brothers survived to return home should be king. They seemed to take it for granted that one only could survive; but Imre thought otherwise. He was by no means disposed to leave his kingdom to the tender mercies of his enemy Leopold, with the prospect, if he and his brother both lived to return, of having to take up the quarrel exactly where he had left it. He soon, therefore, found an excuse for postponing the Crusade. The Princes of Servia, who were allied to the royal house of Hungary by the marriage of blind Béla with Ilona, were now fighting for the crown; and Imre improved the opportunity, by espousing the cause of Prince Wulko, whom he established on the throne, making him a vassal of Hungary, and thereby adding King of Servia' to the titles of the Kings of Hungary.

Again the Pope urged him no longer to postpone the promised Crusade, but this time the Crusaders themselves furnished him with the best pretext for delay. A large body of them, principally Frenchinen, had made an agreement with the Venetians, who had the best fleet in the Mediterranean, that the latter should transport them to Palestine. For this service they were to receive half of the spoils taken from the Infidel, and a large sum of money in silver. As they were on the point of embarking, however, the Crusaders found they could not make up the whole sum; and in an evil moment, agreed to the proposal of the Doge that they should make up the deficiency by fighting against any enemies of Venice, whom they might encounter on their way. Unwarily they consented, and then found themselves obliged to attack Jadra and other towns on the coast of Dalmatia, before the Venetians would proceed; and when, in the spring of 1203, Dandolo did convey them further, it was to attack not Egypt but Constantinople, and thus pave the road for the subsequent victories of the Infidel, against whom they were sworn to fight. András and Imre both represented to the Pope how impossible it was for them to set out for the Holy Land, till they had turned the Venetians out of Dalmatia; and when the Pope appeared to consider this reason insufficient, Imre added that he could not leave home, until his infant son László was crowned and acknowledged as his successor. In answer to this representation, Innocent sent a letter to the Bishops, commanding them to take an oath of fidelity to the little Prince; and now it seemed that Imre would be able to find no further excuse, but this time the Pope himself furnished him with one, by asking him to assist Otto of Brunswick in establishing his claims to the Imperial throne, against Philip of Suabia. His compliance with this request very nearly cost Imre his own throne; for András, encouraged by his ambitious wife Gertrude, seized the opportunity to excite an insurrection. This was not difficult, as the pride of the Magyars was much hurt by their King's submission to the Pope, which many patriots feared would imperil the liberty of their country. The King could raise but a small army, with which to oppose his brother's large force; and small as it was, it was yet further weakened by want of confidence and resolution.

They met on the banks of the Drave, but neither liked to begin the attack. Suddenly, Imre resolved on a bold course. He first drew up his men in order of battle; then-saying, 'Let no one follow me! remain in your places,'-laid aside his weapons and his armour, took a staff in his hand, and marched slowly and solemnly to his brother's camp. Here he looked round him with dignity, saying, 'I see Magyars before me; you see your King; who dares to stain his hand with royal blood?'

No one answered, no one raised his hand; astonishment and awe kept them all dumb and motionless. Without opposition the King continued his solemn march, the lines dividing as he approached, and leaving an open passage for him. On he went, straight to his brother's tent, entered it, and led out András a prisoner, in the sight of the whole awestruck army. The rebels fell on their knees, praying for mercy; the insurrection was at an end, and András was safely lodged in prison. (1203.)

The see of Grán was vacant by the death of the Archbishop, and the suffragan-bishops and the Chapter were quarreling about the choice of his successor, so that at last, (1204.) weary of waiting, Imre, with the consent of the Pope, caused the coronation of his son to be performed by the Archbishop of Kalócsa. But he felt that this ceremony would not suffice to protect the child from the intrigues of his uncle András, and therefore did his best to conciliate the latter by releasing him from prison, and appointing him guardian of the young prince and regent of the kingdom. Shortly after making these arrangements, Imre died, in his nine-and-twentieth year; and András soon forgot his promises, notwithstanding frequent admonitions from the Pope to be faithful in discharging the trust confided to him. He was dazzled by the crown, and was incessantly urged on by his wife to make it his own. Power had been the dream of his life; he could not renounce it now that it was within his grasp, and only withheld from him by a feeble child. First, little disputes as to precedence arose between his haughty wife Gertrude, and Constantia the widow of Imre and mother of László III.; these were followed by insults; and at length, feeling herself no longer safe in Hungary, Constantia fled with László, her own treasures, and the crown-jewels, to Leopold of Austria, who received her hospitably, and prepared to assist her with an army. Happily the war was averted by the death of the little King; the crown was peaceably given up to András, now lawful King; and Constantia, three years later, was given by the Pope in marriage to his ward Friedrich, King of Sicily, afterwards the Emperor Friedrich II.

András had at last attained his great wish, and was crowned in May, 1205. He is the first Hungarian King of whom it is recorded, that he was obliged to take a coronation oath; though there is little doubt but that the practice had existed, from the time when Arpád had first sworn to uphold the constitution of the Magyars, on their entrance into Hungary.

PART 38.

The new King was weak as well as ambitious, and therefore naturally led by his strong-minded unscrupulous wife, Gertrude, who took to herself as much power as she could, and favoured foreigners to an extent which made her extremely unpopular. Her own brother Berthold, a young and very worthless man, was by her entreaties made Archbishop of Kalócsa, to the great scandal of all faithful members of the Church. The Pope did indeed, for some time, demur to granting him the Pallium; as, besides possessing many other disqualifications, Berthold was considerably under thirty; but he at last allowed himself to be persuaded by the King and Queen to confirm their appointment. Not satisfied with this, András subsequently made Berthold Ban of Sclavonia, Vajda of Transylvania, and Count of Bodrog, while he also gave large estates to his other brother-in-law Eckbert, Bishop of Bamberg, who had been driven from his see on suspicion of having been concerned in the murder of Philip King of the Romans.

His lavish expenditure, and foolish liberality to unworthy favourites and relations of the Queen, had reduced the King's revenues to an alarming extent; but Gertrude still managed to amass great treasures for her children. Her little daughter Erzsébet, afterwards known as S. Elizabeth of Hungary, was betrothed (1212) to Ludwig, son of the Landgraf of Thuringia, when only four years old. Many remarkable things are related of her early years; amongst others, that her birth was foretold to the Landgraf by Klinsor, the great magician and minnesinger of Hungary, who had been summoned from the court of András to decide the great contest of the minnesingers at the Wartburg.

Klinsor was sitting in a garden conversing with the Thuringian nobles one evening, when suddenly looking up at the stars, he exclaimed, 'Listen! I will tell you some wonderful and glad tidings. This night there will be born to my Lord the King of Hungary, a daughter. She will be a saint, and will be betrothed to the son of Hermann, Landgraf of Thuringia, and will be the joy and comfort of all Christendom.'

This news soon spread through all Thuringia, and caused the greatest rejoicings. Hermann often thought of Klinsor's words; and when the little Princess was four years old, he sent an embassy to Presburg, where András was holding his court, to ask her in marriage for his young son Ludwig. András consulted Klinsor, and, as he spoke well of the Landgraf and the country, consented to his little daughter's betrothal. She was to go at once and be brought up at the court of Thuringia; and in spite of the poverty of the land, her mother Gertrude contrived to supply her with rich presents for her father-in-law. She took with her gold and silver cups, crosses, and crowns for the Landgraf, besides a silver bath for herself, and a golden cradle with silken hangings. András sent word that he would himself bring the marriage portion, when he came to the wedding: and thus the embassy returned to Thuringia. But whereas it had arrived with four wagons, it returned with thirteen. Each knight, besides the horse he rode, led another with costly trappings,

and there was not one who had not received a costly present. The messengers were never weary of talking of their splendid reception in Hungary, and of all that the King and Queen had promised to do when the marriage of the two children was celebrated.

Naturally, there was no more liberal or splendour-loving nation in Europe than the Hungarian, but this display excited their indignation. The land was impoverished, but the Queen seemed to think nothing of it so long as she could dispose of her extorted gains to her friends and relations as she pleased. It did not occur to her that poverty, especially poverty caused by the extravagance of the great, breeds discontent, and that discontent is dangerous. She and András seem both to have been equally blind to the fact that the nation was discontented, for the latter went on another expedition to Galicia, taking with him his young son Kálmán, not more than five years old, whom one party of the Galicians wished to have for their Prince. He succeeded in establishing Kálmán on a somewhat uneasy throne, and returned to Hungary to find there had been terrible doings during his absence. His brother-in-law Berthold had been growing daily more insolent and overbearing, as he increased in power, and had made himself extremely disliked by the nobles. Some of those whom he had insulted, broke one day into his house; and after soundly thrashing him and the monks who had rushed in to his assistance, fled away to Poland. But the Queen still encouraged him in his pride and folly, and seemed to take pleasure in offending the nobles herself, and helping him to do the same. One of her ladies-in-waiting, the beautiful wife of Bánk, the Palatine, complained bitterly to her husband of the shameful insult offered her by Berthold; and Bánk, a fiery noble, indignantly swore that he would be avenged, not only on Berthold, but on Gertrude, who had helped and encouraged him in his evil ways. The Archbishop seems to have been aware that a storm was brewing against him, and that this time he would not be allowed to escape so easily, for he possessed himself of all the treasure which the Queen had been hoarding up for her children, concealed himself for a time in a castle, and then contrived to leave the country. The Queen was not to get off so easily; for Bánk's friends had determined upon her death, and even the Archbishop of Grán, to whom they communicated their purpose, encouraged them to persevere in it, by this ambiguous answer: 'Reginam occidere nolite; timere bonum est; si omnes consentiunt, ego non; contradico.'-'Do not kill the Queen; to fear is good; if all give their consent, I do not; I forbid it.' Altering the punctuation of the Latin, however, this would also mean, 'Do not fear to kill the Queen; it is good; if all consent, I do not forbid it.'

Whatever the Archbishop may have meant, the Palatine and his friends, acting on the meaning which best suited them, fell upon the Queen in her apartments, or, as some say, while she was living in the open air under a tent, and cut her to pieces. Leopold of Austria, who was staying at the court, saved himself by flight, and the Queen's three

children were taken by their tutor to a place of safety. Bánk himself seems to have taken no personal part in this terrible deed, as he afterwards held some of the highest offices of state.

When András returned home, he found his Queen murdered, her treasure, upon which he had probably been reckoning, plundered, the royal seal lost or stolen, and the whole land in a ferment of discontent. Already there was a party which desired to depose the feeble incapable King, and place his son Béla, still a mere child, on the throne. Under these circumstances, András did not dare to punish his wife's murderers; and in fact, the only thing he seemed capable of was an appeal to the Pope, whom he entreated to excommunicate those who wished to crown his son Béla.

The loss of the treasure also seemed to weigh very heavily on his mind, for he complained bitterly of it to Innocent, urging him to cause Berthold to restore what he had stolen, adding a mild threat that otherwise his Holiness must not take it ill if he indemnified himself out of the revenues of the Church. A blind, shallow-minded man must András have been, thus to trouble himself about his lost treasure, when it was becoming daily more doubtful whether he would not lose his kingdom. But he did not see the danger at home, and was only bent upon the coronation of his son Kálmán as King of Galicia. Having, with the consent of the Pope, happily accomplished this, and betrothed the child to the daughter of the Duke of Poland, he bethought himself of taking a second wife; and married Jolanda, a daughter of Peter of Courtenai, Count of Auxerre. Her uncle, the Byzantine Emperor, dying in the same year, her father and husband became rival candidates for the throne, which was finally offered to András. But the Pope refused to confirm the election; and instead, urged the King to undertake the long promised and often postponed Crusade.

Although lying so near the seat of the war, and in the high-road of the crusading armies, Hungary, as a nation, had hitherto taken no part in the Crusades. It is true, she had wars and disturbances at home more than sufficient to occupy all her energies; it is also true that the conduct of many of the Crusaders had been such as to bring discredit upon their cause; but the chief reason for Hungary's indifference lies somewhat deeper. Oriental as the Magyar character, in many respects, is, it is nevertheless singularly free from fanaticism and intolerance in matters of religion. It is so still, it was so centuries ago. No burning of heretics has ever found favour in Hungary, where Roman and Greek Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Jews, manage to live side by side without hating and denouncing one another. When András called upon his subjects to join him in a Crusade against the Turks, they felt little enthusiasm in obeying the call. There were Mahometans settled in Hungary, even employed in the King's service; no one thought of persecuting them at home, why then go abroad to wage war with their brethren in faith?

*Bulgarians.