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| e. Hungary |
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| THE ARPAD DYNASTY OF HUNGARY (907-1301) AND THE PREMYSLID KINGS OF BOHEMIA (1198-1378) |
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| 896 |
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| The Hungarians, or Magyars, organized in a number of tribes, occupied the valley of the middle Danube and Theiss (Tisza). Under Arpad (d. 907) they had come from southern Russia by way of Moldova, driven on by the Patzinaks (Pechenegs) and other Asian peoples. The Hungarians were themselves nomads of the Finno-Ugrian family. For more than half a century after their occupation of Hungary, they continued their raids, both toward the east and toward the west. | 1 |
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| 906 |
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| The Hungarians destroyed the rising Slavic kingdom of Moravia. | 2 |
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| 955 |
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| Battle of Lechfeld (See 955), in which Emperor Otto I decisively defeated the raiding Hungarians. From this time on, the Hungarians began to settle down and establish a frontier. | 3 |
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| 972–97 |
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| Geza, the organizer of the princely power. He began to reduce the tribal leaders and invited Christian missionaries from Germany (Pilgrin of Passau, 974; St. Adalbert of Prague, 993). Christianization had already begun from the east, and was furthered by large numbers of war prisoners. | 4 |
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| 997–1038 |
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| St. Stephen (I), greatest ruler of the Arpad dynasty. He suppressed eastern Christianity by force and crusaded against paganism, which was still favored by the tribal chiefs. Stephen allied with the west, married a Bavarian princess, called in Roman churchmen and monks, and endowed them with huge tracts of land. With the help of the clergy, he broke the power of the tribal chieftains, took over their land as royal domain, administered through counts (föispán) placed over counties (vármegyék). The counts and high churchmen formed a royal council. Every encouragement was given to agriculture and trade, and a methodical system of frontier defense was built up (large belt of swamps and forests, wholly uninhabited and protected by regular frontier guards; as time went on this frontier was gradually extended). | 5 |
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| 1001 |
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| Stephen was crowned with a crown sent by the pope. He was canonized in 1083. | 6 |
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| 1002 |
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| Stephen defeated an anti-Christian insurrection in Transylvania. | 7 |
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| 1030 |
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| Attacks of the Germans under Conrad II. | 8 |
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| 1038–77 |
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| A period of dynastic struggles over the succession, every member of the Arpad family claiming a share of the power and sometimes calling in the Germans for support. | 9 |
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| 1038–46 |
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| Peter Urseolo, son of Stephen's sister and the doge of Venice, succeeded to the throne. | 10 |
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| 1046 |
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| Peter was overthrown in the course of a great pagan rising of the tribal chiefs, who massacred the Christians and destroyed the churches. This was the last serious revolt. | 11 |
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