Béla III of Hungary

Béla III. ( Belo III in Croatia Bela II. ) (C. 1148; † April 24, 1196 ) Hungarian king from the House of Árpád dynasty, reigned from 1172 to his death.

Béla III. was the son of Géza II and Euphrosyne, daughter of Mstislav I of Kiev. He succeeded his brother Stephen III. to the Hungarian throne.

The way to the throne

Since the official heir to the throne first Stefan III. was Béla initially had the role to maintain contact with the Byzantine Empire. For Béla moved to Byzantium, where he married Mary, daughter of the emperor and assumed the name Alexius. In 1165 he was officially appointed to the Byzantine throne. Manuel I had but later declared a son, so Béla was deprived of his title, and his marriage invalid.

On March 4, 1172 Stefan was probably poisoned, after which he was asked Béla to ascend the throne of Hungary. Because of his contacts with Byzantium but were not all Hungarians behind him. Many nobles, including Béla's mother even wanted to see Béla's brother Géza on the throne, dear. Béla captured his brother and turned him so. He was only released in 1189, when Emperor Friedrich I came to Hungary. Géza joined the crusade under the emperor's leadership.

Domestic Policy

1181 Béla ordered, to submit all matters of which he occupied himself in writing. That was the beginning of the Hungarian bureaucracy.

In the time of Béla began to use the double cross, which is also seen in the present Hungarian coat of arms.

Foreign Policy

In his reign the intense reaching out Hungary falls to the Russian region Halych, which had already announced under Béla's predecessors. 1188 Béla occupied Halych finally perfect, drove the Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich and appointed his son Andreas King of Galicia. Shortly thereafter, however, Vladimir succeeded in Polish and German support, the reconquest of the Principality. In addition, Béla went with Bavarian support more than once against the Bohemian Duke Wenceslas II.

After his death, his firstborn son Emmerich succeeded to the throne of Hungary.

Marriages and descendants

Béla was engaged to Maria Comnena of Byzantium, daughter of Manuel I..

He was married to Agnes de Châtillon (1153-1184), daughter of Renaud de Châtillon, who bore him six children:

• Emmerich (* 1174, † 1204), King of Hungary
• Margaret of Hungary (* 1175, † after 1233 ), 1 ∞ Emperor Isaac II of Byzantium, 2nd ∞ Margrave Boniface I of Montferrat
• Andrew II (* 1176, † 1235 ), King of Hungary
• Salomon (who died young)
• Stephan (deceased young)
• Constance of Hungary (* 1180, † 1240), ∞ King Otakar II of Bohemia Přemysl

He was also engaged to Constance Komnene of Byzantium.

In his second marriage he was married to Marguerite Capet, daughter of Louis VII of France.