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]

1. Bela av Ungarn, "Bela 1" was born about 1015 in Ungarn; died about 1063.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Andreas av Ungarn, "Andreas 1"

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

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Ungarn