This article is about the specific polity Principality of Hungary and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was the first form of Hungarian state. It emerged in the Carpathian basin when the Hungarians, a semi-nomadic people, moved in this region. In the early period of the Principality, it often raided Western Europe as far as Spain. The principality was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000.
Summary
The Magyars, or Hungarians, arrived in the Carpathian Basin at the end of the 9th century AD, around 896. They were a semi-nomadic pastoral people who had previously lived in the Khazar state north of the Black Sea. The Magyars were a warlike people who frequently raided and plundered their neighbors, but they were not as numerous or as ambitious as other nomadic groups like the Huns or Mongols.
The Magyar tribes were led by the chieftain Arpad, and his successors later became the kings of Hungary, establishing the Arpad Dynasty that lasted until the early 14th century. In the first few decades after settling in the Carpathian Basin, the Magyars continued their semi-nomadic lifestyle, but gradually they became more sedentary and integrated into the region.
Prince Geza, the great-grandson of Arpad, became the leader of the Hungarian confederation in 972 and began the process of converting the Hungarians to Christianity. Geza's son, Stephen Istvan, became the first king of Hungary around the year 1000 AD. Stephen worked to erase paganism, convert the Hungarians to Roman Catholicism, and solidify the authority of the monarchy. He was later canonized as Saint Stephen, the patron saint of Hungary.
Under Stephen's reign, Hungary became a unified state with a centralized monarchy. Stephen asserted the supremacy of the royal authority and brought much of the country under the crown's direct control. He also expanded Hungarian influence into Transylvania. Stephen's crown became a powerful symbol of Hungarian nationhood that would play a central role in the country's history.
Establishment
January 896: The Hungarians conquer the eastern parts of the Carpathian Basin after defeating the Bulgarians in Southern Transylvania and Tiszántúl.
January 896: The newly unified Hungarians, led by Árpád, settled in the Carpathian Basin starting in 895.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
The Magyars (or Hungarians) successfully conquered the Carpathian Basin (corresponding to the later Kingdom of Hungary) by the end of the ninth century, and launched a number of plundering raids thoughout Europe.
January 900: In 899, the Magyars defeated Berengar of Friuli's army in the Battle of Brenta River and invaded the northern regions of Italy.
February 900: The Magyars leave northern Italy after a raid.
January 901: The Hungarians, returning victorious to their lands, invaded the Duchy, storming Cittanova Eracliana, Equilio, Brondolo and the two Chioggia, then advancing towards the port of Albiola, just south of Metamauco, where they were however finally rejected and defeated .
January 901: In 900, the Hungarian army, led by Prince Árpád, conquered Pannonia after their alliance proposal to the East Francians, led by King Louis the Child, was rejected. This marked a significant expansion of the Principality of Hungary's territory.
February 901: The Hungarians, returning victorious to their lands, invaded the Duchy, storming Cittanova Eracliana, Equilio, Brondolo and the two Chioggia, then advancing towards the port of Albiola, just south of Metamauco, where they were however finally rejected and defeated .
January 902: In 901, the Magyars attacked Italy again.
January 902: Lower Pannonia conquered by the Hungarians.
February 902: In 901, the Magyars attacked Italy again. The territories were left after the raid.
January 903: The Hungarians conquer the eastern parts of Great Moravia, ending with this the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin, while the Slavs from West and North to this region, start to pay tribute to them.
January 903: In 902, the Magyars led a campaign against northern Moravia.
February 903: In 902, the Magyars led a campaign against northern Moravia.The territories were left after the raid.
January 908: After the early medieval Great Moravian realm had been finally defeated by the Árpád princes of Hungary in 907, what is now Slovakia was incorporated as "Upper Hungary".
September 908: The Battle of Eisenach in Thuringia in 908 was won by the Hungarians under the leadership of Grand Prince Árpád. This victory solidified Hungarian control over the region and expanded the Principality of Hungary's territory.
October 908: The Battle of Eisenach in Thuringia in 908 was a victory for the Hungarians led by Grand Prince Árpád. The defeat of the East Frankish forces led by King Louis the Child resulted in Thuringia becoming part of the Hungarian territory.
July 910: The Battle of Lechfeld in 910 was a decisive victory for the Magyar army led by Grand Prince Árpád over the united Frankish Imperial Army of Louis the Child. This victory solidified the Magyar control over Bavaria, which became part of the Principality of Hungary.
August 910: The Battle of Lechfeld in 910 was a decisive victory for the Magyar army led by Grand Prince Árpád over the united Frankish Imperial Army of Louis the Child. This battle marked the end of the Magyar invasions into Bavaria and solidified East Francia's control over the region.
January 911: Three major Frankish imperial armies were defeated decisively by the Hungarians between 907 and 910. The Hungarians succeeded in extending the de iure Bavarian-Hungarian border to the River Enns.
January 918: Between 917 and 925, the Magyars raided through Basel, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrenees.
February 918: Between 917 and 925, the Magyars raided through Basel, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence and the Pyrenees. The Magyars then left the raided territories.
January 920: In 919, after the death of Conrad I of Germany, the Magyars raided Saxony, Lotharingia and West France.
February 920: End of the 919 Magyar raid in Saxony, Lotharingia and West France.
January 922: In 921, the Hungarians raided Italy, reaching Apulia in 922.
February 922: In 921, the Hungarians raided Italy, reaching Apulia in 922. The territories were left after the raid.
January 927: In 926, the Hungarians ravaged Swabia and Alsace, campaigned through present-day Luxembourg and reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean.
February 927: In 926, the Hungarians ravaged Swabia and Alsace, campaigned through present-day Luxembourg and reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean. After the raid, the Magyars left the occupied territories.
January 928: The Hungarians marched up to Rome and imposed large tribute payments on Tuscany and Tarento.
February 928: The Hungarians marched up to Rome and imposed large tribute payments on Tuscany and Tarento. After the raid, the Hungarians left these territories.
January 934: In 933, a substantial Magyar army appeared in Saxony.
February 934: An invading Magyar army is defeated by Henry I of Germany at Merseburg (15 March 933).
January 936: Magyar attacks against Upper Burgundy (in 935).
February 936: Magyar attacks against Upper Burgundy (in 935). The territories were left after the raid.
January 937: Hungarian raid against Saxony (in 936).
February 937: Hungarian raid against Saxony (in 936). The territories were left after the raid.
January 938: The Hungarians attacked Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire, reaching the walls of Constantinople.
January 938: In 937, the Hungarians raided France as far west as Reims, Lotharingia, Swabia, Franconia, the Duchy of Burgundy and Italy as far as Otranto in the south.
February 938: In 937, the Hungarians raided France as far west as Reims, Lotharingia, Swabia, Franconia, the Duchy of Burgundy and Italy as far as Otranto in the south. After the ride they left these territories.
February 938: The Hungarians attacked Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire, reaching the walls of Constantinople.
January 939: In 938, the Magyars repeatedly attacked Saxony.
February 939: In 938, the Magyars repeatedly attacked Saxony. The territories were left after the raid.
January 941: In 940, the Magyars ravaged the region of Rome.
February 941: In 940, the Magyars ravaged the region of Rome. The territories were left after the raid.
January 943: Hungarians raided Spain, particularly Catalonia, in 942 AD.
February 943: Hungarians raided Spain, particularly Catalonia, in 942 AD. After the raid, they left the occupied regions.
January 948: In 947, Bulcsú, a Hungarian chieftain of Taksony, led a raid into Italy as far as Apulia.
February 948: In 947, Bulcsú, a Hungarian chieftain of Taksony, led a raid into Italy as far as Apulia.
August 955: The Hungarians invaded the Duchy of Bavaria in late June or early July 955.
1.1.Battle of Lechfeld
The Battle of Lechfeld was a series of military engagements over the course of three days from 10-12 August 955 in which the Kingdom of Germany, led by King Otto I the Great, annihilated the Hungarian army. With the German victory, further invasions by the Magyars into Latin Europe were ended.
August 955: Battle of Lechfeld.
September 955: The German forces of King Otto I the Great annihilated a Hungarian army (Second Battle of Lechfeld) led by harka Bulcsú and the chieftains Lél and Súr. With this German victory, further invasions by the Magyars into Latin Europe were ended.
Were a series of wars between a number of Muslim Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 11th century. Conflict started during the initial Muslim conquests, under the expansionist Rashidun and Umayyad caliphs, in the 7th century and continued by their successors until the mid-11th century.
January 928: Arab Campaign in southern Italy.
The Frankish Kingdom was partitioned and reuinited several times as the Frankish rulers used to divide their territories equally among their heirs. This lead also to a number of wars and revolts.
3.1.Incoronation of Otto I
East Frankish King Otto I was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor.
February 962: The Principality of Hungary or Duchy of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Nagyfejedelemség: "Hungarian Grand Principality") was the earliest documented Hungarian state in the Carpathian Basin, established 895 or 896, following the 9th century Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin.
February 962: Territorial change based on data about the borders of Hungary in 962.
February 962: The Duchy of Bavaria was one of the Stem Duchies of the Holy Roman Empire.
Were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantines and Bulgarians which began when the Bulgars first settled in the Balkan peninsula in the 5th century, and intensified with the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire to the southwest after 680 AD.
4.1.Sviatoslav's invasion of Bulgaria
Was the invasion of the Bulgarian Empire by the Kievan Rus'.
September 971: Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes and Sviatoslav I of Kiev agreed to a peace treaty: The Rus' army left the occupied territories, and their trading rights were re-affirmed in exchange for an oath to never again attack imperial territory.
4.1.1.Kievan Offensive
Was a military campaign by the invading Kievan Rus' in the Bulgarian Empire.
June 968: In August 967 or 968, the Rus' crossed the Danube into Bulgarian territory, defeated a Bulgarian army of 30,000 men in the Battle of Silistra, and occupied most of the Dobruja.
September 969: In summer 969, Sviatoslav returned to Bulgaria in force, accompanied by allied Pecheneg and Magyar contingents. Sviatoslav stormed the city. Thereafter Boris and Roman capitulated, and the Rus' rapidly established control over eastern and northern Bulgaria, placing garrisons in Dorostolon and the Bulgarian capital of Preslav.
January 929: The first king of Croatia Tomislav defeated Hungarian and Bulgarian invasions and spread the influence of Croatian kings northward to Slavonia.
February 962: Adjustement based on droysen map.
January 981: Expansion of the Kievan Rus' by 981 AD.
December 1000: The principality of Hungary was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000.
Disestablishment
December 1000: The principality of Hungary was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000.
Selected Sources
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany)
Haldon, John F. (2001), The Byzantine Wars, Stroud: Tempus, p.104
Kristó, G. (1993): A Kárpát-medence és a magyarság régmultja (1301-ig), Szeged (Hungary), p. 299
Lajos G. (2011): Hungary in the Carpathian Basin, Budapest (Hungary), p. 18
Leyser, K. (1982): Medieval Germany and its neighbours, 900-1250, London (UK), p. 50
Lowe, S. (30 May 2011). The Magyars of Hungary. https://web.archive.org/web/20091027151814/http://www.geocities.com/egfrothos/magyars/magyars.html
Makkai, L. (1990): The Hungarians' prehistory, their conquest of Hungary and their raids to the west to 955, in: A History of Hungary, Bloomington (USA) p. 8-14
Reuter, T. (1995): The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900-c. 1024, Cambridge (UK), p. 543
Reuter, T. (1995): The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900-c. 1024, Cambridge University Press, p. 543
Stephenson, Paul (2000), Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900–1204, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, p.53
Sugar, P. F. / Hanák, P. (1994): A History of Hungary, Bloomington (USA), p. 13
Timothy R. (1995) The New Cambridge Medieval History Volume 3, c. 900-c. 1024, Cambridge (UK), p. 543
Атлас. 6 класс. История России с древнейших времен до XVI века (Atlas. 6th grade. History of Russia from ancient times to the 16th century.) , Дрофа Publisher (2015), Moscow (Russia), p. 5-8
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Principality of Hungary
