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Managing Hungary

Shortly after New Year's Day 1462, the Hungarian royal city of Budapest opened its gates to welcome the arrival of King Laszlo.

The vast procession camped outside Budapest, and the carriages carrying the Emperor, Empress, and Dowager Empress slowly drove into the increasingly prosperous Budapest, escorted by a troop of majestic Imperial Guards.

Despite the cold weather, the residents of Budapest still joyfully welcomed Laszlo's arrival.

As the master of this country, Laszlo spent too little time in Budapest.

Even during Sigismund's era, the King of Hungary at the time often did not live in Hungary's capital.

He preferred to travel around the Holy Roman Empire; two Grand Duke Conferences—the Constance Council and the Basel Council—were closely related to him, and he even traveled to Italy to complete his coronation.

In the mid-to-late period of his rule over Hungary, Sigismund almost continuously led armies to conquer Bohemia until he was officially crowned King of Bohemia in 1436.

However, his successor, Albrecht II, reversed this situation, spending more than ten months each year in Hungary.

Albrecht always stayed in Budapest, sometimes traveling throughout Hungary to inspect conditions, quell rebellions, or visit Transylvania to consolidate border defenses.

In this way, he exerted his influence over all Hungarian people and nobles, hoping to achieve his goals.

During his reign, Hungary's political situation maintained long-term stability, resisting the threat of the Ottomans.

For these reasons, Albrecht was widely loved by the Hungarian, who hoped that his son Laszlo would also prioritize Hungary.

However, King Laszlo's attitude was already very clear—he now valued his Austria more than Hungary.

He spent a pitifully small amount of time in Hungary each year, sometimes not even setting foot in Hungary for an entire year.

Of course, Laszlo was not entirely indifferent to Hungarian affairs.

On the contrary, understanding the condition of the Kingdom of Hungary through correspondence with Archbishop Veszter and implementing policies and laws was one of Laszlo's daily routines.

It was just that the policies set by Archbishop Veszter and Laszlo had hardly changed from those during Albrecht II's time.

On the one hand, Laszlo appeased the great nobles, promoted the middle and small nobles, stabilized the domestic situation, and suppressed the nobles' attempts to further expand their power.

On the other hand, Laszlo was committed to recovering royal territories lost in the past few decades through trade, political, or legal means.

In fact, everything Albrecht and Laszlo had done in Hungary over the years was to clean up Sigismund's mess.

(Hungary 1386, red for royal territories, pink-purple for church territories, yellow for noble territories)

In 1386, when the Kingdom of Hungary under Louis I passed into Sigismund's hands, the King of Hungary possessed vast royal territories and great power.

However, Sigismund's disastrous defeat to the Ottoman at Nicopolis severely damaged the King's prestige.

Later, to maintain his rule, to run for Emperor, and to annex Bohemia, he spent countless sums of money and fought countless wars.

The quagmire of the Hussite Wars nearly became Sigismund's burial ground.

After countless failures and bankruptcies, Sigismund sold off countless assets: Luxembourg, Brandenburg, and his Elector seat—he sold them all.

Later, with nothing else to sell, Sigismund began selling off Hungary's royal territories, and not just a small amount.

Thus, when Albrecht II officially accepted Hungary in 1439, the Kingdom was already on the verge of collapse, and the royal family's prestige was shattered.

Moreover, it was surprising that during Sigismund's reign, a fourth estate was forcibly created in Hungary, which was extremely unimaginable for other countries and other rulers.

(Hungary 1439, red for royal territories, pink-purple for church territories, yellow for noble territories, orange for baronial territories)

This fourth estate was the baronial class, formed by the lower nobility.

To counterbalance the powerful great noble factions within the country, Sigismund began to support emerging nobles and middle and small nobles in various ways, such as granting or selling land, and bestowing important royal official positions.

Through these methods, small nobles represented by Hunyadi Janos began to step onto Hungary's political stage.

The result was that while the situation in the Kingdom of Hungary became more complex, a delicate balance was also achieved.

However, by now, the royal territories of the Kingdom of Hungary have largely recovered, and the King's authority is increasingly respected.

Although the King's territory in Hungary has not yet returned to the level of Louis the Great's era, Laszlo also possesses large territories outside the Kingdom of Hungary.

These territories mean vast wealth and armies, which is the King's power, and this formidable power keeps the Hungarian nobles restrained in their opposition to the King.

Meanwhile, Laszlo stabilized the great nobles, courted the small nobles, continued to restore royal territories through peaceful means, and gradually began to invest in the development of Hungary's royal territories.

After the major demobilization of the border army, Hungary's treasury was no longer burdened by the astonishing military expenditure, which accounted for 70% of the national expenditure, and is now gradually becoming full.

However, with the end of the last Hungarian Parliament, the "turkey tax" was abolished in peacetime, and the taxes collected from the nobles significantly decreased. Coupled with Laszlo's national policy of light taxation, the royal family's annual financial situation did not actually improve much.

Of the money saved from demobilization, Laszlo took a considerable portion to subsidize the Austrian treasury.

On this point, even Archbishop Veszter, who had always faithfully supported the royal family, had some complaints.

Laszlo finally reasoned with and moved Archbishop Veszter, explaining to him the solid traditional friendship between Hungary and Austria, which finally convinced the old regent who had managed Hungary's treasury for over a decade.

Since there was no extra financial support for territorial investment, Laszlo began to find other ways to develop Hungary's royal territories.

The most important measure was to reform the administrative system, expand the bureaucracy, and absorb more propertied citizens, lower nobles, and talented technocrats into the royal government.

This measure was primarily intended to strengthen control over the royal territories and, incidentally, to reconcile internal conflicts within the Kingdom.

In addition, policies such as unifying territorial laws, encouraging industry and commerce, and introducing German immigrants and advanced agricultural techniques are also being steadily implemented.

Those who benefited from these policies, mainly including small nobles, the burgher class, and freemen, were all more supportive of Laszlo.

Therefore, they hoped that the King would pay more attention to Hungary.

The policies mentioned above hardly involved the great nobles of Hungary, and Laszlo temporarily had no intention of dealing with these individuals.

Before this, the religious council and Imperial affairs had always consumed Laszlo's energy, making him unwilling to rashly disrupt Hungary's stability,

He could only focus on cultivating his royal territories.

Next, the Holy Roman Empire should be stable for a while, and the Grand Duke Conference in Ferrara is still in endless debate, unable to yield a definite result.

This is precisely the opportunity Laszlo needs, an opportunity to address Hungarian issues.

However, he still intends to wait until the Mainz War settles before taking action against the great nobles of Hungary.

As for this time, those nobles were clamoring to invite him to Hungary to convene the Hungarian Parliament, and there should not be any important demands. It is estimated that he had not visited Hungary for more than a year, and they were truly angered, which is why they once again demanded Laszlo to abide by the 1222 golden bull and convene the Hungarian Parliament.

The Hungarian Parliament was a platform for these nobles to express their demands, protect their own interests, and limit the King's power, and it was also something Laszlo desperately wanted to avoid.

Laszlo found that he really couldn't get past the golden bull.

In the Holy Roman Empire, the 1356 golden bull promulgated by Charles IV legally established the immense power of the Electors and the autonomy of the princes, making his imperial reforms difficult to advance.

In Hungary, the 1222 golden bull promulgated by Andrew II was even more of a Hungarian version of "the King is subject to the law," almost a replica of England's Magna Carta.

This directly led to the current situation where the Hungarian grand nobles were rampant and tyrannical.

He sometimes wondered, if the golden bull, cherished and carefully used by monarchs, possessed such powerful influence, what would be the content of the golden bull he would promulgate in the future?

If possible, he hoped the content of the edict would be to abolish the parts of the two aforementioned golden bulls that were unfavorable to him.

The carriage drove into the Hungarian Royal Palace on top of Budapest Castle Hill. Just as Laszlo settled his wife and children, Archbishop Veszter arrived with Matthias to seek an audience.

Laszlo had long anticipated this and immediately summoned the two.

In the Kingdom's council hall, Laszlo saw the haggard Archbishop Veszter and the equally exhausted Matthias.

Presiding over the Hungarian Parliament was no easy task; dealing with those nobles was even more mentally exhausting.

Archbishop Veszter's daily administrative duties were already busy enough.

He not only had to coordinate the various affairs of the Kingdom of Hungary and the royal territories but also still controlled the Hungarian treasury, managing the royal finances for Laszlo.

Now, with the added heavy burden of the Hungarian Parliament, he hadn't slept well for days in the week before the Emperor's arrival.

This was no small challenge for the regent, who was nearly seventy years old.

As for Matthias, as the Emperor's special envoy, and with his special status, he was naturally entrusted with heavy responsibilities by Veszter and undertook much of the work.

In the past few days, the Hungarian Parliament had already held two meetings. They were here today to report the contents of these two meetings to Laszlo. Seeing their exhausted appearance, Laszlo knew it was all due to his temporary desire to be lazy, so he said to the two with a hint of apology: "You two have truly worked hard, Veszter, and Matthias.

Please sit down, and let me hear what these grand nobles want to do this year?"

The old and young ministers sat down by Laszlo's side. Matthias took out a scroll, unrolled it, and looking at the summarized topics on it, began to report to Laszlo.

"First, the Governor of Transylvania, Hunyadi Laszlo, reported multiple serf rebellions and large-scale desertion incidents. Therefore, he proposed a bill to restrict serf migration."

He didn't expect the first topic to be such a big problem.

Laszlo frowned slightly, silently observing Matthias's reaction, and found that he did not show any emotional fluctuations or say any superfluous words because this was his brother's proposal.

This made Laszlo satisfied. He pondered for a moment, then turned to Archbishop Veszter and asked, "What is the reason behind the serf rebellions and desertions?"

"Cough, cough," Archbishop Veszter glanced at Matthias, his eyes slightly profound, then replied, "Your Majesty, as far as I know,

Governor Hunyadi is still collecting new taxes similar to the 'turkey tax' in Transylvania under the pretext of border defense.

Such heavy taxes have led to living conditions for serfs in Transylvania being far worse than in other parts of the Kingdom, and it is reasonable for serf desertions to occur."

"What does he want to do?" Laszlo snorted, almost immediately making a decision on Hunyadi's proposal, "I will talk to him specifically about this later. Do many nobles support this proposal?"

"Many, Your Majesty," Archbishop Veszter's expression was somewhat worried, "Because the serfs in the noble territories could not endure the heavy taxes and labor, many of them fled to the royal territories where treatment was more favorable.

Those nobles had no choice but to improve the serfs' conditions, which led to losses in their wealth. Therefore, they hope to push this proposal through."

In just a few words, Laszlo's originally relaxed and comfortable expression had turned grim.

He had never seen such shameless people.

These nobles were clearly unable to compete on serf treatment, leading to a loss of population and wealth.

Therefore, they were eager to pass a law to force serfs not to migrate, binding them tightly to the land.

This way, no one would have to treat serfs favorably or attract more people by offering benefits.

As long as the decree passed, even if serfs grew legs, they wouldn't be able to escape the nobles' grasp, and they could unscrupulously exploit the common people to accumulate more wealth.

This proposal was not without benefits; at least, it did have an effect on maintaining social stability and ensuring fiscal revenue.

However, if he agreed to such a proposal, it would undoubtedly greatly exacerbate social conflicts and hinder economic development.

Most importantly, this act would be seen as him kneeling and compromising with the nobles, and public support for him would diminish, possibly even pushing more people to oppose him.

"This matter needs careful consideration," Laszlo exhaled deeply, calming himself before continuing, "And there's Hunyadi's issue,

I will have him personally explain to me his unauthorized collection of heavy taxes in Transylvania.

Alright, what else is there? Please tell me."

"Also... a group of nobles led by Count Chak hope to obtain tax exemption privileges for trade with Austria, claiming it is their deserved compensation."

"He didn't mention a word about setting up checkpoints on the Danube River to collect tolls... and the nobles on the Austrian side always complain that Hungarian do business unfairly... a meaningless proposal, next one."

"The Governor of Croatia reports that he has completed the cleanup and incorporation of the Dalmatian pirates. Regarding the issue of ship transactions between Croatia and Austria, he hopes to discuss it with you."

"That's good, approved. Anything else?"

"The Governor of Bosnia, Kosach, is building a new city as the capital of Bosnia, named Sarajevo. He requests financial assistance from the royal family."

"Sarajevo..." Laszlo raised an eyebrow slightly; this place name was not very friendly to Austrians, but this request was reasonable, "I understand. This matter can also be agreed to, but as for how much financial aid... Veszter, you decide and handle this matter."

Hearing that funds would again be allocated from the treasury, Veszter's face fell, but he still nodded and replied, "I understand, Your Majesty."

These were all the important topics from various parts of Hungary. As for some less important topics, Veszter had basically given his opinions on how to handle them, and Laszlo only needed to confirm and make minor revisions.

This brief meeting quickly ended. Laszlo planned to resolve the issues just mentioned before the next Hungarian Parliament meeting.