Pecheneg troops pillage Syrmia (now in Serbia)…

Pecheneg troops pillage Syrmia (now in Serbia) in 1071.

King Solomon and Duke Géza, suspecting that the soldiers of the imperial garrison at Belgrade had incited the marauders against Hungary, decide to attack the fortress.

The Hungarian army crosses the river Sava, although the defenders "blew sulphurous fires by means of machines" against their boats.

The Hungarians take Belgrade after a siege of three months.

However, the imperial commander, Niketas, surrenders the fortress to Duke Géza instead of the king; he knows that Solomon "was a hard man and that in all things he listened to the vile counsels of Count Vid, who was detestable in the eyes both of God and men", according to the Illuminated Chronicle.

The division of the war booty causes a new conflict between Solomon and his cousin, because the king only grants a quarter of the booty to the duke, who claims its third part.

Hereafter the duke negotiates with the Emperor's envoys and sets all the imperial captives free without the king's consent.

The conflict is further sharpened by Count Vid: the Illuminated Chronicle narrates how he incited the young monarch against his cousins by saying that as "two sharp swords cannot be kept in the same scabbard", so the king and the duke "cannot reign together in the same kingdom".