Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Bef 1063, Ungarn; Konge.

Notes:

Birth:
Esztergom, Komarom-Esztergom.

Occupation:
Béla 1 the Champion or the Wisent (Hungarian: 1. Bajnok or Bölény Béla, Slovak: Belo 1.; before 1020 – 11 September 1063) was King of Hungary from 1060 until his death. He descended from a younger branch of the Árpád dynasty. Béla's baptismal name was Adalbert. He left Hungary in 1031, together with his brothers, Levente and Andrew, after the execution of their father, Vazul. Béla settled in Poland and married Richeza (or Adelaide), daughter of King Mieszko 2 of Poland.

He returned to his homeland upon the invitation of his brother Andrew, who had in the meantime been crowned King of Hungary. Andrew assigned the administration of the so-called ducatus or - duchy - which encompassed around 1/3 of the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, to Béla. The 2 brothers' relationship became tense when Andrew had his own son, Solomon, crowned king, and forced Béla to publicly confirm Solomon's right to the throne in 1057 or 1058. Béla, assisted by his Polish relatives, rebelled against his brother and dethroned him in 1060. He introduced monetary reform and subdued the last uprising aimed at the restoration of paganism in Hungary. Béla was fatally injured when his throne collapsed while he was sitting on it.

Most Hungarian chronicles, including Simon of Kéza's Gesta Hungarorum and the Illuminated Chronicle, record that Béla's father was Ladislaus the Bald, a cousin of Stephen, the first King of Hungary. However, many of the same sources add that it is sometimes claimed that Béla and his two brothers—Levente and Andrew—were in fact the sons of Ladislaus the Bald's brother, Vazul. The chronicles also refer to gossip claiming that the 3 brothers were their father's illegitimate sons, born to a girl from the Tátony clan. Modern historians, who accept the latter reports' reliability, unanimously write that the 3 brothers were the sons of Vazul and his concubine.

Béla was born between 1015 and 1020. It is debated whether Béla was a second or a third son. The former view is represented, for example, by the Polish historian Wincenty Swoboda, and the latter by the Hungarian scholars Gyula Kristó and Ferenc Makk. Kristó and Makk write that Béla's name most probably derived from the Turkish adjective bujla (noble). However, the name may also be connected to the Slavic word for white (bjelij) or to the Biblical name Bela.

King Stephen's only son who survived infancy, Emeric, died on 2 September 1031. Thereafter, Vazul had the strongest claim to succeed the King. However, the monarch, suspecting that Vazul inclined towards paganism, favored his own sister's son, Peter Orseolo. In order to ensure his nephew's succession, Stephen had Vazul blinded. Béla and his two brothers fled from the kingdom.

They first settled in Bohemia, but their condition of life was poor and mean there. They moved to Poland, where they received a warm reception from King Mieszko 2. According to the Hungarian chronicles, Béla participated in a Polish expedition against the pagan Pomeranians and defeated their duke in single combat. The Illuminated Chronicle narrates that the Polish monarch praised the boldness and strength of Duke Béla and bestowed on him all the Pomeranian tribute. The King even gave his daughter—named either Richeza or Adelaide—in marriage to Béla and granted a goodly quantity of land to him. Makk says that Béla was not baptized until just before his marriage; his baptismal name was the Germanic (not in citation given) one of Adalbert.

At that time the Pomeranians refused to pay their yearly tribute to the Duke of Poland, to whom they were subject. The Duke set out to exact by force of arms the tribute due to him from the Pomeranians. Then the Pomeranians, who were pagans, and the Poles, who were Christians, agreed together that their leaders should meet each other in a duel, and if the Pomeranian fell defeated, he would render the customary tribute; and if the Pole, then he might bewail its loss. Since (the) Duke (Mieszko) and his sons shrank in fear from the duel to be fought, (Béla) presented himself before them and through an interpreter spoke thus:

If it is pleasing to you, Poles, and to the lord Duke, although I am of nobler birth than that pagan, yet I will fight for the advantage of your kingdom and for the honour of the Duke.

This was pleasing both to the Pomeranians and to the Poles. When they met in combat, armed with lances, (Béla) is said to have struck the Pomeranian so manfully that he unseated him from his horse; and the Pomeranian could not move from the spot where he had fallen, and [Béla] smote him with his sword. Then the Duke of the Pomeranians confessed himself at fault; and the Pomeranians, seeing this, humbly submitted to the Duke of Poland and paid the accustomed tribute without murmuring.

— The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle.

King Mieszko 2 died in 1034; his son and heir, Casimir was forced to leave Poland. A period of anarchy followed, which lasted at least until 1039 when Casimir returned. According to Kristó and Makk, Béla was staying in Poland during this period; he even may have administered the kingdom in the name of his absent brother-in-law.[17] On the other hand, the Polish historian, Manteuffel writes that Béla and his two brothers, in contrast with the unanimous report of the Hungarian chronicles, arrived in Poland only with Casimir, after 1039. It is beyond a doubt that Levente and Andrew departed from Poland in about 1038, because—according to the Illuminated Chronicle—they did not want to live the life of hangers-on in the Duke of Poland's court, regarded only as Béla's brothers.

Upon leaving Poland, Andrew and Levente settled in Kiev. They returned to Hungary after a rebellion which was dominated by pagans broke out against King Peter Orseolo in 1046. The King was dethroned, and Andrew was proclaimed king. Levente died in the same year and Andrew, still childless, decided to invite Béla back to Hungary.

Having lost one brother, King Andreas sent to Poland to his other brother Bela, calling him with great love and saying:

Once we shared poverty and labour together, and now I ask you, most beloved brother, that you come to me without tarrying, so that we may be companions in joy and share in the good things of the kingdom, rejoicing in each other's presence. For I have neither heir nor brother except you. You shall be my heir, and you shall succeed me in the kingdom.

Won by these words, Béla came to the King with all his family. When the King saw him, he rejoiced with a great joy, because he was fortified by his brother's strength. Then the King and his brother Bela held a council and divided the kingdom into three parts, of which two remained under the proprietorship of the royal majesty or power and the third was put under the proprietorship of the Duke. This first division of the kingdom became the seed of discord and wars between the dukes and the kings of Hungary.

— The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle.

Urged by his brother, Béla returned in 1048 and received one-third of the kingdom, with the title of duke. Béla's ducatus or duchy encompassed large territories along the eastern and northern borders, including the regions of Nyitra (Nitra, Slovakia) and Bihar (Biharia, Romania). He possessed a wide range of royal prerogatives, including coinage. The half-denars minted for him bore the inscription BELA DUX (Duke Béla). According to Steinhübel, the mid-11th-century timber and earth walls of the fortress of Nyitra were erected in Béla's reign.

The 2 brothers closely collaborated in the subsequent years. According to the Illuminated Chronicle, they together worked out a military strategy against the Germans, who were frequently invading the kingdom in the early 1050s. Ferenc Makk writes that Béla's epithets—the Champion or the Wisent — are connected to his fighting against the Germans. The chronicler emphasizes that Andrew and Béla lived in a great tranquillity of peace even after Andrew fathered a son, Solomon, in 1053. Béla was one of the lords witnessing the deed of the foundation of the Tihany Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that his brother established in 1055.

The 2 brothers' good relationship deteriorated after King Andrew had the child Solomon crowned king in 1057 or 1058. The coronation was the consequence of the peace negotiations with the Holy Roman Empire, because the Germans did not acquiesce in a marriage between Solomon and Judith—the sister of the young German monarch, Henry IV—until Solomon's right to succeed his father was declared and publicly confirmed. Thereafter Andrew was determined to secure the throne for his son. He invited Béla to his manor in Tiszavárkony, where the King offered his brother a seemingly free choice between a crown and a sword (which were the symbols of the royal and ducal power, respectively). However, he had ordered that Béla be murdered if he chose the crown. Having been informed of his brother's secret plan by one of his own partisans in the royal court, Béla opted for the sword, but he departed for Poland after the meeting.

He returned to Hungary, in the autumn of 1060, with Polish troops that Duke Boleslaus the Bold of Poland had provided. Around the same time, German reinforcements arrived in Hungary to assist Andrew against Béla. The ensuing civil war ended with the victory of Béla, who defeated his brother in two successive battles fought at the river Tisza and at Moson. The King was seriously injured and died soon afterward. His partisans took his son, the child Solomon, to Germany.

Béla was crowned king in Székesfehérvár on 6 December 1060. He ordered that the wives and sons and all the property of all those who had followed his nephew to Germany should be protected and kept safe and sound, which induced many of Solomon's partisans to reconcile themselves to Béla's rule and return to Hungary. He reformed the coinage and introduced large coins of purest silver into circulation. In order to stabilize the new currency, Béla maximized the prices and eliminated the black market. He also ordered that weekly markets should be held on Saturdays, instead of Sundays, in the kingdom. The historian Nora Berend says that the latter measure may have adversely affected Jewish activities, because Jews, who observed the Sabbath, could not work on Saturdays.

Béla decided to discuss his innovations with the representatives of the freemen, and sent heralds throughout all Hungary to summon two elders with gift of speech from each village to a royal council, according to the Illuminated Chronicle. A great crowd of commoners gathered in Székesfehérvár in 1061. They demanded the restoration of paganism and the murder of clergymen, but Béla collected his army and suppressed their uprising within three days.

Béla attempted to conclude a peace treaty with the Holy Roman Empire. For this purpose, shortly after his coronation, he released all German commanders who had assisted his brother during the civil war. However, the young German monarch's advisors refused Béla's proposals.In the summer of 1063, an assembly of the German princes decided to launch a military expedition against Hungary to restore young Solomon to the throne. Béla was planning to abdicate in favor of his nephew if the latter restored his former ducatus, but he was seriously injured when his throne broke beneath him in his manor at Dömös. The King—who was half-dead, according to the Illuminated Chronicle—was taken to the western borders of his kingdom, where he died at the creek Kinizsa on 11 September 1063. Béla was buried in the Benedictine Szekszárd Abbey, which he had set up in 1061. Following Béla's death, his three sons—Géza, Ladislaus and Lampert—sought refuge in Poland, and Solomon ascended the throne.

Béla married, in about 1033, a daughter of King Mieszko 2 of Poland. According to Makk, her name was either Richesa or Adelheid. Their eldest children, Géza and Ladislaus - who became kings of Hungary in 1074 and 1077, respectively — were born in Poland in the 1040s. Béla's third son, Lampert, was born after Béla's return to Hungary.

Lampert was followed by a daughter named Sophia, who was first married to Margrave Ulric 1 of Carniola, and later to Duke Magnus of Saxony. Her younger sister, Euphemia, became the wife of Duke Otto 1 of Olomouc. Béla's third daughter, Helena, was the queen of King Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia. An unnamed daughter of Béla became the first wife of a Hungarian nobleman, Lampert of the Clan Hont-Pázmány. According to the historian Martin Dimnik, Béla also fathered a fifth daughter, Lanka, who was the wife of Prince Rostislav Vladimirovich of Tmutarakan.

Family/Spouse: Rikitza av Polen. Rikitza (daughter of Mieszko av Polen, "Mieszko 2" and Richiza av Saalfeld og Lothringen) was born about 1018 in Krakow, Polen; died after 1052. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Ladislas av Ungarn, "Ladislas 1" was born about 1041; died on 29 Jul 1095.
2. Sofie av Ungarn was born about 1044; died on 18 Jun 1095.
3. Geza (Geysa) av Ungarn, "Geza 1" was born about 1044; died on 24 Apr 1077.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Bef 1032, Ungarn; Konge / hertug av nordre Ungarn.

Notes:

Occupation:
Vazul, or also Vászoly, (before 997–1031 or 1032) was a member of the House of Árpád, a grandson of Taksony, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. Otherwise, the only certain information of his life, that he was kept in captivity and blinded in the fortress of Nyitra (Nitra, Slovakia) in the last years of the reign of his cousin, King Stephen I of Hungary. Modern historians, including György Györffy, do not exclude that he had earlier been Duke of Nyitra. He is the forefather of nearly all Kings of Hungary who reigned after 1046.

Vazul was a son of Michael, who was the younger son of Grand Prince Taksony. His mother's name is unknown. According to the Györffy, it is probable that she was a Bulgarian princess, a relative of Samuel of Bulgaria. Györffy also writes that Vazul was still a child around 997. His name derived from the Greek Basileios which implies that he was baptized according to Byzantine rite.

Györffy says that Vazul apparently held the Nyitra ducate, because chronicles do not make mention of other settlements in connection with his life. According to the Illuminated Chronicle, King Stephen imprisoned Vazul and held him in captivity in the fortress of Nyitra (Nitra, Slovakia) in order to urge him to amend his youthful frivolity and folly. In contrast with Györffy, his Slovak colleague, Ján Steinhübel has no doubt that Vazul was a Duke of Nyitra, who succeeded his brother, Ladislas the Bald before 1030. Steinhübel adds that Vazul, similarly to his brother, accepted the suzerainty of King Mieszko II of Poland; he was imprisoned at his former seat when King Stephen I of Hungary occupied his duchy in 1031. The theory that the Duchy of Nyitra was under Polish suzerainty in the first decades of the 11th century, which is based on the Polish-Hungarian Chronicle, is flatly refused by Györffy.

Emeric, the only son of King Stephen who survived infancy died in a hunting accident in 1031. Although Vazul who was Stephen's closest agnatic relative had the strongest claim to succeede him on the throne, the king disregarded him and nominated his own sister's son, Peter Orseolo as his heir. According to the nearly contemporaneous Annals of Altaich, Vazul bitterly resented his omission, but he was blinded on King Stephen's order. According to the contrasting reports of later Hungarian chronicles, written under kings descending from Vazul's line, Stephen initially was planning to nominate Vazul as his heir, but Vazul's enemies, including Stephen's queen, Gisela hatched a plot to hinder the king's plans. They sent an evil man to Nyitra who put out Vazul's eyes and filled the cavities of his ears with lead before the king's envoys arrived.

Feeling his powers slipping away, sent messengers in haste to have his uncle's son Vazul brought from prison in Nitra, in order to make him king of the Hungarians after himself. However, as soon as Queen Gisela got wind of this she hatched a plot with a group of traitors, and sent the ispán Sebus ahead of the messenger. Sebus had Vazul's eyes put out and molten lead poured into his ears; he then fled to Bohemia. When Vazul was at length brought back by the King's messenger, the King wept bitterly at his fate.

Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians.

Information on Vazul's family is contradictory. Later Hungarian chronicles tended to hide that the kings reigning after 1046 descended from a prince who was disinherited and sentenced by the holy first king of Hungary. Accordingly, many of the chronicles write that Vazul's brother, Ladislas the Bald was the Hungarian monarchs' forefather instead of Vazul. However, a concurring report – which was, for instance, recorded in the Illuminated Chronicle – has preserved the memory of Vazul's paternity of three sons named Andrew, Béla and Levente. Likewise the Illuminated Chronicle writes that Vazul's wife was a member of the Tátony clan, but his marriage lacked legitimacy. His three sons were expelled from Hungary after Vazul's death in 1031 or 1032.

It is said that these 3 brothers (Andrew, Bela, Levente) were the sons of Duke Vazul by some girl from the clan of Tatun and were not born of a true marriage-bed, and that through this conjunction they derived their nobility from Tatun. Of a certainty this is a false and most evil tale. Not for this reason are they nobles, but because they are the sons of Ladislas the Bald, who is said to have taken a wife from Ruthenia to whom these 3 brothers were born.

— The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle.

Vazul married Katun about 1015. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Between 0977 and 0995, Ungarn; Prins.

Notes:

Occupation:
Michael (Hungarian: Mihály; after 960–995 or c.997) was a member of the House of Árpád, a younger son of Taksony, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. Most details of his life are uncertain. Almost all kings of Hungary after 1046 descended from him.

According to the Hungarian historian, György Györffy, Michael received a ducatus or duchy from his brother, Grand Prince Géza. Slovak historians specify that he administered the Duchy of Nitra between around 971 and 997. However, neither of these theories have universally been accepted by historians.

Anonymus, the unknown author of the late 12th-century Gesta Hungarorum narrates that Michael's father, Taksony took his wife from the land of the Cumans.
However, the lands which were dominated by the Cumans at Anonymus's time had been controlled by the Pechenegs up until the 1050s. Accordingly, Györffy proposes that Taksony's wife was the daughter of a Pecheneg tribal leader. Other historians, including Zoltán Kordé and Gyula Kristó, say that Anonymous's report may refer either to her Khazar or to her Volga Bulgarian origin.

Michael was Taksony's younger son. Györffy writes that he was still a minor when he was baptized around 972. He received baptism together with his elder brother, Géza, who succeeded their father as Grand Prince around that time. Michael was named after the Archangel Michael. According to Györffy, the frequent use of the name - Béla - by his descendants – 4 kings and 2 dukes from the House of Árpád bore this name – implies that it was Michael's original pagan name. He also writes that the - a - ending of his name excludes that it was borrowed from a Slavic language, because - a - is a feminine ending in these languages. Instead he proposes, that the name derived from the Turkic bojla title.

According to Györffy, Michael was a close ally of his brother, since there is no proof that their relationship was ever tense. Therefore, Györffy continues, Géza - probably gave one of the ducatus - in the Principality of Hungary to Michael, although there is no record of these events. According to Steinhübel, Michael received the - Duchy of Nitra - around 971. His colleague, Ján Luka?ka, adds that it was Michael who broke the resistance of the native nobles in this duchy.

Michael's fate is unknown; Györffy proposes that he either died before his brother (who died in 997) or renounced of his duchy in favor of Géza's son, Stephen, without resistance. On the other hand, Steinhübel writes that Michael was murdered in 995, an action for which his brother Géza was probably responsible. Luka?ka likewise says that Michael was killed, apparently, on the orders of Géza. Finally, Vladimír Segeš also says that Géza had Michael murdered, according to him between 976 and 978, but he writes that Michael was succeeded by his own son, Ladislas the Bald.

The name of Michael's two sons, Vazul (Basil) and Ladislas have been preserved. According to Györffy, it is probable that Michael's wife was related to Samuel of Bulgaria, because the names of his both sons were popular among Orthodox rulers, including the members of the Cometopuli family.[18] Györffy adds that Michael married his Bulgarian wife when he came of age around 980.

Michael married Adelheid av Polen. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Ungarn