← Back to the front page

The Most Dramatic & Short Lived Reigns of Power in History

Khalid Elhassan February 28, 2023 23 min

A Medieval Hungarian Royal Family’s Infighting Over Power

Power - The blinding of Bela's father, Prince Vazul — The blinding of Bela’s father, Prince Vazul. Imgur

King Bela I of Hungary (circa 1020 – 1063) reigned from 1060 until his death. In his years in power, he suppressed a pagan rebellion and thus solidified Hungary’s Christian identity. He also fought a successful war against Holy Roman Emperor Henry III to defend Hungary’s independence. Bela accomplished much in his relatively brief tenure on the throne. Unfortunately for him, it was his very throne that doomed him. Born into Hungarian royalty, Bela’s father, Prince Vazul, had been a nephew of the childless Hungarian King Stephen I.

When the king bypassed Bela’s father to name another nephew heir, Vazul rebelled, but was captured and blinded as punishment in 1031. Bela and his siblings fled Hungary, but returned in 1046 and seized power when Bela’s eldest brother successfully deposed the king and seized the crown. Per Hungarian royal custom, whereby the crown passed from brother to brother by seniority, Bela was made a duke and named heir. However, while Bela was away from Hungary, his brother changed the rules and named his four-year-old son his heir.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.