Unio Trium Nationum - Events Leading To The Union

Events Leading To The Union

With the rise of the Ottoman Empire, one of the first major Ottoman military campaigns against Transylvanian parts of the Kingdom of Hungary was organised in 1421. The invading forces entered the region from Wallachia. The Saxons and Székelys living in the border area tried to defend themselves, but were heavily outnumbered by the intruders. King Sigismund was not able to react promptly because he had recently inherited the Bohemian throne and was involved there in the Hussite Wars. Also, Transylvanian Diets had not been organized for decades and there was no forum to coordinate defence preparations of the three nations. Left alone, the Saxon Burzenland and the Székely Seat of Háromszék, both in the border region, were ravaged. Sigismund reacted to the attack only years later, leading a series of military campaigns against the Ottomans in Wallachia. The Ottomans, allied with the Wallachian Voivode, returned in 1432 and Southern Transylvania suffered serious damages again.

In the same period, nobles and church authorities in Central Transylvania were concerned about protesting and revolting serfs. Hungarian and Romanian peasants were dissatisfied with their oppressed status, the high taxes and restrictions to their free movement. Scattered peasant protests turned into a serious revolt in 1437, when peasants and petty nobles defeated the troops of their feudal landlords. The Budai Nagy Antal Revolt was triggered by an attempt by the Bishop of Transylvania to collect unpaid taxes. Although the revolt was led by a Hungarian petty noble – Antal Nagy de Buda - it was a coalition of various elements of Transylvanian society: Hungarian and Romanian serfs, also the burghers of Kolozsvár (Klausenburg, Cluj), and some petty nobles. After the successful battle the Treaty of Kolozsmonostor was reached with the nobles, allowing the serfs greater freedom and lower taxes. In this agreement, one of the peasant leaders, Pál Vajdaházi, was called vexilifer Universitatis regnicolarum Hungarorum et Valachorum huius principatus Hungariae (Standard-bearer of the Union of Hungarian and Romanian inhabitants of this province of Hungary). Consequently, it is possible that the peasant rebels called themselves as the Estate of Hungarians and Romanians (Universitas Hungarorum et Valachorum).