C59 



STEPHEN, SAINT. 



STEPHEN II. (OF HUNGARY). 



600 



Victor II. in 1057. He bad been legate of Leo IX. to the court of 

 Constantinople, and was learned in controversial divinity. His election 

 is paid to have been unanimous. By the advice of the monk Hilde- 

 brand (afterwards Gregory VII.), ha sent two legates to Milan to 

 enforce the decrees concerning the celibacy of the clergy, which the 

 church of Milan had not yet adopted. This dispute had begun in 

 1021, at the council of Pavia, and it lasted for nearly half a century. 

 Stephen issued also several bulls against simony, which was prevalent 

 in his time. He sent for the learned Petrus Damianus, who had 

 retired to a secluded cloister, and obliged him to come to Rome under 

 pain of excommunication, and made him cardinal and bishop of Oetia. 

 The pope also visited his former monastery of Monte Casino, in which 

 he enforced a strict discipline. He also issued a bull exempting the 

 clergy from the jurisdiction of the lay courts, and from paying tribute 

 to laymen. From some passages of Leo Ostiensis and other chroniclers 

 it has been snrmised that he intended to make his brother Godfrey 

 king of Italy. But the pope fell ill, and died at the beginning of 1058. 

 On his deathbed he recommended the clergy and people to wait for 

 the return of Hildebrand from Germany before they elected his 

 successsor, but the advice was not followed, and a schism ensued. 

 [BENKDICT X. ; NICHOLAS II.] 



STEPHEN, SAINT, first king of Hungary, son of the Magyar chief 

 Geysa, and Sarolta, the daughter of Gyula, a Hungarian nobleman who 

 had been baptised in Greece, was born about 979, at Gran (Estragan, 

 the ancient Strigouium). 



His father Geysa (Gyoao, that is, 'Victor'), whose fierce and indomi- 

 table character the Christian Sarolta had succeeded in softening, 

 allowed Piligrin, bishop of Lorch, to preach the Gospel to the Magyars; 

 but these first attempts proved unsuccessful, and it was only at a sub- 

 sequent period, when Geysa himself was converted, that a few of his 

 countrymen followed his example. The number was however greatly 

 increased upon the arrival in Hungary of St. Adalbert, who advised 

 Geysa to allow Christians to settle there; and in consequence of this 

 permission being granted, a number of Germans and Italians estab- 

 lished themselves in the neighbourhood of the capital, Gran. The 

 majority of the Hungarians being however still attached to their gods, 

 persecution as well as other means of conversion were used against 

 them. In the midst of preparations for a powerful attack against his 

 heathen countrymen, Geysa died, and Stephen succeeded him in 997. 



The legend says that an angel had announced to Geysa the birth of 

 a son, and that St. Stephen, the protomartyr, appeared to Sarolta, and 

 bade her call her offspring after him. The name which he bore 

 before his baptism was Vaik, according to Mailath. Great care was 

 taken by his mother that he should receive a good education ; Count 

 Deodatus a San Severiuo, in Apulia, was appointed his instructor, 

 and St. Adalbert, of Prague, baptised him in 995. Shortly after this 

 he married Gisela, the sister of the Emperor Otho III. 



The dissatisfied Magyars, though they had hitherto refrained from 

 any acts of violence against the Christians, who enjoyed the powerful 

 protection of Geysa, now began to make open resistance. The 

 youthful inexperience of Stephen, who had scarcely assumed the reins 

 of government, seemed to give them hopes of succeeding in their 

 attempts to check the progress of Christianity aud restore their 

 ancient religion. Indeed it appears that when Kupau, the count of 

 Simegh, had consented to lead the heathen Magyars, a number of 

 those who had received Christian baptism joined his standard. In 

 addition to this, so wavering was the faith of those who remained with 

 Stephen, that the youthful chief could only rely upon the support of 

 the foreigners. Kupan had assembled all his forces, and marched 

 towards Weszprim, in the neighbourhood of which town Stephen met 

 him. After a desperate battle, in which Kupan lost his life, the 

 victory so decidedly leaned towards the side of the Christians, that 

 the remaining adherents of the party of Kupan quitted it. For the 

 purpose of securing the possession of his throne, Stephen sent an 

 embassy to Pope Sylvester II., at the head of which was Astricus or 

 Anasbasius, bishop of the newly-created see of Kolotz, who was 

 instructed to obtain the title of king for Stephen. Astricus soon 

 returned with a crown and a deed of the pope, which gave Stephen 

 unlimited power in the ecclesiastical affairs of his country. The coro- 

 nation took place on the 15th of August 1000. From the time of his 

 assuming the title of king, the peaceful occupations of Stephen were 

 only interrupted by a few warlike incursions, all of which he success- 

 fully repelled. 



In 1002 Gyula, his cousin, rebelled against him, and publicly 

 abjured Christianity. After a short campaign he was taken prisoner 

 with his two sons, and Zoltan was appointed governor of Transylvania 

 in his stead. The Bulgarians having assisted Gyula in his rebellion, 

 and threatening to make an incursion into the country, Stephen led 

 an expedition against their chief Kean, and gained a decisive victory 

 over him. The third invasion against Stephen was one conducted by 

 Henry, the son of the Emperor Conrad, who had already advanced as 

 far as the Raab with a powerful army, but after some negociations the 

 army returned without having fought a single battle. These were 

 the only instances in Stephen's long reign which obliged him to have 

 recourse to arms. Indeed his court was so well known for the security 

 which it afforded, that the two English princes Edwin and Edward, 

 who had been exiled by Canute, went over to Hungary and lived 

 under King Stephen's protection. The whole of his attention was 

 BIOO. DIV. VOL. V. 



given to the firm establishment of Christianity, and no means were 

 neglected by him which could induce the few who still persevered in 

 heathenish practices to adopt it. He divided Hungary into ten 

 bishoprics, which were plentifully supplied with monasteries built by 

 Greek architects. Schools were also established, the first and best of 

 which was that of St. Gerard, who had been tutor to Prince Emeric,the 

 king's son. It was afterwards entrusted to the direction of Walter, a 

 monk of Bstkony Bel, the fifth monastery founded by Stephen. The 

 country itself being now provided with ecclesiastical and school 

 establishments, a monastery was built at Ravenna for the use of 

 Magyar pilgrims on their way to Rome, where the munificent king had 

 erected a college with a foundation for ten canons, and an iun for his 

 subjects whom the desire of learning might lead to Rome. A large 

 convent in the neighbourhood of Constantinople was the resting-place 

 for Hungarian monks who wished to join their brethren at Jerusalem, 

 and who were entirely supported by the king. These and many other 

 pious and charitable institutions of St. Stephen, joined to his own 

 exemplary life and precepts, soon rooted out the last remnants of 

 paganism. His civil constitution, of which we have no well-authen- 

 ticated remains, finished the work of civilisation which he had begun 

 thirty years before. 



At this period of his life, being fifty-one years of age, he lost his 

 son Emeric, who, under the able tuition of Gerard, had all the accom- 

 plishments of his time, and was in every respect worthy of his father. 

 Emeric was married to the daughter of Kresimir, king of Croatia, 

 but he died without issue. Stephen's grief for the loss of his son was 

 increased by the treachery of Gisela,. who put out the eyes of Vazul, 

 whom Stephen had designed for his successor, in order that her own 

 son Peter might succeed to the throne. These causes of sorrow so 

 affected Stephen's health that they brought on an illness which 

 afflicted him till his death. About this time an attempt was made 

 against his life by a murderer, who was incited by four of the prin- 

 cipal men of the court. Stephen gave a general pardon to all who 

 were concerned in the crime. He died on the 15th of August 1038 

 (the day of his coronation), forty-one years after the death of his 

 father. In 1083 his relics were enshrined by St. Ladislaus, in a rich 

 chapel which bears his name, in the church of our Lady of Buda. 

 The 20th of August, the day of the translation of his relics, is kept in 

 Hungary as a festival. 



St. Stephen was canonised by Benedict IX. ; and Pope Innocent XL, 

 in 1686, appointed his festival to be kept on the 2nd of September, the 

 Emperor Leopold having on that day recovered Buda from the Turks. 

 (Chartuitius, ' Vita S. Stephani.') 



STEPHEN II., king of Hungary, son of Koloman, whom he suc- 

 ceeded in 1114, at the age of fourteen. He was of a weak intellect, 

 and unwilling to submit to the judgment of his advisers, but was 

 accustomed to act from the impulse of the moment. This quality 

 gave him the name of 'the Lightning,' or 'the Thunderer,' and 

 rendered him odious to his subjects. Soon after his accession to the 

 throne he made war on the Venetians, who could not be reconciled 

 to the loss of Dalmatia, which had been taken from them during the 

 reign of Stephen's father. They sent a fleet, with a considerable army, 

 under the Doge Ordelaf Faledro, who however did not recover this 

 province, the possession of which was of the greatest importance to 

 the republic. The hostilities, which lasted two years, ended with a 

 treaty which secured the mainland of Dalmatia to Stephen, whilst 

 Venice obtained the adjoining islands. This transaction was scarcely 

 concluded, when Stephen went (1116) to meet Wladislaw, the chief 

 of the Bohemians, for the purpose of renewing the treaties of friend- 

 ship which had long existed between the two countries. Through 

 the treachery of Solth, the meeting terminated in a quarrel attended 

 with bloodshed ; but after a few months the traitor was executed, 

 and the old treaty renewed : some writers however assert that Stephen 

 was a participator in this dishonourable transaction. In the two 

 following years Stephen invaded Poland and Austria, from which 

 expeditious he derived no material benefit. In 1119 he made an 

 incursion into Austria, but the Emperor Leopold, iu a decisive battle, 

 completely defeated the Hungarian army, and pursued it as far as 

 Eisenberg. 



The bad feeling which such acts had produced in the people was 

 only checked by the great respect for kingly authority ; but Stephen at 

 last excited general indignation by filling the country with foreigners, 

 to whom he showed a decided preference. This foolish policy was 

 followed, in 1127, by a war with the grand-duke of Muscovy, Wladimir 

 Monomakh. Yaroslav, the exiled prince of Wladimir, applied to 

 Stephen for aid. The Hungarian army marched into Russia, and 

 advanced without opposition as far as Wladimir. At this crisis 

 Yaroslav died, and with his death the cause of the war ceased. But 

 instead of returning, Stephen insisted upon storming the town ; and 

 in consequence of his obstinacy, the chief nobles of his army, with 

 Rozma Peznan at their head, declared that if he would not immediately 

 follow them into their own country, they would elect another king, 

 and leave him at the mercy of the Russians. Intimidated by these 

 threats, Stephen returned to Hungary; but his conduct compelled 

 many of those who were concerned in the revolt to fly to Constanti- 

 nople. Here they were well received by the Emperor John II., who, 

 upon Stephen's threatening to invade the empire, sent a powerful 

 army against him, which completely defeated the Hungarians at Uj- 



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