The introduction of German colonists from Flanders and Alsace into Zips and Transylvania by Geysa II (1141-61) had an important influ ence on those districts. In 1186 Hungary be came connected with France by the second mar riage of Bela with Margaret, sister to Henry, king of France, and widow of Henry, king of England, who introduced French elegance at the Hungarian court. The reforms of Bela IV (1235-70) were interrupted by the invasions of the Mongols (1241), and the kingdom was in a most deplorable condition. After one year of pillage they left the land a desert. With Andrew III (1290-1301) the male line of the Arpad dynasty became extinct, and the royal dignity became purely elective. Charles Robert of Anjou, by his mother a descendant of the extinct dynasty, was the first elected (1309). The reign of his descendant Sigismund (1387 1437) is interesting from the invasion by the Turks (1391) and the war with the Hussites. The Turks routed the army of Sigismund, reinforced by the flower of Western chivalry, in 1396. From their first appearance the Turks constantly disturbed the tranquillity of Hun gary which served as a bulwark to the rest of Europe. The death of Ladislaus I in the unfortunate battle of Varna (1444) is to be regretted, as the plan of the hero John Huniades, for driving the Turks from Europe, failed through the coldness of the Christian courts and the intrigues of his enemies.
Matthias Corvinus (1458-90), son of Huni ades, held the reins of government with a firm hand, and gained the love and confidence of the nation, notwithstanding the severe measures which he was often compelled to adopt.
During the reigns of Ladislaus II (1490 1516) and Louis II (1516-26) the ambition and rapacity of the optimates, headed by Stephen Zapoiya, and afterward by his son John ex cited domestic troubles and caused an insur rection of the peasants, which was only sup pressed by the severest measures (1514), while they destroyed the foreign influence of the king dom. The battle of Mohacs (1526), in which Louis II lost his life, and which for 160 years made a great part of Hungary a Turkish province, was the natural consequence of this state of things. The rest of the country was in dispute between the rivals Ferdinand of Austria and John Zapolya. The contest was de cided by the Protestants, who, fearing the Persecution of Zapolya, declared for Ferdinand, who thus became the first Hapsburg king of Hungary, a connection that endured through the reigns of 16 monarchs till 1918. Zapolya was compelled to rest satisfied with the posses sion of Transylvania and some counties of Upper Hungary; but this division of the king dom caused continual disputes with the de scendants of Zapolya, instigated by the Turks and the French, and gave rise to civil com motions, which were quieted by the treaties of Vienna with Stephen Botskay (1606), of Nikelsburg with Gabriel Bethlen (1622), and of Lintz with George Rakoczy (1645). Deliver
ance from the Turk came when, in 1683, Kara Mustapha besieged Vienna and John Sobieski, king of Poland, and Duke Charles of Lorraine relieved the city and routed the Turkish army. After the expulsion of the Turks Leopold I finally succeeded so far that he took Buda (1686), and by the Peace of Carlowitz (1699) recovered the rest of Hungary (except the Banat) and Transylvania. Joseph I became king in 1705. With England, Holland and Savoy he fought against Louis XIV under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. Joseph inherited from his father the long struggle of the Magyars against Austrian en croachment on their liberties. Persecution of the Protestants led to revolt in Hungary, which Joseph suppressed. He granted a general amnesty, observed the constitution and made peace with his people in the year of his death (1711), ending 200 years of continuous war.
The Congress of Passarowitz (1718) re stored the Banat to Hungary, and the Peace of Belgrade (1739) terminated hostilities with the Porte for a long time. Charles VI (1711-40) by the Pragmatic Sanction secured the inherit ance of the Hungarian crown to the female de scendants of the house of Hapsburg, and im proved the administration of the kingdom by giving the royal chancery and the vice-regal office an organization better suited to the age. He also formed a standing army for Hungary, and established the military contribution for its support. Joseph II (1780-90), one of the greatest sovereigns of his age, was influenced by the best intentions in the changes which he undertook in the Hungarian constitution; but his zeal made him forget the necessity of pro ceeding gradually in such reforms, and the na tion, far from entering into his views, opposed them.
The subsequent history of Hungary — the adoption of the Magyar language in its Diet; the resistance against the encroachments of Austria; the heroic struggles for independence, and the noble work of Batthyam, Kossuth and Klauzal along these lines; the disastrous war of 1848 and the reduction of Hungary to the position of an Austrian crown land; its rehabilitation to independence in 1867 and the constitution of the former dual Austro Hungarian Empire, are described under AUSTRIA.