in a time of great confusion in state and church, when the
crusading spirit was still a power which both religious and
secular rulers found it convenient to turn to the
advancement of their own designs.

When Andrew deserted the cause of the crusaders in
Palestine, after an unsuccessful attack upon a tower on
Mount Tabor, he was doubtless piqued at the failure of the
King of Jerusalem to render him any support in ordering his
affairs at home, where, under his viceroy, the virtual
absolutism of the government had become endangered. Out of
the conditions which confronted him on his arrival in
Hungary came the memorable event--forming one of the great
chapters in his country's annals--faithfully and succinctly
recounted in the following pages.

The reign of Andrew II, in Hungary, forms one of the most important
epochs in the history of the country over which he reigned, since from
him the nobles obtained their Golden Bull (_Bulla Aurea_), equivalent
to the Magna Charta of England. The people of Hungary had, indeed, by
their own determination and spirit of independence, and by the wisdom
and virtue of the first kings of the race of Arpad, secured in their
constitution the foundation of their liberties; but the power of the
sovereign had in the mean time increased, so as to surpass those
limits within which alone the office can be conducive to the happiness
and welfare of the community. The ceremony of coronation was
considered, indeed, a necessary condition for the exercise of the
royal authority; but though this in some measure acted as a check upon
his inordinate power, still all offices and dignities were in the gift
of the King, few, if any, being hereditary, and even the magnates