At the Whim of St. Stephen’s Throne.
… for it is our intention, God willing, that in Hungary we should always have a Master and other officials, as in other lands, and that we shall also endow these offices accordingly and provide them sufficiently, so that those who hold them may serve with honour.
The words of King Sigismund of Luxembourg from 1429 – the king’s 43rd year reigning in Hungary – suggest the Teutonic Order was well provided for when the King of Hungary called it back to the realm it had been thrown out from in 1225. Yet, Procurator General Kaspar Wandhofen had already told Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf that in Rome papal officials were puzzled at that “the King of the Romans gives the Order wasteland, which it already has enough of in Prussia, and sends them against the Turks though the Hussites are closer.”
What then was the cause for the Teutonic Order to return to Hungary two centuries after King Andrew II drove them out? The Teutonic Order’s first attempt to defend Hungary had begun in 1211 with a generous grant by King Andrew II. The Order’s rule then lasted for only fourteen years. What was the influence of the Order in the Land of Barsa in that short timeframe? Papal documents mention six castles, the identifications of which are still heavily disputed. In 1429, Sigismund granted the Order twenty castles, some of which had just been built.
This title explores these two short periods in the history of the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Hungary. Descriptions of the castles that may have been the Order’s in the 13th and 15th centuries is provided along with plans where extant evidence allows compiling them. In addition, numerous maps illustrate the Kingdom of Hungary, the grants to the Teutonic Order, and the territorial changes that occurred.
English 
Eesti