History of Burgenland

Between Hungary and Austria
The first inhabitation of Burgenland dates back to the Stone Age. During the Roman Empire it formed the core of the province of Pannonia. After the battle at Augsburg (955), German settlers started to inhabit the area. In 1043 a peace treaty between Kaiser Henry III and King Aba Sámuel of Hungary fixed the western border of Hungary along the Leitha river. The territory of the present-day Burgenland became the western border-zone of Hungary until 1920, but the majority of the population was always German.

After 1440 Burgenland was occupied by the Habsburgs of Austria, and in 1463 the northern part of it (with the town of Kőszeg) became a mortgage-territory according to the peace treaty of Wiener Neustadt. In 1477 King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary reoccupied, but in 1491 it was mortgaged again by King Ulászló II of Hungary to Kaiser Maximilian I. In 1647 Kaiser Ferdinand II returned it to Hungary. Until the end of the First World War the area was sometimes called German West Hungary (Deutsch-Westungarn). The name “Burgenland” comes from “Vierburgenland” (Land of Four Castles), derived from the name of the four Hungarian counties known as Pozsony, Moson, Sopron, and Vas, in German Pressburg, Wieselburg, Ödenburg und Eisenburg.