in the number of towns gave strong impetus to handicrafts, metallurgy, and mining. Processing of crops was traditional; products included bread, cheese, butter, and wine. Salt

28672-439: The borders, but they were moved to the easternmost regions of Transylvania in the 12th century. Stephen II died childless in 1131. His cousin, Duke Álmos' blind son Béla II, succeeded him. During his reign, the kingdom was administered by his wife, Helena of Serbia , who ordered the massacre of the lords whom she blamed for her husband's mutilation. Boris Kalamanos , an alleged son of King Coloman who attempted to seize

28928-555: The capital Tarnovo in the centre. To the north were lines along both banks of the Danube river . To the south were three lines; the first along the Balkan mountains, the second along Vitosha , northern Rhodope mountains and Sakar mountain , the third along the valley of the river Arda . To the west, a line ran along the valley of the river South Morava . During the Second Empire, foreign and mercenary soldiers became an important part of

29184-428: The central authorities or under local feudal lords. With time, the number of the latter increased as a result of the process of feudalization of Bulgaria. The main groups of peasants were paritsi and otrotsi . Both could own land but only the paritsi could inherit property; the latter could not, since it was provided by the feudal lords. The emperor of the Second Bulgarian Empire was commander-in-chief of its army;

29440-453: The cities of the Kingdom. Their arrival played a key role in the shaping of an urban lifestyle, habits, and culture in medieval Hungary. The location of the kingdom at the crossroads of international trade routes favored the coexistence of several cultures. Romanesque , Gothic , and Renaissance buildings and literary works written in Latin prove the predominantly Roman Catholic character of

29696-428: The coinage, resulting in a tenfold decrease of minting activities. With the stabilization of the empire since 1300, Bulgarian monarchs issued an increased number of coins, including silver ones, but were able to secure the market with domestic coins after the 1330s. The erosion of the central authorities on the eve of the Ottoman invasion gave rise to primitive, anonymous, and crudely-forged counterfeit coins. Along with

29952-590: The concept of Tarnovo as a " Second Constantinople ". The Patriarchate vigorously opposed the papal initiative to reunite the Orthodox Church with Rome; he criticized the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Byzantine emperor for their apparent willingness to make concessions at the Second Council of Lyon in 1272–74. Patriarch Ignatius was called "pillar of Orthodoxy". Envoys were sent to

30208-408: The corpses, they left the place empty. People hiding in the nearby forests came back to find some food. And while they were searching among the stones and the corpses, the [Mongols] suddenly returned and of those living whom they found there, none was left alive. Master Roger , Epistle The kingdom continued to exist. Batu Khan withdrew his entire army when he was informed of the death of

30464-523: The country's defence against the strong Byzantine army. During wartime, the Bulgarians would send light cavalry to devastate the enemy lands on a broad front, pillaging villages and small towns, burning the crops, and taking people and cattle. The Bulgarian army was very mobile—for instance for four days before the Battle of Klokotnitsa, it covered a distance three times longer than the Epirote army covered in

30720-413: The country's economy, subdued many of the semi-independent nobles, and executed as traitors those he held responsible for assisting the Mongols, including Patriarch Joachim III . The Byzantines, interested in Bulgaria's continuous instability, supported pretenders Michael and Radoslav with their armies, but were defeated by Theodore Svetoslav's uncle Aldimir , the despot of Kran . Between 1303 and 1304,

30976-467: The county seat be located at Szolnok, which was more developed. The county was renamed "Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok" by national legislation, inheriting the archives of both Kunság and Jazygia. The immediate toll of such integration was a relative loss in industrial importance for Jászberény and Kunszentmárton, which were overtaken by Szolnok and a cluster of towns in Tiszazug . Although commonly seen as part of

31232-423: The culture; but Orthodox , and even non-Christian ethnic minority communities also existed. Latin was the language of legislation, administration and the judiciary, but "linguistic pluralism" contributed to the survival of many tongues, including a great variety of Slavic dialects. The predominance of royal estates initially assured the sovereign's preeminent position, but the alienation of royal lands gave rise to

31488-448: The death of the most powerful lord, Matthew Csák, which enabled him to conquer Csák's large province in the northeast of Hungary in 1321. Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire ( Middle Bulgarian : Ц(а)рьство бл(ъ)гарское ; Modern Bulgarian : Второ българско царство , romanized :  Vtorо Balgarskо Tsarstvo ) was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to

31744-607: The development of the new domains emerging in former royal lands. The new landholders granted personal freedom and more favorable financial conditions to those who arrived in their estates, which also enabled the peasants who decided not to move to improve their position. Béla IV granted privileges to more than a dozen towns, including Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia) and Pest . A 1264 list of luxury goods—oriental velvet, silk, jewels, gems, and Flemish broadcloth —sold to Béla IV's heir Stephen indicates that imported goods were primarily paid for using silver and salt. Likewise,

32000-532: The dioceses of Vidin from the Tarnovo Patriarchate. The two brothers did not cooperate to repel the Ottoman invasion. According to historian Konstantin Jireček , the brothers were engaged in a bitter conflict over Sofia. Ivan Shishman reneged on his vassal obligation to support the Ottomans with troops during their campaigns. Instead, he used every opportunity to participate in Christian coalitions with

32256-505: The direct military rule by the Austrian Empire (see Military District of Pest-Ofen ). The official count for 1849 indicated that there were 178,187 full-blooded Hungarians living in the whole of Jászkunság. Limits on political life were imposed during the 1850s and '60s, when cooperative societies and guilds were closely supervised by the state; their operation was further reduced by a major drought in 1863–1864. By 1870, Jazygia

32512-408: The disputed areas. This major setback cost the emperor's life and led to a period of instability and civil war between several claimants to the throne until 1257, when the boyar of Skopje Constantine Tikh emerged as a victor. The new emperor had to deal with multiple foreign threats. In 1257, the Latins attacked and seized Messembria but could not hold the town. More serious was the situation to

32768-401: The early 1080s. Ladislaus promulgated laws that prescribed draconian punishments against criminals. His laws also regulated the payment of customs duties, of tolls payable at fairs and fords, and of the tithes . He forbade Jews from holding Christian serfs, and introduced laws aiming at the conversion of local Muslims, who were known as Böszörménys . No one shall buy or sell except in

33024-503: The elevation of the Bulgarian Church to a Patriarchate. Eventually the Papacy tacitly accepted the Bulgarian position regarding the Imperial title. The union between Bulgaria and Rome remained strictly official; the Bulgarians did not change their Orthodox rites and traditions. Several months before Kaloyan's coronation, the leaders of the Fourth Crusade turned on the Byzantine Empire and captured Constantinople , creating

33280-601: The emergence of a self-conscious group of lesser landholders, known as " royal servants ". They forced Andrew II to issue his Golden Bull of 1222 , "one of the first examples of constitutional limits being placed on the powers of a European monarch" ( Francis Fukuyama ). The kingdom received a major blow from the Mongol invasion of 1241–42 . Thereafter, Cuman and Jassic groups settled in the central lowlands, and colonists arrived from Moravia , Poland , and other nearby countries. The erection of fortresses by landlords, promoted by

33536-512: The emperor to provide them a relatively poor pronoia in the Balkan Mountains, in exchange for military service. The emperor refused, resulting in a heated argument which saw Asen struck across the face. Upon their return to Tarnovo, the brothers commissioned the construction of a church dedicated to Saint Demetrius of Salonica . They showed the populace a celebrated icon of the saint, who they claimed had left Thessalonica to support

33792-652: The empire by contemporaries was Bulgaria , as the state called itself. During Kaloyan 's reign, the state was sometimes known as being of both Bulgarians and Vlachs . Pope Innocent III and other foreigners such as the Latin Emperor Henry mentioned the state as Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Empire in official letters. In modern historiography, the state is called the Second Bulgarian Empire , Second Bulgarian Tsardom , or

34048-511: The employment of Muslims and Jews in royal administration. This ban was confirmed when Andrew II, urged by the prelates, issued the Golden Bull's new variant in 1231, which authorized the archbishop of Esztergom to excommunicate him in case of his departure from its provisions. For non-Christians who continued to be employed in the royal household, Archbishop Robert of Esztergom placed the kingdom under interdict in 1232. Andrew II

34304-426: The end of 1280, Ivaylo sought refuge with his former enemies the Mongols, who under Byzantine influence killed him. The nobility chose the powerful noble and ruler of Cherven , George I Terter , as emperor. He reigned for twelve years, bringing even stronger Mongol influence and the loss of most of the remaining lands in Thrace to the Byzantines. This period of instability and uncertainty continued until 1300, when for

34560-412: The end of the year. By contrast, the residents of Jászberény were enthusiastic supporters of the rebel government, also demanding increased autonomy under a Jász-Kun Polgár Elnök ("President of Jazygia-Cumania"), and election reform. In August, a national guard battalion from Kunság participated in the clashes between Hungary and Serbian Vojvodina . Stationed on Csepel Island , it also saw action against

34816-443: The establishment of a Cumanian Catholic Bishopric ; some members of the tribes had converted to rival Eastern Orthodoxy , or to Bogomilism , and had to be brought back to Catholicism. At that stage, an untold number of Cumans in Hungary were converts to Islam . In 1238, King Béla IV specifically invited Cumans under Köten (Kuthen, Kotyan) to colonize a central part of his realm ( ad mediculum terre sue ), presumably located near

35072-519: The fall of Constantinople to the knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Tarnovo became for a time the main centre of Orthodoxy. The Bulgarian emperors were zealously collecting relics of Christian saints to boost the prestige of their capital. The official recognition of the restored Bulgarian Patriarchate at the Council of Lampsacus in 1235 was a major step in that direction and gave rise to

35328-476: The first attacks on Bulgarian soil by the Ottoman Turks , who were allied with Kantakouzenos. The attempts of Ivan Alexander to fight off the Ottomans in the late 1340s and early 1350s failed after two defeats in which his eldest son and successor Michael Asen IV and his second son Ivan Asen IV may have been killed. The emperor's relations with his other son Ivan Sratsimir , who had been installed as

35584-426: The first half of the 14th century; the army numbered 11,000–15,000 troops in the 1330s. The military was well supplied with siege equipment , including battering rams , siege towers , and catapults. The Bulgarian army used various military tactics , relying on the experience of the soldiers and the peculiarities of the terrain. The Balkan mountains played a significant role in the military strategy and facilitated

35840-489: The following year. However, Michael II Asen 's indecisiveness allowed the Nicaeans to regain all of their lost territory, with the exception of Tsepina. In 1255, the Bulgarians quickly regained Macedonia, whose Bulgarian population preferred the rule of Tarnovo to that of the Nicaeans. All gains were lost in 1256, after the Bulgarian representative Rostislav Mikhailovich betrayed his cause and reaffirmed Nicaean control over

36096-464: The former region situated " across the Tisza ". The tribes underwent a change of lifestyle after finding an economic niche as pastoralists , but also adopted habitation patterns from the depopulated Hungarian villages where they had been originally settled. Though enjoying some fiscal privileges, the Cumans and Jazyges were ordered by King Sigismund to pay an annual census tax—a measure which may indicate that they were no longer relevant as soldiers. In

36352-624: The heritage of the First Bulgarian Empire. In return, Kaloyan promised to accept Papal suzerainty over the Bulgarian Church. The union between Bulgaria and Rome was formalized on 7 October 1205, when Kaloyan was crowned King by a papal legate and the Archbishop Basil of Tarnovo was proclaimed Primate. In a letter to the Pope, Basil styled himself Patriarch , against which Innocent III did not argue. Just like Boris I (r. 852–889) three centuries earlier, Kaloyan pursued

36608-463: The hermits Benedict and Andrew Zorard —the earliest Hungarian hagiography —around this time. The young king and his cousins cooperated for almost a decade; for instance, they jointly defeated the Pechenegs plundering Transylvania in 1068. The power conflict in the royal family caused a new civil war in 1071. It lasted up to Solomon's abdication in favor of one of his cousins, Ladislaus , in

36864-479: The importance of mining and gold panning already around 1150. He also writes of slave trading, mentioning that he bought an attractive slave girl for ten denars, but beautiful slave women were sold for three denars after military campaigns. Archaeological evidence indicates that the large asymmetric heavy plows, capable to turn the soil over, first appeared when the new settlers arrived. As the heavy plows spread, long narrow fields, more suitable to their use, replaced

37120-511: The initial success against the Mongols, the regency of the new emperor decided to avoid further raids and chose to pay them tribute instead. The lack of a strong monarch and increasing rivalries among the nobility caused Bulgaria to rapidly decline. Its main rival Nicaea avoided Mongol raids and gained power in the Balkans. After the death of 12-year-old Kaliman I in 1246, the throne was succeeded by several short-reigned rulers. The weakness of

37376-636: The invading armies of Croatia , before being moved to Upper Hungary. Following defeat at Mór , Kunság towns accommodated a large number of refugees as well as the armies of Mór Perczel . Oral tradition claims that Perczel camped at Hegyesbori-Nagy-halom, outside Karcag, in early 1849. Habsburg and Russian troops reached the Tisza in mid-July 1849, but resistance continued to be put up in parts of Kunság: Colonel Korponay attempted to ignite an anti-Russian revolt in Kunmadaras, before retreating to Debrecen. The region then experienced direct Russian occupation,

37632-601: The invasion. Small villages also disappeared, but archaeological data indicate that the total destruction of settlements was less often than it used to be assumed. The abandonment of most villages, well-documented from the second half of the 13th century, was the consequence of a decades-long integration process with peasants moving from the small villages to larger settlements. After the Mongol withdrawal, Béla IV abandoned his policy of recovering former crown lands. Instead, he granted large estates to his supporters, and urged them to construct stone-and-mortar castles. He initiated

37888-597: The kingdom's borders. A wide zone known as gyepü was intentionally left uninhabited for defensive purposes along the frontiers. Stephen developed a state similar to the monarchies of contemporary Western Europe . Counties , the basic units of administration, were districts organized around fortresses and headed by royal officials known as ispáns , or counts. Most of the early medieval fortresses were made of earth and timber. Stephen founded dioceses and at least one archbishopric , and established Benedictine monasteries. He prescribed that every tenth village

38144-415: The kingdom's southern frontiers. Conflicts between the elderly monarch and his heir caused a civil war in the 1260s . Béla IV and his son jointly confirmed the liberties of the royal servants and started referring to them as noblemen in 1267. By that time, "true noblemen" were legally differentiated from other landholders. They held their estates free from any obligation, but everybody else (even

38400-658: The kingdom, continued to support Charles Robert. Wenceslaus left Hungary for Bohemia in mid-1304. After he inherited Bohemia in 1305, he abandoned his claim to Hungary in favor of Otto III, Duke of Bavaria . Otto, who was a grandson of Béla IV of Hungary, was crowned king, but only the Kőszegis and the Transylvanian Saxons regarded him as the lawful monarch. He was captured in Transylvania by Ladislaus Kán, who forced him to leave Hungary. The majority of

38656-616: The kingdom. The main Mongol army arrived through the northeastern passes of the Carpathian Mountains in March 1241. Royal troops met the enemy forces at the river Sajó , where the Mongols won a decisive victory in the battle of Mohi on April 11, 1241. From the battlefield, Béla IV fled first to Austria , where Duke Frederick II held him for ransom. Thereafter, the king and his family found refuge in Klis Fortress in Dalmatia. The Mongols first occupied and thoroughly plundered

38912-539: The kings, between the Pecheneg guard and Székely frontiersmen. Cumans are also mentioned as present at the Battle of Kressenbrunn , possibly in larger numbers than their Hungarian allies. Their importance to Hungary was underscored when Béla betrothed his son Stephen to Köten's daughter, Elizabeth the Cuman . Her son, King Ladislaus IV , was noted for his unusually strong links with Kunság settlers. In 1279, Ladislaus probably formalized Cuman territorial autonomy in

39168-630: The last Jazyg Captain, and later by Albert Apponyi , it was opposed locally by István Horthy (father of the more famous Miklós Horthy ). The idea of distinct representation was also revived in December 1918, weeks after the Aster Revolution , when Miksa Strobl proposed to federalize the First Hungarian Republic . Two of Strobl's "Hungarian cantons" were to be named after the Cumans and Jazyges. According to Lyublyanovics,

39424-400: The leader of the Fourth Crusade, 100,000 soldiers to help him take Constantinople. By the end of the 13th century, the military declined and the army was reduced to fewer than 10,000 men—it was recorded that Ivaylo defeated two Byzantine armies of 5,000 and 10,000 men, and that his troops were outnumbered in both cases. Military strength increased with the political stabilization of Bulgaria in

39680-455: The legal capacity to own property, to sue, and to be sued. Most of them were bound to the monarch or to a wealthier landlord, and only "guests" could freely move. Among freemen living in lands attached to a fortress, the castle warriors served in the army, and the castle folk cultivated the lands, forged weapons, or rendered other services. All freemen were to pay a special tax, the freemen's pennies —eight denars per person per year—to

39936-438: The list, more than 50 percent of his revenues derived from the annual renewal of the silver currency, and from trade-related duties. Austrian custom tariffs of the period indicate that Hungary was a major supplier of grain, leather, timber, wine, wax, honey, fish, cattle, sheep, pigs, copper, tin, lead, iron, and salt. Royal revenues were due either to the royal chamber or to the king as landowner. The distinction between them

40192-608: The local clergy with liturgical books, and the kings regularly donated codices to monasteries. The earliest extant literary works were composed in Latin during Stephen's reign. Bishop Gerard of Csanád , who had come from Venice, completed a Latin commentary on a chapter in the Book of Daniel in Hungary. Stephen's views on state administration were summarized around 1015 in a mirror for princes known as Admonitions . Stating that "the country that has only one language and one custom

40448-587: The lords and prelates elected Charles Robert king at a Diet on October 10, 1307. He was crowned king with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár by the Archbishop of Esztergom, as required by customary law, on August 27, 1310. During the next decade, he launched a series of military campaigns against the oligarchs to restore royal authority. Charles Robert reunited the kingdom after

40704-405: The loss of many Bulgarian-populated territories and signified that the monarch in Tarnovo was the emperor of all Bulgarian people, even those who lived beyond the country's political borders. The Emperor held supreme power over secular and religious affairs in an autocracy ; his personal abilities played an important role in the country's well-being. When the monarch was an infant, the government

40960-622: The lost towns were handed over to the Byzantines. To the north-west, the Hungarians attacked and occupied Vidin in 1365. Ivan Alexander reconquered his province four years later, allied with his de jure vassals Vladislav I of Wallachia and Dobrotitsa . The death of Ivan Alexander in 1371 left the country irrevocably divided between Ivan Shishman in Tarnovo, Ivan Sratsimir in Vidin, and Dobrotitsa in Karvuna. The 14th century German traveler Johann Schiltberger described these lands as follows: I

41216-496: The lowlands, but a native claimant, Petar Snačić , resisted in the Petrova Mounts . Nevertheless, Croatia and Hungary remained closely connected for more than nine centuries. Ladislaus I appointed his nephew, Álmos , to administer Croatia. Although a younger son, Álmos was also favored by the king against his brother, Coloman , for the succession. Even so, Coloman succeeded his uncle in 1095, while Álmos received

41472-411: The main region of settlement. In exchange for feudal duties to the Hungarian king in his war against the Mongols, the Cumans were allowed to keep their own ethnic customs. Despite being regionally centred in the Great Plain, "tiny groups of Cumans and Jazyges" could still be found throughout the Kingdom in the 13th century. The Kór and Borcsol stayed in the southeastern counties of Csanád and Temes ;

41728-404: The market. If, in violation of this anyone buys stolen property, everyone shall perish: the buyer, the seller, and the witnesses. If, however, they agreed to sell something of their own, they shall lose that thing and its price, and the witnesses shall lose as much too. But if the deal was made in the market, and agreement shall be concluded in front of a judge, a toll-gatherer, and witnesses, and if

41984-469: The meantime the Latins offered the regency to the French nobleman John of Brienne . Concerned with the actions of the Bulgarians, while marching on Constantinople in 1230, Theodore Komnenos invaded Bulgaria with a huge army. Surprised, Ivan Asen II gathered a small force and moved to the south to engage them. Instead of a banner, he used the peace treaty with Theodore's oath and seal stuck on his spear and won

42240-463: The medieval Bulgarian administration. The Bolyar Council included the greater bolyars and the Patriarch; it discussed issues about external and internal policies, such as declarations of war, formations of alliances, or the signing of peace treaties. The highest-ranking administrative officials were the great logothete , who had the functions of a first minister, and the protovestiarios , who

42496-591: The mid 17th century. Anti-Ottoman resistance was put up by Habsburg Hungary —which initially held only Upper Hungary (today mostly Slovakia ). Over the 17th century, this rump state continued to claim "Cumania" as a constituent Land of the Hungarian Crown . At crowning ceremonies of the Hungarian Kings , Kunság was distinctly represented by banners with a lion rampant . Kunság still had trade relations with Upper Hungary, with Kecskemét acting as

42752-441: The monarchs after the withdrawal of the Mongols , led to the development of semi-autonomous "provinces" dominated by powerful magnates . Some of these magnates even challenged the authority of Andrew III (1290–1301), the last male descendant of the native Árpád dynasty . His death was followed by a period of interregnum and anarchy. Central power was re-established only in the early 1320s. The Magyars, or Hungarians , conquered

43008-507: The monarchs. Peasants known as udvornici were exempt from this tax, being somewhat transitory between the status of freemen and of serf. Serfs theoretically lacked the legal status available to freemen, but in practice they had their own property: they cultivated their masters' land with their own tools, and kept 50–66 percent of the harvest for themselves. Stephen's laws and charters suggest that most commoners lived in sedentary communities which formed villages. An average village

43264-451: The monarchs. Zadar , Split , and other Dalmatian towns also accepted Coloman's suzerainty in 1105, but their right to elect their own bishops and leaders remained unchanged. In Croatia and Slavonia, the sovereign was represented by governors bearing the title ban . Likewise, a royal official, the voivode , administered Transylvania , the eastern borderland of the kingdom. The central administration's highest offices developed from

43520-440: The more remote areas of Kunság continued to practice "traditional household slaughter" of animals, which included the breaking of bones; this may also suggest that they maintained some pre-Christian rituals. Though they learned agriculturalist skills from their neighbours, Kunság's residents remained attached to pastoralism, and resisted feudal pressures by relying on commons and homesteads . They continued to rate cattle-herding as

43776-547: The most populous was Kiskunfélegyháza. By then, the fragmentation of governance between Jászkunság's three components was creating administrative problems, as well as an incentive for the territories' dissolution into the county system. Autonomy was maintained after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , but became the topic of political debates in Budapest . The final push against "feudal" autonomies

44032-402: The mountains due to a solar eclipse . Once the Byzantines reached the plains, the rebels did not risk a confrontation with the larger, better-organized force. Peter IV pretended he was willing to submit, while Asen travelled to the north of the Danube to raise an army. Contented, the Byzantine emperor burned the Bulgarians' crops and returned to Constantinople. Soon after, Asen crossed back over

44288-649: The new Bulgarian emperor Ivan Alexander defeated them in the battle of Rusokastro , recovering the captured territories. In 1344, the Bulgarians entered the Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 on the side of John V Palaiologos against John VI Kantakouzenos , capturing nine towns along the Maritsa river and in the Rhodope Mountains, including Philippopolis. That acquisition marked the last significant territorial expansion of medieval Bulgaria, but also led to

44544-582: The new arrivals to the region were new groups of Greeks (many of whom were presumably Aromanian ) who set up Orthodox parish churches in Karcag and Kecskemét. These institutions were at the centre of disputes between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Eparchy of Buda . At Kiskunlacháza , the population remained Cuman and Catholic, while the adjacent (and later incorporated) village of Pereg

44800-408: The new government was exposed when the Nicaean army conquered large areas in southern Thrace, the Rhodopes, and Macedonia—including Adrianople , Tsepina , Stanimaka , Melnik , Serres , Skopje , and Ohrid —meeting little resistance. The Hungarians also exploited Bulgarian weakness, occupying Belgrade and Braničevo. The Bulgarians reacted as late as 1253, invading Serbia and regaining the Rhodopes

45056-464: The next four years, the focus of the war shifted to the south of the Balkan mountains. Ivan Asen's strategy of swiftly striking in different locations paid off, and he soon took control of the important cities Sofia and Niš to the south-west, clearing the way to Macedonia. In 1194, the Byzantines gathered a huge force composed of the eastern and western armies, but were defeated at the Battle of Arcadiopolis . Unable to resist, Isaac II tried to ally with

45312-421: The night, killing a large number of soldiers. In mid-1186, another army under the general Alexios Branas was sent in. However, instead of fighting the rebels, Branas turned to Constantinople to claim the throne for himself; he was murdered shortly afterwards. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Bulgarians raided northern Thrace, looting the countryside before Byzantine forces could counterattack. On one occasion,

45568-438: The north-west, where the Hungarians supported Rostislav, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Bulgaria in Vidin . In 1260, Constantine Tikh recovered Vidin and occupied the Severin Banat, but the next year a Hungarian counterattack forced the Bulgarians to retreat to Tarnovo, restoring Vidin to Rostislav. The city was soon controlled by the Bulgarian noble Jacob Svetoslav , but by 1266 he also styled himself emperor. The restoration of

45824-427: The north-west. In 1203, the Bulgarians pushed the Serbs out of Niš, defeated the Hungarian army in several battles along the valley of the Morava river , and recaptured their former territory. Kaloyan knew the Byzantines would never recognize his imperial title; he began negotiations with Pope Innocent III. He based the claims on his predecessors in the First Bulgarian Empire; Simeon I , Peter I, and Samuel. The Pope

46080-513: The north: in 1776 the government of Heves County destroyed a sluice , forcing Cumans downstream to leave their homes; in 1785 Joseph II ordered Heves to rebuild that facility. That same year, Jászkunság was made subordinate to a temporary district, with a new capital at Pest . In the 1820s, Danish geographer Conrad Malte-Brun recorded as many as 33,000 inhabitants in Greater Cumania, 8,400 of whom lived in Karcag (spelled Kardzag ). He also estimated that Little Cumania, comprising "two valleys",

46336-436: The obligatory use of written petitions. Landowners also started to put their transactions into writing, which led to the appearance of the so-called " places of authentication ", such as cathedral chapters and monasteries authorized to issue deeds . Their emergence also evidences the employment of an educated staff. Indeed, students from the kingdom studied at the universities of Paris , Oxford , Bologna , and Padua from

46592-488: The observance of local community norms." The Council or Councils of Jászkunság issued sartorial regulations, limiting luxury and marking visually the social classes to which its constituents belonged. During the early 19th century, Hungarian acculturation continued, with the Greeks and Aromanians of Kecskemét speaking Hungarian by 1846. Geographer Johann Georg Kohl described the Cumans themselves as "completely Magyarized " in 1840, though noting that they were set apart by

46848-434: The original Cumans were "Euro-mongoloid", with a short stature and skull. In a collective study of 2005, the mtDNA of Cuman remains revealed six haplogroups ; most were West Eurasian rather than Asian. This suggests that early Cumans were already genetically diverse (with some European ancestry), even if their relics showed them to be culturally homogeneous. The conclusion may under-evaluate ethnic diversity in Kunság, since

47104-421: The pagans in 1046. His cooperation with his brother, Béla , a talented military commander, ensured the Hungarians' victory over Emperor Henry III, who attempted to conquer the kingdom two times: in 1050 and 1053. A new civil war broke out when Duke Béla claimed the crown for himself in 1059, but his three sons accepted the rule of Solomon , Andrew I's son, in 1063. Bishop Maurus of Pécs wrote his Life of

47360-462: The peasants' daily diet. Monasteries introduced the systematic growing of fruit trees. In their orchards, the trees were planted in holes dug at regular intervals. Even peasants were allowed to hunt and fish in the royal forests that covered large territories in the kingdom. Animal husbandry remained an important sector of agriculture, and millet and oats were produced for fodder. Both written sources and archaeological evidence indicate that famine

47616-428: The presence of "guests" speaking a Western Romance language , while the Németi ("Germans") and Szászi ("Saxons") place names imply German-speaking colonists throughout the entire kingdom. Most subjects of the early medieval Hungarian monarchs were peasants. They only cultivated the most fertile lands, and moved further out when the lands became exhausted. Wheat was the most widely produced crop, but barley ,

47872-449: The privilege of maintaining Jászkunság's prison, preferring it over Protestant Karcag. Meanwhile, Jazygia developed only three towns, Jászapáti , Jászárokszállás , and Jászberény —though in 1720 the latter was the Great Plain's third-largest, after Debrecen and Kecskemét. Migrations to the district included hundreds of Romanies , although the authorities of Jazygia resisted government orders to settle them in as "new Hungarians". Among

48128-406: The purchased goods later appear to be stolen, the buyer shall escape penalty ... Ladislaus II:7, 1077–1095 The death of Ladislaus's brother-in-law King Zvonimir of Croatia , in 1089 or 1090, created an opportunity for him to claim Croatia for himself. Ladislaus's sister, Helena , and several noblemen (mainly from northern Croatia) supported his claim. Ladislaus's troops occupied

48384-404: The raw material for home brew, was also grown. Winegrowing flourished and vineyards existed in virtually all settlements with the exception of the highlands. The highest-ranking wines were produced in the Szerémség region (now Srem in Serbia), but the wines of Buda Hills , Hegyalja , Sopron , and Pressburg (Bratislava, Slovakia) were also popular. Fresh or dried fruits were common elements of

48640-504: The realm. Intellectual debates about the characteristics and role of Cuman identity first took place under Josephinism , and were prolonged over the following centuries—even as the Cuman language had died out. Initially, Kunság intellectuals described their identity as Finno-Ugric and complementing Hungarian nationalism . With this shift in discourse, Kunság and Jazygia ceased to exist politically in 1876, when they were folded into larger and less autonomous counties . Popular interest in

48896-454: The rebels reached Tarnovo first. Constantine Tikh's widow Maria married Ivaylo and he was proclaimed emperor. After the Byzantines failed, Michael VIII turned to the Mongols, who invaded Dobrudzha and defeated Ivaylo's army, forcing him to retreat to Drastar , where he withstood a three-month siege. After his defeat, Ivaylo was betrayed by the Bulgarian nobility, who opened the gates of Tarnovo to Ivan Asen III. In early 1279, Ivaylo broke off

49152-406: The rebels, who also secured the assistance of the Cumans , a Turkic tribe inhabiting lands north of the Danube river. The Cumans soon became an important part of the Bulgarian army, playing a major role in the successes that followed. As soon as the rebellion broke out, Peter IV attempted to seize the old capital of Preslav but failed; he declared Tarnovo the capital of Bulgaria. From Moesia,

49408-422: The refoundation of Bulgaria, the recognition of the imperial title of the monarch and the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate became the priority of the Bulgarian foreign policy. The continuous state of war against the Byzantine empire urged Bulgarian rulers to turn to the Papacy. In his correspondence with Pope Innocent III, Kaloyan (r. 1197–1207) demanded imperial title and a Patriarchate, basing his claims on

49664-703: The revivalist discourse was also a "positive reinforcement" of nationalism, portraying Cumans as "the best Hungarians" and the most authentic survivals from steppe cultures. As a subset of nationalism, Hungarian Turanism theorized that Turkic peoples and Hungarians were of a single Turanid race . However, in the 1930s ethnographer István Györffy of Karcag again shed focus on the distinguishing features of Kunság, including its Turkic background. According to Kálnoky, by 2006 Hungarians who saw themselves as Cuman and Jazyg were displaying "identitarian sensitivities". She rated these grievances as more notable than those of Hungarian Slovaks , Croats or Romanians . A 2012 survey noted

49920-583: The royal household's leading positions. Initially responsible for the management of the royal domains, the palatine emerged as the king's deputy by the early 12th century. His managerial tasks were transferred to a new official who quickly gained the functions of a chief justiciar as judge royal . Like Ladislaus I, Coloman proved to be a great legislator, but he prescribed less severe punishments than his uncle had done. He ordered that transactions between Christians and Jews were to be put into writing. He prohibited them to hold Christian slaves and introduced

50176-602: The ruler of Vidin, deteriorated after 1349, when Ivan Alexander divorced his wife to marry Sarah-Theodora , a converted Jew. When their child Ivan Shishman was designated an heir to the throne, Ivan Sratsimir proclaimed independence. In 1366, Ivan Alexander refused to grant passage to the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos, and the troops of the Savoyard crusade attacked the Bulgarian Black Sea coast . They seized Sozopolis , Messembria, Anchialus, and Emona , causing heavy casualties and unsuccessfully laying siege to Varna. The Bulgarians eventually granted passage to John V, but

50432-425: The sample presumably included members of just one "Cuman" clan. Lyublyanovics additionally notes that there was no clear record of self-identification in Hungarian sources, which may lump various groups into one singular "Cuman" population. Thus: "Cumans were not categorized as a cultural or ethnic group and there was no special vocabulary to describe their religious standing, social position or political organization:

50688-410: The scarcely-inhabited forests of the Western Carpathians (in present-day Slovakia) developed a network of settlements under Béla IV. Huts disappeared, and new rural houses consisting of a living room, a kitchen and a pantry were built. The most advanced agricultural techniques, including asymmetric heavy ploughs, also spread throughout the kingdom. Internal migration was likewise instrumental in

50944-405: The second-in-command was the velik (great) voivoda . The detachments of the army were led by a voivoda . The protostrator was responsible for the defence of certain regions and the recruitment of soldiers. In the late 12th century, the army numbered 40,000 men-at-arms. The country could mobilize around 100,000 men in the first decade of the 13th century; Kaloyan reportedly offered Baldwin I,

51200-447: The secular and spiritual lords to "resist and speak against" the sovereign "without the charge of high treason ". Around this time, the structure of charters of grant underwent a significant change with the introduction of a narrative section about the beneficiaries' heroic acts in the king's service. These lengthy accounts contain more information about Hungary's 13th-century history than the chronicles. The Golden Bull also prohibited

51456-432: The siege at Drastar and besieged the capital. The Byzantines sent a 10,000-strong army to relieve Ivan Asen III, but suffered defeat by Ivaylo at the battle of Devina . Another army of 5,000 had a similar fate, forcing Ivan Asen III to flee. Ivaylo's situation did not improve, however—after two years of constant warfare his support was diminished, the Mongols were not decisively defeated, and the nobility remained hostile. By

51712-425: The sovereign, which threatened their legal status. Royal revenues decreased, which led to the introduction of new taxes and their farming out to Muslims and Jews. The new methods of raising funds for the royal treasury created widespread unrest. Andrew II was strongly influenced by his wife, Gertrude of Merania . She openly expressed her preference for her German compatriots, which led to her assassination by

51968-474: The territorial evolution of the country. In surviving primary sources, the provinces were named with the Byzantine term hora or the Bulgarian terms zemya ( земя ), strana ( страна ), and oblast ( област ), usually named after its main city. The provincial governors were titled "duke" or kefalia — both from Byzantine dux and kephale —and were directly appointed by the emperor. The provinces were subdivided into katepanika (sing. katepanikon , from

52224-401: The territories east of the river Danube. An eyewitness account of the devastation of eastern Hungary was compiled by Master Roger , archdeacon of the cathedral chapter at Várad. The Mongols crossed the Danube when it was frozen in early 1242. On learning of their acts, Hermann, abbot of the Austrian Niederaltaich Abbey recorded that "the Kingdom of Hungary, which had existed for 350 years,

52480-419: The throne from Béla II, received no internal support. If anyone of the rank of count has even in a trivial matter offended against the king or, as sometimes happens, has been unjustly accused of this, an emissary from the court, though he be of very lowly station and unattended, seizes him in the midst of his retinue, puts him in chains, and drags him off to various forms of punishment. No formal sentence

52736-476: The title of Iudex Cumanorum ("Judge of the Cumans") declined from being a prime function of the Palatine to a temporary function of the Comites . Within that setting, Cuman Captains emerged as lords, increasingly regarding communal land as their families' fief . Resistance to encroachment by the Hungarian state led the inhabitants of Kunság to join a 1514 rebellion led by György Dózsa . Chronicler Stephan Stieröchsel suggests that Dózsa's arrival in Kunság

52992-446: The traditional small square fields in the villages. Géza was succeeded in 1162 by his eldest son, Stephen III . His uncles, Ladislaus II and Stephen IV , claimed the crown for themselves. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos took advantage of the internal conflicts and forced the young king to cede Dalmatia and the Szerémség to the Byzantines in 1165. Stephen III set an example for the development of towns by granting liberties to

53248-432: The treaty, Theodore Komnenos conquered Salonica, greatly reducing the size of the Latin Empire. In 1225, Theodore proclaimed himself emperor. By 1228, the situation for the Latins became desperate; they entered into negotiations with Bulgaria, promising a marriage between the under-age emperor Baldwin II and Ivan Asen II's daughter Helena. This marriage would have made the Bulgarian emperor a regent in Constantinople, but in

53504-399: The two armies confronted each other near the fortress of Lardea in an indecisive battle; the Bulgarians kept their plunder and retreated untroubled to the north of the Balkan mountains. In the late 1186, Isaac II launched his second campaign against Bulgaria. His army was forced to spend the winter in Sofia , giving the Bulgarians time to prepare for the invasion. Early the following year,

53760-423: The two names is puzzling, especially given that Little Cumania, though less populous, is more than twice the size of Greater Cumania. The separation may originate or relate with the military distinction between "Cumans of the King" and "Cumans of the Queen", though it is not precisely known which regiment was associated with which enclave. The names of "Greater" and "Little" may designate geographical positioning, with

54016-404: The vicinity of Constantinople itself. But even they [these cities] are under the authority of my empire since they have no other emperor but me, and only thanks to me do they survive, for thus God has decreed. — Tarnovo inscription of Ivan Asen II in the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs on the aftermath of the battle of Klokotnitsa. As a result of the growing discontent with his policy, Boril

54272-399: Was a hereditary monarchy ruled by a Tsar —the Bulgarian word for Emperor that originated in the 10th century during the First Bulgarian Empire. The monarchs of Bulgaria styled themselves, "In Christ the Lord Faithful Emperor and Autocrat of all Bulgarians" or variations, sometimes including "...and Romans, Greeks, or Vlachs". The term all Bulgarians was added in the 14th century following

54528-435: Was allowed to rule in Salonica over the southern areas of the despotate as a Bulgarian vassal. It is possible Serbia accepted Bulgarian suzerainty at that time to counter the threat from Catholic Hungary. In 1231, when John of Brienne arrived in Constantinople, Ivan Asen II allied with the Nicaean Empire against the Latins. After the Nicaeans recognized the Bulgarian Patriarchate in 1235, Ivan Asen II broke his union with

54784-406: Was also attested in medieval Szeged . Nomadic groups still had sporadic clashes with the locals: in 1280, a Borcsol rebel army was defeated by Ladislaus near Hódmezővásárhely , then expelled to what became Wallachia . Groups from this diaspora probably returned to Temes, with Cumans Vchugan and Iuanchuch still owning and selling land in Bobda in 1288. Such attacks, and messages of protest from

55040-457: Was an exceptional phenomenon in medieval Hungary. Unsuccessful wars with the Republic of Venice , the Byzantine Empire, and other neighboring states characterized the reign of Coloman's son, Stephen II , who succeeded his father in 1116. The earliest mention of the Székelys —a Hungarian-speaking community of free warriors—is in connection with the young king's first war against the Duchy of Bohemia . The Székelys lived in scattered groups along

55296-416: Was based on agriculture, mining, traditional crafts, and trade. Agriculture and livestock breeding remained the mainstays of the Bulgarian economy between the 12th and 14th centuries. Moesia, Zagore , and Dobrudzha were known for rich harvests of grain, including high quality wheat. Production of wheat, barley, and millet was also developed in most regions of Thrace. The main wine-producing areas were Thrace,

55552-444: Was closely followed by the introduction of Reformation ideas: while Kunság became majority-Protestant, Jazyges still followed Catholicism. Kunság was raided during the Ottoman–Hungarian wars , as a result of which as many as 60% of Cuman settlements vanished; the process was only accelerated during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary . The Little Cumanian town of Kecskemét received personal protection from Mehmed III , symbolized by

55808-408: Was considered a " New Constantinople ", became the country's main cultural hub and the centre of the Eastern Orthodox world for contemporary Bulgarians . After the Ottoman conquest, many Bulgarian clerics and scholars emigrated to Serbia , Wallachia , Moldavia , and Russian principalities , where they introduced Bulgarian culture, books, and hesychastic ideas. The name most frequently used for

56064-404: Was crowned king in 1000 or 1001. He reinforced central authority and forced his subjects to accept Christianity . Although all written sources emphasize only the role played by German and Italian knights and clerics in the process, a significant part of the Hungarian vocabulary for agriculture, religion was taken from Slavic languages . Civil wars and pagan uprisings, along with attempts by

56320-414: Was crowned king of Croatia after concluding an agreement with twelve local noblemen. Although most probably a forgery, the document reflects the actual status of Croatia proper, which was never incorporated into Hungary. In contrast, the region known as Slavonia , between the Petrova Mounts and the river Dráva , became closely connected to Hungary. Here many Hungarian noblemen received land grants from

56576-487: Was crowned the first king of Hungary on either December 25, 1000, or January 1, 1001. He consolidated his rule through a series of wars against semi-independent local rulers, including his maternal uncle, Gyula , and the powerful tribal chief, Ajtony . He proved his kingdom's military strength when he repelled an invasion by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor , in 1030. Marshlands, other natural obstacles, and barricades made of stone, earth, or timber provided defense at

56832-433: Was defended by a large garrison. Despite capturing the city at Easter , Kaloyan ordered every Byzantine to be thrown in the moat. He then negotiated peace with Byzantines, securing Bulgarian gains in early 1202. While the Bulgarians were occupied in the south, the Hungarian king Andrew II and his Serbian vassal Vukan had annexed Belgrade , Braničevo , and Niš, but after negotiating peace, Kaloyan turned his attention to

57088-412: Was destroyed". [The Mongols] burnt the church [in Várad], together with the women and whatever there was in the church. In other churches they perpetrated such crimes to the women that it is better to keep silent ... Then they ruthlessly beheaded the nobles, citizens, soldiers and canons on a field outside the city. ... After they had destroyed everything, and an intolerable stench arose from

57344-494: Was directed not by the conservative caucus, but by Gyula Szapáry , a liberal Minister of the Interior . His controversial bill, presented in December 1873, proposed to divide the area between three larger counties, with Little Cumania and parts of Jazygia being attached together with Solt . In their counter-proposal, Jazygian delegates in the National Assembly urged for an independent Jász County, which would have incorporated Szolnok , Hatvan , and Nádudvar . Szapáry's project

57600-430: Was enough to incite a bloodletting. Retaliation against the offenders was codified by the repressive code of István Werbőczy , which stipulated that Cumans could only travel out of Kunság if they were fiscally solvent. Before 1600, a "last great wave of evangelization " was finally initiated by the Franciscans , which also reduced cultural differences between Kunság tribes and the surrounding population. This phenomenon

57856-436: Was even accused of initiating a second Mongol invasion in 1285, although the invaders were routed by the royal troops. When Ladislaus IV was murdered in 1290, the Holy See declared the kingdom a vacant fief . Although Rome granted the kingdom to his sister's son, Charles Martel , crown prince of the Kingdom of Naples , the majority of the Hungarian lords chose Andrew , the grandson of Andrew II and son of

58112-421: Was extensively used in the beginning of the 13th century. Metalworking was developed in western Bulgaria— Chiprovtsi , Velbazhd , and Sofia, as well in Tarnovo and Messembria to the east. Monetary circulation and minting steadily increased throughout the period of the Second Bulgarian Empire, reaching their climax during the reign of Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (reigned 1331–1371). Along with his recognition by

58368-428: Was extracted from the lagoon near Anchialus . Leathermaking, shoemaking, carpentry, and weaving were prominent crafts. Varna was renowned for the processing of fox fur, which was used for production of luxurious clothes. According to Western European sources, there was an abundance of silk in Bulgaria. The Picardian knight Robert de Clari said that in the dowry of the Bulgarian princess Maria , " ... there

58624-422: Was finally ended by the Treaty of Szatmár , which stipulated that the suppression of all autonomy for the Cumans and Jazyges; the decision was then upheld by the Hungarian Diet . Medievalists Nora Berend and Kyra Lyublyanovics both argue that dissatisfaction with Habsburg centralism reinforced ethnic separatism and contributed to the brief reemergence of a Cuman ethnos; a forged version of the "Cuman laws" of 1279

58880-402: Was first expressed in Simon of Kéza 's Gesta Hungarorum , a chronicle written in the 1280s. The wealthiest landholders forced the lesser nobles to join their retinue, which increased their power. One of the barons, Joachim of the Gutkeled clan, even captured Stephen V's heir, the infant Ladislaus , in 1272. Stephen V died some months later, causing a new civil war between

59136-552: Was forced to become an Ottoman vassal, and in return he recovered some of the lost towns and secured ten years of uneasy peace. The Ottoman raids renewed in the early 1380s, culminating in the fall of Sofia . Simultaneously, Ivan Shishman had been engaged in war against Wallachia since 1384. According to the Anonymous Bulgarian Chronicle , he killed the Wallachian voivode Dan I of Wallachia in September 1386. He also maintained uneasy relations with Ivan Sratsimir, who had broken his last ties with Tarnovo in 1371 and had separated

59392-420: Was forced to take an oath, which included his promise to respect the privileged position of clergymen and to dismiss all his Jewish and Muslim officials. A growing intolerance against non-Catholics is also demonstrated by the transfer of the Orthodox monastery of Visegrád to the Benedictines in 1221. Andrew II made several attempts to occupy the neighboring Principality of Halych . His son, Béla , persuaded

59648-487: Was found in Kiskunmajsa . Archeological finds in Karcag suggest that local women wore buckles in the old Cuman fashion, but had Christian messages engraved on them. Many Cumans apparently maintained a connection with, or nostalgia for, Eastern Orthodoxy, as attested by the spread of Byzantine crosses . During this period, the practice of circumcision died out, having previously survived as an echo of Islam among Cumans who were crypto- or lapsed Muslims . Although central to

59904-422: Was headed by a regency that included the mother-empress, the Patriarch, and senior members of the ruling dynasty. As the processes of feudal fragmentation accelerated in the 14th century, it became customary for the monarch's sons to receive imperial titles during their father's lifetime; sons were styled co-rulers or junior emperors. Unlike the First Empire, the administration during the Second Bulgarian Empire

60160-493: Was headed by the grand prince , always a member of the family descending from Árpád , the Hungarians' leader around the time of their "land-taking". Contemporary authors described the Hungarians as nomads , but Ibn Rusta and others added that they also cultivated arable land. The great number of borrowings from Slavic languages prove that the Hungarians adopted new techniques and a more settled lifestyle in Central Europe. The cohabitation of Hungarians and local ethnic groups

60416-423: Was heavily influenced by the Byzantine system of administration . Most of the titles of the nobility, the court, and the administration were directly adopted from their Byzantine counterparts in Byzantine Greek, or were translated into Bulgarian. There were some differences in the ranking systems between the two countries—there are few surviving sources about the precise obligations, insignia, or ceremonial affairs of

60672-412: Was home to 42,000 people, with roughly the same number of Jazyges living in the eponymous area. He records Greater Cumania's surface as being 20 Hungarian miles, which is approximately 160 square kilometres ; he estimated Little Cumania and Jazygia as having approximately 320 and 150 square kilometres, respectively. The Cuman cultural revival was still observable in 1801, when Péter Horváth of Jászberény,

60928-400: Was in three regions, and all three were called Bulgaria. The first Bulgaria extends there, where you pass from Hungary through the Iron Gate . Its capital is called Vidin. The other Bulgaria lies opposite Wallachia , and its capital is called Tarnovo. The third Bulgaria is there, where the Danube flows into the sea . Its capital is called Kaliakra. On 26 September 1371, the Ottomans defeated

61184-420: Was made up of no more than 40 semi-sunken timber huts with a corner hearth . The huts were surrounded by large courtyards. Ditches separated them, keeping the animals away and enabling the growing of grains and vegetables. Many of the villages were named after a profession, implying that the villagers were required to render a specific service to their lords. Stephen I survived his son, Emeric , which caused

61440-400: Was not a single horse that was not covered in red silk fabric, which was so long that dragged for seven or eight steps after each horse. And despite they travelled through mud and bad roads, none of the silk fabrics was torn—everything was preserved in grace and nobility." There were blacksmiths, ironmongers, and engineers who developed catapults, battering rams, and other siege equipment, which

61696-522: Was of fundamental importance because the ispáns received one third of the chamber revenues collected in their counties. In-kind taxes were typically imposed on vineyards, and herds of pigs or oxen. Some privileged communities paid lump sum taxes to the royal chamber. Examples include the foreign settlers in Transylvania, who were to pay 15,000 marks per year. Béla emphasized the importance of making records on judicial proceedings, which substantiates reports in later Hungarian chronicles of his order regarding

61952-446: Was only accelerated when Palatine Joseph appointed a Conservative , Imre Szluha, to serve as regional Captain. Inhabitants of the two Cumanias were largely satisfied with Habsburg rule, and generally refrained from participating in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 . A meeting of liberals and radicals was held at Kisújszállás on March 28, but their influence was overshadowed by arch-conservatives, who took over in both enclaves before

62208-461: Was overthrown in 1218 by Ivan Asen II , son of Ivan Asen I, who had lived in exile after Kaloyan's death. After his coronation, Ivan Asen II arranged a wedding with Anna Maria , daughter of the Hungarian king Andrew II, and received the captured cities Belgrade and Braničevo as a dowry. He then signed an alliance with Theodore Komnenos , ruler of the most powerful Byzantine successor state, the Despotate of Epirus . With his northern border secured by

62464-479: Was produced in the 18th century to justify ancient liberties against normative pressures. Other scholars believe that the document is a reasonably faithful copy of King Ladislaus' writ, with only some modifications. Elements of self-rule were finally restored by Queen Maria Theresa on May 6, 1745. She had heard renewed pleas submitted by members of both enclaves, but was also interested in getting them to ransom their freedom—the Habsburg monarchy needed financing for

62720-418: Was quickly discovered; Kaloyan made brutal reprisals against the Byzantines in Thrace. The campaign against the Latins also continued; in 1206, the Bulgarians were victorious at the battle of Rusion and conquered a number of towns in Eastern Thrace . The following year, Boniface I , the King of Salonica, was killed in battle, but Kaloyan was murdered before he could begin the assault on the capital. Kaloyan

62976-460: Was reestablished ca. 1750 by Hungarians and Slovaks , who were Calvinists . Such urbanization allowed Cumans to participate in the recolonization of Bács-Bodrog County , further to the south; however, the recording and correction of borders in the age of Josephinism prevented Jászkunság itself from expanding southward and created frustration among its inhabitants. The self-governing communities also had occasional conflicts with their neighbours to

63232-456: Was related to the royal family. Supported by Emperor Henry III , Peter returned and expelled Samuel in 1044. During his second rule, Peter accepted the emperor's suzerainty. His rule ended with a new rebellion , this time aimed at the restoration of paganism. There were many lords who opposed the destruction of the Christian monarchy. They proposed the crown to Andrew , one of Vazul's sons, who returned to Hungary, defeated Peter and suppressed

63488-431: Was responsible for the treasury and finance. High court titles such as despot and sebastokrator were awarded to the Emperor's relatives but were not strictly concerned with administrative functions. The capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire was Tarnovo, which was also the centre of its own administrative unit under the direct authority of the emperor. Bulgaria was divided into provinces, whose numbers varied with

63744-403: Was resubmitted with sweeping amendments by his successor Kálmán Tisza . On June 19, 1876, following a vote in the National Assembly, Jászkunság was permanently abolished and divided between Jász-Nagykun and Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun counties. The former was created on September 4, 1876, when Miklós Kiss took over as Ispán . The same day, a meeting of representatives from all areas conceded that

64000-604: Was secured for Charles III in 1685, two years into the Great Turkish War . Its population "almost entirely wiped out", Kunság was opened for Cuman repopulation: land was assigned to tight groups of Cumans who had served in the Habsburg military forces. In 1702, with Habsburg acquiescence, Kunság was mortgaged to the Teutonic Order . Though formally reduced to near- serfdom , Cumans were able to hold on to some of their tax and judicial privileges. Nevertheless, their social decline led them to join other Kuruc rebels during Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711). This new uprising

64256-422: Was so different from the one they were used to in their previous home on the steppe that the differences among the numerous Cuman clans might have appeared unimportant compared to the differences between them and the sedentary inhabitants of their new homeland." The conclusion was supported by evidence from physical anthropology and phylogeography . In 1975, researcher Gyula Gyenis found only minor differences in

64512-427: Was subordinated to the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople and downgraded to an archbishopric centred in Ohrid , while retaining its autonomy and dioceses. Basil appointed the Bulgarian John I Debranin as its first archbishop, but his successors were Byzantines. The Bulgarian aristocracy and tsar's relatives were given various Byzantine titles and transferred to the Asian parts of the Empire. Despite hardships,

64768-404: Was succeeded by his cousin Boril , who tried to pursue his predecessor's policies but did not have his capability. His army was defeated by the Latins at Philippopolis , reversing most of Kaloyan's gains. Boril failed to maintain the integrity of the empire; his brother Strez took most of Macedonia for himself, Alexius Slav seceded his territory in the Rhodopes ; in return for help suppressing

65024-479: Was the more developed area of Jászkunság, concentrating the economic power and local aristocracy. Described in Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer of 1855 as an "independent district" comprising two parts, Kunság alone had at the time some 120,000 inhabitants. Little Cumania had 64,000 residents (37,000 of them Protestants), and Greater Cumania 55,000. The latter region had only "one market town", namely Karcag, while Little Cumania included several urban centres, of which

65280-400: Was to build a parish church . The earliest churches were simple wood constructions, but the royal basilica at Székesfehérvár was built in Romanesque style. With the introduction of the Catholic church hierarchy, Latin emerged as the dominant language of ecclesiastic life and state administration, although some royal charters were likely written in Greek. The bishops were required to supply

65536-433: Was willing to recognize Kaloyan as king on the condition the Bulgarian Church would submit to Rome. After lengthy negotiations in which both acted diplomatically but without changing their positions, Kaloyan was crowned king in late 1204. Archbishop Basil was proclaimed Primate . Kaloyan had no intention of submitting to that decision; he sent the Pope a letter expressing his gratitude for the Imperial title he had received and

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