The Realm of St Stephen

A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526

By Pal Engel

Translated by Tamas Palosfalvi

Edited by Andrew Ayton

Now recognized as the standard work on the subject, Realm of St Stephen is a comprehensive history of medieval Eastern and Central Europe. Pál Engel traces the establishment of the medieval kingdom of Hungary from its conquest by the Magyar tribes in 895 until defeat by the Ottomans at the battle of Mohacs in 1526. He shows the development of the dominant Magyars who, upon inheriting an almost empty land, absorbed the remaining Slavic peoples into their culture after the original communities had largely disappeared. Engel's book is an accessible and highly readable history.

First published by I.B. Tauris in 2001, a paperback version will be available in the fall of 2006.  For more information, please see the I.B. Tauris website.  We thank the publisher for their permission to republish the Preface and Introduction of this book.

Table of Contents

Preface and Introduction (PDF file)

Chapter 1: The Carpathian Basin Before the Hungarians

Chapter 2: The Pagan Hungarians

Chapter 3: The First Century of the Christian Kingdom

Chapter 4: The Twelfth Century

Chapter 5: Early Hungarian Society 

Chapter 6: The Age of the Golden Bulls

Chapter 7: The Last Árpadiáns

Chapter 8: Charles I of Anjou (1301-1342)

Chapter 9: The New Monarchy

Chapter 10: Louis the Great (1342-1382)

Chapter 11: The Monarchy of Louis the Great

Chapter 12: The Years of Crises (1382-1403)

Chapter 13: Sigismund's Consolidation

Chapter 14: Sigismund's Foreign Policy (1403-1437) 

Chapter 15: Trade and Towns

Chapter 16: The Rural Landscape

Chapter 17: The Age of John Hunyadi (1437-1457)

Chapter 18: King Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490)

Chapter 19: Hungary at the End of the Middle Ages

Chapter 20: The Age of the Jagiellonian Kings (1490-1526)

Also includes Maps, Geneological Tables, Bibliography and Index

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