Byzantium and Hungary in the late 12th century and on the eve of the Fourth Crusade

The chapter examines the relations between Byzantium and Hungary in the period 1180–1204 and attempts to revise the traditional view of a gradual weakening of Byzantine power and influence over the Hungarian kingdom. It challenges the standard narrative and interpretation of several important developments of the period: the Hungarian conquests of 1182–3; the agreement between Isaac II Angelos and Béla III in 1185; the question of the dowry lands that the Byzantine emperor received via his Hungarian bride Margaret; the renewed and intense diplomatic contacts of the early 1190s; and Byzantine cultural influence at the Hungarian court.