King Emeric in 1204, officially as regent for his minor nephew Ladislaus III, who nevertheless died driven in exile one year later. Regent While the king was in battle, Gertrude gave out Hungarian land as "gifts" to her favorites. According to medieval chroniclers, one third of the country was given away but the magnates got it back after the queen's death. Thus, Hungary did not prosper. During the frequent absence of her husband, the queen was regent and, as Dietrich of Apolda states, conducted the affairs of the kingdom "like a man". In 1206 her younger brother Berthold was installed as Archbishop of Kalocsa, in 1212 he was also appointed Voivode of Transylvania. Murder While King Andrew was campaigning in Galicia, the Hungarian nobles, led by Peter, son of Töre decided to get rid of the queen and in 1213, on a hunt with Berthold and their guest Duke Leopold VI of Austria in the Pilis Mountains, she was killed. Gertrude's body was torn to pieces, her brother and Duke Leopold narrowly escaped with their lives. Due to the current political situation most of her murderers remained unpunished during the rule of Andrew II. Only Gertrude's son King Béla IV took revenge after his accession to the throne. Gertrude's tomb was of a Gothic style. Her tomb was excavated between 1967 and 1980. On Gertrude's death, Andrew married Yolanda de Courtenay. In culture Gertrude is the main antagonist in both József Katona's play, Bánk bán (1819), and the opera (1861) of the same name based on the play, composed by Ferenc Erkel. They are fictionalized tellings of the assassination, in which the noble men of Hungary conspire against Queen Gertrude (called Gertrudis in the play and the opera) who exploited the people of Hungary as a regent, and let them live in fear and poverty, while she herself was throwing feasts in the royal palace and giving titles and estates to her Meranian friends and relatives. The noble men only wait for the approval of Bánk bán, the most powerful among them, who is resistant to join. However, upon learning that Otto, Gertrude's brother drugged and raped his wife, Melinda with the tacit approval of the queen, he breaks into the bed chamber of Gertrude at night and confronts her, which leads to a heated argument, ending in the murder of the queen. This story is strongly fictionalized and likely