page_title: Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)
section_title: King St Stephen (1000–1038)
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301) / "Patrimonial" kingdom / King St Stephen (1000–1038)
caption_attribution_description: English: Commemoration on the Foundation of the Church in Obuda
context_page_description: The Kingdom of Hungary came into existence in Central Europe when Stephen I, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, was crowned king in 1000 or 1001. He reinforced central authority and forced his subjects to accept Christianity. Although all written sources emphasize only the role played by German and Italian knights and clerics in the process, a significant part of the Hungarian vocabulary for agriculture, religion and state was taken from Slavic languages. Civil wars and pagan uprisings, along with attempts by the Holy Roman Emperors to expand their authority over Hungary, jeopardized the new monarchy. The monarchy stabilized during the reigns of Ladislaus I and Coloman. These rulers occupied Croatia and Dalmatia with the support of a part of the local population. Both realms retained their autonomous position. The successors of Ladislaus and Coloman—especially Béla II, Béla III, Andrew II, and Béla IV —continued this policy of expansion towards the Balkan Peninsula and the lands east of the Carpathian Mountains, transforming their kingdom into one of the major powers of medieval Europe.
context_section_description: Stephen was crowned the first king of Hungary on either December 25, 1000, or January 1, 1001. He consolidated his rule through a series of wars against semi-independent local rulers, including his maternal uncle, Gyula. He proved his kingdom's military strength when he repelled an invasion by Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1030. Marshlands, other natural obstacles, and barricades made of stone, earth or timber provided defense at the kingdom's borders. A wide zone known as gyepü was intentionally left uninhabited for defensive purposes along the frontiers. Most of the early medieval fortresses in Hungary were made of earth and timber.
  Stephen I's views on state administration were summarized around 1015 in a work known as Admonitions. Stating that "the country that has only one language and one custom is weak and fragile", he emphasized the advantages of the arrival of foreigners, or "guests". Stephen I developed a state similar to the monarchies of contemporary Western Europe. Counties, the basic units of administration, were districts organized around fortresses and headed by royal officials known as ispáns, or counts. Stephen I founded dioceses and at least one archbishopric, and established Benedictine monasteries. He prescribed that every tenth village was to build a parish church. The earliest churches of the 10th century were simple wood constructions, but the royal basilica at Székesfehérvár was built in Romanesque style. Stephen I's laws were aimed at the adoption, even by force, of a Christian way of life. He especially protected Christian marriage against polygamy and other traditional customs. Decorated belts and other items of pagan fashion also disappeared. Commoners started to wear long woolen coats, but wealthy men persisted with their silk kaftans decorated with furs.
  If any warrior debased by lewdness abducts a girl to be his wife without the consent of her parents, we decreed that the girl should be returned to her parents, even if he did anything by force to her, and the abductor shall pay ten steers for the abduction, although he may afterwards have made peace with the girl's parents.
  — Book One of the Laws of King Stephen I
  From a legal perspective, Hungarian society was divided into freemen and serfs, but intermediate groups also existed. All freemen had the legal capacity to own property, to sue and to be sued. Most of them were bound to the monarch or to a wealthier landlord, and only "guests" could freely move. Among freemen living in lands attached to a fortress, the "castle warriors" served in the army, and the "castle folk" cultivated the lands, forged weapons or rendered other services. All freemen were to pay a special tax, the "freemen's pennies" to the monarchs. With a transitory status between freemen and serfs, peasants known as udvornici were exempt from it. Serfs theoretically lacked the legal status available to freemen, but in practice they had their own property: they cultivated their masters' land with their own tools, and kept 50–66 percent of the harvest for themselves. Stephen I's laws and charters suggest that most commoners lived in sedentary communities which formed villages. An average village was made up of no more than 40 semi-sunken timber huts with a corner hearth. Many of the villages were named after a profession, implying that the villagers were required to render a specific service to their lords.
caption: King St Stephen and his wife founding a church at Óbuda
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