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I can find only very little information on the abolition of slavery in the Kingdom of Hungary. The Wikipedia Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom only mentions that in 1958 Hungary ratified the 1926 "Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery". This is not the same as abolishing slavery.

The lack of information on the subject suggests that slavery was not really a thing in the KOH.

On the other hand, the review of Slavery in Early Medieval Hungary suggests that:

The use of slave labour in Hungary continued until the end of the thirteenth century when a combination of economic and political factors brought it to an end.

However, I find it unlikely that this was the definitive end of slavery, since it is more than 400 years ahead of the other European countries, and the book deals only with "Early medieval Hungary".

Furthermore, this article suggests a revival of slavery after the black death in Europe.

Was slavery legally reintroduced? If so, when was it finally abolished?

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    @MarkC.Wallace One of the reasons why I am asking the question here is actually an absence of easily googleable existing narrative. The review I linked does not provide the details of the exact law that passed. Of course, I could buy the book that I linked in my question and I could research the question for myself, but the purpose of this site is that someone smarter can share his knowledge here and spare me and other curious peoples' troubles.
    – Martin Drozdik
    May 20, 2018 at 23:13
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    "more than 400 years ahead of the other European countries" - That would actually be quite late by European standards if memory serves me well. There wasn't much if any slavery elsewhere in Europe by then (though there were still serfs in the East until later). Europeans were trading slaves and using them in their colonies a few centuries later, but slavery at home was inexistent for all practical intents by then.
    – Denis de Bernardy
    May 21, 2018 at 11:15
  • In the regions of southern Transylvania that at some point were under Wallachian domination Romani slavery was kept under Hungarian rule (as slaves were in possession of Romanian boyars or maybe monasteries, and then within estates that adopted such structures: e.g. Bran castle). That ended, it seems, only in the 18th century, with the Austrian occupation and reforms. Romani slavery in Romanian Principalities has some very specific trends though, different from both classical and American slavery.
    – cipricus
    Jun 13, 2019 at 19:49
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    Romani slavery in the Principalities lacks one feature of classical, islamic or recent slavery: movement and trade on long distances. Roma people used to be migratory (brought as slaves by Byzantines, Mongols or Turks maybe) but in the Principalities they were not transported, but stayed in villages (in this respect somewhere between serfdom and slavery) or they moved as itinerant specialized craftsmen (goldsmiths, musicians, etc) owned by the prince. It is this type of slavery that was partially transmitted into territories of the Hungarian crown and then of the Transylvanian Principality.
    – cipricus
    Jun 13, 2019 at 20:07
  • From 1526 Hungary was part of the Habsburg Monarchy. The timeline you cited mentions it under the name "Austria". For example, serfdom was abolished in 1848. This was one of the aims of the revolution and freedom fight of that year.
    – Adam Gyenge
    Nov 24, 2022 at 8:48

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As far as i could find out, the first time slavery was officially abolished in Hungary was in 1852 with the introduction of the "Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch" (ABGB / General civil code), which explicitly forbid slavery and serfdom. The civil code was introduced to the Habsburg crownlands in 1812 and introduced in Hungary from 1852 (in the wake of the "New Year's Eve patent"/Silvesterpatent of 1851) to 1861. Serfdom alone was already temporarily de jure abolished through the Hungarian revolution of 1848. It's not clear to me whether this would also include slavery.

See e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allgemeines_b%C3%BCrgerliches_Gesetzbuch

Regarding slavery in the medieval kingdom of Hungary, I found a source in a book by Lajos Tardy, translated into German by Esterházy named "Sklavenhandel in der Tartarei" from 1983. It describes slavery in the Crimea and Tartary, while giving context regarding Hungary and Hungarian slaves until the 1470s. Because I could not find an English translation, the following summary is translated by myself:

According to Tardy, taking and selling slaves (to Byzantine Merchants in Kerch) was common for the Magyars (p.82). Following the settlement of the Magyars on the Hungarian plain, enslavement of local Slavs was likewise common. Following on after the settlement and christianiazion of Hungary, a distinction was made between christian and non-christian slaves (Jewish people were also considered somewhat protected following the Synod of Szabolcs). Tardy quotes Simon Kézai, a Hungarian chronicler of the 13th century who wrote, that it was the right of every Hungarian to hold heathen slaves. The number of slaves in the 13th century rose further, as children of slaves were considered slaves, the court of law could force you into becoming a slave (e.g. for unpaid debts) or prisoners of war could become slaves (p. 85-86).

Especially Genoese and Venetian colonies and associated slavemarkets in the Crimea further boosted the slave-trade (in cooperation with the Golden Horde) at the end of the 13th century,and consequently the supply inside Hungary. Hungarians were themselves among some of the sold slave population. Much of the comparatively smaller overland trade between the Black Sea, northern Italy and other European markets also crossed Hungary. Until the collapse of the Italian colonies in the Black Sea (~1470), slavery continued with notable spikes e.g. following the Black Death (1348-52) and the associated labor shortages (p.102).

For an online source regarding Tardys book (in German), see e.g. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?&title=Sklavenhandel%20in%20der%20Tartarei%3A%20Die%20Frage%20der%20Mandscharen&publication_year=1983&author=Tardy%2CLajos

Following the conquests of the Ottomans, Hungarians often became slaves themselves, e.g. through the Devshirme child-levy. According to Wikipedia about one fifth of the population of the Empire were slaves in the 16th and 17th century.

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