“Self-Governance at the King's Command”: Towns and Their Sovereign in Medieval Hungary

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    Abstract (may include machine translation)

    This essay examines the relationship between kings and towns in medieval Hungary, as well as the internal structure of urban governance that formed in response to royal policies. It encompasses the period between c. 1000, the birth of the Hungarian monarchy and 1526, its demise in the Battle of Mohács. The first part is devoted to royal efforts at setting up early centres and argues that besides the main royal seats of Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Óbuda, the bishops’ seats were also consciously located in places that enabled royal control over substantial parts of the realm of the Árpádians. Then it examines the channels and consequences of royal settling policy and the granting of certain forms of autonomy to settlements that were preferred by the monarchs. Control over urban autonomy was the strongest in the mining towns where the most lucrative mineral resources of the country were exploited. With the ruler being the most important point of reference for the towns, horizontal alliances between them remained underdeveloped. Although the institutional conditions for the representation of the towns at the diets were present, the bourgeoisie did not form a unified ‘order’ and remained limited in its impact on country-wide politics.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationHow Medieval Europe Was Ruled
    EditorsChristian Raffensperger
    PublisherTaylor and Francis
    Pages73-91
    Number of pages19
    ISBN (Electronic)9781000935530
    ISBN (Print)9781032100173
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 18 Jul 2023

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