Peter, King of Hungary
King of Hungary (r. 1038–1041, 1044–1046)
Peter (Hungarian: Velencei Péter, Croatian: Petar iz Venecije, Slovak: Peter z Benátok, Italian: Pietro di Venezia; 1010 or 1011 – 1046, or late 1050s), born Pietro Orseolo and known as Peter the Venetian, was King of Hungary twice. He first succeeded his uncle, King Stephen I, in 1038. His favoritism towards his foreign courtiers caused an uprising which ended with his 1041 deposition. Peter was restored in 1044 by Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor. He accepted the Emperor's suzerainty during his second reign, which ended in 1046 after a pagan uprising. Hungarian chronicles are unanimous that Peter was executed by order of his successor, Andrew I, but the chronicler Cosmas of Prague's reference to his alleged marriage around 1055 suggests that he may also have survived his second deposition.
Life
Before 1038
Peter Orseolo was born in Venice, the only son of Doge Otto Orseolo. His mother Grimelda was a sister of Stephen I, the first King of Hungary; historian Gyula Kristó suggests that he was born in 1010 or 1011. The Venetians rose up and deposed Otto Orseolo in 1026. Peter did not follow his father, who fled to the Byzantine court in Constantinople; he instead went to Hungary, where his uncle appointed him commander of the royal army.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Peter, King of Hungary” is king of Hungary (r. 1038–1041, 1044–1046). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Peter, King and Hungary, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “king of Hungary (r. 1038–1041, 1044–1046)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q314218. VIAF identifies the subject as 40906262. The Library of Congress control number is n87888149. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1010, 1011, 1046 and 1038.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter, King of Hungary” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.