Most Hungarian princesses were sent away from their homeland to marry foreign princes. However, there were a few exceptions. One of these was Anna, believed to be the favourite daughter of Bela IV. She remained in her homeland and married an exiled Rus prince, who settled in Hungary. Anna remained close to her father throughout his reign and became an influential figure at his court. Three of Anna’s daughters would go on to marry foreign princes – specifically the rulers of Bulgaria, Bohemia and Poland.
Early Life
Anna of Hungary was born around 1226 or 1227 to Bela IV, King of Hungary, and Maria Laskarina. She was their third daughter and third child overall. A son would not be born to the royal couple until 1239, after they had seven daughters. At the time of Anna’s birth, her grandfather, Andrew II, was King of Hungary. After his death in 1235, Anna’s parents were crowned King and Queen of Hungary.
In 1241, the Mongols invaded Hungary, and Maria and her children fled to Klis Fortress in Croatia, which was ruled by Hungary at the time. Anna would have accompanied her mother and siblings there. They were able to return to Hungary in 1242. Around this time, Bela was looking for alliances against the Mongols, and his daughters would be valuable in this.
Marriage
The principality of Halych, a successor state to the Kyivan Rus, was also another territory affected by the Mongol invasion. Halych is located in present-day western Ukraine. In 1241-1242, Halych was ruled by a Rurikid prince named Rostislav Mikhailovich. He had also ruled Halych from 1236 to 1237. By the thirteenth century, the Kyivan Rus had fragmented into many principalities, due to there being many different branches of the dynasty. The princes were constantly fighting for control over the various territories. Rostislav was unable to keep his hold on Halych, and in 1242, he finally lost it to another Rurikid prince, Daniel Romanovich, who would eventually be crowned as King of Ruthenia.
After losing Halych, Rostislav fled to the Hungarian court, hoping to find assistance from Bela to retake his principality. Rostislav wanted to marry Anna, and Bela soon agreed to this. Rostislav and Anna were probably married in 1243. When Rostislav’s father, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, Prince of Chernigov, was informed of the marriage, he went to Hungary to negotiate with Bela. However, Bela turned him down, and Rostislav had a falling out with him. Mikhail returned to Chernigov and disowned his son. In 1245, Rostislav led an army, hoping to reclaim Halych, but failed, driven out by Daniel’s forces. After this, Rostislav seems to have lost all hope of reclaiming Halych and never returned. Around 1251, Bela married one of his other daughters, Constance, to Daniel’s son Lev.
Rostislav belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church, while Anna was Roman Catholic. There seems to be no evidence that Anna ever converted to her husband’s faith. It is also not clear which church their children were raised in.
Duchess of Mascó
Even though Bela could no longer help Rostislav reclaim Halych, he did not want his son-in-law to remain landless and without titles. First, Bela granted Rostislav some castles, and then he made him Ban of Slavonia (in present-day Croatia) in 1247, but he only held that post for a year. Between 1247 and 1254, Rostislav was made Ban or Duke of Macsó, which is in present-day Serbia. Thus, Anna became Duchess of Macsó.
During their nineteen years of marriage, Anna and Rostislav had at least six children together:
- Anna or Elizabeth (c.1244-after 1257/c.1293/1296?) Married firstly Tsar Michael II of Bulgaria, married secondly Tsar Kaliman II of Bulgaria, may have married thirdly, Mojs II Daroi, Palatine of Hungary.
- Kunigunda (c.1245-1285) Married firstly King Ottokar II of Bohemia, married secondly Zavis of Falkenstein.
- Michael (c.1247-1266/1270) Duke of Bosnia.
- Gryfina (c.1248-1303/09) Married Leszek II, High Duke of Poland.
- Bela (c.1249-1272) Duke of Macsó and Bosnia.
- Margaret (1250-1290) Nun.
Rostislav claimed the title Tsar of Bulgaria in 1257, and the Hungarians recognised him as such. He set himself up in the province of Vidin, Bulgaria, and there were two other contenders for the Bulgarian throne. Ultimately, Constantine Tikh was elected as Tsar. Rostislav died in 1262. His lands were divided between his and Anna’s two sons, Michael and Bela.
Conflict With Stephen
After Rostislav’s death, Anna returned to her father’s court. She was said to have been her father’s favourite daughter. Soon after Anna was widowed, her brother, Stephen, had a falling-out with their father. This possibly had something to do with Bela’s favouring of Anna and her children, and the fact that he assigned territories that had previously belonged to Stephen to Anna’s son, Bela, instead.
In the autumn of 1262, a civil war broke out between King Bela and Stephen. On 25 November, the King and his son signed a peace treaty that divided the Kingdom of Hungary between the two of them. The lands west of the Danube remained directly under Bela’s rule, and the lands to the east of the river went to Stephen. Around this time, Stephen was also styled as Junior King. Soon after the peace treaty was concluded, Stephen took Anna’s castle of Fuzer from her. Some other territories belonging to Anna and her sons were also lost to Stephen. This probably caused brother and sister to fall out with each other. Anna soon became the leader of an anti-Stephen faction. She submitted a complaint against her brother to the Pope, Urban IV. The Pope confirmed Anna’s properties in 1264, but Stephen does not seem to have returned them to her.
In December 1264, an army that was under Anna’s command invaded Stephen’s territories. The army managed to capture Anna’s lost possessions from Stephen. At first, things were looking up for Anna and her father, but in 1265, Stephen successfully defeated the royal army in a decisive battle. A peace was concluded, but tensions remained between Anna and Stephen.
Anna’s oldest son, Michael, died childless sometime between 1266 and 1270. His lands were inherited by the only remaining son, Bela. King Bela was aware of the ongoing tension between Anna and Stephen, and on his deathbed, asked for Anna’s son-in-law, King Ottokar of Bohemia, to shelter Anna, her mother, Maria, and their allies. King Bela died on 3 May 1270, and was succeeded by Stephen, who became King Stephen V of Hungary.
Soon after Bela’s death, Anna fled to Bohemia, fearing Stephen’s revenge. She was welcomed there by her daughter, Kunigunda, Queen of Bohemia, and her son-in-law, King Ottokar. Many of the barons who were loyal to Ottokar in the conflicts with his son followed her. Anna took some of the Hungarian regalia to Bohemia with her. This included two gold crowns, sceptres, coronation swords, gold objects, and jewellery. Anna claimed that her father entrusted her with the precious objects on his deathbed, but this is impossible to prove. New regalia were possibly made around this time. In the summer of 1270, Stephen and Ottokar reached a truce. The items from the royal treasury that Anna took could remain in her and Ottokar’s hands, but the barons who followed them to Bohemia had to return to Hungary. An armed conflict broke out between Stephen and Ottokar in 1271.
Later Life
Stephen died suddenly on 6 August 1272, after reigning for only two years. Upon his death, Anna was safe to return to Hungary. The new king was Stephen’s ten-year-old son, Ladislaus IV. Due to his youth, he was under the regency of his mother, Elizabeth the Cuman. However, the rule of a child monarch and a woman was unpopular. Anna’s son, Bela, and King Ottokar of Bohemia, were among those who vied for the regency, or even the crown of Hungary itself.
In November 1272, Bela met with Henry Koszegi, a powerful Hungarian nobleman, on Margaret Island (in present-day Budapest). During the meeting, a heated argument broke out between the two men, and Henry killed Bela right then and there. He continued to hack Bela’s body to pieces. Bela’s sister, Margaret, and cousin, Elizabeth, gathered up his remains and buried them at the monastery on Margaret Island. Bela’s lands were divided among the leading noble families. Anna outlived both of her sons.
Anna continued to manage her estates. She is last mentioned in the year 1274, when she visited her nephew, King Ladislaus, while he was sick. After this, she disappears from record; it is not known when she died or where she was buried. Two possible places have been suggested as Anna’s place of burial: the monastery on Margaret Island, or with her parents at the Franciscan friary of Esztergom.
Anna is not well-known today, but she appears to be one of Hungary’s most powerful medieval princesses. She managed estates, commanded troops, and led a faction against her brother. Anna seems to have led an interesting life and deserves more attention from historians.
Sources
Font, Marta; “The princess of Kievan Rus in Hungarian History” on hromada.hu
Kanyo, Ferenc; “The Arpad Princess who held Attila’s Treasures” on hellomagyar.hu
Mielke, Christopher; The Archaeology and Material Culture of Queenship in Medieval Hungary, 1000-1395
“Anna of Hungary” on the website The Court of Russian Princesses of the XI-XVI centuries
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