Béla III of Hungary
Béla III was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Géza granted Béla a duchy, which included Croatia, central Dalmatia and possibly Sirmium. In accordance with a peace treaty between his elder brother, Stephen III, who succeeded their father in 1162, and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, Béla moved to Constantinople in 1163. He was renamed to Alexios, and the emperor granted him the newly created senior court title of despotes. He was betrothed to the Emperor's daughter, Maria. Béla's patrimony caused armed conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary between 1164 and 1167, because Stephen III attempted to hinder the Byzantines from taking control of Croatia, Dalmatia and Sirmium. Béla-Alexios, who was designated as Emperor Manuel's heir in 1165, took part in three Byzantine campaigns against Hungary. His betrothal to the emperor's daughter was dissolved after her brother, Alexios, was born in 1169. The emperor deprived Béla of his high title, granting him the inferior rank of kaisar.
Stephen III died on 4 March 1172, and Béla decided to return to Hungary. Before his departure, he pledged that he would never make war against the Byzantine Empire. Although the Hungarian prelates and lords unanimously proclaimed Béla king, Lucas, Archbishop of Esztergom opposed his coronation because of Béla's alleged simony. Finally, the Archbishop of Kalocsa crowned him king on 18 January 1173, with Pope Alexander III's approval. Béla fought with his younger brother, Géza, whom he held in captivity for more than a decade. Taking advantage of the internal conflicts in the Byzantine Empire after Emperor Manuel's death, Béla reoccupied Croatia, Dalmatia and Sirmium between 1180 and 1181. He occupied the Principality of Halych in 1188, but it was lost within two years.
Béla promoted the use of written records during his reign. Hungarian chronicles from the 14th century even state that he was responsible for the establishment of the Royal Chancery. The royal palace built in Esztergom during his reign was the first example of Gothic architecture in Central Europe. He was the wealthiest European monarch of his time, according to a list of his revenues, but the reliability of the list is questioned.
Early life
Childhood ( 1148–1163)
Béla was the second son of Géza II of Hungary and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. The date of his birth was not recorded. Studies of his bones show that Béla died in 1196 at around 49 years old, so he must have been born around 1148.The contemporaneous John Kinnamos's reference to "the territory which his father, while still alive, had apportioned" to Béla shows that Géza II granted a distinct territory as an appanage to his younger son. Béla's patrimony certainly included the central parts of Dalmatia,, because Kinnamos mentioned the province "as Béla's heritage". Historians Ferenc Makk and Gyula Moravcsik agree that Béla also received Croatia from his father. Whether Syrmium was also part of Béla's patrimony, or if he only acquired it after his father's death is subject to scholarly debates. According to historian Warren Treadgold, Béla's patrimony also included Bosnia. The exact date of Géza II's grant cannot be determined, but according to Makk, Béla seems to have received his duchy around 1161.
Géza II, who died on 31 May 1162, was succeeded by his first-born son, Stephen III. Stephen III seems to have confirmed Béla's possession of the duchy, because Kinnamos referred to the land which was "long before granted" to Béla by Géza and Stephen. Shortly after his ascension to the throne, Stephen III was expelled by his uncles, Ladislaus II and Stephen IV. The Byzantine Emperor, Manuel I Komnenos, supported the uncles' takeover, but Stephen III returned to Hungary and regained his crown by force in the middle of 1163. Béla probably remained neutral during his brother's conflict with their uncles, because there is no report of Béla's activities in 1162 and 1163.
In 1163, Emperor Manuel signed a peace treaty with Stephen III, in which he renounced his support of Stephen's opponents. In exchange, Stephen III agreed to send Béla to Constantinople, and to allow the Byzantines to take possession of Béla's duchy. The Emperor also promised that he would betroth his daughter, Maria, to Béla.
''Despotes'' Alexios (1163–1169)
Emperor Manuel dispatched sebastos George Palaiologos to escort Béla to the Byzantine Empire. Béla arrived in Constantinople around the end of 1163. He was renamed to Alexios, and received the title of despotes, which only emperors had used before that time. Béla's betrothal to the emperor's daughter was also officially announced.Stephen III invaded Syrmium in the summer of 1164. Emperor Manuel led his armies against Stephen, stating that he arrived "not to wage war on the Hungarians but to recover his land for Béla", according to Kinnamos. Béla-Alexiosalong with his uncle, Stephen IV, and their distant relative, Stephanos Kalamanosaccompanied the emperor during the campaign. Before long, a new peace treaty was signed, once again forcing Stephen III to renounce Béla's duchy. A Byzantine army occupied Syrmium, which was organized into a Byzantine theme, or district.
Stephen III launched a new invasion against Syrmium in the spring of 1165. Emperor Manuel directed the counter-attack, and Béla accompanied him again. After the imperial army recaptured Zimony, Béla persuaded the emperor to prohibit the execution of the Hungarian soldiers who were captured in the fortress. A Byzantine army also occupied Dalmatia. A new peace treaty between Stephen III and Emperor Manuel followed, which confirmed the emperor's suzerainty in Béla's former duchy. Dalmatia and Bosnia were soon converted into Byzantine themes.
Emperor Manuel ceremoniously made his daughter and Béla-Alexios his heirs, and forced the Byzantine notables to swear an oath of fidelity to them in the autumn of 1165. Only the emperor's cousin, Andronikos Komnenos, dared to condemn this act, asking, "What madness is this of the emperor to deem every Roman male unworthy of his daughter's nuptial bed, to choose before all others this foreigner and interloper to be an emperor of the Romans and to sit above all as master?", according to the nearly contemporaneous Niketas Choniates. Béla-Alexios participated in the 1166 Council of Blachernae, together with Emperor Manuel and the Ecumenical Patriarch Luke Chrysoberges. In the spring of 1166, Béla-Alexios accompanied protostrator Alexios Axouch, who led a Byzantine army against Hungary in retaliation for a new Hungarian invasion of Syrmium. On 11 April 1166, although Béla-Alexios and his bride were related to each other, Emperor Manuel confirmed a decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch, which stated that marriages between kin to the seventh degree were void. Manuel even proposed a marriage between his daughter and the new King of Sicily, William II, in the autumn of 1166.
A new war broke out between Hungary and the Byzantine Empire in 1167, because Béla-Alexios "claimed the kingdom" of his brother, according to the contemporaneous Rahewin. Henry of Mügeln also wrote that many Hungarians joined and served the army of Béla-Alexios, stating that "the Kingdom of Hungary belonged to him by right". On 8 July 1167, the Byzantine army annihilated the Hungarian troops in the Battle of Sirmium. A peace treaty was signed, which put an end to the period of wars between Hungary and the Byzantine Empire, and confirmed the dominion of the Byzantine Empire over central Dalmatia, Bosnia and Syrmium.
''Kaisar'' Alexios (1169–1172)
Emperor Manuel's wife, Maria of Antioch, gave birth to a son named Alexios on 14 September 1169. The emperor dissolved his daughter's betrothal to Béla-Alexios. The emperor also removed Béla-Alexios's title of despotes, but granted him the inferior rank of kaisar. In the spring of 1170, Béla-Alexios married the emperor's sister-in-law, Agnes of Antioch. The couple went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, they donated 10,000 bezants to the Knights Hospitaller in compensation for their hospitality. In the charter of grant, Béla-Alexios styled himself "Lord A., Duke of Hungary, Dalmatia and Croatia", ignoring the title that the emperor had recently bestowed upon him.Reign
Coronation (1172–1173)
Béla's brother, Stephen III, died on 4 March 1172. Arnold of Lübeck, who was staying in Esztergom, recorded a rumor suggesting that Stephen had been poisoned by Béla's supporters, but no other source verifies this hearsay. Stephen III's widow, Agnes, left Hungary, although she was pregnant when her husband died. A Hungarian delegation visited Emperor Manuel and Béla in Sardica. They demanded that "Béla be dispatched to them as king", because "the principle of justice looked toward him" after his brother's death, according to Kinnamos. Kinnamos also said that Emperor Manuel made Béla king after Béla "promised an oath to observe for the whole course of his life whatever would be beneficial" to the emperor and the Byzantines. A letter written by the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos in 1196 says that on the same occasion, Béla pledged that he would never support the Serbians if they fought against the Byzantine Empire.Béla and his wife arrived in Székesfehérvár in late April or early May. Béla was unanimously elected king by the "dignitaries of the Hungarian kingdom", according to a letter written by Pope Alexander III in 1179. However, Béla's coronation was delayed, because Lucas, Archbishop of Esztergom, refused to perform it. The archbishop accused the king of simony, because Béla had given a precious cloak to his delegate. According to a scholarly theory, Archbishop Lucas also feared that the influence of "schismatics" would increase under Béla's rule. Nevertheless, the majority of the barons and prelates remained loyal to Béla. Béla sought the assistance of the Holy See against the Archbishop Lucas. Upon Béla's request, Pope Alexander III authorized the Archbishop of Kalocsa to anoint Béla king and "place the crown on his head". Béla's coronation took place on 18 January 1173. He issued a charter confirming the right of the archbishops of Esztergom to crown the Hungarian monarchs. The unification of the so-called "Greek" and "Latin" crowns into the Holy Crown of Hungary seems to have occurred during his reign.