Bela III is one of the most important monarchs of medieval Hungary and Dalmatia. His rule represented the peak of the Arpadian Dynasty which started when Prince Arpad led the Magyar tribes into the Carpathian Basin as conquerors a few hundred years earlier. He was the second son of King Geza II and following the peace treaty setup between his elder brother King Stephen III and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, Bela moved to Constantinople in 1163. Emperor Manuel dreamed about making Hungary a vassal state of Byzantium and recreating the glory of Ancient Rome. Instead of using force his plan was to marry prince Bela to his daughter Maria and cleverly declaring him his successor.

The Byzantine emperor had a vision to unite the the lands from the Euphrates River to the Lajta River on the Austro-Hungarian border under one king. When Bela arrived at Manuels Court, he was given the name Alexios replacing his barbarian Magyar name. Alexios was treated by the Imperial Court as the heir apparent to both the Hungarian and the Byzantine thrones. However Bela was also quite clever and his years in Byzantium had been well spent. He observed how efficiently organised the Greek Empire was and learned about administration, finances, the army and diplomacy. This included learning about rich customs and institutions of the world as well as the art of dissimulation which he used to thwart all attempts at making Hungary a Greek vassal.

Stephen III (the brother of Bela) died of poisoning and Bela assumed his right as king of Hungary. The emperor dissolved the marriage between Bela and his daughter and deprived Bela of his high title. The end results was in 1180 Emperor Manuel I himself died and Bela seized the opportunity to reoccupy Croatia, Dalmatia, Sirmium under Hungary. Once secured he invaded the Byzantine Empire in 1185. Having signed a peace treaty with the emperor Isaac II Angelos, Bela married Margaret of France - the sister of French King Philip II. Bela send hundreds of his advisors to Paris for education. He adopted the Greek Imperial Court as his model which was luxurious and attracted foreigners - including many French.

Instead of actively waging war, Bela always insisted he was too cowardly to fight - his successes show he was one of the brightest European kings of this era. He also organised the Royal Chancellery which preserved records of every matter that came before the king. His end came as he saw opportunity in the Holy Land - where his father-in-law, the King of France, along with the King of England and German Emperor had gone to fight the infidels. Unfortunately Bela got sickeon the journey and died. His remains can be found today in the Matthias Church in Buda under a marble monument. Archaeologists found him wearing a silver crown and holding a crusader baton in his hand - with a ring on the finger bearing an Arabian instcription.