Peter, King of Hungary

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"Peter Orseolo" redirects here. For the Venetian doges, see Pietro I Orseolo and Pietro II Orseolo.

Peter
Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Pécs
SpouseAccording to Cosmas :[1]
Judith of Schweinfurt (m. 1055–1058)
HouseOrseolo
FatherOtto Orseolo
MotherGrimelda of Hungary
ReligionChalcedonian Christianity

Peter (Hungarian: Velencei Péter; 1010 or 1011 – 1046, or late 1050s), known as Peter Orseolo or Peter the Venetian, was King of Hungary twice. He first succeeded his uncle, King Stephen I, in 1038. His favoritism towards his foreign courtiers caused an uprising which ended with his 1041 deposition. Peter was restored in 1044 by Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. He accepted the Emperor's suzerainty during his second reign, which ended in 1046 after a pagan uprising. Hungarian chronicles are unanimous that Peter was executed by order of his successor, Andrew I, but the chronicler Cosmas of Prague's reference to his alleged marriage around 1055 suggests that he may also have survived his second deposition.

Life

Before 1038

Peter Orseolo was born in

Byzantine court in Constantinople;[4][2] he instead went to Hungary, where his uncle appointed him commander of the royal army.[5]

Queen Giselle, suggesting that Peter's relationship with his aunt was tense.[10]

First rule (1038–1041)

Peter, King of Hungary (Nádasdy Mausoleum, 1664)

Peter succeeded King Stephen I, who died on 15 August 1038,[11] and adopted an active foreign policy.[6][12] Hungarian troops plundered Bavaria in 1039 and 1040, and invaded Bohemia in 1040 to assist Duke Bretislav I against Holy Roman Emperor Henry III.[13] Hungarian chronicles recount that Peter preferred the company of Germans ("who roared like wild beasts") and Italians ("who chattered and twittered like swallows"),[14] which made him unpopular among his subjects.[6][8] He introduced new taxes, seized Church revenue[6] and deposed two bishops.[15]

Audaciously, Peter confiscated Queen Giselle's property and took her into custody.[6] She sought help from Hungarian lords, who blamed one of Peter's favorites (Budo) for the monarch's misdeeds and demanded that Budo be put on trial.[16] When the King refused, the lords seized and murdered his unpopular advisor[16] and deposed the monarch in 1041.[5] They elected a new king, Samuel Aba, who was a brother-in-law[17] or another nephew[6] of King Stephen I.

As soon as he began to rule, Peter threw aside every trace of the forbearance befitting a monarch's majesty, and in consort with Germans and Latins raged with Teutonic fury, treating the nobles of the kingdom with contempt and devouring the wealth of the land "with a proud eye and an insatiable heart." Fortifications, castles, and every office in the kingdom was taken away from the Hungarians and given to Germans or Latins. In addition, Peter was extremely debauched, and his hangers-on behaved with shameful and unbridled lust, violently assaulting the wives and daughters of the Hungarians wherever the king travelled. No one at the time could feel sure of the chastity of his wife or daughter in the face of the importunity of Peter's courtiers.

— Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians[18]

Exile (1041–1044)

Peter first fled to

Austria,[5] seeking the protection of his brother-in-law, Margrave Adalbert.[16] He approached Emperor Henry III for help against Samuel Aba.[16] The new Hungarian monarch invaded Austria in February 1042, but Adalbert routed Aba's troops.[19] Henry III launched his first expedition against Hungary in early 1042.[20] His forces advanced north of the Danube to the river Garam (Hron, Slovakia).[20] The Emperor planned to restore Peter, but the locals were strongly opposed.[20] Accordingly, the Emperor appointed another (unnamed)[21] member of the Hungarian royal family to administer the territories.[20]

Illuminated manuscript with two mounted armies, swords and spears raised in the battle of Ménfő
The 1044 Battle of Ménfő

In the autumn King Henry also invaded Hungary, destroyed

Pressburg and either laid waste or received the surrender of the northern region of the Danube as far as the River Gran, because rivers and marshes protected the southern region. Part of the army twice encountered attacking Hungarians and wrought great slaughter. After the subjection of the Hungarians of that territory, since they refused to accept Peter, he installed for them as duke one of their number who was at that time in exile among the Bohemians.

— Hermann of Reichenau: Chronicle[22]

The Emperor returned to Hungary in the early summer of 1044,[5] and was joined in his advance by many Hungarian lords.[8] The decisive battle was fought on 5 June at Ménfő (near Győr), where Samuel Aba's forces were defeated.[8] Although Aba escaped from the battlefield, Peter's supporters soon captured and killed him.[5]

Second rule (1044–1046)

Following Samuel Aba's death, Emperor Henry entered Székesfehérvár[16] and restored Peter.[6][8] Peter introduced Bavarian law in his realm, which suggests that Hungary became an imperial fief.[16] He accepted the Emperor's suzerainty on Whitsun 1045, giving his royal lance to his overlord (who returned to Hungary).[8][23] A number of plots to overthrow Peter indicate that he remained unpopular.[9] Two of King Stephen I's maternal cousins (Bolya and Bonyha) conspired against Peter in 1045, but the King had them arrested, tortured and executed.[23] Bishop Gerard of Csanád invited Vazul's exiled sons to the country.[23] An uprising by pagan commoners ended Peter's second rule in 1046.[5] Peter planned to flee again to the

Bretislaus I of Bohemia who was expelled by her son, fled to Hungary and married Peter about 1055 "as an insult to" her son "and all the Czechs".[1][24] If the latter report is reliable, Peter survived the ordeal and died during the late 1050s.[1] He was buried in the cathedral of Pécs.[1] His original tomb was excavated in June 2019.[25]

Illuminated Chronicle

The following autumn the Hungarians remembered their former treachery and set up a certain Andreas as their king. They killed the many foreigners who had fought for King Peter; they inflicted various injuries on him and his wife and finally they deprived Peter of his eyes and sent him, together with his wife, to be kept in a certain place. At the same time many foreigners in that country were despoiled, exiled and killed.

— Hermann of Reichenau: Chronicle[26]

King Peter, seeing that the Hungarians had with one mind taken the part of Dukes Andreas and Levente, took flight with his [Germans] towards

Illuminated Chronicle[27]

Family

The name and family of Peter's wife are unknown,

Solomon of Hungary).[28] On the other hand, Kristó writes that Cosmas's report may suggest that Peter survived his blinding.[1] The following family tree presents Peter the Venetian's ancestors and his relatives who are mentioned in the article:[4][29]

Gyula of TransylvaniaTaksonya "Cuman" woman*
Pietro II OrseoloSaroltGézaMichael
Samuel Aba**
Vazul
Peter the VenetianEmericLeventeAndrewBéla

*A

Volga Bulgarian
woman.
**Samuel Aba might have been Géza's grandson instead of his son-in-law.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter, King of Hungary.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 59.
  2. ^ a b c d Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 53.
  3. ^ Kontler 1999, p. 59.
  4. ^ a b c Nicol 1988, p. 48.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bartl et al. 2002, p. 26.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Kontler 1999, p. 58.
  7. ^ Engel 2001, pp. 28–29.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Engel 2001, p. 29.
  9. ^ a b Molnár 2001, p. 26.
  10. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 54.
  11. ^ Bartl et al. 2002, p. 25.
  12. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 55.
  13. ^ Kristó 2003, p. 75.
  14. ^ The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle (ch. 71), pp. 107–108.
  15. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 56.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 57.
  17. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 63.
  18. ^ Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians (ch. 2.46), p. 109.
  19. ^ Kristó 2003, p. 76.
  20. ^ a b c d Makk 1993, p. 61.
  21. ^ Herman of Reichenau: Chronicle, note 157 on p. 74.
  22. ^ Herman of Reichenau: Chronicle (1042), pp. 73–74.
  23. ^ a b c Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 58.
  24. ^ Cosmas of Prague: The Chronicle of the Czechs (ch. 2.17), p. 135.
  25. ^ Gyimesi, Viktor (10 July 2019). "Szenzáció: Árpád-házi király sírját találták meg Pécsett!". PécsMa. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  26. ^ Herman of Reichenau: Chronicle (year 1046), p. 79.
  27. ^ The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle (ch. 85), p. 113.
  28. ^ Cosmas of Prague: The Chronicle of the Czechs, note 121 on p. 135.
  29. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, pp. 53, 59, Appendices 1–2.

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Peter, King of Hungary
Born: 1010 or 1011 Died: 1046 or late 1050s
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Hungary
1038–1041 		Succeeded by
Samuel
Preceded by
Samuel
 King of Hungary
1044–1046 		Succeeded by
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