Eger - History

History

Eger has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Today's Eger was formed in the 10th century by St. Stephen (997–1038), the first Christian king of Hungary, who founded an episcopal see in Eger. The first cathedral of Eger was built on Castle Hill, within the present site of Eger Castle. Eger grew up around its former cathedral and has remained an important religious centre in Hungary since its foundation. The 14th-16th centuries were an age of prosperity for Eger. Winegrowing, which the town is still famous for, began to be important around that time. The bishops of Eger built beautiful buildings in the city during 18th and 19th centuries.

During the Turkish advance into Central Hungary, Eger became an important border fortress, successfully defended by Hungarian forces in the 1552 Siege of Eger. The first writer of note to draw on the story was the Hungarian renaissance poet and musician Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos (c. 1510–1556), whose account may have come partly from eye witnesses. Most Hungarians know best the version of this story found in the 1899 novel "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon" (Hungarian "Egri csillagok", lit. "Stars of Eger") by the 19th century Hungarian author Gárdonyi Géza, which is set reading under the Hungarian national curriculum.

However, Eger was attacked in 1596 by a bigger army of Turks, who took over the castle after a short siege. Then followed 91 years of Ottoman rule in which Eger was the seat of the Turkish Eger Eyalet (administrative division). Churches were converted into mosques, the castle rebuilt, and other structures erected, including public baths and minarets.

The rule of the Turks in Central Hungary began to collapse after a failed Ottoman attempt to capture Vienna. The Vienna-based Habsburgs, who controlled the rest of Hungary, apart from Transylvania, steadily expelled the Turks from the country. The castle of Eger was starved into surrender by the Christian army led by Charles of Lorraine in 1687, after the castle of Buda had been retaken in 1686.

Eger soon began to prosper again. The city was reclaimed by its bishops, which caused many local Protestants to leave. Although the city supported the Hungarian leader Prince Francis II Rákóczi in the 1703–1711 war of independence against the Habsburgs, the Hungarians were eventually defeated by the Imperial army. Soon after that, the city was ravaged by plague. However, immigration into Eger was strong, and the population rose from 6000 to 10,000 between 1725 and 1750. Many new buildings were built in Baroque and later in Rococo and Neoclassical style, including the cathedral, the Archiepiscopal Palace, the County Hall, the Lyceum (now housing the Eszterházy College of Education) and several churches, while others were reclaimed from being mosques.

The 19th century began with disasters: a fire that destroyed half the town in 1800, and a collapse of the south wall of the Castle in 1801, which ruined several houses. Eger became the seat of an archbishopric in 1804, and the church remained in firm control of the city, despite efforts by its citizens to obtain greater freedom. In 1827, much of the city centre was damaged by fire again, and four years later over 200 were killed in an outbreak of cholera.

The inhabitants of Eger took an active part in the revolution in 1848. Even though the revolution was suppressed, the age of landowners and serfs had gone forever, and the municipality gained freedom from the rule of the archbishop in 1854. However, the main railway line between Miskolc and Pest bypassed the city, which was only reached later by a branch line from Füzesabony.

Economic recovery was slow after World War I, although the 1899 publication of Gárdonyi's "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon" made Eger popular as a tourist attraction and archaeological excavation of the castle resumed. In World War II, the city suffered under the retreating German army and the arriving Soviet army, but it managed to escape major bombardment.

Eger today is a prosperous city and popular tourist destination with a charming Baroque town centre.