HUNGARY. 95 



vast majority of the population are Roman Catholic. " Rather a desert than a 

 country inhabited by heretics," said Ferdinand II. ; and if all Protestants were 

 not actually exterminated, as in the Tyrol, this is due to tho assistance they 

 received from the Turks. Religious animosities have almost died out in Hungary, 

 but the animosities of race survive. 



Next to Magyars, the Germans are the most important nation of Hungary, 

 not so much on account of their number as because of their industry, commerce, 

 and intelligence. " The Magyars founded the State, the Germans built the cities." 

 It was they who created a middle class, and nearly the whole of the commerce 

 of the country was formerly in their hands. Most of the tov/ns which they 

 founded governed themselves, and even joined in confederations, forming states 

 within the State. One of these political fraternities included the twenty-four 

 German parishes of Sepasia, at the foot of the Tâtra. The German towns of 

 Transylvania were associated, and enjoyed the same privileges as those of the 

 Magyars and Székely. Even Pest, originally a Slav village, as is proved by its 

 name,* became a German town, and as recently as 1686 the Magyar inha- 

 bitants complained that no member of the town council was able to speak their 

 language. 



Formerly the Germans of Hungary were known by different names, according 

 to their origin. The Hienzen, to the west and south of the Lake of Neusiedl, 

 are Austrian colonists. The Heidebaucni (heath peasants), who dwell between 

 Neusiedl and the Danube, are Allemans. The German miners in the north- 

 west are Saxons, Avhilst the German colonists in the south are Swabians. The 

 Germans of Transylvania, who inhabit the Burzenland on the UiDper Aluta, and 

 the hills which extend to the north of Fogaras and Hermannstadt as far as Mediasch 

 and Schassburg, are known as Saxons, but are in reality for the most part the 

 descendants of Low Germans and Flemings who settled in the country during the 

 twt'lfth and thirteenth centuries. They have retained their language and customs 

 for six centuries, owing no doubt to their suj)erior education, but their political 

 influence is no longer what it used to be. The Magyars and Rumanians, 

 amongst whom they live, have not only become more civilised, but they also 

 increase more rapidly in numbers. Towns and villages formerly inhabited by 

 Germans have been Magyarised or Rumanised, and relatively the German element 

 has lost ground. 



Hungary offers a favourable field for studying the changes which various nation- 

 alities undergo in course of time. The Germans in the north, though living nearest 

 to Germany, have in large numbers become Magyars, Slovaks, or Ruthenians. The 

 Germans in the south, on the other hand, have succeeded in Germanising both 

 Rumanians and Servians. 



The Slavs of Hungary' collectively outnumber the Magyars, but they belong 

 to different nations. The Slovaks inhabit North-western Hungary, from the 

 Danube to the Tâtra, and a few detached colonies in the plain. They are the 



* Pest, or Petj, means *■ lime-kiln." Ofen, which is the German name for Buda, likewise means 

 "kiln." 



