King Endre II's crusade in 1217–1218.

In the midst of the complications in Halic, Endre remarried in 1215; to Péter Courtenay, IV. He married
the daughter of King Louis of France and Jolantha, also named Jolantha, the sister of the Latin emperors
Baldwin and Henry of Constantinople[1].

In the same year, the Lateran Council decided to start another crusade, and now III. Pope Ince began to
seriously pressure Endré to finally take part in the crusade, for which he had been preparing for 20
years. Moreover, when after Ince's death on July 16, 1216 III. Pope Honorius stepped in to inherit it,
which clearly declared to Endre that he would no longer tolerate his delay under any pretense, and so
Endre reluctantly set out on the holy path. He originally wanted to take his route through
Constantinople, all the more because after the death of the Latin Emperor Henrik on June 11, 1216,
without a successor, the French lords of Constantinople II. Endré and his brother-in-law Péter Courtenay
were offered the emperorship.[2] But by the time he was about to set out, the Pope had already
crowned his opponent as Emperor of Constantinople, and thus, contrary to the original plan, the
Hungarian Crusade set off not on land, but on the sea.Before his departure, Endre crowned his eldest
son, Béla, the junior king of Hungary, and also made arrangements so that in the event of his death, the
country would be inherited by Béla and Halics by Kálmán, and that in the event that Béla or Kálmán, or
both, died without a son, then his youngest son, Endre, would inherit their offspring. Finally, after his
children were still minors, he appointed Archbishop János of Esztergom as governor of Hungary during
his absence, and Pontio della Croce, prior of the Templars, as governor of Croatia and Dalmatia.[3]

Sándor sent the latter to Venice with the Transylvanian Provost Endre in order to acquire the necessary
ships, and Doge Péter Ziani was willing to agree to the agreement, under rather severe conditions.
Above all, Endre had to renounce Zára forever on behalf of himself and his descendants. He had to issue
a document with a golden seal, confirmed by the Pope. The citizens of Venice were granted free
transport in Hungary, and the Hungarian subjects in Venice everywhere; as a duty, one-eighth of the
value of their goods was to be paid at the borders, but jewelry made of gold, silver, and precious stones,
silk fabrics, and ornaments were duty-free.

The republic had to provide King Endre with ten fully equipped ships capable of carrying a load of at
least 300 tons. On average, each ship with a carrying capacity of 500 tons had to have 50 sailors, and
550 Venetian silver marks (approx. 24,000 gold crowns) were to be paid for each such ship; smaller
ships cost proportionally less, larger ones correspondingly more. The ships had to be in Spalato by July
25, but the fee due for them had to be paid in 3 installments, 8 days before the ships left from under the
Rialto Bridge. Before boarding the ship, both parties had to swear an oath as a form of mutual
insurance.[4] In addition, the trustees rented ships from Ancona, Zadar and other cities on the Adriatic
coast.
 Since Endre, as usual, did not have enough money, he therefore collected the valuables in the country
so that, if necessary, he could turn them into money. So, among other things, he took from Veszprém
the crown of István I's wife, Gizella, encrusted with precious stones, weighing 12 marks of gold, which he
then sold for 140 silver gira across the sea,[5] and from Tihany he took some chalice (ciphus) adorned
with pearls and precious stones, for which he later had to pay 1,000 salt stones per year as
compensation.[6] Otherwise, he created the necessary money through taxes, loans and other financial
measures.

Quite a few of the ecclesiastical and secular lords joined Endre, but the excitement in Hungary was by no
means as general as in France and Germany, where for 30 years the people, small and large, had
competed in the race to free the Holy Land from the hands of the infidels. Thus, among other things, in
1212, many thousands of armies of enthusiastic French and German children set out from Marseilles
and Italy to recapture the Holy Land, but they were partly destroyed on the way, partly fell into the
hands of sea robbers and ended up in slavery. The idea of this fantastic campaign was born from the
religious belief that the Holy Land can only be recaptured by innocent children after so many
unfortunate attempts.

He was accompanied by: Bishops Tamás of Egri and Péter of Győr, Abbot Urias of Pannonhalmi, Royal
Chancellor Ugrin or Ugolin, Master of Tavern Dénes, Master of Cavalry László, Master of Tables
Demeter, Master of Cups Lőrincz, High Bishops of Bratislava Miklós of Sopron and Smaragd and many
other lords and landowners. Among the foreigners who joined Endre were: Gertrud's two brothers,
Prince Otto of Meran and Bishop Eckbert of Bamberg, several German ecclesiastical and secular lords,
and at the head of a completely separate army Prince Leopold VI. of Austria.[7]

With this bright entourage, Endre, after sending the weapons and food on numerous carts and beasts of
burden, in the summer of 1217, he also set off on the regular road to Spalato. "In front of the king and
his Magyars," says one chronicle[8], "an enormous number of the Saxons, a gentle, peaceful people,
arrived in Spalato, waiting with reverence for the king to disembark. At this request, the people of
Spalato gave the entire suburb to the pilgrims as accommodation, and their houses were soon so full of
people and animals that it was hardly possible to walk around. But the crusaders could not fit in despite
the great anxiety, which is why most of the retinue of the royal court camped in tents in an open field.
Some of the people of Spalato watched the unusual multitude with fear, the other with amazement.
The king arrived in Spalato on August 23 in the year of the Lord 1217; the whole population went out in
procession to meet him, who was praised with loud voices by the great multitude of the strangers and
the army; then he was received by the clergy with singing, in silk robes, with a cross and censer in hand,
as befits a royal majesty. At the sight of the solemn procession, the noble king dismounted from his
horse and, with serfs and bishops gathered around him, went on foot to the church of Saint Dominius to
hear mass. After that, the village entertained the king richly in the house called Mata. It is said that
there were 10,000 horsemen accompanying the king, apart from the large crowd of common people.
In return, Endre, according to his custom, heaped rich gifts on his friendly hosts, whom he encouraged
to ask him boldly. He wanted to give them the castle of Clissa and the lordship of the islands, but they
preferred to promote their own interests and there were some who wanted to seize the said castle for
themselves. So Endre entrusted the castle of Clissa to Pontio della Croce, the governor of Croatia-
Dalmatia, and his knights, which he also thought was a favor to the people of Spalato. Despite this, he
was unable to get his court physician, Sándor, "a very learned and honest man", to be elected in place of
Archbishop Bernát, who died during his term of office.[9]

First, not long after Endre's arrival, Austrian Prince Leopold set off from Spalato with his entourage. II.
Endre only followed much later, around the 25th of September, and when he was about to leave, he
found out that there were not enough ships, so most of the pilgrims stayed behind and either went
home or waited until spring to join the next army. He sailed to Durazzo, accompanied by two galleys
from Spalato, from there to the island of Cyprus. Arriving here at the beginning of October, Hugo
Lusignani, the French king of the island, joined him, and the envoy of the king of Jerusalem also reported
to him here. Continuing his journey from there, Endre arrived in Accon in mid-October. There were
already many crusaders together here, and therefore food was scarce and expensive, so that the poorer
pilgrims had to be transported back en masse; so e.g. for this reason, only in September, before Endre
arrived, 46 ships full of pilgrims were sent back to Europe.

Endre's army camped near Accon near the village of Ricardana (today's Chirbet Kurdane) along the Kison
stream. The operational plan, according to which the crusaders had to operate, was still III. It was
established in 1215 during the time of Pope Ince and the Lateran Council. According to this, the
Crusaders, once they were fully together, had to visit the enemy in Egypt, in order to break the power of
the Egyptian sultan there, at the seat of his power, by capturing Damiette. For now, it was only about
this and such. King Endre, János of Jeruzsálem and Hugó Lusignani with the kings of Cyprus and Prince
Leopold of Austria therefore established their narrower operational plan that can be deduced from the
following events.

On the contrary, Saladin's younger brother, the 74-year-old Al-Adil, (full name "El Malek al Adil Seif ed
Din"), the ruler of Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia, believed that the newly arrived crusaders would attack
Jerusalem or Damascus, and therefore Al - Muazzam ( full name "El Malek al Muaddam Sarferdin") or
Coraddin in Latin came out of Egypt and camped at Ramle, southeast of Jaffa and northwest of
Jerusalem, from where he later retreated to Bethsean. After the truce concluded between the
Christians and the Turks expired on November 1, the crusade consisting of 20,000 cavalry and foot
soldiers and about 30,000 men and women pilgrims set off on November 3. Under Endre's leadership,
from Accon across the plain of Esdraëla (now Al Füla) in the scorching heat, in a southeasterly direction
towards the Jordan River. In front of the army, scouting and securing troops were always ready to
engage the enemy, but the dust they saw in the distance in front of them was not beaten by the
attacking, but by the retreating enemy, and thus, apart from minor skirmishes, in one of which, it is said,
he killed the sultan's brother, there was no serious conflict. Sultan Al-Adil decided not to engage in an
open battle with the Crusaders, but to keep the fortifications and castles well guarded and consistently
avoid their attacks in the open field. Therefore, the sultan's son, Coraddin, picking up his camp at
Bethsean a little late, moved it to Bethsaida.

Having reached Esdraëla, the crusader army headed towards the Jordan at the foot of Gilboa and on the
way, in Bethsean, the enemy's ample stores of food, military equipment and cattle fell into their
possession without a blow of the sword. From there, after a 3-day rest, the Crusaders moved on,
bathed in the waters of the Jordan and crossed the river on November 10.

At this, great fear and great despair seized the camp of the sultan's son, because there they believed
that the crusaders were heading straight for Damascus, which city, as a point of great importance, took
the necessary measures with desperate haste to protect it. But the Crusaders did not have such far-
reaching plans; instead of the northeast, they headed straight north along the Jordan, then, going along
the eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret and continuing along the Jordan through Bethsaida, which had
been abandoned by the enemy in the meantime, they crossed to the western shore of the river via the
"Bridge of Jacob's Daughters" a little south of Lake Hule and from there, moving south again, passing
through Capernaum with many captured men, women and children and plundering many places on the
way, they returned to Accon.[10]

The council of kings decided to carry out another operation by the end of November. At first, going to
Egypt, they wanted to attack the sultan there, but later they completely abandoned this large-scale plan
and the goal of their operation was the 600 m near Nazareth. the high conical Táborhegy, from where
the enemy constantly threatened the Acconi camp, was set. Sultan Al-Adil built a strong fortress on this
steep mountain in 1211, whose 77 towers and turrets were defended by 2,000 selected Muslim
warriors. This time, Endre stayed in Accon, but participated in the company under the leadership of the
Hungarian army quartermaster Dénes. The army advancing through Nazareth reached the bottom of
the mountain on November 30, but it did not have much confidence that it would be able to take the
steep mountain and the fortress on it, but it is said that a boy from Serez calmed the bewildered ones
and perhaps even showed them the only way up to the mountain. narrow narrow road. They set off on
December 3rd, a foggy day. On one side Endre, Prince Leopold of Austria and the knights of the
Templars, on the other side János Brienne of Jerusalem and Hugó Lusignani of Cyprus with King Rudolph,
the Patriarch of Jerusalem, tried to get to the heights. The bishops and priests prayed continuously; the
patriarch with the cross in his hand went ahead everywhere, and finally they climbed the mountain
together with the army following them. The castle guard came in front of them and so not far from the
roof the two enemy sides clashed, as one of the Hungarian leaders particularly distinguished himself.
[11] After the Muslim leader fell, his men retreated to the stronghold. But only a part of the crusaders,
who began to hesitate and quarrel with each other, followed them, and those, being driven back from
under the walls by the Muslims for lack of support, suffered a significant loss. In view of the proximity of
the Sultan's army, the bulk of the army did not want to leave their camp at the bottom of the mountain
unprotected and spend the night on the side of the mountain, so they went back to the camp at the foot
of the mountain at night.

On December 5, the Crusaders renewed their attack, but without any siege equipment, they attacked
the castle with only ladders, which they covered with their arrows. At that time, one of the
sharpshooters ignited their largest ladder with a naphtha arrow, as a result of which many brave
crusaders lost their lives. This made such a deep impression on the besiegers, and in addition, the
difference of opinion among the leaders became so sharp that they stopped continuing the siege.
Instead, they wanted to clash with the sultan's army in an open field, for which purpose they went in
front of it, but the sultan refused to descend from the mountains with his troops, although his son
recommended him to accept the fight. But the old sultan refused Coraddin's offer with these words:
“These crusaders fight with contempt of death, and I do not want to sacrifice my men. And since it
seems that they don't have a common master and commander and everyone lives on their own, if what
they have runs out, they will leave here voluntarily anyway."

In such circumstances, the crusaders, having no one to fight with and on the other hand fearing that the
enemy would get behind them and cut off their way, abandoning not only the siege of Táborhegy, but
also the further operations in general, began to retreat to the Accon camp on December 7, some
bringing with them a captured Muslim.

This company, if nothing else, at least benefited from the fact that the Szerechens destroyed the castle
themselves a little later and left Tabor hill after it constantly provoked attacks from the Christians.

In mid-December, the Crusaders, including the Hungarians, made another trip under the command of
Dénes. At first they headed along the coast through Tire to Zarephath. From there, a part of them tried
to reach the source region of the Jordan between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in order to harass the
mountain dwellers there, who were always disturbing the territory of the Christian barony of Sidon.

The rough weather and the difficulties of food soon caused a lot of inconvenience and sensitive losses.
Despite this, a Hungarian army, approx. With 500 valiant henchmen, although the baron of Sidon
dissuaded them from carrying out the daring enterprise, drawing their attention to the fact that wild and
cruel, highly skilled guards live in that harsh region above him, he penetrated deep into the district of
Mesgarah, located between the mountains, whose seat is approx. it was halfway between Sidon and
Damascus. After the population had so far dispersed everywhere from the Crusaders, it seems that the
latter got off their horses at Harin without the necessary security regulations in order to take a longer
rest. At the same time, the population surprised them and surrounded them in every way, killed many
brave men, henchmen, horses, and took several others as prisoners along with the leader. Most of the
disbanded group later fought again, but then a false guide deliberately took them on the wrong road,
into untraveled valleys, where the Muslims always attacked them. The Hungarians now noticed the
treachery and beat the treacherous guide to death, but by then it was too late, because the whole team
was lost in the rough mountainous region; only 3 crusaders managed to reach Sidon.

During this time, bad days greeted the army that remained in the Szarepta camp. The unusual cold in
this region, the sudden frost that set in on the eve of Christmas, and then the storm and downpour on
the day of the holiday caused great damage and loss to the ranks of the Crusaders and their horses and
cattle. Added to this is the continuous unevenness of the leaders, as a result of which the Crusader
army split into four separate parts even in the Sarepta camp. In this way, most of the braves returned to
Accon on New Year's Day, completely discouraged and decimated.

As a result of the many deprivations and comparisons, the army was then divided into 3 parts. One of
them marched to Caesarea, the other to Mount Carmel, and Endre and the young Cypriot king boarded
a ship and crossed with their army to Tripolis at the beginning of January 1218, but here they were hit
by even greater trouble, a pestilence caused by hunger, in which the Cypriot king himself died. Endre
also fell dangerously ill, which some attributed to poison, and he never fully recovered from this illness.
[12]

In Tripolis, Endre visited the fortifications of the Hospitallers, which were exposed to frequent enemy
attacks, and in his ecstasy over what he saw, although he no longer had any money, he made several
significant foundations for the benefit of the brave men of St. John.

During his time here, he received the news that he had been attacked by great disturbances and riots at
home. All these problems and the worries about his country made Endre decide to return to his country
after 3 months in the Holy Land. In vain did the other crusaders oppose this, in vain did one or another
bishop and the papal envoy threaten, Endre remained adamant and then the Jerusalem patriarch
pronounced the church curse on him. But Endre didn't care about that anymore and in the month of
February 1218 he set off on his way home, but now not by sea, but by land. Only Bishop Tamás of Eger
remained with a small part of the army in Syria.[13]

On his way home, all his attention was occupied by marriages. In Antioch, King Leo betrothed his
daughter to Endre's son on the condition that he would be Leo's successor. In Nicäa, Emperor Tódor
Laszkarisz betrothed his daughter Mária to his eldest son, the already crowned Béla, and immediately
took the young ara with him. In Bulgaria, the new prince II. Asên, who recently defeated and blinded
Boril, who had been in possession of the throne since Kaloján's death, does not want to let him go until
he promises his eldest daughter, Mária, as his wife. The Sultan of Iconium also wanted to marry Endre's
daughter at all costs, for which he declared himself ready to become a Christian. When Endre
announces this to the pope, he asks him if he could give one of his nieces to the sultan, because he has
no more daughters.[14]

After traveling for several months, Endre finally returned home with his heavily depleted army towards
the end of the summer, or perhaps only the end of the year, [15] but here, where during his absence
"churchmen and laymen competed in evil", no great joy awaited him. But let us hear his own words
about how he found the conditions here: "When we came to Hungary - he complains in his letter to the
Pope,[16]we learned that both ecclesiastical and secular persons committed even greater sins of
infidelity than we were informed about before. Many of the nobles, like Satan's dusters, did not shrink
from insulting the royal majesty, despised our decrees, disturbed the public peace, and tormented their
countrymen as enemies. Archbishop János, when he wanted to oppose their evil, was deprived of all his
wealth and income, captured and expelled from the country with the greatest disgrace... We found our
country impoverished and destitute, the royal treasury deprived of all its income, so that not only can
we not pay our debts incurred during our pilgrimage, but 15 years will not be enough to restore our
country to its former state." Finally, he asks the Pope, curses the guilty and at the same time apologizes
that this time, due to his poverty, he cannot send any gifts.[17]

But instead of Endre trying to put the country in order as soon as possible, he thoughtlessly continued
his extravagances, giving his loyal people generous property donations. His continuous financial
troubles then not only himself, but also, through his disposition, put the country in the hands of the
profiteering Ishmaelites and Jews, who, during the collection of taxes entrusted to them and on the
occasion of the frequent exchange of money, when they issued a poorer type of money, usually worth
less instead of the old, very they afflicted and harmed the people.

[1] Lásd a 203. oldalon.

[2] Honorius pápa levele Endréhez 1217. január 29.

[3] Pray, Historia regum Hung. I. 204.

[4] Velencei Libri Pactorum, IV. 335. – Dandulo Muratorinál XII. 339.

[5] Pray, Dissert. de S. Ladislao 109.

[7] Calles, Annales Austr. II. 201–202.

[8] Thomas Archid. id. m. III. 573.

[9] Thomas Archid. Spal. Hist. Salonit. c. 26.

[10] Oliverius Scholast. Hist. Damiatiana, Eckhardnál II. 1397. – Godefrid. Colon., Annal. az 1217. évhez,
Frehernél I. – Jacob de Vitriaco, Lib. 3. – Gesta dei per Francos. I.

[11] Verbőczy, Tripartit. II. Tit. 14. c. 13.

[12] Thomas id. m. c. 26. – Továbbá Oliverius Scholast., Godefrid. Colon. és Jacob, de Vitriaco id. m.

[13] Wilken, Geschichte der Kreuzzüge, VI. 126. – Röhricht, Die Kreuzzugsbewegung im Jahre 1217. –
Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Hisotriens occidentaux, II. 321. – Godefrid, Coloniens, Fehérnél. –
Carnoto Vilmos levele a pápához, Raynaldnál az 1217. évhez. – Bernard, Thesaurar, Muratorinál VII. c.
186.

[14] Endre levele Honorius pápához, Praynál, Annal. I. 214. – Fejér Cod. Dipl. III. I. 250.

[15] Fessler-Klein id. m. 319.: „Endlich gelangte Andreas mit seinem durch Noth und Starapatzen
entsetzlich verminderten Heere nach Ungarn zurück, reich an Reliquien, arm an Geld, ohne Ehre, ohne
anderen Gewinn als den Namen des Jerusalemitaners, der ihm beigelegt wurde, obgleich er Jerusalem
nie geschen hatte!“

[16] Endre levelei Honorius pápához, Fejér, Cod. Dipl. III. 1. 251. és 282.
On the other hand, chapter 78 of the Viennese Chronicle writes that Endre "returning to Hungary, with
the precious treasures of the saints, would find his country in good condition; however, this will not be
attributed to his own merits, but to the merits of the saints, whose relics he brought home". For this,
Marzali correctly notes in his oft-cited work (II. 387) that "he never deviated more from the truth in his
chronic, pious faith".

The Halich campaign of 1219.

When Endre came home, internal problems were joined by external problems. During his absence, the
Halich boyars, especially because of the spread of the Roman Catholic religion, harassed the child King
Kálmán, who, according to some sources, was even expelled from their country.[1] In order to lead an
army to Halics, of course, first of all, he needed money and more money, and after he found his treasury
completely empty on his return home, he helped himself by giving even more of the royal income as a
pledge or rent to Jews and Ishmaelites, the aforementioned Bulgarians of the Mohammedan religion.
However, in addition to money, people were also needed, and after the castle military had already
largely transferred to the service of the lords, in the capacity of serfs, through new donations, these
lords had to be made willing to deploy their armies with new donations, and therefore alienated
another substantial part of the crown and castle assets, and even he granted them several castle
counties and tenements subject to military service in perpetuity, thereby shaking the foundations of the
country's power based on the castle structure.[2

Endre sent the troops gathered in this way under the command of Füle from Mermelek, or Filni as the
Russians called them, to Halics, where they united with the Polish relief troops sent by Leszkó. Mstislav,
[3] who in the meantime reoccupied the princely seat of Halich, retreated from them, but only to soon
return reinforced by Russian and Kunian relief armies. This happened in the summer of 1219, noting
that one of the khans of Kuno who came to help, Kötöny or Kuthen, who later played a big role in the
history of Hungary, was Mstislav's son. Daniló from Ladomér also joined Mstislav at the head of a
significant army.

Füle, whom the Russians call a reckless, skillful, but violent man, decided to accept the battle in spite of
the enemy's superiority and after the young royal party secured him in the fortified cathedral with a few
water cannons, he himself went in front of the Russo-Kun army with the bulk of the army. On August
14, the two armies collided north of Halics, and the united Russians and Kuns defeated Füle's army after
a bloody battle. He tried his luck once more in the immediate vicinity of Halics, but after being beaten
again, his army was completely routed. Most of the Hungarians and Poles either fell or were captured
together with Füle; and those who tried to escape were beaten to death by the Halich peasants. Only a
small part managed to get to the fortified cathedral, where they were pulled up on ropes, but their
horses got stuck outside and fell into the hands of the victors.

In spite of the fact that the cathedral, which was only temporarily put in a state of defense, did not have
much resistance, the trapped people defended themselves as hard as they could, by shooting or
throwing stones. However, the biggest problem was that they had no water, and so they were soon
forced to surrender to Mstislav. In this way, the 11-year-old Kálmán was captured together with his 7-
year-old wife, Salomé, as well as the two brothers of Aba Sükösd's son Demeter, who faithfully
persevered with them, and some other Hungarian lords.[4]

Since Endre had neither money nor soldiers, he tried to free the prisoners by bargaining, but Mstislav,
who was constantly besieged by Danilo to give him Halics, refused to listen to either good or bad words
for a long time, until finally Queen Jolántha and Leszkó at the intervention of the Polish prince, in 1221
Endre and Mstislav met personally at the border of the country, and agreed that Endre's third son of the
same name, whose father was betrothed to the daughter of the Armenian king, should marry Mstislav's
daughter; the latter keeps Halics under Hungarian authority for another 3 years and then hands it over
to his son-in-law and daughter. Against this, all the Hungarian prisoners were released by Mstislav.[5]

[1] Karamsin id. m. III. 150. – Dlugoss id. m. Lib. VI. 604. – Orosz évkönyv, Katonánál V. 314.

[2] Fejér, Cod. Dipl. III. 1. 255. szerint Endre egyik 1218. évi levelében maga mondja: „Dum quorundam
nostrorum principum consilio, terrae nostrae statum, ab antiquis illibate conservatum alterantes, castra,
comitatus, terras et ceteros opulentis Hungariae proventus in perpetuas haereditates nostris baronibus
et militibus distribuimus“.

[3] prelude on 209. pages

[4] Cromer, Hist. Polon. Lib. VII. 185. – Karamsin id. m. III. 150.

[5] Strahl, Geschichte Russlands, I. 346–348. – Dlugoss id. m. Lib. VI. 610. – Orosz évkönyvek, Katonánál
V. 364.