Stephen I of Hungary: Encyclopedia II - Stephen I of Hungary - His life

Stephen I of Hungary - His life

His father was the Magyar chieftain Géza; his mother was, according to the most accepted theory in Hungary, Sarolt, the daughter of the Transylvanian chieftain Gyula (some Polish sources say Stephen's mother was the Polish princess Adelajda from the dynasty of the Piasts, but it is more likely that Adelajda was a second wife of Géza, after Sarolt's death).

Stephen was given the name Vajk (meaning hero) at birth. Born a pagan in the town of Esztergom, Vajk was baptized, as a precondition of accepting the crown from Rome, at age 10 by Saint Adalbert of Prague and given the baptismal name Stephen (in honor of the original early Christian Saint Stephen), protector of the church at Passau).

He was married in 995 to Gizella of Bavaria (though some sources give other years for the marriage), the daughter of Henry II the Wrangler and his wife Gisela of Burgundy. Stephen and Gizella had at least three children; we know the names of the sons: Imre (Henry or Emeric) and Ottó (Otto) and the daughter Hedvig (Hedwig). All of Stephen's children apparently predeceased him and left no descendants to claim the throne upon his death, leaving the crown to be contended for by his nephews and cousins.

Between 995 and 997, Stephen (under the name "Vajk") was the prince of Nitra (an ancient Slovak Christian city), the capital of the Nitrian principality (in present day south-western Slovakia), and lived there with his wife.

After battling and defeating the pagan nobles who opposed him (including his uncle, a powerful warlord named Koppány), Stephen became the Sovereign of Magyars in Transdanubia in 997 and managed to successfully unite virtually all the Magyar clans by 1006. The victory over Koppány was achieved also thanks to the substantial material and military assistance from German and Slovak Christian noblemen Poznan and Hunt. According to Hungarian tradition, Pope Silvester II sent a magnificent jeweled gold crown to Stephen (which became the symbol of Hungary under the name of the Holy Crown) along with an apostolic cross and a letter of blessing in the beginning of January, 1001 to officially recognize him as a Christian king of Europe.

He intended to retire to a life of holy contemplation and hand the kingdom over to his only surviving son Imre, but in 1031 Imre was wounded in a hunting accident and died. In Stephen's words of mourning:

By God's secret decision death took him, so that wickedness would not change his soul and false imaginations would not deceive his mind – as the Book of Wisdom teaches about early death.

Stephen mourned a very long time over the loss of his son Imre (who was the crown prince and possibly the only one of Stephen's sons to reach adulthood), which took a great toll on his health. He eventually recovered, but he never regained his original vitality. Having no children left, he could not find anyone among his remaining relatives who was able to rule the country competently and willing to maintain the Christian faith of the nation. Unable to choose an heir, King Stephen died at Székesfehérvár (a city he built in central Hungary) on the Feast of the Assumption and was buried there. Both his nobles and his subjects were said to have mourned for 3 straight years afterwards.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "His life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki