St Stephen of Hungary (975-1038) first king of Hungary and patron saint
St
Stephen of Hungary (11th century) was the first Christian king of
Hungary.
He established a stable Christian culture in that part of
Central Europe called the Carpathian Basin.
The Árpád dynasty: pagan father, Christian mother
Born
at Esztergom, Hungary, King Stephen of Hungary emerged as a leader of
the Magyar/Hungarian people who had come from the Ural mountains and
settled into the Carpathian basin under Prince Árpád (845-907). His
father was Geza, a pagan, who married a Christian woman Sarolta. She had
be baptised into the Orthodox Christian faith at her father's court in
Transylvania. When he was born in 975, their son was named Vaik, meaning
"true man". His mother, even though Geza later repudiated her in favour
of Adelaide, sister of the duke of Poland, took great care of her son's
early training, and he had excellent Italian and Czech tutors.
At Sarolta's request, St Adelbert, archbishop of Prague, came on a
preaching mission to Hungary. In 986 he baptised Geza and his son Vaik,
the latter being given the Christian name Istvan (Stephen).
Marriage
When Stephen reached adolescence, Géza
convened an assembly which decided that he (Stephen) would follow his
father as king. This was contrary to Magyar tribal custom, which gave
the right of succession to the eldest close relative. Stephen then
married Giselle of Bavaria, the daughter of Henry II, who later became
Holy Roman Emperor. Giselle arrived accompanied by German knights.
Succession struggle and a crown
In 997 when Geza
died, his paternal uncle Koppány claimed the right of succession and a
struggle followed between him and Stephen. But in a battle near
Veszprem, aided by his German knights, Stephen won out. This victory
allied Stephen and Hungary with Western Christianity and in recognition
of this the pope of the time, Sylvester II, sent him a crown. From this
developed an ideology of the "holy crown", which favoured the growth of
the power of the kingship and of a Catholic culture in Hungary.
Diocesan structures
In return Stephen set up a
diocesan structure. Esztergom became an archdiocese and there were
dioceses at Veszprém, Gyor, Kalocsa, Vác, Bihar. He also had an Italian
bishop from Venice, Gerard (Gellért) Sagredo (later Saint), as a tutor
of his son Emeric. Esztergom, on the right bank of the River Danube, is
still the primatial see of the Catholic Church in Hungary.
Politics: wars and peace
Stephen allied himself
with his brother-in-law, the Emperor Henry II, against Prince Boleslaw I
of Poland, but later joined up with Boleslaw in his campaign against
the Kievan Rus. In 1018, Stephen led his armies against Bulgaria, in
alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Basil II, and collected several
relics during his campaign.
After the death of Henry II (1024), Stephen
broke with the German alliance, because the new Holy Roman Emperor,
Conrad II claimed the Kingdom of Hungary. Stephen demanded the Duchy of
Bavaria for his son Emeric who was the nearest relative of the deceased
Emperor Henry II. In 1031 they made peace.
His last years
Stephen had intended to retire to a
monastery and hand over the kingdom to his son Emeric, but Emeric was
wounded in a hunting accident and died in 1031.
Stephen lived on amid
disturbing disputes over the succession and even an attempt to
assassinate him, until he died eventually on the Feast of the Assumption
15th August 1038, committing his kingdom to Our Lady.
The disputes
continued afterwards too until in 1047 his cousin Andrew I was crowned
King of Hungary to re-establish the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
