This morning I had to go out and feed the animals in swimming trunks because it was raining and still is raining. I hope the rain will not wash away the firework in Budapest There was a moscito in the bedroom and bit me all over. couldnt sleep. Finally in the morning I hit him to death. The firework in Budapest every year is held on the commemoration of the coronation of Steven Ist of Hungary. Underneath there is some information about his rule: Early years (c. 975–997)[edit] Stephens birth Stephens birth depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle The date of Stephens birth is uncertain, because it was not recorded in contemporaneous documents.[2] Hungarian and Polish chronicles written centuries later give three different years: 967, 969 and 975.[3] The unanimous testimony of his legends and other Hungarian sources, which state that Stephen was still an adolescent[4] in 997, substantiate the reliability of the later year (975).[2][3] Stephens Lesser Legend adds that he was born in Esztergom.[2][3][5] His place of birth also implies that he was born after 972, because his father, Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, chose Esztergom as royal residence around that year.[2] Hungarian chronicles unanimously report that Stephens mother was Sarolt, a daughter of Gyula, a Hungarian chieftain with jurisdiction either in Transylvania[6] or in the wider region of the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Maros.[7] Many historians—including Pál Engel and Gyula Kristó—propose that her father was identical with Gylas, who had around 952 been baptized in Constantinople and remained faithful to Christianity,[8] according to the Byzantine chronicler, John Skylitzes.[9][10] However, this identification is not unanimously accepted; for instance, historian György Györffy says that it was not Sarolts father, but his younger brother who was baptized in the Byzantine capital.[6] In contrast with all Hungarian sources, the Polish-Hungarian Chronicle and later Polish sources state that Stephens mother was Adelhaid, an otherwise unknown sister of Duke Mieszko I of Poland, but the reliability of this report is not accepted by modern historians.[11] Painting by Gyula Benczúr Baptism of Vajk, painting by Gyula Benczúr He was born as Vajk,[5][12] which derived from a Turkic word baj, meaning hero, master, prince, or rich.[3][11] Stephens Greater Legend narrates that he was baptized by the saintly Bishop Adalbert of Prague,[13] who stayed in Gézas court several times between 983 and 994.[14][15] However, St Adalberts nearly contemporaneous Legend, written by Bruno of Querfurt, does not mention of the event.[14][13][15] Accordingly, the date of Stephens baptism is unknown: Györffy argues that Stephen was baptized soon after birth,[13] while Kristó proposes that he only received baptism just before his fathers death in 997.[15] He was given his baptismal name in honour of the first martyr, Saint Stephen. Stephens official biography, written by Bishop Hartvik and sanctioned by Pope Innocent III, narrates that he was fully instructed in knowledge of the grammatical art[16] in his childhood, implying that he studied Latin.[3] His two other late 11th-century biographies do not mention Stephens grammatical studies. They only state that he was brought up by receiving an education appropriate for a little prince.[3] Kristó says that the latter remark only refers to Stephens physical training, including his participation in hunts and military actions.[3] According to the Illuminated Chronicle, one of his tutors was a Count Deodatus from Italy, who later founded a monastery in Tata.[17] According to Stephens legends, Grand Prince Géza convoked an assembly of the Hungarian chieftains and warriors when Stephen ascended to the first stage of adolescence,[16] when he was 14 or 15.[18][19] Géza nominated Stephen as his successor and all those who were present took an oath of loyalty to the young prince.[19] Györffy also writes, without referring to his source, that Géza appointed his son to rule the Nyitra ducate around that time.[13] Slovak historians, including Ján Steinhübel and Ján Lukačka, accept Györffys view and propose that Stephen administered Nyitra (now Nitra, Slovakia) from around 995.[20][21] Upon his fathers initiative, Stephen married Gisela, the daughter of Henry the Wrangler, Duke of Bavaria (r. 955–995) in or after 995.[5][22] This marriage established the first family link between a Hungarian ruler and a Western European ruling house,[23] because Gisella was closely related to the Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Emperors.[15] According to popular tradition preserved in the Scheyern Abbey in Bavaria, the ceremony took place at the castle of Scheyern and was celebrated by Bishop Adalbert of Prague.[19] Gisela was accompanied to her new home by Bavarian knights, many of whom received land grants from her husband and settled in Hungary.[24] The arrival of these heavily-armed warriors strengthened Stephens military position.[25] Györffy writes that Stephen and his wife presumably settled in Nyitra after their marriage.[24] Reign (997–1038)[edit] Grand Prince (997–1000)[edit] See also: Grand Prince of the Hungarians Grand Prince Géza died in 997.[12][26] Stephen soon convoked an assembly to Esztergom where his supporters declared him grand prince.[27] Initially, he only controlled the northwestern regions of the Carpathian Basin; the rest of the territory was still dominated by tribal chieftains.[28] Stephens ascension to the throne was in line with the principle of primogeniture which prescribed that a father was succeeded by his son.[25] On the other hand, it contradicted the traditional idea of seniority, according to which Géza should have been succeeded by the most senior member of the Árpád dynasty, who was Koppány at that time.[25][29] Koppány, who held the title of duke of Somogy,[30] had for many years administered the regions of Transdanubia to the south of Lake Balaton.[26][23] Koppány announced his claim to the throne and rebelled against Stephen.[27][31] He also decided to marry Gézas widow, Sarolt, in accordance with the pagan custom of levirate marriage.[27][32] Although it is not impossible that Koppány had already in 972 been baptized,[27] most of his supporters were pagans, opponents of Christianity represented by Stephen and his predominantly German retinue.[33] A charter of 1002 for the Pannonhalma Archabbey even writes of a war between the Germans and the Hungarians when referring to the armed conflicts between Stephen and Koppány.[34][33] Even so, Györffy says that Oszlar (Alan), Besenyő (Pecheneg), Kér and other place names, referring to ethnic groups or Hungarian tribes in Transdanubia around the supposed borders of Koppánys duchy, suggest that significant auxiliary units and groups of Hungarian warriors—who had been settled there by Grand Prince Géza—fought in Stephens army.[35] Koppánys execution Koppánys execution after his defeat by Stephen Kristó states that the entire conflict between Stephen and Koppány was only a feud between two members of the Árpád dynasty, with no effect on other Hungarian tribal leaders.[28] Koppány and his troops invaded the northern regions of Transdanubia, took many of Stephens forts and plundered his lands.[33] Stephen, who was for the first time girded with his sword, according to the Illuminated Chronicle[36] placed the brothers Hont and Pázmány at the head of his own guard and nominated Vecelin to lead the royal army.[37][33][38] The latter was a German knight who had come to Hungary in the reign of Géza.[39] Hont and Pázmány were, according to Simon of Kézas Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum and the Illuminated Chronicle, knights of Swabian origin[40] who settled in Hungary either under Géza or in the first years of Stephens reign.[28] On the other hand, Lukačka and other Slovak historians say that Hont and Pázmány were Slovak noblemen who had joined Stephen during his rule in Nyitra.[41] Koppány was besieging Veszprém when he was informed of the arrival of Stephens army.[35] In the ensuing battle, Stephen won a decisive victory over his enemies.[31] Koppány was killed on the battlefield.[23] His body was quartered and its parts were displayed at the gates of the forts of Esztergom, Győr, Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, Romania) and Veszprém in order to threaten all of those who were conspiring against the young monarch.[31][42][43] Stephen occupied Koppánys duchy and granted large estates to his own partisans.[44][26] According to the interpolated deed of the foundation of the Pannonhalma Archabbey,[45] he also prescribed that Koppánys former subjects were to pay tithe to this monastery.[33] The same document declares that there were no other bishoprics and monasteries in Hungary at that time.[46] On the other hand, the nearly contemporary Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg clearly states that Stephen established bishoprics in his kingdom[47] before being crowned king.[46] If the latter report is valid, the dioceses of Veszprém and Győr are the most probable candidates.[48] Coronation (1000–1001)[edit] See also: King of Hungary and Coronation of the Hungarian monarch St Stephens modern sculpture in Budapest King Saint Stephens modern sculpture in Budapest When sending one part of Koppánys quartered corpse to Gyulafehérvár, the seat of his maternal uncle, Gyula the Younger, Stephen demonstrated his claim to reign all lands dominated by Hungarian lords.[49] He also decided to confirm his international position by adopting the title of king.[50] However, the exact circumstances of his coronation and its political consequences are subject to scholarly debate.[51] Thietmar of Merseburg writes that Stephen received the crown with the favour and urging[47] of Emperor Otto III (r. 996–1002),[52] implying that Stephen accepted the Emperors suzerainty before his coronation.[51] On the other hand, all of Stephens legends emphasize that he received his crown from Pope Sylvester II (r. 999–1003).[51] Kristó[53] and other historians[54] point out that Pope Sylvester and Emperor Otto were close allies, which implies that both reports are valid: Stephen received the crown and consecration[47] from the Pope, but not without the Emperors consent. Around 75 years after the coronation, Pope Gregory VII (r. 1075–1085), who claimed suzerainty over Hungary, declared that Stephen had offered and devotedly surrendered Hungary to Saint Peter (that is to the Holy See).[55][52][54] In a contrasting report, Stephens Greater Legend states that the King offered Hungary to the Virgin Mary.[54] Modern historians—including Pál Engel, and Miklós Molnár—write that Stephen always demonstrated his sovereignty, which excludes that he ever accepted papal or imperial suzerainty.[23][51] For instance, none of his charters were dated according to the years of the reign of the contemporary emperors, which would have been the case if he had been the German monarchs vassal.[56] Furthermore, Stephen declared in the preamble to his First Book of Laws that he governed his realm by the will of God.[57][56] The exact date of Stephens coronation is unknown.[53] According to later Hungarian tradition, he was crowned on the first day of the second millennium, which may refer either to 25 December 1000 or to 1 January 1001.[58][12] Details of Stephens coronation preserved in his Greater Legend suggest that the ceremony, which took place in Esztergom, followed the rite of the coronation of the German kings.[59] Accordingly, Stephen was anointed with consecrated oil during the ceremony.[59] Stephens portrait, preserved on his royal cloak from 1031, proves that his crown, similarly to the Holy Roman Emperors diadem, was a hoop crown decorated with gemstones.[60] Besides his crown, Stephen regarded a spear with a flag as an important symbol of his sovereignty.[60] For instance, his first coins bear the inscription LANCEA REGIS (the kings spear) and depict an arm holding a spear with flag.[60] According to the contemporaneous Adémar de Chabannes, a spear had been given to Stephens father by Emperor Otto III in a token of Gézas right to enjoy the most freedom in the possession of his country.[61] Stephen is styled in various ways—Ungarorum rex (king of the Hungarians), Pannoniorum rex (king of the Pannonians) or Hungarie rex (king of Hungary)—in his charters.[52] Consolidation (1001–c. 1009)[edit] Although Stephens power did not rely on his coronation,[52] the ceremony granted him the internationally accepted legitimacy of a Christian monarch who ruled his realm by the Grace of God.[62] All his legends testify that he established an archbishopric with its see in Esztergom shortly after his coronation.[63] This act ensured that the Church in Hungary became independent of the prelates of the Holy Roman Empire.[64][65] The earliest reference to an archbishop of Esztergom, named Domokos, has been preserved in the deed of foundation of the Pannonhalma Archabbey from 1002.[63] According to historian Gábor Thoroczkay, Stephen also established the Diocese of Kalocsa in 1001.[66] Stephen invited foreign priests to Hungary to evangelize his kingdom.[65] Associates of the late Adalbert of Prague, including Radla and Astrik, arrived in Hungary in the first years of his reign.[67][68] The transformation of Hungary into a Christian state was one of Stephens principal concerns throughout his reign.[69] His legislative activity was closely connected with Christianity.[70] For example, his First Book of Laws from the first years of his reign includes several provisions prescribing the observance of feast days and the confession before death.[71][72] His other laws protected property rights[73] and the interests of widows and orphans, or regulated the status of serfs.[72] If someone has such a hardened heart—God forbid it to any Christian—that he does not want to confess his faults according to the counsel of a priest, he shall lie without any divine service and alms like an infidel. If his relatives and neighbors fail to summon the priest, and therefore he should die unconfessed, prayers and alms should be offered, but his relatives shall wash away their negligence by fasting in accordance with the judgement of the priests. Those who die a sudden death shall be buried with all ecclesiastical honor; for divine judgment is hidden from us and unknown. —Laws of King Stephen I[74] Gyula the Younger is captured Stephens forces seize his uncle, Gyula the Younger Many Hungarian lords refused to accept Stephens suzerainty even after his coronation.[42] The new King first turned against his own uncle, Gyula the Younger, whose realm was most wide and rich,[75] according to the Illuminated Chronicle.[76] Stephen invaded Transylvania and seized Gyula and his family around 1002[77][78] or in 1003.[12][76] The contemporary Annals of Hildesheim[78] adds that Stephen converted his uncles country to the Christian faith by force after its conquest.[76] Accordingly, historians date the establishment of the Diocese of Transylvania to this period.[78][66] If the identification, proposed by Kristó, Györffy and other Hungarian historians, of Gyula with one Prokui—who was Stephens uncle according to Thietmar of Merseburg—is valid,[79] Gyula later escaped from captivity and fled to Boleslav the Brave, Duke of Poland (r. 992–1025).[76] [Duke Boleslav the Braves] territory included a certain burg, located near the border with the Hungarians. Its guardian was lord Prokui, an uncle of the Hungarian king. Both in the past and more recently, Prokui had been driven from his lands by the king and his wife had been taken captive. When he was unable to free her, his nephew arranged for her unconditional release, even though he was Prokuis enemy. I have never heard of anyone who showed such restraint towards a defeated foe. Because of this, God repeatedly granted him victory, not only in the burg mentioned above, but in others as well. —Thietmar of Merseburg: Chronicum[80] About a hundred years later the chronicler Gallus Anonymus also made mention of armed conflicts between Stephen and Boleslav the Brave, by stating that the latter defeated the Hungarians in battle and made himself master of all their lands as far as the Danube.[81][82][20] Györffy says that the chroniclers report refers to the occupation of the valley of the river Morava by the Poles in the 1010s.[82] On the other hand, the Polish-Hungarian Chronicle states that the Polish duke occupied large territories north of the Danube as far as Esztergom in the early 1000s.[82][83] According to Steinhübel, the latter source proves that a significant part of the lands that now form Slovakia were under Polish rule between 1002 and 1030.[83] In contrast with the Slovak historian, Györffy writes that this late chronicle in which one absurdity follows another contradicts all facts known from 11th-century sources.[84] Keans defeat by Stephen Stephen defeats Kean Duke of the Bulgarians and Slavs The Illuminated Chronicle narrates that Stephen led his army against Kean, Duke of the Bulgarians and Slavs whose lands are by their natural position most strongly fortified[85] following the occupation of Gyulas country.[86] According to a number of historians, including Zoltán Lenkey[86] and Gábor Thoroczkay,[66] Kean was the head of a small state located in the southern parts of Transylvania and Stephen occupied his country around 1003. Other historians, including Györffy, say that the chronicles report preserved the memory of Stephens campaign against Bulgaria in the late 1010s.[87] Likewise, the identification of the Black Hungarians[88]—who were mentioned by Bruno of Querfurt and Adémar de Chabannes among the opponents of Stephens proselytizing policy—is uncertain.[89] Györffy locates their lands to the east of the river Tisza,[90] while Thoroczkay to the southern parts of Transdanubia.[66] Bruno of Querfurts report of the Black Hungarians conversion by force suggests that Stephen conquered their lands at the latest in 1009 when the first mission of Saint Peter[91]—a papal legate, Cardinal Azo—arrived in Hungary.[92] The latter attended the meeting in Győr where the royal charter determining the borders of the newly established Bishopric of Pécs was issued on August 23, 1009.[91] The Diocese of Eger was also set up around 1009.[93][91] According to Thoroczkay, it is very probable that the bishoprics establishment was connected with the conversion of the Kabars—an ethnic group of Khazar origin—[94] and their chieftain.[95] The head of the Kavars—who was either Samuel Aba or his father—[96] married Stephens unnamed younger sister on this occasion.[95][97] The Aba clan was the most powerful among the native families who joined Stephen and supported him in his efforts to establish a Christian monarchy.[98] The reports by Anonymous, Simon of Kéza and other Hungarian chroniclers of the Bár-Kalán, Csák and other 13th-century noble families descending from Hungarian chieftains prove that other native families were also involved in the process.[98] Stephen abolished tribal divisions[99] and set up a territory-based administrative system,[76] establishing counties.[100] Each county, headed by a royal official known as a count or ispán, were administrative units organized around royal fortresses.[100] Most fortresses were earthworks in this period,[101] but the castles at Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Veszprém were built of stone.[102] Forts serving as county seats also became the nuclei of Church organization.[101] The settlements developing around them, where markets were held on each Sunday, were important local economic centers.[101] Active foreign policy (c. 1009–1031)[edit] A statue of the king in Miskolc Stephens brother-in-law, Henry II, became King of Germany in 1002 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1013.[56] Their friendly relationship ensured that the western borders of Hungary experienced a period of peace in the first decades of the 11th century.[103][56] Even when Henry IIs discontented brother, Bruno, sought refugee in Hungary in 1004, Stephen preserved the peace with Germany and negotiated a settlement between his two brothers-in-law.[56][104] Around 1009, he gave his younger sister in marriage to Otto Orseolo, Doge of Venice (r. 1008–1026), a close ally of the Byzantine Emperor, Basil II (r. 976–1025), which suggests that Hungarys relationship with the Byzantine Empire was also peaceful.[105] On the other hand, the alliance between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire brought her into a war with Poland lasting from around 1014[106] until 1018.[107] The Poles occupied the Hungarian posts along the river Morava.[108] Györffy and Kristó write that a Pecheneg incursion into Transylvania, the memory of which has been preserved in Stephens legends, also took place in this period, because the Pechenegs were close allies of Boleslav the Braves brother-in-law, Grand Prince Sviatopolk I of Kiev (r. 1015–1019).[106][109] However, 500 Hungarian horsemen who accompanied Boleslav the Brave to Kiev already in 1018 indicate that Hungary had been included in the Peace of Bautzen between Poland and the Holy Roman Empire.[109] The historian Ferenc Makk says that the peace treaty obliged Boleslav the Brave to hand over all the territories he had occupied in the Morava valley to Stephen.[108] For some night suddenly awakaned by some revelation, [Stephen] ordered a courier to hasten in one day and night to Alba in Transylvania, and gather all those living in the country within the fortifications of the city as fast as he could. For he foretold that the enemies of Christians would come upon them, the Pechenegs, who then threatened the Hungarians, in order to plunder their estate. Scarcely had the messenger completed the orders of the king, when behold the unexpected onslaught of the Pechenegs devastated everything by burning and plundering. Through the revelation of God, which was granted because of the merits of the blessed man, the souls of everyone were saved by the shelter of the fortifications. —Hartvic, Life of King Stephen of Hungary[110] According to Leodvin, the first known Bishop of Bihar (r. c. 1050 – c. 1060), Stephen allied with the Byzantines and made a military expedition in order to assist them against barbarians in the Balkan Peninsula.[111] The Byzantine and Hungarian troops jointly took Cesaries, a town identified with Ohrid by Györffy[112] and other historians. Here, Stephen collected relics of a number of saints, including Saint George and Saint Nicholas of Myra.[113] Leodvins report suggests that Stephen intervened in the war ending with the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in 1018.[113] However, the exact date of his expedition is uncertain.[112] Györffy argues that it was only in the last year of the war that Stephen led his troops against the Bulgarians, because in the previous years he had fought against the Poles.[112] Pécsvárad Abbey Ruins of the Pécsvárad Abbey Stephen donated the relics acquired in Cesaries to his triple-naved, new basilica dedicated to the Holy Virgin[114] in Székesfehérvár.[115] He also set up a cathedral chapter here.[116] Stephen transferred his seat from Esztergom to Székesfehérvár. His decision was not independent of the opening, in 1018 or 1019, of a new pilgrimage route, connecting Western Europe and the Holy Land through Hungary, while bypassing his old seat.[117][118] Stephen often met the pilgrims, contributing to the spread of his fame throughout Europe.[119] Abbot Odilo of Cluny, for example, wrote in his letter to Stephen that those who have returned from the shrine of our Lord testify to the kings passion towards the honour of our divine religion.[120] Stephen himself also established four hostels for pilgrims in Constantinople, Jerusalem, Ravenna and Rome.[121] [Almost] all those from Italy and Gaul who wished to go to the Sepulchre of the Lord at Jerusalem abandoned the usual route, which was by sea, making their way through the country of King Stephen. He made the road safe for everyone, welcomed as brothers all he saw and gave them enormous gifts. This action led many people, nobles and commoners, to go to Jerusalem. —Rodulfus Glaber: The Five Books of the Histories[122] In addition to pilgrims, merchants often used the safe route across Hungary when travelling between Constantinople and Western Europe.[117] Stephens legends also write of 60 wealthy Pechenegs who travelled to Hungary, but were attacked by Hungarian border guards.[123] The king sentenced his soldiers to death in order to demonstrate his determination to preserve internal peace.[123] Regular minting also began in Hungary in the 1020s.[124] Stephens silver dinars[117] bearing the inscriptions STEPHANUS REX (King Stephen) and REGIA CIVITAS (royal city) were popular in contemporary Europe, as demonstrated by their counterfeited copies unearthed in Sweden.[124] Saints Gerard and Emeric Modern statute of Bishop Gerard of Csanád and his disciple, Prince Emeric (both were canonized along with King Stephen in 1083) Stephen convinced some pilgrims and merchants to settle in Hungary.[117][120] Gerard, a member of the Sagredo or Morosini family,[125] who arrived in Hungary from the Republic of Venice between 1020 and 1026 initially planned to continue his journey to the Holy Land, but decided to stay in the country after his meeting with the king.[119] Stephen also established a number of Benedictine monasteries—including the abbeys at Pécsvárad, Zalavár and Bakonybél[126]—in this period.[127] Stephens brother-in-law, Emperor Henry, died on 13 July 1024.[128] He was succeeded by a distant relative,[129] Conrad II (r. 1024–1039), who adopted an active foreign policy.[130] Conrad II expelled Doge Otto Orseolo—the husband of Stephens sister—from Venice in 1026.[130][119] He also persuaded the Bavarians to proclaim his own son, Henry, as their duke in 1027, although Stephens son, Emeric had a strong claim to the Duchy of Bavaria through his mother.[129] Emperor Conrad planned a marriage alliance with the Byzantine Empire and dispatched one of his advisors, Bishop Werner of Strasbourg, to Constantinople.[114][131] The bishop seemingly travelled as a pilgrim, but Stephen, who had been informed on his actual purpose, refused to let him enter into his country in the autumn of 1027.[114][131] Conrad IIs biographer, Wipo of Burgundy narrated that the Bavarians incited skirmishes along the common borders of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire in 1029, causing a rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries.[132][133] Stephens conflict with Ajtony, a chieftain in the region of the river Maros—which is narrated in the Long Life of Saint Gerard—is also dated by many historians to the very end of the 1020s, although Györffy[82] and other scholars wrote that it happened at least a decade earlier.[134] The conflict arose when Ajtony, who had taken his power from the Greeks, levied tax on the salt transported to Stephen on the river.[135] The king sent a large army led by Csanád against Ajtony, who was killed in a battle.[136] His lands were transformed into a county and the king set up a new bishopric at Csanád (Cenad, Romania), the former seat of Ajtony, which was renamed after the commander of the royal army.[136] According to the Annales Posonienses, the Venetian Gerard was consecrated as the first bishop of the new diocese in 1030.[137] Emperor Conrad personally led his armies to Hungary in June 1030 and plundered the lands west of the River Rába.[132][138] However, as the Annals of Niederalteich reported it, the emperor, suffering from consequences of the scorched earth tactics applied by the Hungarian army,[139] returned to Germany without an army and without achieving anything, because the army was threatened by starvation and was captured by the Hungarians at Vienna.[138] The peace was restored after Conrad had ceded the lands between the rivers Lajta and Fischa to Hungary in the summer of 1031.[140] At this same time, dissensions arose between the Pannonian nation and the Bavarians, through the fault of the Bavarians. And, as a result, King [Stephen] of Hungary made many incursions and raids in the realm of the Norici (that is, of the Bavarians). Disturbed on this account Emperor Conrad came upon the Hungarians with a great army. But King [Stephen], whose forces were entirely insufficient to meet the Emperor, relled solely on the guardianship of the Lord, which he sought with prayers and fasts proclaimed through his whole realm. Since the Emperor was not able to enter a kingdom so fortified with rivers and forests, he returned, after he had sufficiently avenged his injury with lootings and burnings on the borders of the kingdom; and it was his wish at a more opportune time to complete the things he had begun. His son, King Henry, however, still a young boy entrusted to the care of Eigilbert, bishop of Freising, received a legation of King [Stephen] which asked for peace; and solely with the counsel of the princes of the realm, and without his fathers knowledge, he granted the favor of reconciliation. —Wipo: The Deeds of Conrad II[141] Last years (1031–1038)[edit] King St Stephen and his son King Stephen at the funeral of his son, Saint Emeric Stephens biographer, Hartvic, narrates that the King, whose children died one by one in infancy, restrained the grief over their death by the solace on account of the love of his surviving son,[142] Emeric.[143] However, Emeric was wounded in a hunting accident and died in 1031.[117] After the death of his son, the elderly King could never fully regain his former health,[144] according to the Illuminated Chronicle.[143] Kristó writes that the picture, which has been preserved in Stephens legends, of the holy king keeping the vigils and washing the feet of paupers, is connected with Stephens last years, following the death of his son.[145] Emerics death jeopardized his fathers achievements in establishing a Christian state,[146] because Stephens cousin, Vazul—who had the strongest claim to succeed him—was suspected to incline toward paganism.[147] The Annals of Altaich narrated that Stephen disregarded his cousins claim and nominated his own sisters son, the Venetian Peter Orseolo as his heir.[148] The same source adds that Vazul was captured and blinded; his three sons, Levente, Andrew and Béla, were expelled from Hungary.[148] A report, preserved in Stephens legends, of an unsuccessful attempt upon the elderly kings life by members of his court indicate that Vazul was mutilated for his participation in the plot.[145] That Vazuls ears were filled with molten lead was only recorded in later sources, including the Illuminated Chronicle.[149] Provisions in Stephens Second Book of Laws on the conspiracy against the king and the kingdom[150] implies that this book was promulgated after Vazuls unsuccessful plot against Stephen.[72] However, historians have not universally accepted this view.[72] Györffy wrote that the law book was issued, not after 1031, but around 1009.[151] Likewise, the authenticity of Stephens decree on the tithe is debated: according to Györffy, it is duly attributed to Stephen, but Berend, Laszlovszky and Szakács wrote that it might be a later addition.[151][45] Ten villages shall build a church and endow it with two manses and the same number of bondmen, a horse and mare, six oxen, two cows, and thirty small animals. The king shall provide vestments and altar cloths, and the bishop the priests and books. —Laws of King Stephen I[152] Stephen died on 15 August 1038.[153] He was buried in the basilica of Székesfehérvár.[148] A long period of instability followed his reign, which was characterized by civil wars, pagan uprisings and foreign invasions.[154][155] The period ended in 1077 when Ladislaus, a grandson of Vazul, ascended the throne.[156] Family[edit] King St Stephen and his wife King Stephen and his wife Gisela of Bavaria founding a church at Óbuda from the Chronicon Pictum Stephen married Gisela, a daughter of Duke Henry the Wrangler of Bavaria—himself a nephew of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor[157]—and his wife, Gisela of Burgundy, a member of the Welf dynasty.[19][158] Born around 985, Gisela was younger than her husband, whom she survived.[19][158] She abandoned Hungary in 1045 and died as Abbess of the Niedernburg Abbey in Passau in Bavaria around 1060.[159] Although the Illuminated Chronicle narrates that Stephen begot many sons,[160][161] only two of them, Otto and Emeric, are known by name.[62] According to Kristó, Otto was born before 1002 and was named after Emperor Otto III.[62] He died as a child.[161] Emeric who received the name of his maternal uncle, Emperor Henry II, was born around 1007.[62] His Legend from the early 1100s describes Emeric as a saintly prince who preserved his chastity even during his marriage.[161] According to Györffy, Emerics wife was a kinswoman of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II.[112] His premature death caused the series of conflicts leading to Vazuls blinding and civil wars.[117][162] Be obedient to me, my son. You are a child, descendant of rich parents, living among soft pillows, who has been caressed and brought up in all kinds of comforts; you have had a part neither in the troubles of the campaigns nor in the various attacks of the pagans in which almost my whole life has been worn away. —Stephens Admonitions to his son, Emeric[123]
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