Andrew II of Hungary

King of Hungary (1175-1235)

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Lived 1175–1235, aged 60

Wikipedia
52 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1175–1235
Aged 60

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

A medieval king who bled his own treasury dry handing out estates to cronies, launched a dozen failed wars to seize territories he couldn't hold, joined a crusade that accomplished nothing, and was forced at swordpoint by his own minor nobles to sign away royal power in 1222—the document that created Hungary's aristocratic class.

Biography

About

Andrew II inherited money and land from his father Béla III with explicit orders to lead a crusade; instead he extorted his brother Emeric into ceding him Croatia and Dalmatia in 1197, then kept scheming until Emeric's death handed him the throne in 1205. His "new institutions" grants policy gutted royal revenues by showering estates on partisans, while he styled himself "King of Halych and Lodomeria" and waged at least a dozen wars trying to seize Rus' principalities—all repelled. He finally sailed on the Fifth Crusade in 1217–1218, which failed. Back home, rising servientes regis forced him…

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