Chapter 1: The Call of the Almighty
When King Salamon reached his majority in January 1069, the Kingdom of Hungary was at a turning point. For nearly two centuries, the Magyars and the Árpád Dynasty had ruled over the Carpathian Basin. They had been enemies of the mighty Christian empires to their west and south, raiding, looting and burning at any opportunity. To the Holy Roman and Byzantine emperors, and indeed to all Christian Europe, the increasingly fragmented tribes were nothing but barbarians and heathens.
That had all begun to change 70 years earlier with the rise of Árpád István. István was a gifted leader, and unlike his predecessors a devout Christian as well – he would be canonized in 1083. As such, where his ancestors had been styled as mere Grand Princes, in the year 1000 he would be crowned as the first King of Hungary with the approval of both the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor. King István reigned for nearly four decades and succeeded in uniting the Magyar tribes to a degree not seen for a century as well as creating the young Kingdom’s first true administrative system. When he died in 1038, it appeared Hungary was poised to take its place as one of the greatest and most prosperous realms of the Christian world.
However, István’s long reign had created a problem: his children had predeceased him, and there was no clear successor. Hungary would be plunged into a period of chaos and infighting that would produce four different kings before Salamon’s ascension in 1063. Indeed, the prior king Béla had usurped Salamon’s own father in 1060 and ruled for 3 years before a German intervention and a fatal accident conspired to reinstate the 10-year-old Salamon. Even by 1069 Salamon’s rule was far from secure, depending on a precarious balance between the young king and the powerful Árpád Dukes of northern Hungary: Nyitra, Ungvár and Transylvania.
Into this maelstrom would be thrust a young man who in his teenage years had consciously molded himself in the image of Saint István. Charismatic, learned and deeply devout, it seemed Salamon might be just the leader Hungary needed to return to its path of prosperity and righteousness.
It might have been expected that Salamon’s first great challenge would be the dangerous internal dynamics of Hungary at the time of his coronation, but in fact it was his faith that was tested. The 1060s were a period of upheaval and conflict between the Papacy and much of the Christian world, in particular the Holy Roman Emperor. Pope Alexander II had been crowned without the emperor’s consent in a departure from previous tradition. In addition, he had made enemies with his push for reforms, both protecting Jews from persecution and attempting to root out the practice of paying for clerical office. Finally, he strictly enforced the exclusive right of the ecclesiastical authority to invest new clergymen. This was especially unpopular among the great houses of Europe who had in many cases become accustomed to choosing their own bishops.
These reforms were met by varying degrees of resistance. In one of the most extreme cases, the King of Aragon had outright refused to accept the rulings of a Papal legate and had abruptly dismissed him from the realm. In response, Alexander declared him excommunicated. When the Spaniard’s defiant response arrived on the same day as a heartfelt missive from Hungary’s teenage ruler declaring his eternal service to God and Church, the Pope took it as a sign. He wrote back, telling Salamon of the blasphemy in Spain and the divine coincidence of his letter’s arrival. He implored the boy to do all he could to bring God’s justice to the troubled land for the sake of all its people’s souls.
For Salamon, this could be nothing but a divine calling. To do less than his upmost was unthinkable. Within a week, the call had gone out to all Hungary to rally the banners. Meanwhile Salamon traveled North for a personal appeal to his powerful uncles to join the fight. Whether convinced themselves or merely afraid of the outcome if they pitted themselves against the fervor their ruler had evoked from the peasantry and lesser nobility alike, they came. In the summer of 1069 Salamon left Hungary at the head of a mighty army for a land so far away that not a single man in that army had ever seen it.
When King Salamon reached his majority in January 1069, the Kingdom of Hungary was at a turning point. For nearly two centuries, the Magyars and the Árpád Dynasty had ruled over the Carpathian Basin. They had been enemies of the mighty Christian empires to their west and south, raiding, looting and burning at any opportunity. To the Holy Roman and Byzantine emperors, and indeed to all Christian Europe, the increasingly fragmented tribes were nothing but barbarians and heathens.
That had all begun to change 70 years earlier with the rise of Árpád István. István was a gifted leader, and unlike his predecessors a devout Christian as well – he would be canonized in 1083. As such, where his ancestors had been styled as mere Grand Princes, in the year 1000 he would be crowned as the first King of Hungary with the approval of both the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor. King István reigned for nearly four decades and succeeded in uniting the Magyar tribes to a degree not seen for a century as well as creating the young Kingdom’s first true administrative system. When he died in 1038, it appeared Hungary was poised to take its place as one of the greatest and most prosperous realms of the Christian world.
However, István’s long reign had created a problem: his children had predeceased him, and there was no clear successor. Hungary would be plunged into a period of chaos and infighting that would produce four different kings before Salamon’s ascension in 1063. Indeed, the prior king Béla had usurped Salamon’s own father in 1060 and ruled for 3 years before a German intervention and a fatal accident conspired to reinstate the 10-year-old Salamon. Even by 1069 Salamon’s rule was far from secure, depending on a precarious balance between the young king and the powerful Árpád Dukes of northern Hungary: Nyitra, Ungvár and Transylvania.
Into this maelstrom would be thrust a young man who in his teenage years had consciously molded himself in the image of Saint István. Charismatic, learned and deeply devout, it seemed Salamon might be just the leader Hungary needed to return to its path of prosperity and righteousness.
It might have been expected that Salamon’s first great challenge would be the dangerous internal dynamics of Hungary at the time of his coronation, but in fact it was his faith that was tested. The 1060s were a period of upheaval and conflict between the Papacy and much of the Christian world, in particular the Holy Roman Emperor. Pope Alexander II had been crowned without the emperor’s consent in a departure from previous tradition. In addition, he had made enemies with his push for reforms, both protecting Jews from persecution and attempting to root out the practice of paying for clerical office. Finally, he strictly enforced the exclusive right of the ecclesiastical authority to invest new clergymen. This was especially unpopular among the great houses of Europe who had in many cases become accustomed to choosing their own bishops.
These reforms were met by varying degrees of resistance. In one of the most extreme cases, the King of Aragon had outright refused to accept the rulings of a Papal legate and had abruptly dismissed him from the realm. In response, Alexander declared him excommunicated. When the Spaniard’s defiant response arrived on the same day as a heartfelt missive from Hungary’s teenage ruler declaring his eternal service to God and Church, the Pope took it as a sign. He wrote back, telling Salamon of the blasphemy in Spain and the divine coincidence of his letter’s arrival. He implored the boy to do all he could to bring God’s justice to the troubled land for the sake of all its people’s souls.
For Salamon, this could be nothing but a divine calling. To do less than his upmost was unthinkable. Within a week, the call had gone out to all Hungary to rally the banners. Meanwhile Salamon traveled North for a personal appeal to his powerful uncles to join the fight. Whether convinced themselves or merely afraid of the outcome if they pitted themselves against the fervor their ruler had evoked from the peasantry and lesser nobility alike, they came. In the summer of 1069 Salamon left Hungary at the head of a mighty army for a land so far away that not a single man in that army had ever seen it.