B閘a IV of Hungary
B閘a was the son of King Andr醩 II and Gertrude of Meran. His mother was murdered by Hungarian magnates in 1213, when he was a boy. His father having failed to avenge Queen Gertrude, it was left to B閘a to track down and punish his mother's murderers, a campaign which he finally completed some thirty years after her death.
In 1218 he was married to Maria Laskarina, the daughter of Emperor Theodore I Lascaris Nicaea. Their children were:
- Kinga, married King Boleslaus V of Poland
- King Istv醤 V
- Erzs閎et, married Duke Henry XIII of Lower Bavaria
- Margit, later canonized as St. Margaret in 1943. She lent her name to Margaret Island.
B閘a tried with little success to reestablish royal preeminence by reacquiring lost crown lands. His efforts, however, created a deep rift between the crown and the magnates just as the Mongols were sweeping westward across Russia toward Europe. Aware of the danger, B閘a ordered the magnates and lesser nobles to mobilize. Few responded, and the Mongols routed Bela's army at Mohi on April 11, 1241. His ally Kuthen had been killed by mistrustful Hungarian lords in Pest just prior to the invasion.
B閘a fled first to Austria, where Duke Frederick of Babenberg held him for ransom, then to Dalmatia. The Mongols reduced Hungary's towns and villages to ashes and slaughtered half the population before news arrived in 1242 that the Great 謌edei Khan had died in Karakorum. The Mongols withdrew, sparing B閘a and what remained of his kingdom.
Sources
- Parsons, John Carmi. Medieval Queenship, 1997
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