CROWN OF KING SAINT STEPHEN

King Saint Steven is buried at

the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Székesfehérvár, Hungary.

From the year 1000 until 1527, it was the site of the coronation of the Hungarian monarch.

SZEKESFEHERVAR : KING SAINT STEPHEN AND MANY OTHER HUNGARIAN KINGS : SACRED CITY and CORONATION SITE : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #35

HUNGARIAN CONSERVATIVE : CORNATION OF SAINT KING STEPHEN and OTHER HUNGARIAN KINGS 

Excerpt: Yet, the connection between the medieval foundation of the state, King St Stephen, and Fehérvár (meaning ‘white castle’), 60 kilometres from Buda, is still inseparable. Even the modern name of the town, Székesfehérvár, in use since the 16th century, is a reference to the royal throne (with the Hungarian ‘szék’ meaning ‘chair’ or ‘throne’). Concerning the royal seat, Fehérvár’s sacral–dynastic character is undoubtedly in its favour: namely, the burial here of the first Hungarian king St Stephen (reigned 1000–1038) and his son Prince Emeric (d. 1031). Both were canonized in 1083, and their tombs became a pilgrimage site of national fame. In the middle of the 11th century the Hungarian annals refer to the city as a ‘metropolis’ (literally ‘mother city’). The royal treasury and coronation insignia (which were temporarily transferred to Visegrád in the 14th century), the national banner of war, the keeping of the royal archives, and the coronation itself made it one of, if not the primary centre of the country. The strategic location of this non-swampy city was also unrivalled; in 1242 the Mongol armies could not capture it either. As early as 1055, a document that has survived in its original form recorded the earliest words written in Hungarian: ‘military road to Fehérvár’. The founder of the city is undoubtedly King St Stephen, and a few years after his coronation the town is also mentioned in several documents. Besides, the opening of the pilgrimage route to the Holy Land by Stephen around 1020 was at least of similar importance. Heading there, the pilgrims passed through Fehérvár, as did the Crusader armies crossing the Balkans to Constantinople and the Middle East.

***

His original burial site was destroyed by the Ottoman's but in the 1930's a new mausoleum was built which contains the 11th-century sarcophagus of the deceased king. But his hand (whch didn't decompose, perhaps proving Stephen's sainthood, is venerated as a relic that is kept in Saint Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to get to the entire series on this theme.

C 2026 Magyar-American BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved

THE ENEMY AT THE GATE by ANDREW WHEATCROFT on THE SIEGE OF VIENNA IN 1683

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I have a confession to make. I didn't read this book cover to cover as I usually do before posting. But I can say that all the positive reviews are right. It really is riveting!  I just had one interruption after another as I tried to read it and I think this book takes some deep concentration to grasp the details of battles and all the various historical characters. But, just because this isn't the best time for me to read it, doesn't mean you can't. I think it's one for the shelf of anyone interested in the history of Hungary and thereabouts.

Author Wheatcroft assures us that both sides claimed victories and both war-craft and heroism are emphasized. It is rich with descriptions of the Ottoman's tent-cities, the taking of slaves - those from Royal Hungary were especially prized. This battle was a pivotal one because, after it, the Ottoman Turks were not able to further expand their empire into Europe. It was the first time that the Holy Roman Empire (Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I) and the Polish Lithuanian Commonweath, under the command of King John III Sobieski together went against the Ottoman Turks (Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha)and their empire. To this day, when someone tells me that they consider the Poles and the Hungarians to be 'friends' I know that idea comes from their collaboration in war.

***

As you may have seen, some of the earliest heraldic crests that identify noble families have images of success against the Turks. The armies that went against the Turks were quite outnumbered. There was tremendous sacrifice of life.  It was a war for dominance, but not just for land, but also for religion. 

I am so weary of violence, destruction, war, on this planet. Maybe it's simply a fact of life on earth and will never end. Like plagues have, the loss of men who went to war dramatically allowed the marriage or remarriage between classes of people and inheritance.

C 2026 Magyar American BlogSpot  Book Recommendation  

All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

MASS BURIAL OF SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT OFF THE OTTOMAN TURKS IN THE BATTLE OF MOHACS - August 31 1526 - DISCOVERED : ARCHEOLOGY IN HUNGARY

The excavated remains are planned to be laid to rest of the 500th anniversary of the battle, which is on August 29, 2026, in a crypt in a chapel to be built there.

HUNGARY TODAY : MASS GRAVE : BATTLE OF MOHACS good photos of the dig

MIAMI HERALD : MASS GRAVE WITH THOUSANDS OF SKELETONS BATTLE OF MOHACS includes audio....  A dark day in Hungarian history, thousands dead in an hour, including the Hungarian King... Some were executed, some may have been prisoners.

This is quite the animation by Aditu Laudis

FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #3 : PICTURE and POSTCARD GALLERY - CASTLE FUZER

GALLERY HUNGARICANA  That's the start page!  Run the name of a place, a person, or a thing...

Over 40 pictures or postcards come up when doing this search using the term Fuzer. They come from the following sources: Fortepan,  National Szechenyi Library, Institute for Musicology (RCA), and The Zemplen Museum.

Using Fuzer up came these images: GALLERY HUNGARICANA HUNGARY : Search word FUZER

Click on the image and you will be taken to more information about it, including where it is located or which person or institution contributed it to Hungaricana.

GALLERY HUNGARICANA GROF KAROLYI LASZLO 

Gróf Károlyi László birtokán fekvő fuzeri (Abaúj m.) várromok

TRANSLATION : Füzéri (Abaúj m.) castle ruins on the property of László Count Károlyi

It also says that this was published through a book store in Satorujuhely and was taken by an amateur photographer.

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun

C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed.

CASTLE FUZER BUILT DURING THE OTTOMAN WARS : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #23

HUNGARIAN OTTOMAN WARS : FUZER CASTLE

Castle Fuzer was a defense castle at Fuze and was paced on a volcanic mountain before the death of King Andras II in 1235 by members of the Aba Clan.  This link to provides us a history of the noble families that owned the castle, which is located above Tokaj wine country and south of Kassa (not in Slovakia.)  Among the highlights of this history is that the sacred crown of Hungary was hidden in the castle for a year in 1526,  In 1567 it went into the hands of the Bathory family, which you may know because of Elizabeth Bathory, known as the countess who was said to have murdered many servant girls.  (A story that has been disputed.)  She got the castle in 1603.

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to bring up all posts on this theme.

HUNGARIAN-OTTOMAN WARS! CASTLES! HISTORY! AMAZING WEB SITE BY GÁBOR SZÁNTAI

HUNGARIAN OTTOMAN WARS   Settle in to read all that this website has to offer!

ADOPT A CASTLE.  JOIN A REENACTMENT GROUP.

ESSAYS.  VIDEO LINKS

Here's a little taste, a history of Szepes (origin of the word is Latin) Hungarian Ottoman Wars - Szepes

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM : LET'S LOOK AT CURRENT EXHIBITS : A COUNTRY FOR WOMEN VIRTUAL TOUR : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #21

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM - A COUNTRY FOR WOMEN

Excerpt:  However, from an archaeological point of view it is exactly women's graves which are more spectacular, richer and more colorful than those of men.  These women - including saints, queens, women and daughters of noble families, women brought in bondage or whose marriage sealed an alliance, and of course mothers intriguing for their children's prosperity - also played a significant role in the transformation of Europe. 

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to bring up all posts on this theme.

MORE HUNGARIAN MUMMIES REVEALED : EXHIBIT IN BEKESCSABA : HUNGARIAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY : NUN WITH MISSING FINGER

HUNGARY TODAY : NUN WITH MISSING FINGER - MUMMY EXHIBIT 

Excerpt:  Visitors to the exhibition in Bekescsaba can see ten mummies in the exhibition hall, including Teresa Sandor, aged around 4o, whose coffin had no name, but it was known that she was buried in 1783 in a nun's habit.

Two of Teresa's fingers were found wrapped around her left leg.  Tests revealed that her fingers had not been cut off in a robbery (the coffin was intact), nor had they been amputated due to illness (X-rays showed no infectious complications or lesions suggestive of healing). It was probably mutilated for unknown reasons after death before the body was placed in the coffin.

LINK TO THE MUSEUM EXHIBIT NHMUS - Natural History Museum

HUNGARIA

 

FERENC RAKOCZI : and a post from EUROPE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST BLOG

EUROPE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST : MANY HAPPY RETURNS FERENCE RAKOCZKI : REBURIAL 2020 A very well written essay, the author finds he is following the reburial of this Hungarian Hero of the 1848 Revolution.  An excellent history of what happened in Hungarian history...

The author tells the story of the burial and movement of the hero's ashes... 

Excerpts: "While Kossuth is synonymous with the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, his name is not eponymous with an entire war for independence. That accolade was reserved for Rakoczi because of his leadership in the fight to wrest Hungary away from Habsburg rule. Rakoczi's War of Independence lasted from 1703-1711...

The defeat sent Rakoczi and his closest followers into permanent exile. His life ended twenty-four years after his war for independence. Far away from his Hungarian homeland, Ference II Rakoczi drew his last breath on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, 90 miles from Constantinople in the Turkish town of Rodosto.  Rakoczi's ashes eventually came to rest at Lazarist Monastery in Constantinople."

(However, when Austria took over, there was a push to return his ashes to Budapest, and then to Kosice. There would be a crypt waiting for him...)

Excerpt: "In retrospect, the resurrection of a Rakoczi cult seems like a quintessentially Hungarian thing to do. They celebrated a lost war, for a star crossed cause, led by a long dead war hero who spent his last twenty-five years in exile..."

Rokoczi's ashes were taken from Budapest to Kosice and to Saint Elizabeth Cathedral.

An excellent blog! Follow along as the author takes us to the crypt. 

Note that Kosice in Slovakia was Kassa in Hungary.  Saint Elizabeth is the largest cathedral in Slovakia. 

IRMA TOREK

 

This is a postcard from 1901 

in which a Hungarian actress named Irma Torek was playing Ophelia. 

Wikimedia Commons is source.

Some of us love a special person, 

or our children, or humanity, and some of us simply

love our dogs!

PESTBUDA : BUDAPEST HISTORY and CURRENT AFFAIRS : AN AMAZING SITE

Found this on the Internet and was amazed.  It's very interesting and in both English and Hungarian.  https://pestbuda.hu/en/

DID YOU KNOW THAT NEW HUNGARIAN NAMES WERE GIVEN TO PLACES IN BUDAPEST all at once 175 years ago or that there are active archeaology sites in the city?   There is a new tower being built at the NATIONAL ARCHIVES... The Bottomless Lake was an accident - man-made. Chose architecture or heritage or just browse.

LAJOS KOSSUTH STATUE ERECTED IN BUFFALO NEW YORK

HUNGARY TODAY : KOSSUTH STATUE UNVEILED in BUFFALO  

OK - it's been about a year... 

Excerpt:

Hungary's consulate general in New York said the best is meant to commemorate Kossuth's visit to Niagara Falls on May 22, 1852, and to pay tribute to the Hungarians who emigrated to the US in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Kossuth's efforts to keep the ideas of the freedom fight of 1848-1849 alive had a significant impact on the United States as well, the consulate said, adding that multiple US presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy had quoted Kossuth several times.

16th CENTURY EGER HUNGARY

Photo by Tolnai -korabeli kép alapján.

 

PANNONHALMA ARCH-ABBY : OVER 1000 YEARS OLD - SAINT MARTIN : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #13

 Over 1000 years? 

 

WIKKIMEDIA COMMONS

WHC _ UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE _ BENEDICTINE ABBEY of PANNONHALMA

Excerpt: The monastery of the Benedictine Order at Pannonhalma, funded in 996 and gently dominating the Pannonian landscape in western Hungary, had a major role in the diffusion of Christianity in medieval Central Europe. The Archabbey of Pannonhalma and its environment (the monastic complex, the Basilcia, Educational Buildings, the Chapel of Our Lady, the Millennium Chapel, the botanical and herbal gardens) outstandingly exemplifies the characteristic location, landscape connections, original structure, design and thousand year history of a Benedictine monastery.  The community of monks still functions today on the basis of the Rule of St. Benedict, and sustains with a unique continuity one of the living centres of European culture.

The present church, the building of which began in 1224, is the third on the site; it contains remains of its predecessors.  The elevated three-aisled choir, the oldest part of the building, overlies a similarly three-aisled crypt, probably an element of the earlier church on the site.

*** Go on and read the entire UNESCO world heritage site article!  There is a lot here about the architecture...

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to bring up all posts on this theme.

EMPRESS OF THE EAST by LESLIE PEIRCE : MAGYAR- AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW

 

Leslie Peirce's EMPRESS OF THE EAST has to be the most interesting book I've read in a long time.  On the new book shelf at my local library, I had no idea the book would be about Ruthenia, Hungary under the Ottoman Turks, the Austrian Empire and slavery, until I started reading!  This one was a page-turner for me. It should be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about the history of Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Ruthenia, and Europe.

At about the age of 13, Roxelana was captured in Ukraine - Ruthenia along with thousands of others who were marched a long distance to live out their lives under Ottoman Rule. These slaver-raids took hundreds of thousands of people into Turk territory. As with the images we have of African slaves, they were barefoot, in chains, and lucky to survive the journey.

While not every slave was used in the harem, those slave women who were selected to live in it were there for a purpose and that was not exactly sexual pleasure.  Rather the Turks had a social system that was dependent on slaves not just for labor but for the reproduction of Princes. Once selected she would be bred and this would continue until she had a son. At that point the woman would become a Prince's mother and devote her life to his education.  Some of the women competed to be chosen, to survive, and then competed for their sons to be given important tasks.

Having left marriage for Princes behind, the idea was for every Prince to have as many sons as possible.  Being pragmatic, there was so much death due to illnesses and plagues that this might have been a reproduction strategy.  It was also, however, a means of keeping the ever-expanding empire in control because a Prince who reached the age of adulthood, which was about fifteen years old, could be assigned to rule a particular province of the newly expanded empire. The Turks were expanding their empire violently, but slavery had many ethnicities collaborative in the abduction, sale, transfer, and so on of slaves including Jews, Armenians, and Italians. Slave men were sometimes made to soldier.  Each slave was converted to Islam and enculturated to be a Turk. 

For those who see DNA as a way to determine ethnicity, the book convinced me that there is a great deal of Hungarian and Slavic DNA within those with a certain, shall we say noble, Turkish heritage.  

The book doesn't go into the military aspects but we know that about two thirds of the Hungarian people were massacred and the country was destroyed due to this expansionism.  It is strong in showing just how exceptional this slave girl was, as she rose in the haram not only to be a favorite, but that she actually married her Prince, the very man who was responsible for much of the massacre of the Hungarian people centuries ago.  

Suleyman The Great was often away for months or years at a time with his campaigns into Hungary but he wrote Roxelana, called Hurrem, love poetry and she showed her faithfulness in writing him many impassioned letters.  He married her and he certainly went against tradition by doing so. They became a nuclear family with several children. Suleyman's own mother had also been a slave girl and so he was possibly half Polish! 

I was reminded that ETHNICITY IS ACQUIRED and not just about your DNA. 

Roxelana became a famous person as she used her power as a philanthropist and was behind the building of mosques, schools, hospitals, and as an administrator over the haram, marriages for many of the women who lived there.  She was reported on to all the noble houses of Europe as everyone wanted to know who who was and in power all the time.  She lived with all the riches available to a person on her rank.

Another aspect of this book is that it is about the Moslem Religion and the changing attitudes about women.  Prior to her rise, women had apparently been allowed power and had been allowed to be seen. Then, perhaps as a means of protection both men and women of high, royal rank began to seclude themselves.  Though insiders dealt with Roxelana, and her influence and good works were well known beyond the Ottoman Empire, when she traveled in a train of carriages, the wealth was on show but no one got to see her face. Women of high rank became more and more restricted in their lives and their exposure to the world outside their own homes, something that has, in my opinion, gone into the extreme repression of females in many Moslem societies today.

Those of us alive today with Hungarian genetic heritage are survivors of survivors  and some of us may also carry the DNA of rapists who killed entire families, entire villages of people.

All very thought provoking.

C 2022 Magyar-American BlogSpot

Mentioned in this book  1540 John Zapolya, King of Hungary and Governor of Transylvania.

1542 Queen Isabella, the eldest child of Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Her mother was Bona Sforza of Milan, Italy. Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria in control of Western Hungary who occupied Buda but was expelled by Suleyman.

HOUSE OF HUNGARY IN SAN DIEGO REOPENED

SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA HOUSE OF HUNGARY  One of the International Cottages in Balboa Park, San Diego, and first built in 1936 for an exposition, the house is open again and traditionally celebrates Christmas and other holidays. Hungarians of San Diego maintained a presence and contributed so the cottage could continue. (Read the history and the Hungarians who have been instrumental are named there.)

The house maintains a small library of books in Hungarian language.

FROM PAGANS TO NOMADS TO CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS

HUNGARIAN WOODEN GRAVE POSTS : A THESIS by László Ferenc Novák

This is a PDF file, quite interesting, if you want to learn more about a unique Hungarian - Protestant Hungarian - tradition.

DAVID PUBLISHER : HUNGARIAN WOODEN GRAVE POSTS by LASZLO NOVAK