Early medieval Europe (500–1000)Politics and state

Coronation of Stephen I of Hungary

The grand prince of the Hungarians, Stephen, was crowned king with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II with the consent of Emperor Otto III — the birth of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary.

Date: between 25 December 1000 and 1 January 1001exact date unknown: an interval is given
Place: Esztergomapproximate locationtoday: Esztergom, Hungary · Western and Central Europe
Participants: Stephen I of Hungary, Kingdom of Hungary, Magyars (Hungarians), Pope Sylvester II, Otto III
Threads: Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
Also known as: Founding of the Kingdom of Hungary; Основание Венгерского королевства; Holy Crown of Hungary; Священная корона Венгрии

Stephen, baptized son of Grand Prince Géza, married the Bavarian princess Gisela and, after his father’s death in 997, defeated his pagan kinsman Koppány, who claimed the succession by seniority. He then asked Rome for a royal crown. According to Hungarian tradition he was crowned “on the first day of the second millennium”, which may mean 25 December 1000 or 1 January 1001; the ceremony, following the German royal rite, probably took place at Esztergom, though Székesfehérvár has also been suggested. Whether any part of the Holy Crown of Hungary preserved today goes back to Stephen’s time is disputed.

Stephen founded the archbishopric of Esztergom and a network of bishoprics and abbeys, organized the kingdom into counties and subdued the remaining tribal chieftains. His coronation in the same year as the founding of the archbishopric of Gniezno reflected Otto III’s and Sylvester II’s vision of a family of Christian kingdoms around the renewed Roman Empire.

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Related events

Battle of Lechfeld10–12 August 955 · Western and Central EuropeWithin half a century the Magyar raiders became a Christian kingdom
Baptism of Poland14 April 966 · Western and Central EuropeOtto III and Sylvester II also founded the archbishopric of Gniezno in 1000