Coronation (1172–1173) Béla's brother, Stephen III, died on 4 March 1172.
Arnold of Lübeck, who was staying in
Esztergom, recorded a rumor suggesting that Stephen had been poisoned by Béla's supporters, but no other source verifies this hearsay. Stephen III's widow,
Agnes, left Hungary, although she was pregnant when her husband died. A Hungarian delegation visited Emperor Manuel and Béla in
Sardica (now Sophia in Bulgaria). They demanded that "Béla be dispatched to them as king", because "the principle of justice looked toward him" after his brother's death, according to Kinnamos. Kinnamos also said that Emperor Manuel made Béla king after Béla "promised an oath to observe for the whole course of his life whatever would be beneficial" to the emperor and the Byzantines. A letter written by the Byzantine Emperor
Isaac II Angelos in 1196 says that on the same occasion, Béla pledged that he would never support the Serbians if they fought against the Byzantine Empire. Béla and his wife arrived in
Székesfehérvár in late April or early May. Béla was unanimously elected king by the "dignitaries of the Hungarian kingdom", according to a letter written by
Pope Alexander III in 1179. However, Béla's
coronation was delayed, because
Lucas, Archbishop of Esztergom, refused to perform it. The archbishop accused the king of
simony, because Béla had given a precious cloak to his delegate. According to a scholarly theory, Archbishop Lucas also feared that the influence of "
schismatics" would increase under Béla's rule. Nevertheless, the majority of the barons and prelates remained loyal to Béla. Béla sought the assistance of the Holy See against the Archbishop Lucas. Upon Béla's request, Pope Alexander III authorized the
Archbishop of Kalocsa to anoint Béla king and "place the crown on his head". Béla's coronation took place on 18 January 1173. He issued a charter confirming the right of the archbishops of Esztergom to crown the Hungarian monarchs. The unification of the so-called "Greek" and "Latin" crowns into the
Holy Crown of Hungary seems to have occurred during his reign.
Conflicts (1173–1178) Archbishop Lucas fell out of favor with Béla, and was ignored by him in the first years of his reign. Instead of Lucas, the Archbishop of Kalocsa baptized Béla's first-born son,
Emeric, in 1174. However, administering sacraments to members of the royal family had always been the archbishops of Esztergom's job. According to a Bohemian chronicle (
Continuatio Gerlaci abbatis Milovicensis), Béla imprisoned his younger brother, Géza, but Géza escaped from prison and fled to
Austria in 1174 or 1175. Stephen III's
judge royal,
Lawrence, accompanied Géza. When
Henry Jasomirgott,
Duke of Austria, refused to extradite Géza, Béla launched plundering raids into Austria, together with
Soběslav II, Duke of Bohemia. Meanwhile, Béla sent reinforcements to Emperor Manuel to help him fight against the
Seljuks, but their united forces suffered defeat in the
Battle of Myriokephalon on 17 September 1176. Géza tried to persuade Soběslav II of Bohemia to help him meet
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, but Soběslav seized Géza and handed him over to Béla in 1177. Béla once again imprisoned his brother, and he also put their mother, Euphrosyne, in confinement. In retaliation for Soběslav's role in Géza's capture, Emperor Frederick dethroned Soběslav and appointed another member of the
Přemyslid dynasty,
Frederick, to the position of duke. The Holy Roman Emperor ordered the new Duke of Austria,
Leopold V, to storm Bohemia. Béla soon intervened, threatening Leopold V with an invasion, which forced Leopold to leave Bohemia.
Expansion and reforms (1178–1194) Béla's long-time favorite,
Andrew, Archbishop of Kalocsa, insulted him around 1178. Béla soon deprived him and his supporter, the Provost of
Székesfehérvár Chapter, of their offices and seized the Archbishop's revenues. Pope Alexander III punished Béla with ecclesiastic sanctions, but Béla reconciled with Archbishop Lucas of Esztergom, who absolved him and excommunicated Andrew of Kalocsa. The conflict ended with a compromise mediated by the
Holy See: Andrew asked Béla to pardon him, and Béla restored him to his position of archbishop. Upon Béla's invitation,
Cistercian monks came from France and set up new Cistercian abbeys at
Egres,
Zirc,
Szentgotthárd and
Pilis between 1179 and 1184. In the 1180s, Béla initiated the building of a lofty royal castle and a new cathedral in Esztergom. Nevertheless, he was almost always wandering around the country. According to an inscription on a brick found in
Bulkeszi (now Maglić in Serbia), Béla sponsored the baptism of a German "guest settler" in that village. In the imperial court of Constantinople, Béla learnt the importance of a well-organized administration. According to the
Illuminated Chronicle, Béla "introduced the same form of addressing petitions as was customary in the Roman and imperial court", which suggests that the Royal Chancery began functioning as a separate office during his reign. He emphasized the importance of written records,
ordering in 1181 that a charter was to be issued for all transactions proceeding in his presence. Emperor Manuel I died on 24 September 1180. Within six months, Béla had restored his suzerainty in Dalmatia, but no detailed contemporaneous accounts of the events exist. The citizens of Split "returned to Hungarian lordship" soon after Manuel's death, according to the 13th-century
Thomas the Archdeacon.
Zadar also accepted Béla's suzerainty in early 1181. Historian
John V. A. Fine writes that Béla retook suzerainty of Dalmatia "seemingly without bloodshed and with imperial consent", because the Byzantine authorities preferred that Béla rule the province rather than the
Republic of Venice. The details of the reconquest of Syrmium are also obscure.
Andronikos Komnenos accused the mother of the young Byzantine Emperor, Alexios II, of inciting Bélaher brother-in-lawto ravage the region of
Belgrade and
Barancs (now Braničevo in Serbia) in May 1182, implying that Béla had by that time occupied Syrmium. In the same month, Andronikos Komnenos captured the Dowager Empress and had her murdered by the end of the year. Taking advantage of the emerging anarchy in the Byzantine Empire, Béla advanced as far as
Niš and Serdica in the first half of 1183. In Sardica, he seized the casket containing the relics of
Saint Ivan of Rila, and ordered it "to be transported with great honors to his land and to be laid down with honor in the church" of
Esztergom, according to the saint's
Life from the Sofia Prologue. Makk writes that Béla withdrew from the regions south of the Danube, but historian Paul Stephenson says that Béla preserved these lands. Andronikos Komnenos murdered Emperor Alexios II in late 1183. The contemporaneous
Eustathius of Thessalonica writes that Andronikos's opponents sent letters to many monarchs, including Béla III, urging them to attack Andronikos. According to
Ansbert and other Western European chroniclers, Béla invaded the Byzantine Empire in early 1185. After Andronikos I fell in September, Béla signed a peace treaty with the new emperor,
Isaac II Angelos. Isaac married Béla's daughter,
Margaret, and Béla granted the region of Niš and Barancs to Isaac as his daughter's dowry. The relics of Saint Ivan of Rila were also returned to Sardica on this occasion. Béla married
Margaret of France, a sister of
Philip II of France, in the summer of 1186. . Painting by Stephan Dorfmeister ( 1795)
Orio Mastropiero,
Doge of Venice, laid siege to Zadar in 1187, but the Venetian fleet could not seize the well-fortified town.
Vladimir Yaroslavich,
Prince of Halych, fled to Hungary at the end of 1188, because his boyars had rebelled.
Roman Mstyslavych,
Prince of Vladimir-in-Volhynia, soon occupied Halych, but Béla invaded the principality and expelled him. Instead of restoring Vladimir Yaroslavich to his former position, Béla imprisoned him and granted control of Halych to
Andrew, who was Béla's younger son. As a token of his conquest, Béla styled himself as King of Galicia. . In the summer of 1189, German
crusaders marched through Hungary under the command of
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. Béla welcomed Frederick, and dispatched a troop to escort the crusaders across the
Balkan Peninsula. At Frederick's request, Béla released his imprisoned brother, Géza, who joined the crusaders and left Hungary. Béla mediated a peace treaty between Frederick I and Isaac II, whose mutual distrust had almost caused war between the German crusaders and the Byzantines. Vladimir Yaroslavich escaped from captivity in early 1189 or 1190. With the assistance of
Casimir II of Poland, he expelled Andrew from Halych, and regained control of the principality. In 1191, Béla met his son-in-law, Isaac II, in
Philippopolis (now Plovdiv in Bulgaria) and Syrmium, but the results of their negotiations remained unknown. Upon Béla's request, the Holy See approved the
canonization of
Ladislaus I of Hungary in 1192. Béla invaded Serbia at the beginning of 1193. Isaac II demanded the withdrawal of his troops, and threatened Béla with war. At the same time, Doge
Enrico Dandolo attempted to occupy Zadar, but failed. In 1193, Béla granted
Modruš County in Croatia to
Bartholomew of Krk, a member of the
Frankopan family. This is the earliest certain example of an office being granted as a hereditary dignity in the Kingdom of Hungary.
Last years (1194–1196) In 1194, Béla appointed his eldest son, Emeric, who had already been crowned as the future king, to administer Croatia and Dalmatia. After a united Bulgarian, Cumanian and Vlach army defeated the Byzantines in the
Battle of Arcadiopolis in 1194, Béla was willing to assist the Byzantine Empire. However, his campaign was cancelled, because Béla's son-in-law, Emperor Isaac II, was dethroned by
Alexios III Angelos in April 1195.
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, was planning to launch a campaign against the Byzantine Empire on behalf of the dethroned emperor, but Béla prohibited his subjects from joining Henry. Béla took the cross as a token of his desire to lead a crusade to the Holy Land. However, he could not fulfill his oath, because he fell ill and died on 23 April 1196. He was buried in the
Székesfehérvár Cathedral. His remains were confidently identified by archeologists during 19th-century excavations, because a contemporaneous sourceRichard of Londonwrote of Béla's exceptional height. Béla's skeleton shows that he was tall. Béla's remains were reinterred at the
Matthias Church in
Budapest. The
DNA from skeletal remains of Béla and of another presumed member of the Árpád dynasty, scholars propose that the dynasty belonged to
Y-haplogroup R1a subclade
R-SUR51 >
R-ARP. == Family ==