| Géza II | |
|---|---|
 The young Géza (from theIlluminated Chronicle) | |
| King of Hungary andCroatia | |
| Reign | 13 February 1141 – 31 May 1162 |
| Coronation | 16 February 1141 |
| Predecessor | Béla II |
| Successor | Stephen III |
| Regents | Helena of Serbia andBeloš of Serbia (1141–1147) |
| Born | 1130 Tolna,Kingdom of Hungary |
| Died | 31 May 1162 (aged 31–32) Székesfehérvár,[1] Kingdom of Hungary |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Euphrosyne of Kiev |
| Issue more... | |
| Dynasty | Árpád |
| Father | Béla II of Hungary |
| Mother | Helena of Serbia |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Géza II (Hungarian:II. Géza;Croatian:Gejza II.;Slovak:Gejza II.; 1130 – 31 May 1162) wasKing of Hungary andCroatia from 1141 to 1162. He was the oldest son ofBéla the Blind and his wife,Helena of Serbia. When his father died, Géza was still a child and he started ruling under the guardianship of his mother and her brother,Beloš. A pretender to the throne,Boris Kalamanos, who had already claimed Hungary during Béla the Blind's reign, temporarily capturedPressburg (now Bratislava inSlovakia) with the assistance of German mercenaries in early 1146. In retaliation, Géza who came of age in the same year, invaded Austria and routedHenry Jasomirgott,Margrave of Austria, in theBattle of the Fischa.
Although the German–Hungarian relations remained tense, no major confrontations occurred when the Germancrusaders marched through Hungary in June 1147. Two months later,Louis VII of France and his crusaders arrived, along with Boris Kalamanos who attempted to take advantage of the crusade to return to Hungary. Louis VII refused toextradite Boris to Géza, but prevented the pretender from contacting his supporters in Hungary and managed to shepherd him toConstantinople with the rest of the crusaders. Géza joined the coalition that Louis VII andRoger II of Sicily formed againstConrad III of Germany andByzantine emperorManuel I Komnenos.
Géza intervened at least six times in battles for control ofKiev on behalf ofIziaslav II either by sending reinforcements or by personally leading his troops to theKievan Rus' between 1148 and 1155. He alsowaged war against theByzantine Empire numerous times on behalf of his allies, including his cousins who ruled overSerbia, but could not prevent the Byzantines from restoring their suzerainty. Conflicts eventually emerged between Géza and his brothers,Stephen andLadislaus, who both took flight from Hungary and settled in Emperor Manuel's court in Constantinople. Géza supportedFrederick I between 1158 and 1160, against theLombards by providing auxiliary troops. After thecardinals who supported Emperor Frederick I electedVictor IV as pope, Géza acknowledged his legitimacy in 1160, but within a year he had changed sides and concluded aconcordat with Victor IV's opponent,Pope Alexander III. Before his death, Géza organized a separateappanage duchy for his younger son,Béla.
The ancestors of theTransylvanian Saxons came to Hungary during Géza's reign. Western European knights and Muslim warriors from thePontic steppes also settled in Hungary during this period. Géza supposedly even allowed his Muslim soldiers to take concubines.
Géza was born the eldest son ofBéla the Blind, a cousin of KingStephen II of Hungary, andHelena of Serbia in 1130.[2][3] Géza's father had been blinded, together with his rebellious father,Álmos, in the 1110s on the order of Stephen II's father,Coloman, King of Hungary, who wanted to ensure Stephen's succession.[4] When Géza was born, his parents lived on an estate that King Stephen had granted them inTolna.[2] Géza's father succeeded King Stephen in the spring of 1131.[5] In the same year, Queen Helena took Géza and his younger brother,Ladislaus, to an assembly held atArad, where she ordered the massacre of sixty-eight noblemen "by whose counsel the King had been blinded",[6] according to theIlluminated Chronicle.[7]
King Béla died on 13 February 1141 and Géza succeeded him without opposition.[8] The eleven-year-old Géza was crowned king on 16 February.[2][9] During hisregency, his mother and her brother,Beloš, ruled the kingdom in the first years of his reign.[2][8]
One of Géza's first charters, issued in 1141, confirmed the privileges of the citizens ofSplit inDalmatia.[10] In the charter, Géza is titled by "By the Grace of God, King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia andRama".[2] According to historian Paul Stephenson, the towns of central Dalmatia—includingŠibenik andTrogir—accepted Géza'ssuzerainty after a Hungarian invasion around 1142.[11] Hungarian troops assisted PrinceVolodimerko of Halych—who had been the ally of Géza's father against the pretenderBoris—when Great PrinceVsevolod II of Kyiv invadedHalych in 1144.[10][12] Although the Hungarian auxiliaries "were of no use whatsoever", according to theHypatian Codex, the grand prince could not occupy Volodimerko's principality.[10][13]
Boris was the son ofEufemia of Kiev, KingColoman of Hungary's second wife, whom the king expelled on the charge ofadultery before Boris's birth.[8] According to the chronicler BishopOtto of Freising, Boris approachedConrad III of Germany to seek his assistance against Géza at the end of 1145.[10] Upon the recommendation ofVladislav II of Bohemia, the German monarch authorized Boris to muster an army of mercenaries inBavaria andAustria.[10] Boris stormed Hungary and took the fortress ofPressburg (present-day Bratislava inSlovakia).[14][10] The royal forces soon imposed a blockade on the fortress and convinced Boris's mercenaries to surrender without resistance in exchange for compensation.[10][15]
The Hungarians blamed Conrad III for Boris's attack and decided to invade the Holy Roman Empire.[16] Before crossing the riverLajta (now Leitha in Austria), which marked the western border of Hungary, the sixteen-year-old Géza was girded with a sword in a token of hiscoming of age.[17] In theBattle of the Fischa on 11 September, the Hungarian army under the command of Géza and Beloš routed the German troops led byHenry Jasomirgott,Margrave of Austria.[16]
Géza marriedEuphrosyne, sister of Grand PrinceIziaslav II of Kiev, in the second half of 1146.[18] German–Hungarian relations remained tense[8] as Boris attempted to take advantage of Conrad III's decision to lead a crusade to theHoly Land through Hungary.[19] However Géza, who knew that "he could conquer more easily by gold than by force, poured out much money among theGermans and thus escaped an attack from them,"[20] according to the chroniclerOdo of Deuil.[21] The German crusaders marched across Hungary without major incident in June 1147.[21][22]
TheIlluminated Chronicle relates that some Hungarian noblemen promised Boris "if he could make his way into the kingdom, many would take him for their lord and, deserting the King, would cleave to him."[21][23] Boris convinced two French noblemen to assist by hiding him among the French crusaders who followed the Germans towards the Holy Land.[21] KingLouis VII of France and his crusaders arrived in Hungary in August.[24] Géza learnt that his opponent was with the French and demanded hisextradition.[21] Although Louis VII rejected this demand, he held Boris in custody and "took him out of Hungary,"[25] according to Odo of Deuil.[21] Having left Hungary, Boris settled in theByzantine Empire.[21]
Disputes among European powers led to the formation of two coalitions in the late 1140s.[26] One alliance was formed by theByzantine EmperorManuel I Komnenos and Conrad III[27] againstRoger II of Sicily who had invaded Byzantine territories.[28] Géza sided with Roger II and his allies, including the rebellious German prince,Welf VI andUroš II of Serbia.[29][30] Géza sent reinforcements to his brother-in-law, Grand Prince Iziaslav II, against PrinceVladimir of Chernigov in the spring of 1148.[31] TheGrand Principality of Serbia rebelled in 1149, forcing Emperor Manuel I to interrupt his preparations for an invasion of Southern Italy and invade Serbia in 1149.[32][33] According to the emperor'spanegyristTheodore Prodromus, Hungarian forces supported the Serbs during the emperor's campaign.[34] TheHypatian Codex says that Géza referred to his war against Emperor Manuel when excusing himself for refusing to send reinforcements to Iziaslav II whomYuri Dolgorukiy,Prince of Suzdal, expelled fromKiev in August 1149.[33] Hungarian auxiliaries supported Iziaslav II to reoccupy Kiev in the early spring of 1150, but before long Yuri Dolgorukiy expelled Iziaslav from the town.[35] In autumn, Géza led his army againstVolodimirko of Halych, who was Yuri Dolgorukiy's close ally.[31] He capturedSanok, but Volodimirko bribed the Hungarian commanders, who persuaded Géza to leave Halych before November.[31]
A "countless allied force of Hungarian cavalry as well as of theheterodoxChalisoi"[36] had supported the Serbs in the same year, according to the contemporaneousJohn Kinnamos, but the Byzantine army routed their united troops on the riverTara in September.[37][29] The Byzantine victory forced Uroš II of Serbia to acknowledge the emperor's suzerainty.[38] Emperor Manuel launched a retaliatory campaign against Hungary and ravaged the lands between the riversSava and Danube.[39][40] Assisted by Byzantine troops, the pretender Boris also broke into Hungary and devastated the valley of the riverTemes.[39][41] Géza, who had just returned from Halych, did not want to "involve the remaining Hungarian force in destruction"[42] and sued for peace.[39] The peace treaty was signed in late 1150 or early 1151.[39][41]
Géza met Henry Jasomirgott which contributed to the normalization of their strained relations in 1151.[43] He sent reinforcements to Iziaslav II who again reoccupied Kiev before April 1151.[44] Three months later, Volodimirko of Halych routed a Hungarian army that was marching towards Kiev.[44]Frederick Barbarossa, the newly electedKing of Germany, demanded the German princes' consent to wage war against Hungary at theImperial Diet of June 1152, but the princes refused him "for certain obscure reasons",[45] according toOtto of Freising.[43] Géza invaded Halych in the summer of 1152.[44] The united armies of Géza and Iziaslav defeated Volodimirko's troops at theSan River, forcing Volodimirko to sign a peace treaty with Iziaslav.[44]Pope Eugenius III sent his envoys to Hungary to strengthen the "faith and discipline" of the Hungarian church.[41] Géza forbade the papal envoys to enter Hungary, which shows that his relationship with theHoly See had deteriorated.[46]
Géza planned to invadeParistrion—the Byzantine province along the Lower Danube—in the spring of 1153.[47][48] According to John Kinnamos, Géza sought vengeance for Manuel's invasion of 1150;[48] on the other hand, Michael of Thessalonica wrote that Géza prevented Emperor Manuel from invading Southern Italy.[47] However, the emperor, who had been informed of Géza's plan, marched to the Danube.[48] Géza sent his envoys to the emperor and a new peace treaty was signed inSardica (now Sofia in Bulgaria).[47] In accordance with the peace treaty, the Byzantines released their Hungarian prisoners of wars, according toAbū Hāmid al-Gharnātī, a Muslim traveler fromGranada who lived in Hungary between 1150 and 1153.[48]
Abū Hāmid stated that every country feared Géza's attack, "because of the many armies he has at his disposal and his great courage".[49][50] The Muslim traveler observed that Géza employedMuslim soldiers who had been recruited from among the peoples of the Eurasian steppes.[51] Abū Hāmid even urged the soldiers to make "every effort to go onjihad" with Géza "for thusGod [would] set down the merit of Holy War to [their] account".[52][53] Géza allowed his Muslim subjects to take concubines, which stirred up the Hungarian clergy.[53] He also invited Western European (primarily German) knights to settle in Hungary.[53] For instance, he made a land grant to two knights, named Gottfried and Albert, who had "abandoned their homeland" upon his invitation in the 1150s.[54] Some years earlier, one Hezelo of Merkstein sold his patrimony in the region ofAachen before departing to Hungary from where he never returned to his homeland.[55] According to theDiploma Andreanum of 1224, which spelled out the privileges of theTransylvanian Saxons, their ancestors were invited by Géza to settle in southernTransylvania.[56]
Pope Anastasius IV declared Géza's rule in Dalmatia unlawful in October 1154.[41][57] Emperor Manuel's cousin,Andronikos Komnenos, who administeredBelgrade,Braničevo andNiš sent a letter to Géza in 1154, offering to hand over those towns to Géza in exchange for Géza's support against the emperor.[58] Géza sent his envoys to Sicily to sign a new alliance withWilliam I of Sicily around the end of the year, but William I was fighting with his rebellious subjects.[59] Although Andronius Komnenus's plot was discovered and he was captured, Géza invaded the Byzantine Empire andlaid siege to Braničevo in late 1154.[60][61] After hearing of the imprisonment of Andronikus Komnenos, Géza abandoned the siege and returned to Hungary.[59] A Byzantine general,Basil Tzintziluces, launched an attack on the Hungarian army, but Géza annihilated the Byzantine forces before returning to Hungary.[59][62] In early 1155, the Byzantine and Hungarian envoys signed a new peace treaty.[59] In the same year, a Byzantine army expelled Géza's ally,Desa, from Serbia and restored Uroš II, who had promised that he would not enter into an alliance with Hungary.[63]
Frederick Barbarossa, who had been crowned Holy Roman Emperor, received the envoys of Manuel I inNuremberg in July 1156.[64][65] The Byzantine envoys proposed a joint invasion of Hungary, but Barbarossa refused their offer.[64][65] On 16 September, Barbarossa stipulated that the dukes of Austria were to support the Holy Roman emperors during a war against Hungary inhis charter by which he elevated Austria to a duchy, showing that the relationship between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire was still tense.[66] Barbarossa's close advisor,Daniel,Bishop of Prague, visited Hungary in the summer of 1157.[66] On this occasion, Géza promised that he would support Barbarossa with auxiliary troops if the emperor invaded Italy.[66][67]
According to the nearly contemporaneousRahewin, Géza's youngest brother,Stephen, began conspiring with their uncle, Beloš, and other lords of the realm.[66] To avoid a civil war, Géza first ordered the persecution of Stephen's supporters, then had his rebellious brother expelled from the kingdom and later sentenced him to death.[68]Niketas Choniates also recorded that Stephen had been "forced to flee from the murderous clutches" of Géza.[69][68] Géza's uncle, Beloš, was not mentioned in royal charters issued after March 1157, which suggest that he had left Hungary after that date.[70] During the summer of 1157, Stephen fled to the Holy Roman Empire, seeking Emperor Frederick's protection.[70][50] Frederick Barbarossa demanded to be made arbitrator in Géza's conflict with Stephen, he accepted the demand and sent envoys to Regensburg in January 1158.[71] However, Barbarossa "decided to defer the settlement to a more suitable time"[72] and departed for his campaign against theLombards in Italy.[71] In accordance with his former promise, Géza sent a unit of between 500–600 archers to accompany the emperor on his campaign.[50][73] Before long, Géza's brother, Stephen, left for the Byzantine Empire and settled inConstantinople where he married Emperor Manuel's nieceMaria Komnene.[50][74] Within two years, he was joined by his brother, Ladislaus, who also fled from Hungary around 1160.[50][75]
Frederick Barbarossa forced the Italian towns to surrender in September 1158.[76][77] However,Milan andCrema again rose up in open rebellion against the emperor's rule after theDiet of Roncaglia ordered the restoration of imperial rights, including the emperor's rights to levy taxes in the Northern Italian towns.[78][77] Géza sent his envoys to Barbarossa's camp and promised to dispatch further reinforcements against the rebellious towns.[77]
The death ofPope Adrian IV on 1 September 1159 caused aschism, because the college of thecardinals was divided: the majority of the cardinals was opposed to Barbarossa's policy, but a minority supported him.[79] The first group electedAlexander III pope, but Barbarossa's supporters choseVictor IV.[80] Emperor Frederick summoned asynod to Pavia to put an end to the schism.[81][80] Géza sent his envoys to the church council where Victor IV was declared the lawful pope in February 1160.[82] However,Lucas, Archbishop of Esztergom, remained loyal to Alexander III and persuaded Géza to start negotiations with the representatives of Alexander III.[83][84] Géza only decided to change sides after most European monarchs, including the kings of Sicily, England and France, joined Alexander III.[85] Géza's envoys announced his decision to Alexander III in early 1161, but Géza only informed the emperor of his recognition of Alexander III in the autumn of the same year.[86]
Géza's and Alexander III's envoys signed aconcordat in the summer of 1161.[87] According to that treaty, Géza promised that he would not depose or transfer prelates without the consent of the Holy See; on the other hand, the pope acknowledged that no papal legates could be sent to Hungary without the king's permission and the Hungarian prelates were only allowed to appeal to the Holy See with the king's consent.[87] He also signed a truce for five years with the Byzantine Empire.[88] Shortly before his death, Géza granted Dalmatia, Croatia and other territories to his younger son,Béla, as an appanage duchy.[89] Géza died on 31 May 1162 and was buried inSzékesfehérvár.[88][14]
| Ancestors of Géza II of Hungary[90] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Géza's wife,Euphrosyne of Kiev, was a daughter of Grand PrinceMstislav I of Kiev.[91] She survived Géza and died around 1193.[92] Their first child,Stephen, was born in the summer of 1147; he succeeded Géza in 1162.[93][94] His younger brother,Béla, was born in about 1148; he inherited Hungary after the death of Stephen in 1172.[95] Géza's third son and namesake,Géza, was born in the 1150s.[96] The youngest son of Géza and Euphrosyne, Árpád, did not survive childhood.[96] Géza's and Euphrosyne's oldest daughter,Elizabeth, was given in marriage toFrederick of Bohemia, who was the heir toVladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia, in 1157.[66][96] The second daughter, Odola, married Vladislaus II of Bohemia's younger son, Sviatopluk, in 1164.[97][96] The third daughter of Géza and Euphrosyne,Helena, became the wife ofLeopold V of Austria in 1174.[98][96]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Géza II of Hungary Born: 1130 Died: 31 May 1162 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of Hungary andCroatia 1141–1162 | Succeeded by |
| House of Árpád |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House of Přemysl |
| |||||
| House of Wittelsbach |
| |||||
| Capetian House of Anjou |
| |||||
| House of Luxembourg |
| |||||
| House of Habsburg |
| |||||
| House of Jagiellon |
| |||||
| House of Hunyadi |
| |||||
| House of Jagiellon |
| |||||
| House of Zápolya |
| |||||
| House of Habsburg |
| |||||
| House of Habsburg-Lorraine |
| |||||
Debatable or disputed rulers are initalics. | ||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
