♦Lewis the Great, 1342-1382;♦
The greatest extension of the Hungarian dominion was in the fourteenth century, under the Angevin King Lewis the Great. Before his time the Magyar frontier had advanced and fallen back. ♦First possession of Halicz, 1185-1220,♦ Hungary, having a Russian population within its borders, had for a while enlarged its Russian dominion by the annexation of the Red Russian land of Halicz or Galicia. ♦of Widdin, 1260-1264.♦ It had also, for a shorter time, occupied the Bulgarian town of Widdin. ♦Conquests of Lewis, Halicz and Vladimir, 1342; Widdin, 1365-1369.♦ Lewis renewed both these conquests, and made others. Halicz was not only won again, but was enlarged by the neighbouring principality of Vladimir. The great day of Hungary was contemporary with the great day of Servia, but it was a longer day, and Hungary profited greatly by the fall of Servia. ♦1356.♦ While Lewis annexed Dalmatia, he also at various times established his supremacy over Bosnia and the Rouman principalities. That Lewis was king of Poland by a personal union did not affect Hungarian geography. ♦Red Russia restored to Poland, 1390.♦ But the separation of the crowns at his death led presently to the restoration of the Red Russian provinces to Poland. ♦Pledging of Zips, 1412.♦ Somewhat later, under Sigismund, a territory within the Hungarian border, part of the county of Zips or Czepusz, was pledged to Poland, and continued to be held by that power.
Meanwhile the Ottoman was on his march to overthrow Hungary as well as its neighbours, though the position of the Magyar kingdom made it the last to be devoured and the first to be delivered. The Turkish inroads as yet barely grazed the strictly Hungarian frontier. ♦First Turkish invasion. 1391.♦ The first Turkish invasion of Hungary, the first Turkish exaction of tribute from Wallachia, came in the same year in which Sigismund established his supremacy over Bosnia. ♦Battle of Nikopolis. 1396.
Campaign of Huniades 1443.
Battle of Varna. 1444.♦ The defeat of Nikopolis confirmed the Turkish supremacy in Wallachia, a supremacy which was again won for Hungary in the great campaign of Huniades, and was again lost at Varna. ♦Disputes for Dalmatia.♦ Meanwhile the full possession of Dalmatia did not outlive the reign of Lewis. Henceforth Hungary is merely one competitor among others in the ceaseless shiftings of the Dalmatian frontier.
♦Hungary under Matthias Corvinus. 1458-1490.♦
Later in the fifteenth century came another day of Hungarian greatness under the son of Huniades, Matthias Corvinus. ♦1477.
1485.♦ Its most distinguishing feature was the extension of the Magyar power to the west, over Bohemia and its dependencies, and even over the Austrian archduchy. ♦1467.♦ In the south-eastern lands Wallachia and Moldavia again became Hungarian dependencies. ♦1463.♦ Jayce was won back from the Turk, now lord of Bosnia, and, Belgrade being now Hungarian, the frontier towards the Ottoman was fixed till the time of his great advance northwards.
♦Loss of Belgrade. 1521.♦
The first stage of Ottoman conquest in Hungary, as distinguished from mere ravage, was the taking of Belgrade. ♦Battle of Mohacz. 1526.♦ With the battle of Mohacz, five years later, the separate history of Hungary ends. ♦Turkish occupation of the greater part of Hungary. 1552-1687.♦ That victory, followed by the disputes for the Hungarian crown between an Austrian archduke and a Transsilvanian palatine, enabled Suleiman to make himself master of the greater part of the kingdom, especially of the part which was most thoroughly Magyar. From the middle of the sixteenth century till the latter years of the seventeenth, the Austrian Kings of Hungary kept only a fragment of Croatia, including Zagrab or Agram, and a strip of north-western Hungary, including Pressburg. The whole central part of the kingdom passed under the immediate dominion of the Turk, and a Pasha ruled at Buda. Besides this great incorporation of Hungarian soil, the Turk held three vassal principalities within the dominions of Lewis the Great. ♦Tributary principalities: Transsilvania, Wallachia, Moldavia. 1497.♦ One was Transsilvania, increased by a large part of north-eastern Hungary; the second was Wallachia; the third was Moldavia, which began to be tributary late in the fifteenth century. The Rouman lands became more and more closely dependent on the Turk, who took on him to name their princes. ♦1606.♦ Indeed, one might for a while add the Austrian kingdom of Hungary itself as a fourth vassal state, as it paid tribute to the Turk into the seventeenth century. ♦The Rouman lands disputed between Poland and the Turk.♦ For the superiority of the Rouman principalities an endless struggle went on between Poland and the Turk. At last the same Slavonic power stepped in to deliver Hungary and Austria also. ♦Battle of Vienna. 1683.♦ With the overthrow of the Turk before Vienna began the reaction of Christendom against Islam which has gone on to our own day.
♦Recovery of Hungary from the Turk.♦
The wars which follow answer to the wars of independence in Servia and Greece in so far as the Turk was driven out of a Christian land. They differ in this, that the Turk was driven out of Greece and Servia to the profit of Greece and Servia themselves, while he was driven out of Hungary to the profit of the Austrian king. ♦Peace of Carlowitz. 1699.♦ The first stage of the work, the war which was ended by the Peace of Carlowitz, won back nearly all Croatia and Slavonia, and all Hungary proper, except the land of Temeswar between Danube, Theiss, and Maros. ♦Incorporation of Transsilvania. 1713.♦ Transsilvania became a dependency of the Hungarian kingdom, with which it was presently incorporated. Wallachia and Moldavia remained under Turkish supremacy. ♦Peace of Passarowitz. 1718.♦ The next war, ended by the Peace of Passarowitz, fully restored the Hungarian kingdom as part of Christendom. The Turk kept only a small part of Croatia. All Slavonia and the banat of Temeswar were won back; the frontier was even carried south of the Save, so as to take in a small strip of Bosnia and a great part of Servia, as also the Lesser Wallachia, the old banat of Severin. Thus, while the first stage delivered Buda, the second delivered Belgrade. But the next war, ended by the Peace of Belgrade, largely undid the work. ♦Losses by the Peace of Belgrade. 1739.♦ The frontier fell back to the point at which it stayed till our own day. From the mouth of the Unna to Orsovo, the Save and the Danube became the frontier. Belgrade, and all the land south of those rivers, passed again to the Turk, and Little Wallachia became again part of a Turkish dependency. ♦Final loss of Belgrade. 1789-1791.♦ At a later stage of the century Belgrade was again delivered and again lost.
♦Acquisitions from Poland.♦