confidant of Andrew's policy in Hungary, whose influence and career, depending on the balance of power between Andrew II and his eldest son Duke Béla – who had long opposed his father's rule –, were somewhat uplifting or diminishing. Since the beginning of his rule, Andrew II introduced a new policy for royal grants, which he called "new institutions" in one of his charters. This new phenomenon altered the relations between the monarchs and the Hungarian lords. When Denis was installed as Master of the treasury in 1215 or 1216, he became a key figure of Andrew's economic policy, according to historian Bálint Hóman. During his term of office, the position of Master of the treasury became a permanent dignity with defined and circumscribed jurisdiction, elevating to the grand officers of the realm. In this capacity, Denis was responsible for the administration of the royal chamber. However, by that time, royal revenues had significantly diminished, because Andrew distributed large portions of the royal domain – royal castles and all estates attached to them – as inheritable grants to his supporters in the previous decade, declaring that "the best measure of a royal grant is its being immeasurable." To eliminate this, it was justified to reform the economy of the kingdom and adaptation of a new economic policy, which was the first such large-scale mutation in Hungary. Upon the advice of Denis, Andrew II imposed new taxes (for instance, annual extraordinary tax) and farmed out royal income from minting, salt trade and custom duties – even eligible for Jews and Muslims. The yearly exchange of coins also produced more revenue for the royal chamber. Beside the royal mintage in Esztergom, Andrew and Denis had established royal mints throughout the kingdom (for instance, in Buda, Csanád, Syrmia and Zagreb) in the upcoming years, decentralizing the royal coinage. However, these measures provoked discontent in Hungary, whereas it has created a contradiction between the beneficiaries of the new measures and the internal opposition which centered around Duke Béla. With the establishment of the new organization, the powers of the Master of the treasury necessarily expanded, who was first the royal treasurer guarding the crop income of royal private farms accumulated in warehouses. Now the center of gravity of the royal household shifts from dominions to jura regalia, and Denis transformed the system of royal economy from one based on crop management to one based