In the very first special episode of History of the Hungarians, we take a look at the 2026 election, how we got here, and why they were so important.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

András II found no rest even after issuing the Golden Bull – albeit never holding himself to what he promised in it might be the reason why. In the last decade of his reign, András struggled with his son, Béla, who was dead-set on ending the mass alienation of royal land, and the Church, who felt that they drew the short stick during the Golden Bull. During thislatter conflict, the king who has been threatened with excommunication basically all his life by various ecclesiastic authorities found the hammer finally coming down.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

Today, we reach the year 1222 – and the Golden Bull. Facedwith opposition, internal strife, and mounting pressure from his most loyal supporters, King András II is forced to issue a document that would become the basis of Hungary’s feudal development for centuries to come. It became a foundational document for the development of Hungarian Law, to the point that the justices of the constitutional court wear its insignia today.

So come, join us today, as we discuss the Golden Bull, the circumstances of its birth, and how it influenced one of the more unique aspects of the Hungarian nobility.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

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We take a view at something that took up much of András II’s time: his wars and his ambitions abroad. From his attempt to reclaim the kingdom he held as a child, to attempting to take the crown of the Latin Empire, András was active on the European stage. Come, join us, and see how his desire for the Latin Emperorship finally got András to make good on the oath he inherited from his father, and go on Crusade – and what he did once in the Holy Land.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

Send your questions for the Q&A to: [email protected]

Today’s topic is the first part of András II’s reign: a period characterized by the immense favor the king showed to his wife’s family. This favoritism would end in tragedy, when a group of leading Hungarian noblemen decided that Gertrude was the source of their problems. But what was it they thought the queen threatened? What was the great reorganization of the kingdom András II undertook, and what were the consequences? Join us as we begin this month-long tale of András II’s reign, full of twists, turns, and medieval politicking!

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

We begin the 13th century – and close out the 12th – with the tale of two brothers. The sons of Béla III they both may be, but their differing personalities, ambitions and goals will quickly reignite the old plague of their dynasty. Meanwhile, the kingdom truly stands on the precipice of a new era, with our friends in the Most Serene Republic of Venice banging on the doors accompanied by thousands of fighters from the Fourth Crusade.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

Often I heard the 12 th century be called Hungary’s forgotten century: it is skipped over entirely in public education, and even in my university course, I remember not much being said about it, unless you dug for it yourself. Meanwhile it is an important bridge between what was – Saint István’s kingdom, straddling the place between the feudal west and the imperial east – and what will be: an eventually powerful medieval kingdom. Come, join us as we take stock of this century, the economics, the foreign settlement, and even a shift that will become the driving force behind the internal conflicts of the next century…

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms's Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

The second half of Béla’s reign was dedicated to Hungary’s great re-entry to the medieval power-politics of his day. On today’s episode, we shall discover how this was possible, why it happened now – and the results of taking up such an aggressive stance again, after decades on the mend. Come, join us as we discuss Hungary’s attempts to seat an Árpádian on the throne of Halics, Béla’s role in diplomacy between two emperors, and the moment when the man they once called Alexios almost returned as Byzantium’s ruler…

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

Béla III’s reign is a pivotal time in the history of the medieval Hungarian Kingdom – he is the last king to rule the way Saint István intended, and the first to usher in some new practices. He was given the task of overseeing Hungary’s recovery from the conflicts of the decades prior, something he manages to the tune of being one of the richer crowned heads of Europe. Come, join us today as we examine the first decade and a half of Béla’s rule, and the state of the Hungarian kingdom under his leadership.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.

“What kind of blasphemy has our emperor committed, that he not only denied his daughter’s hand to us Romans, but this foreigner, he considers better than us all, and places above us into power?”

These were the words that accompanied Béla, from theHouse of Árpád when he was proclaimed the heir to the Byzantine emperor. To say that his potential elevation was not unanimously approved of would be an understatement. Today, we shall follow the young prince as he embarks fromHungary to the beating heart of the Byzantine Empire, where political prophecies dictate the name of the heir, and one can be made, or unmade in mere weeks.

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The song heard in the intro and outro are parts of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances no. 5, performed in G minor, arranged by Martin Schmeling.