Hungarian Revolt of 1156-1157

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*This article is about military actions primarily. For origins and aftermath, see Revolutions of 1157 (page does not exist).*

The **Hungarian Revolt of 1156 - 1157** (June 19, 1156 – October 23, 1157) also known as the **Istvanian Revolt** or the **Hungarian Revolutionary War**, was the military conflict corresponding with the **Revolution of 1157 in Hungary** in which **Hungarian Noble Forces** under the command of Istvant Hont-Pázmány rose up against Soběslav II , the King of Hungary and Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. Although the revolt was defeated, it led to the signing of the Golden Bull of 1157, the constitutional basis of the Hungarian state and the first document limiting the powers of the monarchy in the world. Fighting began through early 1156 but the revolt is considered to have started with the Storming of Esztergom on June 19, 1156. The war was formalized and intensified following the Declaration of the 40 which asserted that Soběslav was deposed by the nobility, at the time an unprecedented concept. Following the adoption of the document, the 300 Day Council would govern the state from Pest, the revolutionary capital.

In the war, Hungarian forces were supported by the Konstantynian Legions, concurrently in conflict with Soběslav and, to a lesser extent, The King of Saxony Welf II and the Cuman–Kipchak Confederation. Soběslav assembled a coalition of princes, primarily the Duchies of Swabia and Franconia of Friedrich III Rotbart, the Duchy of Piedmont of Gulielm II and the Italian Charter. The war was fought primarily in Hungary with spillover into Moravia, Austria and the Rus (see the Fragmentation of the Kievan Rus and the Cuman-Ruthenian War of 1156-1158).

Falling under personal union with Bohemia in the early 12th century, the Hungarian magnates were largely autonomous in domestic affairs and remained unchanged from the Árpádian Era. After Soběslav's unsuccessful campaigns in the Cuman Wars, the presence of Royal troops, increasing taxes, as well as a fear of centralization led to a growth of tensions. Various skirmishes and peasant risings through 1155, suppressed by the Bohemian-German army fostered the idea of independence. The adjourned Cooperation Council of 1155 had planned to specifically unite the magnates into a common front against royal authority, something which terrified Soběslav, leading to the Great Pressburg Massacre, a series of edicts which deposed many of the magnates perceived as the most disloyal despite their often long and de facto hereditary rule.

The measure stirred unrest through the kingdom, leading to the secret Second Cooperation Council in Pest which resulted in a formal alliance between the magnates with the aim of limiting Royal Power in Hungary as much as possible. Failure to negotiate and a false belief that Soběslav would not fight thanks to a concurrent war in Poland led to the mobilization of the counts and an official rejection of his authority. After the **Count of Pest**, Istvant Hont-Pázmány, ordered the storming of the Hungarian capital at the time, Esztergom, the magnates formally declared Soběslav II deposed in a declaration of independence, forming the Third Cooperation Council as a formal regency seated in Pest, it would go down in history as the 300 Days Council. Soběslav contrary to their expectations refused to negotiate and declared Hungary to be in a state of rebellion.

Soběslav assembled a Great Coalition, including the Protectors of the Rus as well as most major Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, but failed to make progress in the first months of the war. Meanwhile division between the magnates allowed Hont-Pázmány to use his position as the controller of the rebellion's capital to cement himself as the de facto Leader of the counts, taking the title of **Lord Protector** as he symbolically rejected the crown. The bog-down ended after Soběslav's coalition was able to secure a significant victory at Trencsén but the Magnate Coalition's confidence was restored after the Russian invasion faltered during the winter. Istvan successfully negotiated an alliance with the Cumans leading to the Great Sack of Kiev and defeated the Russians in the 14 Days Battles which mark the symbolic end of the Kievan Rus.

Saxony and the Konstantynian Legions provided informal economic and military support from the beginning of the rebellion, going as far as to formally recognize Istvan as the regent of the Kingdom. A Hungarian delegation also attended the coronation of Welf II. Nevertheless, a formal alliance was never signed between the powers, although the revolt would have a great impact on the Hildesheim Conference and the German Noble Movement in general. The Hungarians also provided a crucial distraction for the Saxons which allowed their claimant to the Polish throne, Konstantyn, to secure much of the country while Istvan deprived the Bohemian army in Poland of most of it's reinforcements and material.

After the debacle at Trencsén, the Hungarian army launched a major raid into Moravia as response. It was widely perceived as barbaric resulting in further declarations of war against the rebels from the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. A second such attempt in Austria ended in disaster at the Battle of Sopron. Meanwhile, Hont-Pázmány increasingly failed to keep the Regency Council in line with his vision for the war. His tendencies to centralize power around his person and to bypass the election system he himself helped create antagonized the magnates, leading to division between the Istvanians, who supported the Lord Protector's conduct and the major reforms he pushed for and the **Rationalists** who believed in a negotiated settlement which would merely prevent Soběslav from ever centralizing the kingdom. Soběslav meanwhile, finding the war increasingly expensive, offered a negotiated peace settlement, triggering a split in the rebellion.

Ultimately, most of the counts agreed to stand down in the aftermath of the Golden Bull of 1157 which guaranteed the nobility's rights on an unprecedented scale. The radical faction refused the settlement but Istvan and his allies were ultimately defeated at the **Battle of Pest,** the largest battle on European soil in the 12th century. With the Lord Protector's death, as Istvan fell on the battlefield, the radical faction disintegrated and the Restoration period would begin by 1158.

The rebellion had great consequences both in Hungary and abroad. At home, the revolt confirmed Přemyslid rule of Bohemia at the cost of a severe collapse in royal authority. The fall of central power would ultimately lead to increasing disintegration of Hungary for much of the 12th century, all the way until the Mongol invasions. The Istvanian administration also undertook major domestic reforms leading to an explosion in records compared to previous periods in Hungarian history. The revolutionary chancellory was indeed retained following the Restoration, as were several other elements such as the expansion of the royal council or reforms in the levy system. Meanwhile, the Collapse of the Kievan Rus as well as the Revolts which characterized the 1157 can be directly attributed to the uprising. The idea of noble rights would survive the rebellion and the concept of a nobility having the right to depose the king would become important much later, not just in Hungarian history. The revolt is an important part of Hungary's national myth**,** becoming a major subject of Hungarian romantic nationalism in the 19th century, usually under the title of the First War of Independence. Istvan Hont is considered a national hero in the modern Hungarian state and the early Hungarian romantics called themselves Istvanians in the rebellion's honor.