Andrew (Endre) I OF HUNGARY (1013-1060)

	Andrew I, King of Hungary

Name:	Andrew (Endre) I OF HUNGARY 1
Sex:	Male
Nickname:	"The White" or "The Catholic"
Father:	Vasul ( -1037)
Mother:	-

Individual Events and Attributes

Birth	1013
crowned	1046 (age 32-33)
Occupation	frm 1046/47 to 6 Dec 1060 (age 33-47)	King of Hungary
founded	1055 (age 41-42)	Benedictine Abbey of Tihany on the shores of Lake Balaton
Group/Caste Membership		Árpáds
Religion		Roman Catholic
Death	6 Dec 1060 (age 46-47)	Zirc, Kingdom of Hungary
Burial		Tihany Abbey

Additional Information

founded

and he also set up a monastery for Orthodox nuns there.

Marriage

	Eleventh-century fresco of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev representing the daughters of Yaroslav I, with Anna probably being the youngest. Other daughters were Anastasia, wife of Andrew I of Hungary; Elizabeth, wife of Harald III of Norway; and possibly Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile.

Spouse	Anastasia (Agmunda) OF KIEV (1023?-bef1096)
Children	Adelaide OF HUNGARY (1045?-1062)
Marriage	1040 (app) (age 26-27)

Individual Note

Andrew I the White or the Catholic (Hungarian: I. (Fehér/Katolikus) András/Endre; c. 1013 – before 6 December 1060) was King of Hungary from 1046/1047 until his death. He descended from a younger branch of the Árpád dynasty. After spending fifteen years in exile, he ascended the throne during an extensive revolt of the pagan Hungarians. He strengthened the position of Christianity in his kingdom, while preserving the independence of the Kingdom of Hungary from the Holy Roman Empire. He tried to ensure the succession of his son which resulted in the open revolt of his brother who dethroned him by force.

 

Andrew was the second son of Duke Vazul, who was a cousin of Stephen 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.[1]

 

On 2 September 1031, King Stephen's only surviving son, Emeric was killed by a boar while hunting. The king wanted to secure the position of Christianity in his semi-pagan kingdom and therefore he planned to name his sister's son, Peter Orseolo as his successor. However, Duke Vazul, who was suspected of following pagan-customs, took part in a conspiracy to murder the king. The assassination attempt failed and Duke Vazul had his eyes gouged out, molten lead poured in his ears, and his three sons exiled.

 

The Hungarian tribal society of the eleventh century still believed in exclusive inheritance through the male line and was not in favor of primogeniture, favoring instead agnatic seniority for determining the order of succession. This made other males of the Árpád dynasty's cadet lines dangerous to the incumbent king. Andrew's branch of the dynasty had long been rivals to the elder branch, to which Stephen I of Hungary and his father belonged. For the previous half century, the familial rivalry had centered mostly on the conflict between Christianity and paganism, respectively represented by the elder and the younger branches. In 1038, the extinction of the male line of the elder branch opened new opportunities for the younger, surviving male branch.

 

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 married a member of the Piast dynasty. Andrew and Levente, possibly feeling overshadowed by their brother, continued on, settling in Kiev. There, Andrew married Anastasia of Kiev, a daughter of Grand Duke Yaroslav I the Wise.

 

The British prelates, led by Bishop Gerard of Csanád, decided to call back Andrew and his brothers to Hungary and wrote them a letter. By the time when Andrew and Levente arrived to Hungary, an extensive revolt of the pagan Hungarians had broken out. The two brothers made an alliance with the pagan rebels in Abaújvár, who accepted their leadership. King Peter tried to escape to the Holy Roman Empire, but he was arrested and blinded by the followers of the two princes.

 

The Hungarian chronicles related that following the downfall of King Peter, Andrew agreed with his elder brother, Levente, who was a committed pagan, that Andrew would rule over Hungary. Andrew, however, was crowned only in 1047, after his brother's death. Nevertheless, he continued the policies of Christianisation that had already been taking place. After his coronation, he confirmed King Stephen's decrees and invited foreign priests to Hungary, because the pagan rebels had murdered several members of the Christian clergy.

 

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.[2] He invited his younger brother, Béla, who had become a successful military leader in Poland, to his court and entrusted him with the government of the third part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

 

In 1051, the Emperor Henry III undertook a campaign against Hungary, but the imperial troops were defeated at the Vértes Hills, while the imperial fleet was induced to turn back by a forged letter. At the end of the year, Abbot Hugh of Cluny was mediating between the two rulers, but the emperor refused to accept the peace. Next year the emperor led a fleet against Pozsony (Bratislava), but his ships were sunk by Andrew's men. In this time, Pope Leo IX tried to mediate a peace, but the emperor did not accept Andrew's offer. When the imperial troops were withdrawn, Andrew formed an alliance, in 1053, with Conrad II, Duke of Bavaria, supporting the opposition against the emperor.

 

In 1055, Andrew founded the Benedictine Abbey of Tihany on the shores of Lake Balaton and he also set up a monastery for Orthodox nuns there.

 

In 1057, Andrew I tried to ensure his succession, by having his five-year-old son, Solomon of Hungary crowned as king. But the coronation of his son provoked his brother, Duke Béla who had been assigned as Andrew's successor, and the displeased duke left the king's court and left for his domains. In September 1058, Andrew had a personal meeting with the new King of Germany, Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor in Marchfeld, and they came to a peaceful agreement, marked by the betrothal of the child Solomon to the Henry's sister, Judith of Swabia.

 

After achieving peace with the Holy Roman Empire, Andrew tried to persuade Duke Béla to accept his son's succession, but the duke left for Poland to collect armies against his brother.

 

When Andrew heard of his brother's open rebellion, he sent his family to Austria, and prepared for the struggle, although he had been so ill that he was not even able to walk. Shortly afterwards, Duke Béla returned to Hungary with Polish troops and won a decisive victory over the king. Following his defeat, Andrew fled towards Austria, but he fell down off his horse at the Theben Pass. Andrew was arrested by Duke Béla's men and taken to Zirc where he died.

 

Andrew was buried in the Tihany Abbey.

 

CHILDREN:

 

c. 1039: Anastasia of Kiev (c. 1023 – c. 1074/1096), daughter of Grand Duke Yaroslav I of Kiev and his wife, Ingigerd of Sweden

 

Adelaide (c. 1040 – 27 January 1062), wife of king Vratislaus II of Bohemia

King Solomon of Hungary (1053 – 1087 or after)

David (after 1053 – after 1094)

György, who was illegitimate son of Andrew I. According to Europaeische Stammtafeln (E.S.) ,György was the son of a Non-Christian marriage of Endre I (András I or Andrew I), afterwards, Apostolic King of Hungary, to a Hungarian woman, before Endre 's conversion to the Roman Catholic faith. E.S. cites a 1959 work published in Warsaw as the source for this. Endre's subsequent Christian marriage to a Russian Orthodox Princess, rendered the non-Christian children of his first marriage illegitimate under Catholic Canon law, and therefore with no rights to the now Christian Hungarian Throne. Consequently, György was obliged to leave Hungary, settling in Scotland, and founding the Drummond family, possibly named from the lands of Druiman which were granted to him either by MacBethad, or Mael-Coluim III, King of Scotland. It has long been asserted that the Drummond family was founded by a Hungarian who returned to Britain with Edward Ćtheling, so this may be true. Maurice was the son of György, who, according to E.S., went to Scotland in 1055 and became ancestor of the Drummond family. György's choice of Scotland was very likely linked to the exiled English Royal House, since they had previously resided at the Court of István (Stephen I), King of Hungary, and after the submission of Harold II of England to William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy in December 1066, arrived in Scotland where they were warmly received by Scotland's King Mael-Coluim III who married Edgar's sister Margaret in 1070. If the account given by Europaeische Stammtafeln is based on fact, then the present Earl of Perth, Chief of Clan Drummond, is a living representative of the original male line of the Royal House of Árpád, the founding dynasty of Hungarian kings.

 

Andrew's son Solomon never properly managed to establish himself as king; the sons of Andrew's younger brother gradually took over, particularly since neither Solomon, nor David (Andrew's youngest son) left surviving male descendants. Thus, Andrew's line continued in the Piast dynasty but not in Hungary.

 

REFERENCES:

 

1. Some modern sources claim that Duke Vazul married Katun Anastazya of Bulgaria who bore Andrew and his brothers, Levente and Béla I of Hungary.

2. Megyeszele.cityblog.hu

 

SOURCES:

 

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)

Genealogics.org²

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 221, 244-6.

2	"Wikipedia". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_I_of_Hungary.