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No other king of Hungary, perhaps, was so mischievous to his country. Valiant, enterprising, pious as he was, all these fine qualities were ruined by a reckless good nature which never thought of the morrow. He declares in one of his decrees that the generosity of a king should be limitless, and he acted up to this principle throughout his reign. He gave away everything, money, villages, domains, whole counties, to the utter impoverishment of the treasury, thereby rendering the crown, for the first time in Hungarian history, dependent upon the great feudatories , who, in Hungary as elsewhere, took all they could get and gave as little as possible in return. In all matters of government, Andrew was equally reckless and haphazard. He is directly responsible for the beginnings of the feudal anarchy which well-nigh led to the extinction of the monarchy at the end of the 13th century. The great feudatories did not even respect the lives of the royal family, for Andrew was recalled from a futile attempt to reconquer Galicia (which really lay beyond the Hungarian sphere of influence), through the murder of his first wife Gertrude of Andechs-Meran (1185 - September 24, 1213), by rebellious nobles jealous of the influence of her relatives.
In 1215 he married Iolanthe (Yolande) of France, but in 1217 was compelled by the pope to lead the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land, which he undertook in hopes of being elected Latin emperor of Constantinople. The crusade excited no enthusiasm in Hungary, but Andrew contrived to collect 15,000 men together, whom he led to Venice; whence, not without much haggling and the surrender of all the Hungarian claims upon Zara, about two-thirds of them were conveyed to AcreAkko Standard Hebrew Akko Tiberian Hebrew Akk Arabic Akk also, Acre Accho Acco and St. Jean d'Acre , is a city in Western Galilee in the North District, Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2003 the city had a. Nevertheless the whole expedition was a forlorn hope. The Christian kingdom of PalestineFor varying definitions, see definitions of Palestine. Palestine ( Latin: Syria Palaestina Hebrew: Palestina Eretz Yisrael Arabic: Filasin , is a region in the Middle East extending inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its political sta was by this time reduced to a strip of coast about 440 sq. m. in extent, and after a drawn battle with the Turks on the JordanThe Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan commonly called Jordan is a country in the Middle East. It is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the north-east, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, and Israel and West Bank to the west. It shares the coastlines of the ( November 10November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. Events 1444 Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Ladislaus III of Poland (or Ulaszlo I of Hungary) are crushed by the Turks under Su), and fruitless assaults on the fortresses of the LebanonAlternate uses: see Lebanon (disambiguation The Lebanese Republic or Lebanon is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It is considered to be one of the fifteen lands that comprise the so-called " Cradle of Humanity". Lebanon is bor and on Mount TaborMount Tabor may refer to a number of places: Mount Tabor is a hill in the Holy Land near Nazareth. It is believed by many to be the site of the Transfiguration of Christ. Mount Tabor, Vermont. Mount Tabor is a place in Calderdale, England. Mount Tabor is, Andrew started home ( January 18, 1218) through Antioch, Iconium, Constantinople and Bulgaria. On his return he found the feudal barons in the ascendant, and they extorted from him the Golden Bull.
Andrew's last exploit was to defeat an invasion of Frederick of Austria in 1234. The same year he married his third wife, Beatrice of Este. He had three sons and two daughters: Bela, Coloman, Andrew, Iolanthe (Yolande) (married the king of Aragon), and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.