[6][12] Hungarian troops plundered Bavaria in 1039 and 1040, and invaded Bohemia in 1040 to assist Duke Bretislav I against Holy Roman Emperor Henry III.

[13] Hungarian chronicles recount that Peter preferred the company of Germans ("who roared like wild beasts") and Italians ("who chattered and twittered like swallows"),[14] which made him unpopular among his subjects.

As soon as he began to rule, Peter threw aside every trace of the forbearance befitting a monarch's majesty, and in consort with Germans and Latins raged with Teutonic fury, treating the nobles of the kingdom with contempt and devouring the wealth of the land "with a proud eye and an insatiable heart."

In addition, Peter was extremely debauched, and his hangers-on behaved with shameful and unbridled lust, violently assaulting the wives and daughters of the Hungarians wherever the king travelled.

No one at the time could feel sure of the chastity of his wife or daughter in the face of the importunity of Peter's courtiers.Peter first fled to Austria,[5] seeking the protection of his brother-in-law, Margrave Adalbert.

[5] Peter planned to flee again to the Holy Roman Empire, but Vazul's son Andrew (who had returned to Hungary) invited him to a meeting at Székesfehérvár.

At the same time many foreigners in that country were despoiled, exiled and killed.King Peter, seeing that the Hungarians had with one mind taken the part of Dukes Andreas and Levente, took flight with his [Germans] towards Musun, intending to cross from there into Austria, but he could not escape.

For the Hungarians had been beforehand and had occupied the gateways and egresses of the kingdom; moreover the ambassador of Duke Andreas called King Peter back under the pretext of wishing to come to a peaceable and honourable agreement with him.

When he turned aside to the village of Zamur, the aforesaid ambassador wished to take him in an ambush and to bring him bound to Duke Andreas; but having knowledge of this, Peter took refuge in a mansion and defended himself bravely for three days.

At last all his soldiers were killed by arrows and he himself was taken alive; he was blinded and brought to Alba, where in great pain he soon ended his life.The name and family of Peter's wife are unknown,[16] but Gyula Kristó suggests that she was of German origin.

Lisa Wolverton, the chronicle's translator, says that Cosmas misinterpreted his sources (which describe the marriage of Judith of Swabia to King Solomon of Hungary).

[1] The following family tree presents Peter the Venetian's ancestors and his relatives who are mentioned in the article:[4][29] *A Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian woman.