Béla was crowned king at least two months after the death of Stephen II, implying that his accession to the throne did not happen without opposition.

[5][6] Álmos did not give up his ambitions and King Coloman had him and the child Béla blinded between 1112 and 1115 to secure a peaceful succession for his own son, Stephen.

[3][2] The Annales Posonienses relates that "the child was growing in the reign of King Coloman's son, Stephen", who ascended the throne in 1116.

[15] A late source—the Ottoman Turkish chronicle known as Tarih-i Üngürüs or The History of the Hungarians—narrates that Béla ascended the throne after his predecessor's nephew Saul, whom Stephen II had nominated as his heir, had died.

[18] Both royal and private charters from Béla's reign emphasize Queen Helena's pre-eminent role in the decision-making process, proving that the king regarded his wife as his co-ruler.

[19] According to the Illuminated Chronicle, at "an assembly of the realm near Arad"[20] in early to mid-1131, Queen Helena ordered the slaughter of all noblemen who were accused of having suggested the blinding of her husband to King Coloman.

[29] Boris, who thought that the majority of the Hungarian lords supported his claim, sent one of his agents to Béla's camp to incite the King's personal retinue to mutiny.

All approved and [Boris] himself, misled by empty hope, gave him great thanks; for he wanted to complete what he had begun, and he thought that after the King had been thus insulted the kingdom would be his.

There was commotion among the nobles of the realm, and Johannes, the son of Otto, the King's notary , said to Count Bud: "Why are we waiting?

As they made to seize him, he hastily leapt upon a horse and fled.Béla tried to persuade the Polish monarch to stop supporting the pretender.

[31] In the one decisive battle of the conflict, which was fought near the river Sajó on 22 July 1132, the Hungarian troops loyal to Béla and his Austrian allies managed to defeat Boris and his supporters.

[33] The chronicler Thomas the Archdeacon relates that Gaudius, who became Archbishop of Split in 1136, "enjoyed great favor with the kings of Hungary" and "often visited their court".

[36][33] The exact circumstances surrounding the submission of Bosnia are unknown but the region seems to have accepted Béla's suzerainty without resistance by 1137.

[32][17] Although Béla assumed the title King of Rama in token of the new conquest, the permanent occupation of the region is not proven.

[33] For this purpose, he gave financial support to Otto of Bamberg's missions among the Pomeranians and arranged the engagement of his daughter Sophia with Henry, son of the new German king Conrad III in June 1139.

In his drunkenness he delivered Poch and Saul, who were in religious orders, into the hands of their enemies, and they were killed without cause.Béla married Helena of Serbia upon the initiation of his cousin, King Stephen II at the beginning of 1129.

[1] Sophia, the first daughter of the royal couple, was born around 1135; she died as a nun in Admont Abbey after her engagement with Henry Berengar of Germany was broken.