Family of Bela II + and Helena + of RASKA

Husband:	Bela II + (1108-1141)
Wife:	Helena + of RASKA (1115-1146)
Children:	Elisabeth of HUNGARY (1129-1155)
	Geza II + (1130-1162)
	Ladislas II of HUNGARY (1131-1163)
	Stephan IV of HUNGARY (1133-1165)
	Sophia (1136- )
Marriage	28 Apr 1129

Husband: Bela II +

Wife: Helena + of RASKA

Name:	Helena + of RASKA
Sex:	Female
Father:	Uros I + VUKANOVIC (1089-1130)
Mother:	Anna + DIOGENESS (bef1075- )
Birth	1115	Beograd, Serbia
Occupation		Queen Consort of Hungary
Title	frm 1131 to 1141 (age 15-26)	Queen Consort of Hungary
Death	1146 (age 30-31)

Child 1: Elisabeth of HUNGARY

Child 2: Geza II +

Name:	Geza II +
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Euphrosyne + of KIEV (1130-1193)
Birth	1130	Tolna, Hungary
Occupation		King of Hungary
Title	frm 13 Feb 1141 to 31 May 1162 (age 10-32)	King of Hungary
Death	3 May 1162 (age 31-32)

Child 3: Ladislas II of HUNGARY

Name:	Ladislas II of HUNGARY
Sex:	Male
Birth	1131
Death	14 Jan 1163 (age 31-32)

Child 4: Stephan IV of HUNGARY

Name:	Stephan IV of HUNGARY
Sex:	Male
Birth	1133
Death	11 Apr 1165 (age 31-32)

Child 5: Sophia

Name:	Sophia
Sex:	Female
Birth	1136
Occupation		nun at Admont

Note on Husband: Bela II +

Béla II the Blind (Hungarian: II. (Vak) Béla, Slovak: Belo II, Croatian: Bela II.) (c. 1110 – 13 February 1141), King of Hungary[1] and Croatia (1131–1141). Still as a child, Béla was blinded by his uncle, King Coloman who wanted to ensure the succession of his own son, the future King Stephen II. During his childhood, Béla lived in different monasteries of the kingdom till the childless King Stephen II invited him to his court. Following King Stephen's death, Béla ascended the throne, but during his reign he had continuously struggle with King Coloman's alleged son, Boris who tried to acquire the crown with the military assistance of the neighbouring countries.

Early yearsBéla was the only son of Duke Álmos, the younger brother of King Coloman of Hungary. His mother was Predslava of Kiev. Duke Álmos led several rebellions against his brother, but finally, he and Béla were blinded in 1115. Father and son were living together in the Premonstratensian Monastery of Dömös till 1126, when Duke Álmos tried to organise a conspiracy against King Stephen II, King Coloman's son and heir, but he failed and had to escape to the Byzantine Empire. Following his father's escape, Béla was taken secretly to the Monastery of Pécsvárad by his father's partisans.

 

In 1128, after the death of Duke Álmos, King Stephen was informed that his blind cousin was still living in Hungary, and he invited Béla to his court. Upon the king's request, Béla married Jelena, a daughter of Serbian Duke Uroš I of Raška, and the king granted the couple estates near Tolna.

 

On 1 March 1131, the childless king died, and on 28 April, Béla was crowned in Székesfehérvár, although King Stephen II had designated his sister's son, Saul his successor in 1126, but Saul had died before his uncle, or Béla's partisans managed to defeat him.

 

[edit] Struggles with BorisAs Béla was blind, his wife played a decisive role in governing his kingdom. Shortly after ascending the throne, Queen Helena ordered the massacre of the people she considered responsible for her husband's blinding at an assembly in Arad. She implaced her brother, Beloš, as the count palatine, giving him supreme command over the Hungarian Army and a commendable place in the Hungarian Royal Court.

 

Béla's entire reign was overshadowed by a conflict with Boris, a son of King Coloman of doubtful legitimacy, in which Boris was supported by Poland and Rus'. In 1132, King Boleslaus III of Poland led a campaign with Rus' and Polish troops on Boris' behalf. When Béla were informed that the Polish and Rus' armies entered to Hungary, he assembled a meeting of the barons where all the participants were killed who did not want to declare Boris bastard. King Boleslaus and Boris were defeated near the Sajó River on 22 July, but Boris was to prove a persistent claimant for a number of years to come.

 

[edit] His policyBéla's reign was notable for his foreign policy - his sister Hedwig was married to a son of Margrave Leopold III of Austria and another sister to Duke Sobeslav I of Bohemia, thereby allying Hungary with two previously inimical states. His brothers-in-law convinced Emperor Lothair III, who had been struggling against Poland, to include into the terms of the Peace of Merseburg with Boleslaw III that the Polish king would not support Boris against Béla any more.

 

In 1136, Béla managed to recover parts of Dalmatia from the control of the Republic of Venice, and sent an expedition into Bosnia. In 1137, he gave the title of Duke of Bosnia, with acceptance from the entire country, to his younger son Ladislaus.

 

Béla died from the effects of an overindulgence of alcohol.

Note on Wife: Helena + of RASKA

Jelena Vukanovic or Helena of Rascia (after 1109 – after 1146) was Queen consort of Hungary.

 

Helena was the daughter of Duke Uroš I of Rascia and his wife, Anna Diogene. Around 1129, King Stephen II of Hungary arranged her marriage with his cousin Béla, who had been blinded on the order of the king's father, King Coloman of Hungary. The king granted estates near Tolna to the couple.

 

Following the childless king's death, her husband was crowned King of Hungary on 28 April 1131. Helena exerted material influence over her blind husband during his reign. It was she who persuaded her husband's partisans, with her two sons in her arms, to massacre, at an assembly in Arad, 68 aristocrats they suspected of having suggested King Coloman to blind her husband.

 

When her husband died on 13 February 1141, their eldest son Géza II ascended the throne who was still a child. Therefore, Helena and her brother Beloš Vukanovic, whom she had invited to the court, governed the Kingdom of Hungary till September 1146 when he came of age.

 

[edit] Marriage and children# c. 1129: King Béla II of Hungary (c. 1110 – 13 February 1141)

 

Elisabeth (c. 1129 – before 1155), wife of duke Mieszko III of Poland

King Géza II of Hungary (c. 1130 – 3 May 1162)

King Ladislaus II of Hungary (1131 – 14 January 1163)

King Stephen IV of Hungary (c. 1133 – 11 April 1165)

Sophia (c. 1136 – ?), nun at Admont (Styria)