page_title: Emeric, King of Hungary
section_title: Wars in the Balkans (1200–1203)
hierarchical_section_title: Emeric, King of Hungary / Reign / Wars in the Balkans (1200–1203)
caption_attribution_description: English: Emeric of Hungary golden seal Magyar: Imre király arany-pecsétje. Előlapján a király trónon ülő alakja, fején nyilt liliomos koronával, jobbjában királyi pálczával, baljában országalmával; körirata: + HENRIC (us)&#160;: TERCII&#160;: BELE&#160;: REGIS&#160;: FILIVS&#160;: ¥ A hátsó lapon hétszer osztott háromszögü pajzs, a páratlan számu pólyákban kilencz (3, 3, 2, 1) jobbra lépő oroszlán elmosódó alakjával sa felirat folytatása + D (e) I&#160;: GRA (tia)&#160;: HVNGARIE DALM (acie)&#160;: CHROAC (ie)&#160;: RAMEQ(ue)&#160;: REX. Egyetlen fentmaradt példánya a bécsi udvari levéltárban. A Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum levéltárának galvanoplasztikai hasonmásáról rajzolta Cserna Károly
context_page_description: Emeric, also known as Henry or Imre, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1196 and 1204. In 1184, his father, Béla III of Hungary, ordered that he be crowned king, and appointed him as ruler of Croatia and Dalmatia around 1195. Emeric ascended the throne after the death of his father. During the first four years of his reign, he fought his rebellious brother, Andrew, who forced Emeric to make him ruler of Croatia and Dalmatia as appanage.
  Emeric cooperated with the Holy See against the Bosnian Patarenes, whom the Catholic Church considered to be heretics. Taking advantage of a civil war, Emeric expanded his suzerainty over Serbia. He failed to prevent the Republic of Venice, which was assisted by crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, from seizing Zadar in 1202. He also could not impede the rise of Bulgaria along the southern frontiers of his kingdom. Emeric was the first Hungarian monarch to use the "Árpád stripes" as his personal coat of arms and to adopt the title of King of Serbia. Before his death, Emeric had his four-year-old son, Ladislaus III, crowned king.
context_section_description: From around 1200, Emeric was deeply involved in the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula. On 11 October 1200, Pope Innocent urged him to take measures to liquidate the "heretics" in Bosnia. Upon Emeric's request, the Pope refused to send a royal crown to Grand Prince Stephen of Serbia. Emeric invaded Serbia in 1201 or 1202, and helped Stephen's brother Vukan seize the throne. As a token of his suzerainty over Serbia, Emeric became the first Hungarian monarch to adopt the title of King of Serbia in 1202. He was also the first king to use a royal seal depicting the so-called "Árpád stripes", which eventually became part of the coat of arms of Hungary.
  In the summer of 1202, the Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo signed a treaty with the leaders of the Fourth Crusade, who agreed to help the Venetians recapture Zadar, a town in Dalmatia, which had accepted the Hungarian monarchs' suzerainty since 1186. Even though Pope Innocent III forbade the crusaders to besiege Zadar, they seized the town on 24 November and gave it to the Venetians. Although the Pope excommunicated the Venetians and the crusaders upon Emeric's demand, Zadar remained under Venetian rule.
  In fear of a crusade by Emeric, Ban Kulin of Bosnia held a synod of the Church of Bosnia at Bilino Polje on 6 April 1203. The synod acknowledged papal primacy and ordered the reform of the rites. Kulin also acknowledged Emeric's suzerainty. In a letter written in 1203, the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan informed Pope Innocent that Emeric had occupied five districts in Bulgaria, and Kaloyan demanded the Pope's intervention.
caption: The earliest depiction of the "Árpád stripes" on Emeric's seal
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