User:Beodizia/Constance of Hungary

Constance of Hungary, also called Constance of Szandec, was

Biography
Constance was one of several daughters of King Béla IV of Hungary ((r. 1235 – 1270)) and Maria Laskarina. On her mother's side, she was the granddaughter of the Nicene emperor Theodore I Laskaris ((r. 1205 – 1221)). Two of Constance's sisters, Kinga and Margaret, were later canonized as saints. Béla used his many daughters to seal marriage alliances; through marrying them off to the ruling families of several bordering realms, he hoped to create a web of alliances to protect Hungary from the Mongol Empire.

In 1247, no later than 2 June, Constance married Leo I of Galicia. The marriage negotiations were part of brokering a peace agreement between Hungary and Ruthenia and were started between Béla and Leo's father, Daniel of Galicia, a year prior. Leo had originally been set to marry Constance's elder sister Margaret, though she had staunchly refused any marriage arrangements.

Constance is said to have founded a Latin church in Lviv. A century later, her church was a convent of Hungarians belonging to the Dominican Order.

Constance died c. 1251.