Bánk of the Bár-Kalán clan was an influential nobleman in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 13th century. He was Palatine of Hungary between 1212 and 1213, Judge royal from 1221 till 1222, and Ban of Slavonia between 1208 and 1209 and in 1217. He was also ispán of at least eight counties in the first decades of the 13th century. According to later tradition, Queen Gertrude of Merania's brother raped Bánk's wife, which caused her assassination in 1213. He is the subject of the play Bánk bán by József Katona, and of the opera of the same name by Ferenc Erkel.

Gertrude of Merania was Queen of Hungary as the first wife of Andrew II from 1205 until her assassination. She was regent during her husband's absence.