STATE OF SOCIETY DURING FIRST PERIOD. 25

history. As was the case in other countries, these three centuries present the picture of a barbarous state, with only two active and conflicting elements— the crown and the barons-the bulk of the people being alternately compelled to follow either the one or the other, always sharing their dangers without ever enjoying the fruits of their success. It must, however, be observed, that though there were at that time a large number of unprivileged classes spread over the country, subject to the uncontrolled will of the barons or landed proprietors, this circumstance did not result from a regular system of feudality, which developed itself in Hungary only in subsequent ages. Another difference observable in the Hungarian society of that time, is the exorbitant influence and power of the ecclesiastical order, which is rendered evident from the consideration of the circumstances under which Christianity was introduced. While in the rest of Europe the ecclesiastical order appeared in society as a component part of the elements already existing, it was called into life in Hungary simultaneously with the birth of royalty, and the beginning of quite a new state of things. St Stephen, assuming the regal title with the assistance of the see of Rome, first surrounded himself with the ecclesiastics, who, so to speak, became the lawgivers of the new society, and who consequently began to share the power with the crown ere the barons afterwards created attained political importance. No doubt the new organization of the country by St Stephen, as well as the introduction of European jurisprudence, were almost entirely owing to the ecclesiastical order as the sole interpreters of Latin lore. Nothing, however, of their knowledge found its way into society at large. A few of the nobles, indeed, made

26 STATE OF SOCIETY DURING FIRST PERIOD.

themselves soon acquainted with this dead idiom, the only vehicle of higher social intercourse; while the bulk of the people, without growing wiser by the teachings of the monks, remained in the condition in which they had been in the pre-Christian era. The vast influence of the clergy, as will be seen, continued but little diminished even to a very recent date, and was productive of many national disasters down to the end of the seventeenth century.

SECOND PERIOD.

CHAPTER III.

FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF THE ANJOU DYNASTY, TO THE BATTLE OF WARNA (1301-1444.)

THIS period, though far shorter than the preceding one, is no less crowded with events both of national glory and deep humiliation. The most striking circumstance, however, is the analogy subsisting between its beginning and its closing scene; papal influence was the means of giving to Hungary its first foreign king; and papal intrigue lost this country, a century and a half later, both its king and its honours.

The death of the last of the Arpads could not but prove favourable to Carobert of Naples, who had already undergone the ceremony of coronation in Croatia, before the decease of Andrew III. Pope Boniface the VIII. now employed all the means at his command in favour of the Anjou prince, who at last ascended the throne of St Stephen.

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WARS OF THE CROWN.

It will be observed in the course of this period, that after a fierce civil war, chiefly nourished by the claimants to the throne, Hungary rose to a degree of power superior to any of the states of Europe; that, in spite of the external grandeur, the internal state of the country remained stationary; farther, that after having sent its armies to the south of Italy and gained dominion over Poland, Hungary found herself all at once beset by all the plagues, arising from the rule of weak princes, selfish and feminine regencies, and listless, ambitious oligarchs. The most surprising circumstance, however, is to see Hungary soon after rise from amid all these miseries, and sustain, alone and unprepared, the shock of eastern conquerors, whose very name was sufficient to terrify the most distant parts of Europe.

The clergy, prompted by the see of Rome, and encouraged by a papal legate sent to Hungary, did their best to raise Carobert to the Hungarian throne. This very circumstance, however, incensed a large portion of the nobles, and they offered the crown of St Stephen to Wencelaus, son of the king of Bohemia, by virtue of his consort Elizabeth, daughter of the last Arpadian king. The Bohemian prince was accordingly crowned, when the pope, apprised of the fact, fulmined over Hungary his spiritual thunders, smiting with his ban both Wencelaus and his adherents. But this young prince, assisted by his father, advanced an army in reply to the weapons of Boniface, and marching on to Pesth, soon dispersed the Anjou faction. Hereupon the pope sought the assistance of the emperor Albert of Austria, who, jealous of the power of Bohemia, was ready to mingl e in the fray. Albert accordingly marched an army

CHARACTER OF THE ANJOU RULE.

29

into Hungary in 1304; but before the campaign was over, Wencelaus, dispirited by the death of his father, and not confiding in his own power, made up his mind to resign the Hungarian crown. This, however, was far from bringing peace to the country. The hostile feeling to Carobert, originating in the fact of his being imposed upon the country by the pope, by which the nobles thought themselves humiliated, continually increased, till at length the states made an offer of the crown to Otho of Bavaria. This prince having entered Hungary in disguise, unsupported by any military force of his own, his position soon became hopeless; and the nobles, tired of the war with Albert of Austria, at last consented in the assembly held on the Racos plain in the year 1310, to acknowledge and crown Carobert king of Hungary.

The long reign of this first foreign prince proved, upon the whole, a time of peace. The passions of the turbulent nobles subsided, and the refined manners of the new court soon succeeded in reconciling and gaining the sympathy of the most ambitious spirits.

Next to some salutary changes introduced in the penal code, a new state of things was manifested by many regulations in behalf of commerce, which lent a certain stimulus to the towns. Not less worthy of remark is the fact, that Carobert was the first Hungarian king who introduced a gold currency, silver being up to that time the only precious metal used for coinage. Such measures undoubtedly tended both to raise the dormant resources of the country, and to awaken its indolent population.

The practical mind of Carobert was, however, chiefly manifested by the way he trafficked in order to pro