A strange friendship
This old poem forms the basis of a strange friendship. If you ask people on the street in Hungary which country is their most important ally, you almost always get the same answer:Poland. For centuries they were neighbors and partners, they would never have gone to war. They connect history, tradition and culture. And so on. So far the story. In Poland, the situation is not much different, as you can hear, and if you look at the two countries today, they actually seem closer than ever. But where does that come from? Why should the Polish-Hungarian friendship be so special?
Everyone seems to agree on one thing:the friendship between Poland and Hungary is old, timeless, so to speak. The poem quoted above supposedly even goes back to the Middle Ages. Back then, in the 14th century, the Hungarian King Ludwig I ruled both countries in personal union for a while. Well, that's not so exciting for now. There were long-lasting unions that left fewer traces. Or when did you last hear about the oh so close connection between Austria and Spain? "Oh, back then and Charles V., do you remember? Aren't we good friends?” Exactly. Other frequently cited points of contact for Polish-Hungarian friendship are the revolutionary year 1848/49, when the Pole Józef Bem fought against the Habsburgs on the Hungarian side. Or 1939, when Hungary took in thousands of Polish refugees despite its alliance with Nazi Germany. Or in 1956, when the same thing was repeated with reversed signs.
But one man is mentioned very often:Stephan Báthory. In the 16th century he managed to rise from the prince of little Transylvania (by the grace of the Sultan, one should say) to the powerful king of Poland-Lithuania. Not a bad story. Maybe she can shed some light on the Polish-Hungarian friendship?
Not so bad for a Transylvanian
It was not at all foreseeable that this Stephan Báthory would make it this far. He was born in 1533, in the well-known cosmopolitan city of Szilágysomlyó in Transylvania. Yes, exactly this Szilágysomlyó. His father, also a Stephan Báthory - don't expect too much creativity - belonged to the Hungarian aristocracy of the country, but Stephan's birth fell at a peculiar time for this nobility. Seven years earlier, the Transylvanian prince Johann Zapolya had sided with the Ottomans, who crushed the Hungarian kingdom at Mohács. Actually, Zapolya had hoped for the Hungarian crown, but stupidly Ferdinand of Austria thought so too and marched into Hungary. In the end the country was divided, Zapolya had to be content with little Transylvania, Ferdinand received part of northern and western Hungary and the rest remained under Ottoman control. Zapolyas Transylvania remained a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. At least the effort was worth it...
Stephan Báthory was to get involved in the politics of the time early on. In the 1550s he fought for the first time on the side of Austria against the Ottomans. But when he was captured and Ferdinand flatly refused to pay his bail, it dawned on Stephan that switching sides might not be the dumbest idea. In fact, one could not accuse Ferdinand of excessive politeness. So Stephan joined Johann Zapolya and after his death in 1571 he was able to assert himself as his successor in Transylvania. Not that bad this career move. But on the other hand:being the ruler of a few eastern meadows and forests by Sultan's grace wasn't that great.
King wanted! (*T&Cs apply)
But Stephan should be lucky. At the same time, King Sigismund died in Poland (actually Poland-Lithuania recently, but let's not be too specific) without leaving any heirs. Now Poland was a noble republic. So the land's nobles could elect a new king and, as we'll quickly see, that could really be anyone. After Sigismund's death, they first chose the Bourbons Henry. Only the following year he became king of France, which he understandably preferred to rotting away in Kraków, and he returned to Paris. Some Polish nobles then even wanted to make Emperor Maximilian II of Austria king, but this did not go down so well everywhere. In the end, a compromise was found:old Sigismund's sister, Anna, was to become queen and be given an equal husband as a king. However he pulled off this trick, Stephan Báthory was chosen to be that king.
That resulted in a rather strange constellation. Poland had a “Polish”, i.e. Jagiellonian, queen in Anna. At her side, however, stood her equal as the crowned king, Stephan Báthory, a Hungarian nobleman from little Transylvania. In the end, however, it didn't really matter because, as Stephan would soon learn, the general terms and conditions always applied at the Polish crown. And that determined the nobility. Maybe he should have read the fine print.
Stephan Báthory as Polish king
If you wanted something as a Polish king, the nobility would of course usually pay for it. It's just stupid that, unlike in absolutist states, he also made demands for it. For example, in order to increase taxes and reform the army, Stephen had to allow public courts, which severely limited his authority. His main "foreign" policy objective of liberating Hungary from Ottoman rule failed, at least in part, due to the nobility's unwillingness to pay. On the other hand, of course, it failed because of the Ottoman superiority at the time, but we don't want to blame the good Stephan for that.
In Poland, however, Stephan was soon celebrated for his military successes on other fronts. This is somewhat interesting, since he actually had no military successes to show for himself. After his election, the Hanseatic city of Danzig demanded privileges before recognizing him. Stephan then besieged the city twice, had to withdraw both times without success and finally confirmed the desired privileges. He was also only able to avoid an Austro-Russian invasion with a lot of luck, since Maximilian, who had tasted blood after he was almost appointed king of Poland, simply died shortly before the planned invasion. A few years later, war finally broke out with the Tsarist Empire, which Stephan was able to end with a truce that was advantageous to him. Nice and good. But it was still just a truce.
In his later reign, Stephen was to set a dangerous precedent with the execution of a high-ranking Polish nobleman, which strained the relations of future Polish kings with the nobility for generations. The Báthory, however, didn't care. He died heroically of a stroke two years later.
What's the deal with the Polish-Hungarian friendship?
Stephen left no heir. After his death, the Polish nobility first chose the Habsburg Maximilian III. to the king. Tradition is tradition. Also in good tradition, this was of course challenged, this time by the Swedish king Sigismund, who was also able to assert himself. Yes, back then Sweden was suddenly a major power to be taken seriously, but maybe more on that another time.
However, it is unclear why this story about Stephan Báthory is supposed to reinforce Polish-Hungarian friendship. Báthory saw Hungary, or Transylvania, and Poland strictly as two separate dominions. The Polish nobility was anything but enthusiastic about his foreign policy ideas for Hungary, and Stephen did not leave any "Hungarian" heirs. The Polish crown went to a Swede instead after his death. In the end, the Polish-Hungarian friendship is probably just a story that has been told for years. And as you know:if you tell yourself a story long enough, you will eventually believe it. You don't need Ludwig, Józef Bem or Adolf Hitler for that. You don't need a Stephan Báthory either. And the fact that Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński get along well today has little to do with history, no matter how much they claim it.
You can read about whether and what you should learn from this in this post, in which I deal with the often claimed repetition of history. See you in two weeks!