### Andrew II, Queen Gertrudis, German order of knighthood
Andrew II He was born around 1177, and he was king Béla II's second son. As a child he was the reigning prince of Halics (1188-89), then prince of Dalmatia and Croatia (from 1197). He married Gertrude, daughter of a Meranian prince, Berchtold, around 1200, who gave birth to three sons (Béla, Coloman, Andrew) and two daughters (Maria, Elisabeth). His second wife was Jolanta, the daughter of the Latin emperor of Constantinople (from 1215), from whom he had a daughter, Jolanta. His third wife was Beatrix, daughter of an Italian marquis (from 1235), who gave birth to their son, Stephen after the death of Andrew. He died on 21 September, 1235; he was buried in the Cistercian monastery of Egres. ZSA Queen Gertrudis's tombstone (around 1230) It was discovered at the excavation of the Cistercian abbey of Pilis (today Pilisszentkereszt) between 1967 and 1984. The sarcophagus was reconstructed from the little fragments. On its sides we can see free, thin pillars, facades of buildings and little towers among them. Under the archways there are men and women figures carved as reliefs, some of them with royal emblems. Originally they were gold-plated, painted. On the cover of the sarcophagus there is the sculpture of the queen, who was murdered in 1213. KT The German order of knighthood The order of knighthood, founded in the Holy Land in 1198, was invited to Hungary in 1211 by King Andrew II. The task of the order, which settled down in the region of the Brasso Basin, in the south-east corner of Transylvania, was to defend the country from the Cumans and to populate the deserted land with colonists. After a while, however, the knights intended to form an independent state, so in 1225 Andrew II drove them away with military force. Following this event the German order of knighthood settled down in the Baltic states. ZSA