History, The Beginnings of Foreign Influence

With the death of Andrew III in 1301 the Arpad line of kings became extinct. In 1308 Charles Robert of Anjou secured election as Charles I, thereby establishing the Angevin dynasty in Hungary. During his reign, which ended in 1342, Charles restored order, imposed limitations on the barons, and generally consolidated the realm. He also made a number of territorial acquisitions, including Bosnia and part of Serbia. Through his marriage to Elizabeth, the sister of Kazimierz III, king of Poland, he ensured the succession of his son Louis to the Polish crown.

During the reign of Louis I, which lasted until his death in 1382, Hungary acquired new territory through wars of conquest and became one of the largest realms of Europe. Louis instituted numerous administrative reforms, further curbed the power of the feudal lords, and promoted the development of commerce, science, and industry. In the closing years of his reign, however, the Ottomans, advancing steadily northward into the Balkan Peninsula, established control over several of Hungary’s southern buffer provinces. Sigismund, who was crowned king in 1387, organized a crusade against the Ottomans, but was overwhelmingly defeated in 1396. Additional disasters followed, including defeats by the Venetians and costly struggles with the religious reformers known as the Hussites. Sigismund, who had been elevated to Holy Roman emperor in 1411, relentlessly persecuted the Hussites.

Hungary was again menaced by the Ottomans during the two-year reign of Sigismund’s Habsburg son-in-law and successor, Albert II. A bitter contest for the throne developed after Albert’s death in 1439, and Hungary was saved from Ottoman domination by the military leader Janos Hunyadi. Still the national hero of Hungary, Hunyadi is best known for breaking the Ottoman siege of Belgrade in 1456.

Hunyadi’s son Matthias Corvinus was elected king in 1458, despite strong opposition by supporters of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. The new monarch, probably the most able and enlightened ruler of his time, instituted various administrative reforms, created a standing army, and promoted the commercial and cultural development of the nation. A brilliant military leader, Matthias won control of Austria from the Habsburgs in the 1480s and moved his residence to Vienna. This and his other territorial acquisitions, which included Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, made Hungary the strongest kingdom of central Europe. After the death of Matthias in 1490, the feudal barons regained their former status. This soon produced factional strife in Hungary, including a peasant rebellion.