Authorities.—The chronicles of Jean le Bel, Adam Murimuth, Robert of Avesbury, Froissart and “Le Religieux de Saint Denis.” See Siméon Luce, Hist. de Bertrand du Guesclin (3rd ed., Paris, 1896); G. du Fresne de Beaucourt, Hist. de Charles VII (6 vols., Paris, 1881-1891); F. J. Snell, articles in the United Service Magazine (1906-1907).
(J. V.*)
[1] Arthur, earl of Richmond, afterwards Arthur III., duke of Brittany.
HUNGARY (Hungarian Magyarország), a country in the south-eastern portion of central Europe, bounded E. by Austria (Bukovina) and Rumania; S. by Rumania, Servia, Bosnia and Austria (Dalmatia); W. by Austria (Istria, Carniola, Styria and Lower Austria); and N. by Austria (Moravia, Silesia and Galicia). It has an area of 125,402 sq. m., being thus about 4000 sq. m. larger than Great Britain and Ireland.
I. Geography and Statistics
The kingdom of Hungary (Magyarbiradolom) is one of the two states which constitute the monarchy of Austria-Hungary (q.v.), and occupies 51.8% of the total area of the monarchy. Hungary, unlike Austria, presents a remarkable geographical unity. It is almost exclusively continental, having only a short extent of seaboard on the Adriatic (a little less than 100 m.). Its land-frontiers are for the most part well defined by natural boundaries: on the N.W., N., E. and S.E. the Carpathian mountains; on the S. the Danube, Save and Unna. On the W. they are not so clearly marked, being formed partly by low ranges of mountains and partly by the rivers March and Leitha. From the last-mentioned river are derived the terms Cisleithania and Transleithania, applied to Austria and Hungary respectively.
General Division.—The kingdom of Hungary in its widest extent, or the “Realm of the Crown of St Stephen,” comprises Hungary proper (Magyarország), with which is included the former grand principality of Transylvania, and the province of Croatia-Slavonia. This province enjoys to a large extent autonomy, granted by the so-called compromise of 1868. The town and district of Fiume, though united with Hungary proper in respect of administration, possess a larger measure of autonomy than the other cities endowed with municipal rights. Of the total area of the kingdom Hungary proper has 108,982 sq. m. and Croatia-Slavonia 16,420 sq. m. In the present article the kingdom is treated mainly as a whole, especially as regards statistics. In some respects Hungary proper has been particularly dealt with, while special information regarding the other regions will be found under [Croatia-Slavonia], [Transylvania] and [Fiume].
Mountains.—Orographically Hungary is composed of an extensive central plain surrounded by high mountains. These mountains belong to the Carpathians and the Alps, which are separated by the valley of the Danube. But by far the greater portion of the Hungarian highlands belongs to the Carpathian mountains, which begin, to the north, on the left bank of the Danube at Dévény near Pressburg (Pozsony), run in a north-easterly and easterly direction, sway round south-eastward and then westward in a vast irregular semicircle, and end near Orsova at the Iron Gates of the Danube, where they meet the Balkan mountains. The greatest elevations are in the Tátra mountains of the north of Hungary proper, in the east and south of Transylvania (the Transylvanian Alps) and in the eastern portion of the Banat. The highest peak, the Gerlsdorf or Spitze or Gerlachfalva, situated in the Tátra group, has an altitude of 8700 ft. The portion of Hungary situated on the right bank of the Danube is filled by the Alpine system, namely, the eastern outlying groups of the Alps. These groups are the Leitha mountains, the Styrian highlands, the Lower Hungarian highlands, which are a continuation of the former, and the Bakony Forest. The Bakony Forest, which lies entirely within Hungarian territory, extends to the Danube in the neighbourhood of Budapest, the highest peak being Köröshegy (2320 ft.). The south-western portion of this range is specially called Bakony Forest, while the ramifications to the north-east are known as the Vértes group (1575 ft.), and the Pilis group (2476 ft.). The Lower Hungarian highlands extend between the Danube, the Mur, and Lake Balaton, and attain in the Mesek hills near Mohács and Pécs an altitude of 2200 ft. The province of Croatia-Slavonia belongs mostly to the Karst region, and is traversed by the Dinaric Alps.