Andrew III Of Hungary

Andrew III the Venetian ( hu, III. Velencei András, hr, Andrija III. Mlečanin, sk, Ondrej III.; 1265 – 14 January 1301) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1290 and 1301. His father, Stephen the Posthumous, was the posthumous son of Andrew II of Hungary although Stephen's older half brothers considered him a bastard. Andrew grew up in Venice, and first arrived in Hungary upon the invitation of a rebellious baron, Ivan Kőszegi, in 1278. Kőszegi tried to play Andrew off against Ladislaus IV of Hungary, but the conspiracy collapsed and Andrew returned to Venice.

Being the last male member of the House of Árpád, Andrew was elected king after the death of King Ladislaus IV in 1290. He was the first Hungarian monarch to issue a coronation diploma confirming the privileges of the noblemen and the clergy. At least three pretenders— Albert of Austria, Mary of Hungary, and an adventurer—challenged his claim to the throne. Andrew expelled the adventurer from Hungary and forced Albert of Austria to conclude a peace within a year, but Mary of Hungary and her descendants did not renounce their claim. The Hungarian bishops and Andrew's maternal family from Venice were his principal supporters, but the leading Croatian and Slavonian lords were opposed to his rule.

Hungary was in a state of constant anarchy during Andrew's reign. The Kőszegis, the Csáks, and other powerful families autonomously governed their domains, rising up nearly every year in open rebellion against Andrew. With Andrew's death, the House of Árpád became extinct. A civil war ensued which lasted for more than two decades and ended with the victory of Mary of Hungary's grandson, Charles Robert.

Childhood ( 1265–1278)

Andrew was the son of Stephen the Posthumous, the self-styled Duke of Slavonia, and his second wife, Tomasina Morosini. Andrew's father was born to Beatrice D'Este, the third wife of Andrew II of Hungary, after the king's death. However, Andrew II's two elder sons, Béla IV of Hungary and Coloman of Halych, accused Beatrice D'Este of adultery and refused to acknowledge Stephen the Posthumous as their legitimate brother. Andrew's mother, Tomasina Morosini, was the daughter of wealthy Venetian patrician Michele Morosini.

The exact date of Andrew's birth is unknown. According to historians Tibor Almási, Gyula Kristó, and Attila Zsoldos, he was born in about 1265. Stephen the Posthumous nominated his wife's two kinsmen, including her brother Albertino Morosini, as Andrew's guardians before his death in 1272.

Pretender (1278–1290)

Andrew came to Hungary for the first time in 1278 at the invitation of a powerful lord, Ivan Kőszegi. Kőszegi wanted to play Andrew off against Ladislaus IV of Hungary. Andrew, who was the only male member of the royal family besides the king, adopted the title of "Duke of Slavonia, Dalmatia and Croatia" and marched as far as Lake Balaton. Andrew achieved nothing, however, and went back to Venice in autumn.

Andrew returned to Hungary at the beginning of 1290. On this occasion, Lodomer, Archbishop of Esztergom, also urged him to come, since the archbishop wanted to dethrone the excommunicated Ladislaus IV with the assistance of Ivan Kőszegi. Before Andrew was successful, Arnold Hahót, an enemy of the Kőszegis, invited him to the fort of Štrigova and captured him. Hahót sent Andrew to Vienna, where Albert I, Duke of Austria, held him in captivity.

Three Cuman assassins murdered Ladislaus IV on 10 July 1290, and Archbishop Lodomer subsequently dispatched two monks to Vienna to inform Andrew of the king's death. With the monks' assistance, Andrew left his prison in disguise and hastened to Hungary.

Reign

Coronation and pretenders (1290–1293)

Upon Andrew's arrival, his opponents tried to bribe Theodore Tengerdi, Provost of the Székesfehérvár Chapter, not to hand over the Holy Crown of Hungary to the soon-to-be-king, but the prior refused them. Archbishop Lodomer crowned Andrew king in Székesfehérvár on 23 July. The lords and prelates swore loyalty to Andrew only after he issued a charter promising the restoration of internal peace and respect for the privileges of the nobility and the clergymen. He then appointed the most powerful noblemen, who had for years administered their domains independently of the monarch, to the highest offices. Amadeus Aba, who dominated the northeastern parts of the kingdom, was made palatine, Ivan Kőszegi, the lord of the western parts of Transdanubia, became master of the treasury, and Roland Borsa remained the voivode of Transylvania. Andrew held a diet before 1 September. To put an end to anarchy, the "prelates, barons and noblemen" ordered the destruction of castles which had been erected without royal permission and the restoration of estates that had been unlawfully seized to their rightful owners. Andrew promised that he would hold a diet each year during his reign.

There were several other challengers to Andrew's claim to the throne. Rudolf I of Germany claimed that Hungary escheated to him after Ladislaus IV's childless death, because Ladislaus IV's grandfather, Béla IV of Hungary, had sworn fidelity to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor during the Mongol invasion of Hungary. Although Pope Innocent IV had years before freed Béla IV of his oath, Rudolf I of Germany attempted to bestow Hungary on his own son, Albert of Austria, on 31 August. The self-declared "Andrew, Duke of Slavonia"—an adventurer who claimed to be identical to Ladislaus IV's dead younger brother—also challenged King Andrew's right to the crown and stormed into Hungary from Poland. He was shortly thereafter forced to return to Poland, where he was murdered.

Andrew married Fenenna, the daughter of Ziemomysł of Kuyavia, before the end of 1290. Andrew then held a general assembly for the barons and the noblemen of five counties to the east of the river Tisza—Bihar, Kraszna, Szabolcs, Szatmár, and Szolnok—at Nagyvárad

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