Coloman, King of Hungary

Coloman the Learned, also called the Book-Lover or the Bookish, ruled as King of Hungary from 1095 and King of Croatia from 1097 until his death in February 1116. He and his younger brother Álmos were still children when their father, King Géza I, died in 1077, so their uncle Ladislaus I took the throne. Ladislaus prepared Coloman—described in late medieval Hungarian chronicles as "half-blind and humpbacked"—for a church career, and by the early 1090s he had been made bishop of either Eger or Várad (present-day Oradea, Romania). When Ladislaus was dying in early 1095, he chose Álmos as his heir.

Coloman fled to Poland but returned around 19 July 1095 after his uncle's death. He was crowned in early 1096, though the exact circumstances of his accession remain unknown. He granted Álmos the Hungarian Duchy, a third of the kingdom.

In the year of his coronation, at least five large groups of crusaders passed through Hungary on their way to the Holy Land. Coloman destroyed bands that entered without permission or pillaged the countryside, but the main crusader army crossed without trouble.

He invaded Croatia in 1097, defeating its last native king, Petar Snačić, and was crowned king of Croatia in 1102. According to the late 14th-century Pacta conventa—whose authenticity scholars do not universally accept—he was crowned only after ratifying a treaty with Croatian noble leaders. For centuries afterward, Hungarian monarchs also held the Croatian crown.

Throughout his reign, Coloman faced repeated attempts by Álmos to overthrow him, at least five plots in all. In response, he seized Álmos's duchy in 1107 or 1108 and, around 1114, had Álmos and Álmos's son Béla blinded.

Legacy

Hungarian chronicles, written under kings descended from the mutilated brother and nephew, portray Coloman as a bloodthirsty and unlucky ruler. However, the contemporary chronicler Gallus Anonymus called him "the most well-versed in the science of letters among all the kings of his day." Coloman's decrees—covering taxation, trade, and relations between Christian and non-Christian subjects—remained unchanged for over a century. He was also the first Hungarian king to give up control over the appointment of prelates in his realms.