Béla IV of Hungary
During his reign, thousands of colonists arrived from the Holy Roman Empire, Poland and other neighboring regions to settle in the depopulated lands.During Béla's reign, a wide buffer zone—which included Bosnia, Barancs (Braničevo, Serbia) and other newly conquered regions—was established along the southern frontier of Hungary in the 1250s.He was forced to cede the territories of the Kingdom of Hungary east of the river Danube to Stephen, which caused a civil war lasting until 1266.[3][4] Queen Gertrude showed blatant favoritism towards her German relatives and courtiers, causing widespread discontent among the native lords.[5][6] Taking advantage of her husband's campaign in the distant Principality of Halych, a group of aggrieved noblemen seized and murdered her in the forests of the Pilis Hills on 28 September 1213.[12] Furthermore, when leaving for a Crusade to the Holy Land in August 1217, King Andrew appointed John, Archbishop of Esztergom, to represent him during his absence.[12][16] A letter of 1222 of Pope Honorius III reveals that "some wicked men" had forced Andrew II to share his realms with his heir.[33] Béla decided to help him to regain his throne, proudly boasting that the town of Halych "would not remain on the face of the earth, for there was no one to deliver it from his hands",[34] according to the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle.[44] Béla ordered her imprisonment, but she managed to escape to the Holy Roman Empire, where she gave birth to a posthumous son, Stephen.[48] According to the contemporaneous Roger of Torre Maggiore, he even "had the chairs of the barons burned"[49] in order to prevent them from sitting in his presence during the meetings of the royal council.[41][46] In exchange for Béla's renouncing of the taking back of royal estates in 1239, the Pope authorized him to employ local Jews and Muslims in financial administration, which had for decades been opposed by the Holy See.[41][50] After returning from Magna Hungaria in 1236, Friar Julian informed Béla of the Mongols, who had by that time reached the Volga River and were planning to invade Europe.[52][56] His Hungarian subjects thought that he was biased in the Cumans' favor, thus "enmity emerged between the people and the king",[57] according to Roger of Torre Maggiore.[42] For instance, he confirmed the liberties of the citizens of Székesfehérvár and granted privileges to Hungarian and German settlers in Bars (Starý Tekov, Slovakia) in 1237.[54][59] Duke Frederick II of Austria, who arrived to assist Béla against the invaders, defeated a small Mongol troop near Pest.[64] The royal army was ill-prepared and its commanders—the barons alienated by Béla's policy—"would have liked the king to be defeated so that they would then be dearer to him",[65] according to Roger of Torre Maggiore's account.[76] He made land grants in the forested regions and obliged the new landowners to equip heavily armoured cavalrymen to serve in the royal army.[85][86] He even allowed the barons and prelates to employ armed noblemen, who had previously been directly subordinated to the sovereign, in their private retinue (banderium).[89] Germans, Moravians, Poles, Ruthenians and other "guests" arrived from neighboring countries and were settled in depopulated or sparsely populated regions.[88][104] His childless death gave rise to a series of conflicts,[100] because both his niece, Gertrude, and his sister, Margaret, made a claim to Austria and Styria.[109] Daniil Romanovich, Boleslaw the Chaste of Cracow, and Wladislaw of Opole intervened on Béla's behalf, but he lifted the siege by the end of June.[113] He invaded Bosnia already in the year of his appointment and forced Tzar Michael Asen I of Bulgaria to cede Belgrade and Barancs (Braničevo, Serbia) in 1255.[129] Although some clashes took place in the autumn, a lasting civil war was avoided through the mediation of the Archbishops Philip of Esztergom and Smaragd of Kalocsa who persuaded Béla and his son to make a compromise.[130][131] According to the Peace of Pressburg, the two divided the country along the Danube: the lands to the west of the river remained under the direct rule of Béla, and the government of the eastern territories was taken over by Stephen, the king-junior.[127][130] The new treaty confirmed the division of the country along the Danube and regulated many aspects of the co-existence of Béla's regnum and Stephen's regimen, including the collection of taxes and the commoners' right to free movement.[135] King Stephen Uroš I of Serbia invaded the Banate of Macsó, a region under the rule of Béla's widowed daughter, Anna.In the last year of his life, in December 1269, Abbot of Monte Cassino Bernhard Ayglerius visited Hungary as the envoy of King Charles I of Anjou.He reported enthusiastically to his lord, the foreign, impartial contemporary envoy saw Béla's court as follows:[143][144] "The Hungarian royal house has incredible power, its military forces are so large that nobody in the East and the North dares even budge if the triumphant and glorious king mobilizes his army.[122] Dedicated to God by her parents at birth, she spent her life in humility in the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin on Rabbits' Island and died as a Dominican nun.[163] A fourth daughter, Constance also became subject to a local cult in Lemberg (Lviv, Ukraine), according to the Legend of her sister, Kunigunda.
King of HungaryCroatiaCoronationSzékesfehérvárAndrew IIStephen VDuke of StyriaOttokar VStephenStephen I GutkeledRabbits' IslandEsztergomMaria LaskarinaSaint Kinga, High Duchess of PolandAnna, Baness of MacsóBlessed Yolanda, Duchess of PolandElizabeth, Duchess of BavariaConstance, Queen of GaliciaStephen V, King of HungarySaint MargaretBéla, Duke of SlavoniaDynastyÁrpád dynastyAndrew II of HungaryGertrude of MeraniaRoman CatholicKing Andrew IIDuke of SlavoniaDalmatiaTheodore I LaskarisEmperor of NicaeaTransylvaniaCumansnoblemenprelatesMongolsBattle of MohiTrogirAdriatic SeaHoly Roman EmpireHungarianDaniil RomanovichPrince of HalychBoleslaw the ChasteDuke of CracowDuchy of StyriaOttokar II of BohemiaBosniaBarancsKingdom of HungaryDanubecivil warFranciscan tertiaryvenerationKunigundaYolandaMargaretHoly SeeLandgraviate of ThuringiaPope Innocent IIInative lordsPrincipality of HalychmurderedPilis HillsBoril of BulgariaCrusadeHoly LandJohn, Archbishop of EsztergomBerthold of MeraniaKlis FortressDomald of SidragaDráva RiverSlavoniaPope Honorius IIIby the Grace of GodAustriaDomald's fortressŠubićiColomanDuke of TransylvaniaCarpathian MountainsDominicansBoriciusRoman Catholic Diocese of CumaniaMichael KacsicsHalychAndrew, Prince of HalychGalician–Volhynian ChronicleBulgariaBanate of SzörényLower DanubeFriar Juliandescendants of the HungariansMagna HungariaIlluminated ChronicleRobert, Archbishop of EsztergomPalatine DenisJulius KánQueen BeatrixBéla IIIRoger of Torre MaggiorePope Gregory IXCisterciansmilitary orderslocal JewsMuslimsVolga Riverinvade EuropeDesht-i QipchaqEurasian SteppesKötenTisza RiverPolandBatu KhanGreat KhanÖgödeiVerecke PassFrederick II of Austriamass hysteriaBalkan PeninsulaSajó RiverNyitraPressburgDanube RiverDuke Frederick II of Austria'sHainburg an der Donau