348 



HUNGARY. 



A. D. 453. 



Weakened 

 by civil dis- 

 sension, 



and are 

 compelled 

 to confine 

 themselves 

 to their own 

 settlements. 



Again break 

 into the 

 empire in 

 639. 



History, flexible gravity ; which was never relaxed, except on 

 V """"Y"""* the entrance of Irnac, the youngest of his sons : he 

 embraced the boy with a smile of paternal tenderness, 

 gently pinched him by the cheek, and betrayed a par- 

 tial affection, which was justified by the assurance of 

 his prophets, that Irnac would be the future support 

 of his family and empire. Two days afterwards the 

 ambassadors received a second invitation; and they 

 had reason to praise the politeness, as well as the hos- 

 pitality of Attila." 



On the death of Attila, Ellac, by the will of his fa- 

 ther, succeeded to an extensive empire, which, however, 

 was soon embroiled in civil war by the ambition of his 

 younger brothers. They insisted upon an equal di- 

 vision of their father's dominions, and immediately 

 took up arms to support their demand. This afforded 

 a favourable opportunity to the nations that had been 

 subjected by Attila to throw off the yoke. Ardaric, 

 king of the Gepida?, accordingly declared that he would 

 no longer obey the sons of Attila ; and other nations led 

 by his example, hastened to join his standard. Ellac, 

 who possessed both intrepidity and experience in war, 

 marched against him with all his forces. The two ar- 

 mies met on the banks of the Netad in Panonia, where 

 the Huns were utterly routed ; and king Ellac fell in the 

 field, after having performed prodigies of valour worthy 

 of the representative of the great Attila. They after- 

 wards received repeated defeats, both from the Goths 

 and Romans, and were compelled to confine themselves 

 to their own settlements for nearly sixty years. 



In 539, however, the Cuturgurian andUturgurian Huns 

 united, broke into the empire, and laid waste Thrace, 

 Greece, Illyrium, and all the provinces from the Ionian 

 sea to the very suburbs of Constantinople. They then 

 retired without molestation, with immense booty, and 

 120,000 captives. The Uturgurian Huns proceeded 

 to their own country on the Euxine Sea ; but the Cu- 

 turgurians received lands in Thrace, and an annual 

 pension from the Emperor Justinian, upon condition 

 of their serving when wanted in the Roman armies. 

 Unable, however, to restrain them from committing 

 continual depredations in the neighbouring provinces, 

 Justinian had recourse to the Uturgurians ; and by 

 means of presents, and offers of pensions, embroiled the 

 two nations in a bloody war, which lasted many years, 

 and by which they were so weakened, that they were long 

 prevented from offering farther molestation to theempire. 

 A. D. 776. From this time, no credible historian makes parti- 

 cular mention of the Huns, till A. D. 776, when the 

 remains of this nation, reinforced by the Avars, and 

 other northern tribes equally barbarous with them- 

 selves, and with whom they are frequently confound- 

 ed by historians, seem tohave recovered their strength, 

 and we find them masters of Dacia, Upper Mresia, 

 and the two Panonias. Two of their princes sent 

 ambassadors to Charlemagne, desiring his friendship 

 and alliance. Charles received them with extraor- 

 dinary distinction, and readily agreed to their re- 

 quest ; but a misunderstanding afterwards arising be- 

 tween him and them, he entered their territories with 

 two numerous armies, ravaged the country with fire 

 and sworcl, the Huns being unable to keep the field 

 Reduced to a g am t so powerful an enemy. After a war of eight 

 subjection years continuance, he reduced them to complete sub. 

 by Charle- jection, and built strong fortifications along the Raab to 

 m*gne. repress their predatory irruptions into his territories. 



They remained within this boundary for more than 

 a century, when Arnolph, emperor of Germany, in- 

 vited them to his assistance against the king of Mo- 



Htn-i 

 renew ihor 



ravia. Equally ferocious with their ancestors, and Hisiwjr. 

 glad of an opportunity to renew their devastations, 

 they ravaged Bavaria, Suabia, and Franconia. Ger- 

 many afterwards became a prey to their fury ; and 

 Louis IV. submitted to an annual pension to get rid 

 of them. In the reign of Conrad I. who also be- 

 came their tributary, they again devastated Germany, 

 penetrated into Lorraine and Languedoc, plundering 

 and massacring the inhabitants wherever they went. 



The Huns were at this time subject to petty chiefs, 

 whose precarious authority rested on no solid foun- 

 dation, and were respected only because the choice 

 fell on the bravest. Fear naturally attached them to 

 the man whose vengeance they dreaded, or to whom 

 they looked for protection in the continual wars in A. D. 9iS. ' 

 which they were engaged. Their last irruption into bM >re 

 Germany was severely chastised by the valour of Otho driven with 

 the Great, and the united power of the German princes, dreadful 

 who compelled them, after a dreadful slaughter, to retire daughter 

 within the limits of Hungary, and to fortify with a ditch "> to tllci 

 and rampart the most accessible passes into their country. t wn c 



In process of time, and by their intercourse with 

 other nations, civilization began insensibly to spread 

 among them ; and in 997, under their first king Sle- Their king 

 phen, they assumed a place among the nations of Eu- Stephen . 



rope. This monarch established the Catholic reli- " 

 . *^ . ...... t f <IT the Catholic 



gion in his dominions, and received from the rope r(; ijg; on m 



the title of Apostolic, which the sovereigns of Hungary hi s ( i om u 

 to this day retain. From him also they date the origin nions. 

 of many of those institutions and laws by which the 

 state is still governed. On his death, the respect in 

 which his memory was held by his subjects, led them to 

 choose his son as his successor to the throne ; and, with- 

 out renouncing their right of election, to maintain the 

 royal dignity in his family for more than three centuries. 



There were twenty-four kings of the dynasty of Ste- Dynasty of 

 phen, few of whom, however, deserve to be drawn Stephen, 

 from oblivion. The most remarkable were ; Ladislaits, Ladislaus. 

 surnamed the Saint, on account of the purity of his 

 life, who added Dalmatia and Croatia to his dominions, 

 and flourished near the end of the eleventh century. 

 Gcicza or Geiza II. expelled the Saxons, Austrians, 

 and Bavarians, from Poland and a part of Hungary, Gc!za II- 

 where they had committed great ravages. Bela 111. Bela III. 

 after having freed his territories from the brigands 

 which infested it, employed himself in the internal ad- 

 ministration of his kingdom. He instituted manyju- A. D. 1191. 

 diciary regulations, which still remain in force, and 

 was the first who divided the kingdom into counties, 

 appointing a governor to each. His son, Andrew II. Andrew u. 

 was one of the most renowned sovereigns of his age. 

 He joined the Crusade in the beginning of the thir- 

 teenth century, with a numerous army, and acquired 

 great glory by his bravery and skill in war; and the 

 nobles, as a reward for their services on this occasion, 

 received from him very extensive privileges. In his 

 reign, the regulations of his father were perfected and 

 formed into a national code, called the Golden Bull, A. D. IgSJ. 

 which every king at his accession was obliged to con- 

 firm by a solemn oath. The famous clause, however, 

 which granted to every noble the right of veto in the 

 election of their monarchs, had been so often the occa- 

 sion of civil wars, that it was abolished in the reign of 

 Leopold I. in 1687. The reign of Bela IV. is remark- Bela jy; 

 able for the invasion of the Scythians, who, after hav- 

 ing overrun Russia and Poland, penetrated as (;.r as 

 Pesth, spreading terror and rapine throughout the king- 

 dom. Bela, surprised in his camp, was compelled to 

 fly. The Scythians continued in possession of the 



