He was born around 1182,[1] as a younger son of the Bavarian count Berthold IV of Andechs, who was elevated to a duke of Merania by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1183.

[2] Berthold, chosen for an ecclesiastical career, became provost at the cathedral chapter of the Archdiocese of Bamberg in 1203, due to the intercession and influence of his elder brother Ekbert, the local bishop.

[1] Berthold followed his sister Gertrude to the Hungarian court under King Andrew II, who in the first half of 1206 had his brother-in-law nominated Archbishop of Kalocsa, succeeding John.

His letter to Andrew II in January 1209 says that Berthold caused public outrage, because – as a prelate – he studied among ordinary students exposing his incomplete knowledge and demonstrating his unworthiness for the archbishopric.

Pope Innocent instructed Berthold to return to Kalocsa, where he can discreetly begin his theological studies, otherwise he threatened to deprive him of his office.

[6] Shortly after his return to Hungary in 1209, Berthold followed the path of his predecessor, John, and questioned the primacy jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Esztergom, considering his archiepiscopal see as coequal.

Taking advantage of his royal family connections, he sought to extort concessions and privileges for himself within the church hierarchy in Hungary against John, who this time was a defender of the interests of Esztergom.

In response to Berthold's attacks, Archbishop John requested Pope Innocent to confirm his dignity's right of the coronation of the Hungarian monarch in 1209.

However Pope Innocent, upon the complaint of the cathedral chapter of Esztergom, refused to countersign the document on 12 February 1212, referring to its "harmful consequences" for the Kingdom of Hungary.

The area Burzenland (Hungarian: Barcaság), granted to the Teutonic Order by Andrew II in that year, belonged to the Diocese of Transylvania, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Kalocsa.

Berthold considered the settlement of the knights along the Southern Carpathians would have been a defense factor for his ecclesiastical province, which contributes to the political strengthening of Kalocsa in the conflict of jurisdiction against Esztergom.

Berthold also sought to establish a separate Roman Catholic diocese for the Transylvanian Saxons and to launch missions in order to convert the Cumans.

[9] In this endeavor, he attempted to transform the provostship of Szeben (present-day Sibiu, Romania), which was established around 1189 in order to represent the Transylvanian Saxons and was not subject of the Diocese of Transylvania, into a bishopric within the ecclesiastical authority of Kalocsa.

Based on the consistency reflected in the stone carvings from the new building, art historian Imre Takács envisioned a rapid, almost campaign-like construction, which may prove that the renovation of the cathedral can be linked to the contemporary church policy rivalry between archbishops John of Esztergom and Berthold of Kalocsa.

It is plausible that Andrew II sent the provost to Altenburg to convince Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor of the brothers' innocence in the case of the assassination of Philip of Swabia.

[17] When Andrew II prepared a military campaign to Galicia–Volhynia, he appointed his wife Queen Gertrude and Berthold as regents in early September 1213 during his absence.

On 28 September 1213, while the king marched into Galicia–Volhynia, a group of lords led by Peter, son of Töre dared a raid into a queen's hunting camp in the Pilis Mountains and murdered Gertrude and several of her courtiers, while Berthold – who was physically abused by the rebels – narrowly escaped his life with Leopold VI of Austria, according to the interpretation of historian Gyula Pauler.

However, Berthold took with him the treasures of his late sister, worth a total of 7,000 marks, which aroused the wrath of Andrew II, who complained this to the pope and threatened to indemnify the royal treasury from the proceeds of the archdiocese.

[20][21] Although Berthold returned to Hungary in 1214, King Andrew II certainly learning from previous experiences, no longer gave him as much political influence or territorial power as before.

Pope Honorius III investigated the case and declared and invalidated the postulation and the result of the election, citing a violation of canon law.

[27] Berthold secured his position being a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II against the Italian cities of the Lombard League.

[25] As representative of the emperor, Berthold acted as one of the testimonies of the Treaty of San Germano in July 1230, where Frederick and Pope Gregory IX concluded peace.

[29] When Frederick II, Duke of Austria invaded the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1233, Berthold joined his army alongside his brothers and other imperial lords.

According to historian Gábor Barabás, Pope Gregory IX rebuked him in June 1229, as he hindered King Andrew II from fulfilling the promise of leading a crusade to the Holy Land.

[32] In contrast, historian Gergely Kiss considered the ecclesiastical punishments to Berthold and Ekbert were connected to the strained foreign relations between Hungary and Austria.

Berthold's nephews, King Béla IV of Hungary and Duke Coloman of Galicia requested the pope to absolve their maternal uncle from the excommunication.

[29] When negotiations with the emperor about the elevation of Vienna to a bishopric and of Austria (including Styria) to a kingdom were initiated by Duke Frederick in 1245, who succeeded in gaining the rule over the March of Carniola from the Patriarchate of Aquileia.

Berthold entered into a defense alliance with the neighboring city-states of Brescia, Mantua and Ferrara in order to repel a possible punitive campaign of Frederick II.

[29] Following the abolition of the Duchy of Merania, Berthols established large-scale domains to the patriarchate, for instance Windischgrätz (present-day Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia).

[27] The Austrian Rhymed Chronicle ("Chronicon rhythmicum Austriacum") is the earliest known work, which preserved the alleged story of that Berthold raped the wife of a powerful lord Bánk Bár-Kalán, which was the immediate cause of the assassination of his sister, Queen Gertrude, who acted as a procuress in the adultery, in September 1213.