page_title: Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)
section_title: Colonisation and expansion (1116–1196)
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301) / "Patrimonial" kingdom / Colonisation and expansion (1116–1196)
caption_attribution_description: English: Town guild hall - Levoča - Slovakia - Europe Magyar: Lőcse This media shows the protected monument with the number 704-2891/1 (other) in the Slovak Republic.
context_page_description: The Kingdom of Hungary came into existence in Central Europe when Stephen I, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, was crowned king in 1000 or 1001. He reinforced central authority and forced his subjects to accept Christianity. Although all written sources emphasize only the role played by German and Italian knights and clerics in the process, a significant part of the Hungarian vocabulary for agriculture, religion and state was taken from Slavic languages. Civil wars and pagan uprisings, along with attempts by the Holy Roman Emperors to expand their authority over Hungary, jeopardized the new monarchy. The monarchy stabilized during the reigns of Ladislaus I and Coloman. These rulers occupied Croatia and Dalmatia with the support of a part of the local population. Both realms retained their autonomous position. The successors of Ladislaus and Coloman—especially Béla II, Béla III, Andrew II, and Béla IV —continued this policy of expansion towards the Balkan Peninsula and the lands east of the Carpathian Mountains, transforming their kingdom into one of the major powers of medieval Europe.
context_section_description: Unsuccessful wars with the Republic of Venice, the Byzantine Empire and other neighboring states characterized the reign of Coloman's son, Stephen II, who succeeded his father in 1116. The earliest mention of the Székelys is in connection with the young king's first war against the Duchy of Bohemia. The Hungarian-speaking Székelys lived in scattered communities along the borders, but their groups were moved to the easternmost regions of Transylvania in the 12th century. Stephen II died childless in 1131. During the reign of the blind Béla II, the kingdom was administered by his wife, Helena of Rascia, who ordered the massacre of the lords who had opposed her husband's rule. Boris Kalamanos, an alleged son of King Coloman, who attempted to seize the throne from Béla II, received no internal support.
  Béla II's son, Géza II, who ascended the throne in 1141, adopted an active foreign policy. He supported Uroš II of Rascia against Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. He promoted the colonization of the border zones. Flemish, German, Italian, and Walloon "guests" arrived in great numbers and settled in the Szepesség region (Spiš, Slovakia) and in southern Transylvania. Géza even recruited Muslim warriors in the Pontic steppes to serve in his army. Abu Hamid, a Muslim traveler from Al-Andaluz, refers to mountains that "contain lots of silver and gold", which points at the importance of mining and gold panning already around 1150.
  If anyone of the rank of count has even in a trivial matter offended against the king or, as sometimes happens, has been unjustly accused of this, an emissary from the court, though he be of very lowly station and unattended, seizes him in the midst of his retinue, puts him in chains, and drags him off to various forms of punishment. No formal sentence is asked of the prince through his peers, ... no opportunity of defending himself is granted the accused, but the will of the prince alone is held by all as sufficient.
  — Otto of Freising: The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa
  Géza II was succeeded in 1162 by his eldest son, Stephen III. His uncles, Ladislaus II and Stephen IV, claimed the crown for themselves. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos took advantage of the internal conflicts and forced the young king to cede Dalmatia and the Szerémség region (Srem, Serbia) to the Byzantines in 1165. Stephen III set an example for the development of towns by granting liberties to the Walloon "guests" in Székesfehérvár, including immunity from the jurisdiction of the local ispán.
  When Stephen III died childless in 1172, his brother, Béla III, ascended the throne. He reconquered Dalmatia and the Szerémség in the 1180s. A contemporary list shows that more than 50 percent of his revenues derived from the annual renewal of the silver currency, and from tolls, ferries and markets. According to the list, his total income was the equivalent of 32 tonnes of silver per year, but this number is clearly exaggerated. Béla III emphasized the importance of making records on judicial proceedings, which substantiates reports in later Hungarian chronicles' of his order regarding the obligatory use of written petitions. Landowners also started to put their transactions into writing, which led to the appearance of the so-called "places of authentication", such as cathedral chapters and monasteries authorized to issue deeds. Their emergence also evidences the employment of an educated staff. Indeed, students from the kingdom studied at the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna and Padua from the 1150s.
  Aspects of 12th-century French culture could also be detected in Béla III's kingdom. His palace at Esztergom was built in the early Gothic style. Achilles and other names known from the Legend of Troy and the Romance of Alexander (two emblematic works of chivalric culture) were also popular among Hungarian aristocrats. According to a scholarly view, "Master P", the author of the Gesta Hungarorum, a chronicle on the Hungarian "land-taking", was Béla III's notary.
caption: Leutschau (Hungarian: Lőcse, Slovak: Levoča), a center of Zipser Saxons
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