King Andrew II was forced by his nobles to accept the Golden Bull (Aranybulla), which was one of the first examples of constitutional limits being placed on the powers of a European monarch.

As a regular gesture of generosity, King Andrew often donated property to particularly faithful servants, who thereafter gained new economic and class power.

[3] The Golden Bull that Andrew II of Hungary issued in the spring of 1222 is "one of a number of charters published in thirteenth-century Christendom that sought to constrain the royal power.

[6] Simon de Montfort, supreme commander of the Albigensian Crusade, issued the Statute of Pamiers in 1212, confirming the privileges of the clergymen and limiting the authority of the future rulers of Toulouse and Carcassonne.

[5][7] The statute influenced the Magna Carta of John, King of England, which also secured the liberties of the Church and regulated feudal relationships in 1215.

[5] Hungarian participants of the Fifth Crusade could meet Robert Fitzwalter and other leaders of the movement which had achieved the issue of the Magna Carta.

[5] Historian James Clarke Holt says, there is no need to assume that the authors of these documents borrowed from each other, because all these charters embodied the "natural reaction of feudal societies to monarchical importunity".

[13] The highest-ranking royal officials were appointed from among men who regarded themselves[14] the descendants of either the Hungarian chieftains of the period of the establishment of the kingdom or of the foreign warriors who settled in Hungary during the subsequent centuries.

[14] The Gesta Hungarorum, which was completed around 1200, emphasized that the ancestors of many noblemen played a preeminent role in the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin.

[23] Béla III's eldest son and successor, Emeric, faced a series of rebellions initiated by his younger brother, Andrew.

[29] For instance, four of Andrew's first seven palatines—Csépán Győr and his brother, Pat, Julius Kán and Bánk Bár-Kalán—had held offices already during Emeric's reign.

[26] Andrew introduced new taxes and ordered the exchange of coins twice a year to secure the funds to the maintenance of his royal court.

[26][37] According to a widespread scholarly theory, the appearance of wealthy landowners in the counties threatened the social position of both the free and unfree royal warriors.

[50] According to historian Attila Zsoldos, Andrew wanted to invalidate the royal charters which were issued during the eighteen months before his actual ascension to the throne.

[53] Royal charters and Pope Honorius III's letters to Hungarian dignitaries provide further information about the political history of the year.

[53] On 4 July 1222, the pope urged the Hungarian prelates to apply ecclesiastical censures against those who had claimed that they did not owe loyalty to Andrew, but to Béla.

[55] In the kingdom of Hungary, it had been decided lately that the entire people should assemble twice a year, and our dear son in Christ, [Andreas], the illustrious king of the Hungarians is bound to appear in person among them.

He is afraid of refusing to comply with the unjust demands, as this might endanger his life and that of his family.The Golden Bull was drafted by Cletus Bél, royal chancellor and provost of Eger.

[57] Royal servants who had no sons[citation needed] were granted the right of exchange of their estates in their testaments in return to receive a sum of money and benefits.

[57] The Golden Bull limited the judicial power of the ispáns, stating that in the royal servants' estates they could administer justice only in cases concerning the tithe and coinage.