Hungary in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

Abstract

The kingdom of Hungary was formed and consolidated as a part of Latin Christendom during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Hungary was at the intersection of three cultures: the Roman Christian, Byzantine and nomad. And its development was influenced by each. The dynasty that ruled Hungary was the house of Arpad, whose first Christian king was Stephen I. While monastic communities conforming to the Greek rite flourished in Hungary until the thirteenth century, the missionaries and priests who gathered at Stephen's court were westerners and Roman Christianity became the majority religion. Pagan revolts broke out in 1046 and 1061, and pagan practices persisted. By the twelfth century, landed property was becoming the basis of Hungarian society, with groups of different legal status living on royal, ecclesiastical and noble estates. Hungary's social and economic structure underwent radical changes. A strong Christian kingdom emerged with a social organization, where the beginnings of money economy, chivalry and early Gothic appeared.