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Birth:          1108 of Esztergom, Komarom, Hungary
Death:          13 Feb 1141 
Burial:         Szekesfehervar, Fejer, Hungary

Notes
blinded 1113
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_II_of_Hungary
Béla the Blind (Hungarian: Vak Béla; Croatian: Bela Slijepi; Slovak: Belo Slepý; c. 
1109 – 13 February 1141) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1131. He was blinded 
along with his rebellious father Álmos on the order of Álmos's brother, King Coloman of 
Hungary. Béla grew up in monasteries during the reign of Coloman's son Stephen II. 
The childless king arranged Béla's marriage with Helena of Rascia, who would 
become her husband's co-ruler throughout his reign.

Béla was crowned king at least two months after the death of Stephen II, implying that 
his accession to the throne did not happen without opposition. Two violent purges 
were carried out among the partisans of his predecessors to strengthen Béla's rule. 
King Coloman's alleged son Boris tried to dethrone Béla but the king and his allies 
defeated the pretender's troops in 1132. In the second half of Béla's reign, Hungary 
adopted an active foreign policy. Bosnia and Split seem to have accepted Béla's 
suzerainty around 1136.
Early years until 1131[edit]

Béla was the only son of Duke Álmos—the younger brother of King Coloman of Hungary
—by his wife, Predslava of Kiev.[1] Historians Gyula Kristó and Ferenc Makk write that 
Béla was born between 1108 and 1110.[2][3] Álmos devised several plots to dethrone 
his brother.[4] In retaliation, the king deprived Álmos of his ducatus or "duchy" 
between 1105 and 1108.[5][6] Álmos did not give up his ambitions and King Coloman 
had him and the child Béla blinded between 1112 and 1115 to secure a peaceful 
succession for his own son, Stephen.[7][4] According to one of the two versions of 
these events recorded in the Illuminated Chronicle, the king even ordered that Béla 
should be castrated but the soldier who was charged with this task refused to execute 
the order.[3][4]

[The] King took the Duke and his infant son Bela and blinded them. He also gave 
orders that the infant Bela should be castrated. But the man who was instructed to 
blind them feared God and the sterility of the royal line, and therefore he castrated a 
dog and brought its testicles to the King.

—?The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle[8]

After their blinding, Álmos lived in the monastery of Dömös, which he had founded.[3] 
Kristó and Makk write that it is probable that Béla lived with his father in the 
monastery.[3][2] The Annales Posonienses relates that "the child was growing in the 
reign of King Coloman's son, Stephen", who ascended the throne in 1116.[9] Having 
hatched a failed plot against the king, Álmos left the monastery and fled to 
Constantinople in about 1125.[10][11] For unknown reasons, Béla did not follow his 
father to the Byzantine Empire.[10] The Illuminated Chronicle narrates that he was 
kept "concealed in Hungary from the fury"[12] of the king.[10] Béla settled in the 
Pécsvárad Abbey, whose abbot sheltered him in secret.[10]

Álmos died in exile on 1 September 1127.[13] According to the Illuminated Chronicle, 
Béla's partisans "revealed to the King, who believed him to have died after his 
blinding, that Béla was alive".[12][10] On hearing this, King Stephen II "rejoiced with 
great joy, for he knew beyond doubt that he would have no heir".[12][10] The king 
even arranged Béla's marriage with Helena of Rascia and granted Tolna to the couple 
around 1129.[14][15]

King Stephen II died in early 1131.[15] A late source—the Ottoman Turkish chronicle 
known as Tarih-i Üngürüs or The History of the Hungarians—narrates that Béla 
ascended the throne after his predecessor's nephew, Saul whom Stephen II had 
nominated as his heir had died.[16] Béla II was crowned in Székesfehérvár on 28 
April, substantiating the reliability of this report.[10] However, no scholarly consensus 
on the exact circumstances of Béla's ascension exists. According to Gyula Kristó, Béla 
was crowned after a civil war between his and Saul's partisans, but Pál Engel does 
not mention any conflict related to Béla's succession.[10][17]

Reign[edit]

Consolidation (1131–1132)[edit]

Béla's blindness prevented him from administering his kingdom without assistance.[17]
[18] He put his trust in his wife and her brother Beloš.[18] Both royal and private 
charters from Béla's reign emphasize Queen Helena's pre-eminent role in the 
decision-making process, proving that the king regarded his wife as his co-ruler.[19] 
According to the Illuminated Chronicle, at "an assembly of the realm near Arad"[20] in 
early to mid-1131, Queen Helena ordered the slaughter of all noblemen who were 
accused of having suggested the blinding of her husband to King Coloman.[17][21] 
Béla distributed the goods of the executed magnates between the newly established 
Arad Chapter and the early 11th-century Óbuda Chapter.[22]

Béla's was on good terms with the Holy Roman Empire, jeopardizing the interests of 
Boleslaw III of Poland who had been warring with the empire.[23] The Polish monarch 
decided to support a pretender to the Hungarian crown named Boris.[23] Boris was 
born to King Coloman's second wife Euphemia of Kiev after his mother was repudiated 
for adultery.[17] After Boris arrived in Poland, a number of Hungarian noblemen joined 
him.[24] Others sent messengers to Boris "to invite him that he should come and with 
their help claim the kingdom for himself",[25] according to the Illuminated Chronicle.
[26][24]

Accompanied by Polish and Rus' reinforcements, Boris broke into Hungary in mid-
1132.[24] Béla entered into an alliance with Leopold III, Margrave of Austria.[27] 
Before launching a counter-attack against Boris, Béla convoked a council on the river 
Sajó.[24] The Illuminated Chronicle relates that the King asked "the eminent men of 
Hungary" who were present if they knew whether Boris "was a bastard or the son of 
King Coloman".[25][28] The King's partisans attacked and murdered all those who 
proved to be "disloyal and divided in their minds"[25] during the meeting.[29] Boris, 
who thought that the majority of the Hungarian lords supported his claim, in vain sent 
one of his partisans to Béla's camp to incite the King's retinue to mutiny.[29]

[Samson] proposed to go to the assembly of the King and there openly and publicly 
insult him. All approved and [Boris] himself, misled by empty hope, gave him great 
thanks; for he wanted to complete what he had begun, and he thought that after the 
King had been thus insulted the kingdom would be his. The King had taken up his 
station near the river [Sajó], and as he sat in his tent with his nobles and soldiers, 
behold, [Samson] entered and said to the King: "Vile dog, what are you doing with the 
kingdom? It is better that your lord [Boris] have the kingdom and for your to live in 
your monastery, as your father did." There was commotion among the nobles of the 
realm, and Johannes, the son of Otto, the King's notary ... , said to Count Bud: "Why 
are we waiting? Why do we not seize him?" As they made to seize him, he hastily 
leapt upon a horse and fled.

—?The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle[30]

Béla tried to persuade the Polish monarch to stop supporting the pretender.[31] 
However, Boleslaw remained loyal to Boris.[32] In the decisive battle, which was 
fought on the river Sajó on 22 July 1132, the Hungarian and Austrian troops defeated 
Boris and his allies.[23][33]

Expansion (1132–1139)[edit]

Boleslaw III of Poland could not assist Boris after the Battle of the Sajó.[33] Béla's 
allies—Sobeslav I of Bohemia and Volodimirko of Peremyshl—invaded Poland each year 
between 1132 and 1135.[23][33] Sobeslav regularly—in 1133, 1134, 1137, and 1139—
visited Béla's court.[34] The Czech monarch even persuaded Lothar III, Holy Roman 
Emperor to force Boleslaw III to abandon Boris and recognize Béla's rule in Hungary in 
August 1135.[33][35]

Hungary adopted an expansionist policy after Boris's attempts to dethrone Béla.[34] 
The chronicler Thomas the Archdeacon relates that Gaudius, who became Archbishop 
of Split in 1136, "enjoyed great favor with the kings of Hungary" and "often visited 
their court".[36][37] The report suggests that Split accepted Béla II's suzerainty 
around 1136, but this interpretation of the sources is not universally accepted by 
historians.[37][34] The exact circumstances surrounding the submission of Bosnia are 
unknown but the region seems to have accepted Béla's suzerainty without resistance 
by 1137.[38] Historian John V. A. Fine writes that the northeastern regions of the 
province formed part of Queen Helena's dowry.[18] The Hungarian army penetrated 
into the valley of the Rama River, a tributary of the Neretva River, in about 1137.[33]
[17] Although Béla assumed the title King of Rama in token of the new conquest, the 
permanent occupation of the region is not proven.[17]

Hungarian troops participated in a campaign launched by Grand Prince Yaropolk II of 
Kiev against Vsevolod of Kiev in 1139.[34][39] Béla strengthened his alliance with the 
Holy Roman Empire.[34] For this purpose, he gave financial support to Otto of 
Bamberg's missions among the Pomeranians and arranged the engagement of his 
daughter Sophia with Henry, son of the new German king Conrad III in June 1139.[34]

Last years (1139–1141)[edit]

According to the Hungarian chronicles, in the last few years of his life Béla became a 
drunkard.[17] His courtiers took advantage of his drunkenness to receive grants from 
him.[40] When he was in an alcoholic stupor, he sometimes ordered the execution of 
innocent men.[40] Béla died on 13 February 1141, "on the Ides of February, a 
Thursday".[41][40] He was buried in the Székesfehérvár Cathedral.[40]

After King Bela had been established in his rule of the kingdom, he indulged himself 
much with wine. His courtiers found that whatever they asked of the King in his 
drunkenness he would grant, and after his drunkenness he could not take it back. In 
his drunkenness he delivered Poch and Saul, who were in religious orders, into the 
hands of their enemies, and they were killed without cause.

—?The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle[42]
Béla married Helena of Rascia upon the initiation of his cousin, King Stephen II at the 
beginning of 1129.[47] Helena was a daughter of Uroš I of Rascia and his wife Anna, 
whose origin is uncertain.[47] Queen Helena gave birth to at least six children.[48] 
The first of these, the future King Géza II of Hungary, was born in 1130.[1] Three 
brothers—Ladislaus, Stephen and Álmos—were born in the early 1130s.[1] Sophia, the 
first daughter of the royal couple, was born around 1135; she died as a nun in Admont 
Abbey after her engagement with Henry Berengar of Germany was broken.[49] Béla 
II's youngest daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in about 1140, married Mieszko III of 
Poland.[50]

Parents
____ Almos "Vak Almos" (ABT 1072 - 1129)
SVYATOPOLKOVNA Predslava (1075 - AFT 1116)

Siblings
____ Bela II "Masodik Tak" "the Blind" (1108 - 13 Feb 1141)

Marriage To NEMANJICS Ilona (Jelena) (Jereha) (Helena) (ABT 1115 - 1157)
    m. 28 Apr 1127 

Notes

Parents
____ Uros (Bejela) I (ABT 1089 - ABT 1145)
DIOGENISSA Anna (ABT 1074 - 1145)

Children by NEMANJICS Ilona (Jelena) (Jereha) (Helena) ABT 1115 - 1157
____ Geza II "Masodik Geza" (1130 - 31 May 1162)

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