While the raiding Hungarian army suffered a devastating defeat in 955 at Augsburg by the German Otto I, who later in 962 had himself crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, throughout Europe Christianity was spreading fast. Christianization - particularly its western course - served to unify, unify the peoples of Europe under one faith and one culture. To the Hungarians' good fortune, it was precisely those among Árpád's descendants holding the greatest power who recognized both the direction and the importance of these processes.

During the generation following Augsburg, Gyula, the leader of Transylvania, the eastern part of the country enjoying considerable independence, cast an eye upon Byzantium; he welcomed missionaries from there, became a Christian himself. Looking westward instead, Taksony, the chief prince and man of armed peace, sought political tranquillity with the Germans but did not commit himself with respect to religion. Meanwhile, "old-fashioned" military campaigns were occasionally launched both east and west, but the age of marauding raids was irretrievably over. And those Hungarians with the most restless blood had no opportunity to set sail for new continents, as the Vikings had; nor could they return to the former homeland, as the Moors had to Africa. If not expressed as clearly as the nineteenth-century poet, Mihály Vörösmarty, will in his hymn entitled Szózat, the same conviction was already rooted among the most foresighted Hungarians:

No place exists for you
In the whole world but this;
Fate's hand may bless or damn you:
Here must you live or die.

Taksony's son, Géza, who was chief prince from 970 to 997 - perhaps he also wore the title of king at the end of his life - was willing to become a Christian, but he continued to participate in pagan rites, and, according to one story, when his attention was called to this fact, he replied haughtily: he was such a wealthy lord that he had enough treasure to sacrifice abundantly to two gods.

Géza's son, Vajk, who received the name István (Stephen) on becoming a Christian - the same as his father's, though thereafter he used his new and not his old name - was prince from 997 to 1000 and king from 1000 to 1038. His coronation could have taken place on December 25, 1000 or on January 1, 1001, with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II, or by Otto III, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, according to another opinion.

The reign of István I began with Chief Koppány, the lord of the southwestern part of the country, putting his rule in jeopardy while István was still prince. By right of levirate, Koppány demanded that István's mother, Géza's widow, Sarolt, become his wife. And, of course, he laid claim to the throne. He did not want to accept Christianity either, but rather wanted to follow on the pagan tradition of his ancestors. Eventually István had to fight and defeat Koppány and some other rebel lords, such as Vazul and Ajtony.

Amid the terrible domestic wars, which, however, never reached a tragic scale, István had the means and strength to organize and build the state. His most important act in the secular sphere was the elimination of the earlier tribal and clan structure. He built castles under the leadership of ispáns (bailiffs), and these social, economical, and military entities served as territorial defense. István is also responsible for the first recorded laws of Hungary. Laying the foundation of the church structure paralleled that of the secular reorganization. He gave an order that every group of ten villages had to build a church. István transformed the custom relating to the markets. He decreed that markets be held every seventh day sanctified in compliance with the commands of the Church. Thus the name of this day was first vásárnap (market day) and then vasárnap (Sunday) in Hungarian.

István is the first and undoubtedly one of the greatest kings of Hungary who, following and b uilding on his father's vision and legacy, created the state of Hungary on Christian foundations. This was the only way for the newly settled Hungarians to be integrated in Europe. This is quite obvious for us today, but at the time of István it required vision and foresight to leave the old traditions and accept the new challenges of new times.

The tragedy of István - and of the entire House of Árpád and of the nation as well - was that among the children of the king who ruled for forty-one years only a single son reached adulthood, who himself died as a young successor to the throne. Imre (Emeric) remained childless, and became, in 1031, the victim of a hunting accident (perhaps a murderous attack?).

After Imre's death, István designated his sister's son, Peter Orseolo, as his successor; he summoned him to his court and prepared him to rule. However, internal opposition ejected Peter, who then went to ask for help in the west and returned with the troops of Henry III, the Holy Roman Emperor. The crown again belonged to Peter for two years, but he was forced to flee in the fall of 1046. Then his successor, Andrew I, one of Vazul's sons, had him apprehended and blinded. Hereafter, the descendants of Vazul of the House of Árpád sat on the royal throne of Hungary for a quarter of a millennium.

By Peter Vali

Source: István Lázár: HUNGARY - A Brief History. Budapest: Corvina, 1993