VESZPREM, HUNGARY

Székesfehérvár colloquial Hungarian: Fehérvár, German: Stuhlweißenburg, Turkish: İstolni Belgrad) is a city in central Hungary, located around 65 km (40 mi) southwest of Budapest. It is inhabited by 106,346 people (2001), with 138,995 in the direct vicinity, and is the centre of Fejér county and the regional centre of Central Transdanubia. In the Middle Ages the city was a royal residence and the most important city of Hungary. 37 kings and 39 queen consorts were crowned, 15 rulers have been buried here, the diets were held and the crown jewels were kept here.














The place has been inhabited since the 5th century BCE. In the Roman times the settlements were called Gorsium and Herculia. In about the 5th century CE, Slavic tribes began moving into the region and this place was called Belehrad or Belegrad, being a center during the Great Moravian period. In the Middle Ages its Latin name was Alba Regalis/Alba Regia. The town was an important traffic junction between Lake Balaton and Lake Velencei, several trade routes led from here to the Balkans and Italy, to Buda and Vienna. (Today, the city is a junction of no less than seven railroad lines.)














The Hungarian town was founded in 972 by High Prince Géza on four islands in the moors of the streams Gaja and Sárvíz. He also had a small stone castle built. Székesfehérvár was first mentioned in a document by the Bishopric of Veszprém, 1009, as Alba Civitas.














Contrary to popular belief, Géza's son St. Stephen was not crowned here, because the basilica was completed only in 1039, one year after his death. Stephen granted town rights to the settlement, surrounded the town with a plank wall, had a provosty and a school built and under his rule the construction of the basilica began (it was built between 1003 and 1038). The settlement had about 3500 inhabitants at this time and was the royal seat for hundreds of years. 43 kings were crowned in Székesfehérvár (the last one in 1526) and 15 kings were buried here (the last one in 1540).














In the 12th century the town prospered, churches, monasteries and houses were built. It was an important station on the pilgrim road to the Holy Land. Andrew II issued the Golden Bull here in 1222. The Bull included the rights of nobles and the duties of the king, and the Constitution of Hungary was based on it until 1848. It is often compared to England's Magna Charta, which predates it by just seven years.

The Ottomans occupied the city after a long siege in 1543 and only after a sally ended in most of the defenders including the commander, György Varkoch, being locked out by wealthy citizens fearing they might incur the wrath of the Turks by a lengthy siege. They discovered after surrendering, however, that the Turks were not without a sense for chivalry and those responsible for shutting the defenders out were put to death.

The city remained under Ottoman occupation for 145 years, until 1688, except for a short period in 1601 when it was re-occupied by an army led by Lawrence of Brindisi. The Ottomans destroyed most of the city, they demolished the cathedral and the royal palace, and they pillaged the graves of kings in the cathedral. They named the city Belgrade ("white castle") and built mosques. In the 16th–17th centuries it looked like a Muslim city. Most of the original population fled.

The city began to prosper again only in the 18th century. It had a mixed population, Hungarians, Serbs, Germans and Moravians. In 1703 Székesfehérvár regained the status of a free royal town, but it did not become capital again, for the country was now ruled by the Habsburgs whose royal seat was Vienna, while the juridical meetings were held in Pozsony (Pressburg; Bratislava). In the middle of the century several new buildings were erected (Franciscan church and monastery, Jesuit churches, public buildings, Baroque palaces). Maria Theresa made the city an episcopal seat in 1777.

By the early 19th century the German population was assimilated. On March 15, 1848 the citizens joined the revolution. After the revolution and war for independence Székesfehérvár lost its importance and became a mainly agricultural city. New prosperity arrived between the two world wars, when several new factories were opened.

Veszprém one of the oldest towns in Hungary, is now a city with county rights and lies approximately 15 km (9 mi) north of Lake Balaton. It is the capital city of the administrative county (comitatus or 'megye') of the same name.

According to local legend, Veszprém was founded on seven hills, like Rome. The seven hills are Várhegy (Castle Hill), Benedek-hegy (St. Benedict Hill), Jeruzsálem-hegy (Jerusalem Hill), Temetőhegy (Cemetery Hill), Gulyadomb (Herd Hill), Kálvária-domb (Calvary Hill), and Cserhát.

Anonymus, the notary of King Béla III wrote that a castle already stood here when the Hungarians first occupied the area. The castle was probably a 9th century Frankish fortress. The castles of Veszprém, Esztergom and Székesfehérvár, were the earliest Hungarian stone castles, which had already been built during the reign of High Prince Géza, a time when motte castles were much more common.
The name of the city originates from the Slavic word Bezprym, which was originally a personal name. Ján Kollár derived its name from Ves Perunova - Perun's village and mentioned also a German derivation from Weiss-Brunn - white well. The city was named either after a chieftain, or the son of Princess Judith (elder sister of St. Stephen), who settled here after her husband Boleslaus I of Poland expelled her and her son.

Veszprém had an important religious role during the fight to make Christianity the official religion of Hungary - St. Stephen defeated the armies of his chief opponent, Koppány, near Veszprém. The city became the first episcopal seat of Hungary in 1009 and an archiepiscopal seat in 1993. Comitatus Veszprém was one of the earliest historical counties of Hungary.

Veszprém was the favorite city of Queen Gisela, the wife of St. Stephen. For centuries, the queens of Hungary were crowned by the bishop of Veszprém. The city is still often called "the city of queens."

During the Mongol invasion of Hungary, Veszprém was protected by its castle, which was later demolished on order of the Habsburgs in 1706.

Veszprém was among the first Hungarian cities to have a university - students studied law and arts here. The university was destroyed by fire in 1276, after which Veszprém became a university town again in the 20th century.



November 2007

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Write by: AN - Sunday, June 22, 2008