Struggles With His Father
Shortly after the peace, Stephen took over the government of Transylvania again. In 1261, Stephen and his father conducted a joint military campaign against Bulgaria, but their relationship became more and more tense, because the senior king had been favouring his younger son, Duke Béla of Slavonia and his daughter, Anna, the mother-in-law of the King of Bohemia.
Finally, with the mediation of Archbishops Fülöp of Esztergom and Smaragd of Kalocsa, Stephen and his father signed an agreement in the summer of 1262 in Pozsony. Based on their agreement, Stephen took over the government of the parts of the kingdom East of the Danube. However, the two kings' reconciliation was only temporary, because their partisans were continuously inciting them against each other. In 1264, Stephen seized his mother's and sister's estates in his domains, but his father sent troops against him. Stephen's wife and son were captured by his father's partisans, and he had to retreat to the castle of Feketehalom. However, he managed to repel the siege and to commence a counter-attack.
In March 1265, he gained a strategic victory over his father's army in the Battle of Isaszeg. After his victory, he concluded a peace with King Béla IV. Based on the provisions of the peace, he received back the government of the Eastern parts of the kingdom. On 23 March 1266, father and son confirmed the peace in the Convent of the Blessed Virgin on the Nyulak szigete ('Rabbits' Island'). Shortly afterwards, Stephen V led his army to Bulgaria and forced Despot Jakob Svetoslav of Vidin to accept his overlordship.
In 1267, the "prelates and nobles" of the Kingdom of Hungary held a joint assembly in Esztergom, and their decisions were confirmed by both Stephen and his father.
To secure foreign support, he formed a double matrimonial alliance with the Angevins, chief partisans of the pope. The first of these was the marriage, in 1270, of his daughter Maria to the future King Charles II of Naples The second alliance was the marriage of Stephen's infant son, Ladislaus to Charles II's sister Elisabeth.
Read more about this topic: Stephen V Of Hungary
Famous quotes containing the words struggles with, struggles and/or father:
“My struggles with myself seldom reach aerobic level.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The long discussions and painful arguments of adolescence and the fierce loyalties to teachers, heroes, and gurus during the teenage years are simply our children’s struggles to ensure that the lifestyles and values they adopt are worthy of their allegiance.”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again,—if you have paid your debts and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man, then you are ready for a walk.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)