initially specializing in herding but soon busy cultivating vineyards, orchards, and
grains. Above them was a warrior class, and above the warriors were the elites,
whose richly furnished graves reveal the importance of weapons, jewelry, and horses
to this society. Originally organized into tribes led by dukes, by the mid-tenth century
the Hungarians recognized one ruling house—that of prince Géza (r.972–997).
Like the ambitious kings of Scandinavia, Géza was determined to give his power
new ballast via baptism. His son, Stephen I (r.997–1038), consolidated the change to
Christianity: he built churches and monasteries, and required everyone to attend
church on Sundays. Establishing his authority as sole ruler, Stephen had himself
crowned king in the year 1000 (or possibly 1001). Around the same time, “governing
our monarchy by the will of God and emulating both ancient and modern caesars
[emperors],” he issued a code of law that put his kingdom in step with other
European powers.^17
*****
Political fragmentation did not mean chaos. It simply betokened a new order. At
Byzantium, in any event, even the most centrifugal forces were focused on the
center; the real trouble for Basil II, for example, came from dynatoi who wanted to
be emperors, not from people who wanted to be independent regional rulers. In the
Islamic world fragmentation largely meant replication, as courts patterned on or
competitive with the Abbasid model were set up by Fatimid caliphs and other rulers.
In Europe, the rise of local rulers was accompanied by the widespread adoption of
forms of personal dependency—vassalage, serfdom—that could be (and were)
manipulated even by kings, such as the Capetians, who seemed to have lost the most
from the dispersal of power. Another institution that they could count on was the
church. No wonder that in Rus’, Scandinavia, and East Central Europe, state
formation and Christianization went hand in hand.
The real fragmentation was among the former heirs of the Roman Empire. They
did not speak the same language, they were increasingly estranged by their religions,
and they knew almost nothing about one another. In the next century the West, newly
prosperous and self-confident, would go on the offensive. Henceforth, without
forgetting about the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, we shall focus on this aggressive
and dynamic new society.
