(A Hungry Diet)
-the first two chapters of the Marian Rescue Arc for the Order of the Dragons
The Kingdom of Hungary was a powerful empire of the Carpathian Basin made up of many different races serving as the ‘Bulwark of Christianity’; this is as much as Vlad understood. In-between his healing sessions from the dragon scale, he was still being tutored by Miklos and Sigismund. They raised him as if he was Sigismund’s son. In terms of government, the Kingdom was ruled by agreements between the king and Diet. The Diet was the coalition of higher nobility, large landowners that have their own hierarchy. The ones with the most land were the barons, ruling over a barony. An ispán/count ruled over smaller regions known as counties. The counties were the smallest units but of course they had different villages and cities within them. That was the division over the main part of Hungary which was the Danubian plain (divided east and west as Cisdanubian and Transdanubian respectively). But there were also appenages still apart of Hungary such as the mountainous region of Nitra to the north, where Slavs started to call themselves Slovaks. Then came the Voivode or prince of the special Transylvania region in the east and ban for the special Croatia region in the southwest. These two regions could even be considered separate countries if not for their voluntary allegiance to the king. In Transylvania, the Voivode rules over the Magyars, Saxons, and Romani while the special Szekely people are served by their Count. As for Croatia, it was a separate kingdom and now the Ban rules as a kind of viceroy, the inbetween man for the King and Croat counts. Other appendages include the region of Slavonia (with multiple counts), the city of Celje, and the Serbian Banate of Macva which was a kind of marchland. The Ban, voivode, ispáns, and barons all had differing privileges but had decent autonomy in their own land and had to pay some of their revenue to the király (king). The lesser nobles still had some land but were usually subject to the higher nobility. Then were the free citizens and serfs that could still own property of varying limits and move from land to land. They lived in the villages or castle towns of their lords. In the cities were merchants, artisans, and tradesmen such as in any modern city. Unique to Hungary was the raw diversity of Germanic and Slavic peoples sharing the space with the Hungarians because the country has always had an open policy to immigrants. This allows for Hungary’s economy to be based in trade with the cities of Kiev, Frankfurt, Constantinople, and even Milan. While Hungary has plenty of farmland for wheat, barley, honey, cattle foods, fur, wine, and the like; they also have extensive mines to produce the majority of gold and silver for the world. This is as much as Vlad understood.
But today, Miklos was giving a big historical lesson which was not as interesting as everything else. Vlad and Sigismund were seated at desks, writing notes into their personal notebooks. Miklos stood before the two of them with a waterboard behind him. Enchanted by magic, the water board can illustrate whatever Miklos would need to draw on it with his wand. He drew a map of Eastern Europe without any borders. Then he drew the Don River, which spills into the Black Sea in the far east.
“You must learn how Sigismund became king via his own ancestry. A dynasty is the most important tradition in humans. From Genesis, you know that humanity was washed away by the Great Flood. Then Noah gave birth to three sons who repopulated the planet with their wives. From his son Japhite, comes the traveling warrior Scythius. He would take to the Steppe while the rest of the Japhites went further west. He began the peoples of the same name in the region of Scythia. From Marco Polo, we know now that they bothered everyone between the Carpathian mountains and the mountains of China. You know of Attila of the Huns, he was a Scythian descendent. The Huns crossed the Carpathians and destabilized the Roman Empire, causing them to lose much territory. That is when Romans started calling this place Hungary instead of Pannonia. Another descendant of the Scythians was Magog and his clan would be known as the Magyar. They lived at the Don River in a small part known as Dentumoger for centuries. Then, a woman among them was visited by a falcon known as Turul. Turul decided to become protector of the baby in her womb, Álmos. When he was born, he was very popular with his kinsmen and thus they followed him due to his premonition of this land. So he led the Magyars out of Dentumoger and across Russia. Vlad, what is Russia?”
“The land of the Rus peoples. They are of Slavic descent,” he said in a bored tone.
“Yes, the Slavs are also in the Japhite race with the Rus in a different branch than the Poles, Czechs, and Balkans. Remind me of the polis in Russia.”
Vlad sighed as he thought of them. Sigismund raised his hand excitedly, “oooh I know I know!”
“I know you know, I asked Vlad. There’s seven to remember.”
“There’s always seven to remember. Okay, Kiev, Novgorod, Vladimir, Suzdal, Chernigov, Halych, and Smolensk.”
“Good enough. Well, Álmos did not come across them all but they had to pass by Kiev. He led his people bravely to attack the capital of Russia for the glory of it and the people were already in fear. They were in fear of Scythian warriors and their Tengri magic. They collected allies from Suzdal and among the Cumans who lived further south on the Dnieper River. Unfortunately for them, the Magyars were stronger. After the battle, they received gifts from the Kievans and news about how blessed Hungary would be for them. Several of the cuman leaders and daughters from Suzdal and Kiev joined the Magyars as they continued on their merry way. They reached Halych and defeated those Rus before crossing the mountains. There they found a castle known as Ung where they could conquer Hungaria. Álmos made his son, Árpád, the new leader of the Magyar clan and they would flood the region like no one else. They took Pest away from the Huns as a prime location for a new Carpathian union. The people who already lived here included some Huns, some Romans, Vlachs, and many Slavs. As Hungary found itself a place next to Christrians, the Christians evangelize and attacked us. Eventually, one of Árpád’s sons converted to the Roman faith, ensuring the rescuing of the Magyars by Jesus Christ. Then, in the year 1000, we could become another legitimate Christian Kingdom but still technically not one that belongs to Europe as the Árpád Dynasty is unrelated to Charlemagne.”
“I’ve already heard twelve lessons on Charlemagne…”
“Shush, we’re getting to the good part,” Sigismund said.
Miklos continued, “The Árpád Dynasty served Hungary well. It was chaotic internally but externally rich and impenetrable by its rivals in the Romans and Caroli. They even survived the Mongol invasion under Batu Khan which allowed Hungary to fortify itself stronger than before. But then the Dynasty ran out and would be replaced by the Neapolitan Angevins. They were good too, King Károly Róbert and King Lajos. The former defeated the horrible oligarchy regency while the latter readjusted the privileges between the classes of people, still respecting the Golden Bull which we will discuss later. Unique to us as well was the lack of Black Death, due to that agent’s lack of resources against our defenses. But now, King Lajos was king of Hungary and King of Poland. Very spoiled was he until God only gave him two daughters. Well, like any Caroli, he split his lands between his children as if they were sons. For Poland, they would take Hedvig, although they call her Jadwiga. In Hungary, we received his eldest daughter Maria.”
“Ah, the old queen. You still have her image in the throne room,” Vlad said. “But she’s dead now, is that the good part?” They threw many things at Vlad. “My apologies.”
Miklos said, “I only ever saw her but she was a strong woman and a good leader, if only the Succession of Hungary could be a stable affair.”
“Indeed. And in that case,” Sigismund said, the story is not best told for the boy to understand, but to be experienced.”
“I have made the preparations,” Miklos said. He went across the room and started to gather some things.
“Why do I really need to know this? This will be far more detail than the higher Hungarian,” Vlad complained.
Sigismund held his shoulder, “boy it is a story of great Romance, like Troy. They will recite it in the future as my origin, like how Arthur became King of the Anglos.”
“You want me to praise you? I don’t swing that way.”
Sigismund clasped his hands, “listen, the difficulties in this tale, in my succession, is why the Order even started. It is why Miklos and his family are in the high place they are now. But also, this is indoctrination. When you become the Prince of Wallachia, you must fully believe in this so that you can tell the Vlachs and they will believe in your loyalty to us. That will make us stronger against the Ottomans. Maria’s ancestry will bring us to victory.”
“Surely you know, I would never care to make anyone believe anything I believe. And the Vlachs are a viciously selfish stubborn people who like what they want to.”
“Vlad you’re too young to understand now. But you will experience my romance with the sovereign Queen of Hungary. Three quick facts you should know beforehand. One, whether or not Lajos was to have any sons, he decisively decided to betrothe her to his best friend’s son upon the moment of her healthy birth. I was 6 years old myself. And then, I was raised in Hungary like you are, and we grew up close to each other. And lastly, she was betrayed by everyone who should’ve loved her and given everything that belonged to her. Because being a Caroli is a messy game. As you are not yourself but your children may be, this will also be a story of warning to you!” Vlad then remembered something Hermann had told him once, because the descendants of Charles are the messiest family on the planet. Vlad then thought, well my kids will never become Caroli.
The three went into another room which had two levels separated by a ramp. There was a canal going down the ramp as well. At the top, Sigismund lay his head in the canal and Miklos implanted it with certain mushrooms. Mushrooms are known by alchemy to give off episodes of psychosis. At the bottom, Vlad poured his head in the canal. Miklos waited for the sleeping potion to cause them to sleep and then he used the splash spell to bathe Sigismund. The water eventually causes the mushrooms to break off Sigimund’s head. The water then moved down the ramp and to Vlad’s head where the mushrooms could latch on. Miklos kept more water running as the ritual requires a current in the stream. The mushrooms would deliver the memories of the grand romance directly into Vlad’s head…..
tdwriter 