Bela I OF HUNGARY (1016-1063?)

	Bust of Béla at the National Historical Memorial Park in Ópusztaszer

Name:	Bela I OF HUNGARY 1
Sex:	Male
Nickname:	"The Champion" or "The Bison"
Father:	Vasul ( -1037)
Mother:	-

Individual Events and Attributes

Birth	1016
Occupation	frm 1060 to 1063 (age 43-47)	King of Hungary
Group/Caste Membership		Árpáds
Child Count		8
Marriage Count		1
Death	1063 (app) (age 46-47)

Additional Information

Death

Cause: throne's canopy collapsed

Marriage

Spouse	Rixa OF POLAND ( - )
Children	Sophia ( -1095)
Marriage	1039 (age 22-23)

Individual Note

Béla I the Champion or the Bison (Hungarian: I. (Bajnok/Bölény) Béla; c. 1016 – 11 September 1063) was King of Hungary from 1060 until his death. He descended from a younger branch of the Árpád dynasty and spent seventeen years in exile, probably in the court of the Kings of Poland. He came back to Hungary at the request of his brother, King Andrew I who assigned him the government of one third of the kingdom. However, Béla did not want to accept the hereditary rights of his brother's son, Solomon to the throne and he rebelled against his brother. Although, he managed to ascend to the throne after defeating King Andrew, he could not strengthen his reign and ensure his sons' succession.

 

Béla was the second[1] son of Duke Vazul, a cousin of Stephan I, the first King of Hungary. His mother was probably the concubine (a daughter of a member of the Hungarian gens Tátony) of his father, who still followed pagan customs[2].

 

After their father's tragic death, the three brothers were obliged to leave the country. Fleeing first to Bohemia, they continued to Poland where Béla settled down, while his brothers, Levente and Andre continued on, settling in Kiev. In Poland, Béla served King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland and took part in the king's campaigns against the pagan Pomeran tribes. He became a successful military leader, and the king gave his daughter[3] in marriage to him. He may have been baptized just before his marriage, and his Christian name was Adalbert. After his marriage, he probably lived in Poland even during the time of interregnum when his brother-in-law, King Casimir I of Poland was obliged to leave the country.

 

Some authors claim that during the interregnum in Poland, Béla fled to Bohemia and they identify Béla with "King Stephen's cousin", mentioned in medieval chronicles [4], whom the Emperor Henry III, in 1043, assigned to govern the parts of Hungary he had occupied from King Samuel Aba, when the Hungarians refused to accept King Peter's rule.

 

In the meantime, after a sanguine pagan revolt which ended the rule of King Peter, Béla's brother ascended the throne in Hungary as King Andrew I. However, his relations with the Holy Roman Empire remained tense, because King Peter had been not only a close ally of the Emperor Henry III, but he also had become a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. Andrew refused to accept the suzerainty of the Emperor, ruled Hungary independently and prepared for the approaching war.[5] That was the reason he invited his younger brother, the successful military leader, Béla to his court, and Béla accepted his offer.

 

In 1048, Andrew conceded one third of Hungary (Tercia pars regni) in appanage to Béla.[6]. The two brothers shared power without incident until 1053, when King Andrew fathered a son, Solomon. Thereafter, Andrew became determined to secure the throne for his son and to displace his brother. Andrew, therefore, had his son (Béla's nephew) crowned "junior king" (rex iunior) in 1057, despite an earlier agreement between tha brothers according to which Béla was the heir to András. Hungarian custom would also dictate that the senior male member of the family inherit the kingdom. Following the coronation, Béla left his brother's court.

 

In two years later, according to legend, King Andrew called back Béla to his court, and placed before him a crown and a sword, representing royal and ducal power, respectively, and asked Béla to take his choice. Having been forewarned by a court official that choosing the crown would mean his death, Béla instead selected the sword. Shortly afterwards, Béla fled to Poland where he was received by King Boleslaw II of Poland, nephew of his wife.

 

In 1060, Béla returned to Hungary and defeated King Andrew I to become the new king. After his brother's death and Béla's victory at the Theben Pass, Béla was crowned king on 6 December 1060. During his brief reign he concerned himself with crushing pagan revolts in his kingdom.

 

Hungarian chroniclers praised Béla for introducing new currency, such as the silver denarius, and for his benevolence to the former followers of his nephew, Solomon.

 

Béla died when his throne's canopy collapsed (comtemporaries suspected that the collapse may not have been an accident). After Béla's death, King Henry IV of Germany installed Solomon as the new king and Béla's male progenies had to flee to Poland again.

 

CHILDREN:

 

1039-1043: unknown[7] (b. unknown, d. after 1052), daughter of King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland and his wife, Richeza of Lotharingia

 

King Géza I of Hungary (c. 1044[8] – 25 April 1077)

King Ladislaus I of Hungary (c. 1048 – 29 July 1095)

Duke Lampert of Hungary (after 1050 – c. 1095)

Sophia (after 1050 – 18 June 1095), wife firstly of Markgraf Ulrich I of Carniola, and secondly of Duke Magnus I of Saxony

Euphemia (after 1050 – 2 April 1111), wife of Prince Otto I of Moravia

Ilona (after 1050 – c. 1091), wife of King Dmitar Zvonimir of Croatia

Anna Lanke (? – 1095), wife of Rostislav of Tmutarakan[9]

Béla I probably had unknown mistress and he had a daughter with her:

 

Sophia (after 1050 – after 1116), wife of Comes (count) Lampert de genere Hont-Pázmány [1]

 

NOTES:

1. Wincenty Swoboda, Bela I, In: Slownik Starozytnosci Slowianskich, vol. 7.

2. Some modern sources claim that duke Vazul married Katun Anastazya of Bulgaria who bore Bela and his brothers, Levente and Andrew.

3. Her name is unknown. Some authors, without sources, gave her name Rixa. Nowadays it is supposed that she was called Adelaide, see K. Jasinski, Rodowód pierwszych Piastów, Wroclaw - Warszawa (1992).

4. Annales Altahenses maiores; Annales Hildesheimenses maiores; Hermann of Reichenau: Chronicon de sex ćtatibus mundi.

5. http://megyeszele.cityblog.hu/uploads/megyeszele/2008114.pdf

6. Some modern authors claim that Béla was Duke of the alleged Principality of Nitra, but contemporary sources only mentioned "Tercia pars Regni".

7. Kazimierz Jasinski, Rodowód pierwszych Piastów, Wroclaw - Warszawa 1992.

8. Wlodzimierz Dworzaczek, Genealogia, Warszawa 1959, tabl. 84.

9. Rostislav of Tmutarakan at hrono.ru (Russian)

 

SOURCES:

Engel, Pat. Realm of St. Stephen : A History of Medieval Hungary, 2001

Kosztolnyik, Z.J., Five Eleventh Century Hungarian Kings, 1981

Kristó, Gyula - Makk, Ferenc: Az Árpád-ház uralkodói (IPC Könyvek, 1996)

Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század), foszerkeszto: Kristó, Gyula, szerkesztok: Engel, Pál és Makk, Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)

Magyarország Történeti Kronológiája I. – A kezdetektol 1526-ig, foszerkeszto: Benda, Kálmán (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981)²

Sources

1	Weis, Frederick Lewis & Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr, "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and other Historical Individuals". p 219, 243-6; 220, 243A-23; 244A-6.

2	"Wikipedia". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_I_of_Hungary.