The Partition of Hungary

I'm about to make a series of posts about Hungary (one of my favorite topics), but before I do so I want to go through some terms that a lot of people find confusing. The confusion stems from the somewhat chaotic aftermath of the Ottoman-Hungarian wars.

Everyone knows that in 1526, the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Mohacs, where the Turkish Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent won one of his greatest victories, and King Louis II of Hungary was killed. (Also killed was Pal Tomori, a bishop who served as Louis II's top general.)

It took a few decades for all of the fallout to settle, but in the end Hungary was partitioned three ways.


I. Imperial Hungary: Ottoman Control

The Ottoman Empire outright annexed much of Hungary. This is referred to as Imperial Hungary -- because it was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Most of modern-day Hungary (which, as any Hungarian nationalist will tell you, is far smaller than historic Hungary) fell into Imperial Hungary. Thus, Budapest, Szeged, and other major cities of modern Hungary were under direct Turkish rule.

II. Royal Hungary: Austrian Control

The Turks didn't quite annex all of Hungary, though. Large areas were annexed by the Hapsburg dynasty of Austria. These areas became known as Royal Hungary -- because the Habsburgs took the title of King of Hungary after the death of their relative Louis II and thus claimed these areas as king. This is confusing, because the Habsburgs are far more famous for being Holy Roman Emperors, and thus it seems that their part should be called "Imperial" Hungary. However, calling this area "Royal" Hungary is consistent with the traditions of Austrian imperialism. On paper, Austria never had an "empire" that it controlled. Rather, the Austrian empire was presented as many different independent countries, each of which just happened to have the same ruler.

Royal Hungary consisted mostly of "Upper Hungary" -- which today we call Slovakia -- as well as half of Croatia (the rest of which was part of Imperial Hungary). The capital of Royal Hungary was Bratislava (in Hungarian Pozsony, in German Pressburg), which makes Bratislava the only European city to have been capital of two different countries, both of which still exist.

While the term "Kingdom of Hungary" refers to both the entire Hungarian state prior to Mohacs and to the Habsburg-ruled successor state, the term "Royal Hungary" is used only to refer to Habsburg-controlled Hungary post-Mohacs.

Confusingly, historians often refer to Habsburg armies as "Imperial" armies, because of their allegience to the Holy Roman Empire. So you might read about Imperial armies invading Imperial Hungary.

III. Principality of Transylvania: Independent
But not all of Hungary fell under foreign control. Transylvania became an independent principality controlled by the great Transylvanian noble families (the Bathorys, the Bethlens, the Batthyanys, etc.). As with the king in pre-Mohacs Hungary, the Transylvanian ruler was elected for life. At first, the rulers of Transylvania claimed, in pretense, the kingship of Hungary (against the Habsburgs), but after 1600 they dropped these claims and simply called themselves "Prince of Transylvania" (fejedelem in Hungarian). However, many princes of Transylvania were ambitious and started or supported rebellions in Upper Hungary, with the goal of throwing off the Habsburgs.


Transylvania was to some extent an Ottoman client state. The Ottomans thought of it as a useful buffer state between them and the Austrians. Further, the Ottomans encouraged the spread of Protestantism in Transylvania; they figured that if they made the Hungarians non-Catholic, it would be more difficult for Austria to absorb the Hungarians in the future.

This three-part partition was in effect from roughly 1526 to 1699. Eventually, during the Great Turkish War, Eugene of Savoy conquered all of Hungary and Transylvania, and Austrian mastery over these areas was confirmed by the Treaty of Karlowitz. Subsequently, both Imperial and Royal Hungary became part of a unified "Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary" with the Habsburgs as hereditary monarchs. The Habsburgs also took the title of "Prince of Transylvania". Indeed, today in Vienna you can view the Transylvanian crown in the same museum that houses the Austrian crown jewels and the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Forgotten Reformers: Others in Brief

People sometimes ask me: "How can the names and deeds of minor Reformation figures be distinguished and memorized? How can they be recalled in five seconds or less?" I find it is helpful to understand that most reformers had discrete geographic roles. That is, in most major cities or polities that became Protestant, there was one guy who brought Protestantism to that city. Sometimes the same guy would bring Protestantism to two or even three different places; other times a single city would require two guys, often in succession, to become fully Protestant. Since this isn't a Reformation blog and I can't do a "Forgotten Reformers" entry on every single forgotten reformer, I thought I'd make a list of somewhat notable reformers and tell you a bit about where they were active, or other fun facts about them.

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Andreas Osiander (Lutheran): Lead the reformation in Nuremburg, later went to Prussia and helped lead the Lutheran reformation there.

Johannes Honterus (Lutheran): Brought the reformation to Transylvania, where he preached to the Transylvania Saxons, ethnic Germans who lived mostly in the seven walled cities of Transylvania. The Hungarian population in Transylvania would later become largely Calvinist or Unitarian, while the Romanian population in Transylvania remained Eastern Orthodox.

Michael Agricola (Lutheran): Lutheran scholar from Finland. Translated the Bible into Finnish. Finland was part of Sweden at the time of the Reformation, which became Lutheran after the Stockholm Bloodbath.

Philipp Melancthon (Lutheran): Author of the Augsburg Confession, the creed of Lutheranism. Important figure in early Lutheranism.

Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran): German reformer, helped Melancthon write the Augsburg confession. Later went to Denmark to help the Danes organize their state-sponsored reformed church.

Johannes Oecolampadius (Calvinist): Brought the reformation to Basel. His last name means "house lamp" in Greek. His birth name was Johannes Hussgen. "Hussgen" sounds kind of like "Hausschein", which is the German word for house lamp. From there, it was only a short step to translating his sounds-like name into Greek.

The best way to remember this name is to note that "Oeco", house, is also the root of "economics", which originally meant management of an estate or farm. Hence, Xenophon's socratic dialogue on farm management is called "Oeconomicus". Then "Lampadius" sounds a lot like "lamp". You just have to memorize the -adius ending.

Theodore Beza (Calvinist): Successor of Calvin in Geneva; edited Calvin's writings, including Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Heinrich Bullinger (Calvinist): Successor of Zwingli in Zurich.

Ferenc David (Unitarian): After 1526, Transylvania became an independent principality ruled by the Hungarian nobility. Many Hungarian nobles adopted Calvinism or Unitarianism at this time. Ferenc David was an advisor to the Zapolya dynasty of Transylvania princes and urged them to establish freedom of religion in Transylvania. The result of this was the Edict of Turda, one of the first proclamations of religious toleration in all of Europe. Subsequently, many different denominations flourished in Transylvania, but especially Calvinism and Unitarianism (among Hungarians) and Lutheranism (among Germans).

Jerome of Prague (Hussite): The best friend and companion of Jan Hus. Along with Hus, he was burned at the Council of Constance