| Stephen V | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Slavonia, Duke of Transylvania | |
 Stephen's royal seal | |
| King of Hungary andCroatia | |
| Reign | 3 May 1270 – 6 August 1272 used the "junior king" as ruling title from 5 December 1262[1] |
| Coronation | 1246 (junior king) 17 May 1270,Székesfehérvár |
| Predecessor | Béla IV |
| Successor | Ladislaus IV |
| Duke of Styria | |
| Reign | 1258–1260 |
| Predecessor | Béla |
| Successor | Ottokar V |
| Born | Before 18 October 1239 |
| Died | 6 August 1272 (aged 32–33) Csepel Island,Kingdom of Hungary |
| Burial | Monastery of the Blessed Virgin on Rabbits' Island (nowMargaret Island inBudapest) |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| Dynasty | Árpád dynasty |
| Father | Béla IV of Hungary |
| Mother | Maria Laskarina |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Stephen V (Hungarian:V. István,Croatian:Stjepan V.,Slovak:Štefan V.; before 18 October 1239 – 6 August 1272) wasKing of Hungary andCroatia between 1270 and 1272, andDuke of Styria from 1258 to 1260. He was the oldest son of KingBéla IV andMaria Laskarina. King Béla had his soncrowned king at the age of six and appointed himDuke of Slavonia. Still a child, Stephen marriedElizabeth, a daughter of a chieftain of theCumans whom his father settled in theGreat Hungarian Plain.
King Béla appointed StephenDuke of Transylvania in 1257 and Duke of Styria in 1258. The local noblemen inStyria, which had been annexed four years before, opposed his rule. Assisted by KingOttokar II of Bohemia, they rebelled and expelled Stephen's troops from most parts of Styria. After Ottokar II routed the united army of Stephen and his father in theBattle of Kressenbrunn on 12 July 1260, Stephen left Styria and returned toTransylvania.
Stephen forced his father to cede all the lands of theKingdom of Hungary to the east of the Danube to him and adopted the title of junior king in 1262. In two years, acivil war broke out between father and son, because Stephen accused Béla of planning to disinherit him. They concluded a peace treaty in 1266, but confidence was never restored between them. Stephen succeeded his father, who died on 3 May 1270, without difficulties, but his sisterAnna and his father's closest advisors fled to theKingdom of Bohemia. Ottokar II invaded Hungary in the spring of 1271, but Stephen routed him. In next summer, a rebellious lord captured and imprisoned Stephen's son,Ladislaus. Shortly thereafter, Stephen unexpectedly fell ill and died.
Stephen was the eighth child and first son of KingBéla IV of Hungary and his wife,Maria, a daughter ofTheodore I Lascaris,Emperor of Nicaea.[2] He was born in 1239.[3] ArchbishopRobert of Esztergom baptised him on 18 October.[4] The child,heir apparent from birth, was named afterSaint Stephen, the firstKing of Hungary.[5]
Béla and his family, including Stephen, fled toZagreb after theMongols had annihilated the royal army in theBattle of Mohi on 11 April 1241.[6] The Mongols crossed the frozenDanube in February 1242 and the royal family ran off as far as the well-fortifiedDalmatian town ofTrogir.[5][7] The King and his family returned from Dalmatia after the Mongols unexpectedly withdrew from Hungary in March.[8]
A royal charter of 1246 mentions Stephen as "King, andDuke of Slavonia".[5] Apparently, in the previous year, Béla had his soncrowned asjunior king and endowed with the lands between the riverDráva and theAdriatic Sea, according to historiansGyula Kristó andFerenc Makk.[5][9] The seven-year-old Stephen's provinces—Croatia,Dalmatia andSlavonia—were administered by royal governors, known asbans.[5][10]
In a letter addressed toPope Innocent IV in the late 1240s, Béla IV wrote that "[o]n behalf ofChristendom we had our son marry aCuman girl".[11] The bride wasElizabeth, the daughter of a leader of the Cumans whom Béla had invited to settle in the plains along the riverTisza.[12][13] Elizabeth had been baptized, but ten Cuman chieftains present at the ceremony nevertheless took their customary oath upon a dog cut into two by a sword.[14]
When Stephen attained theage of majority in 1257, his father appointed himDuke of Transylvania.[3][15] Stephen's rule in Transylvania was short-lived, because his father transferred him toStyria in 1258.[9][15] Styria had been annexed in 1254, but the local lords rose up in rebellion and expelled Béla IV's governor,Stephen Gutkeled, before Stephen's appointment.[16] Stephen and his father jointly invaded Styria and subdued the rebels.[17] In addition to Styria, Stephen also received two neighboring counties—Vas andZala—in Hungary from his father.[17][18] He launched a plundering raid inCarinthia in the spring of 1259, in retaliation of DukeUlrich III of Carinthia's support of the Styrian rebels.[17][19]
Stephen's rule remained unpopular in Styria. With support from KingOttokar II of Bohemia, the local lords again rebelled.[20] Stephen could preserve onlyPettau (present-day Ptuj, Slovenia) and its region.[21] On 25 June 1260, Stephen crossed the riverMorava to invade Ottokar's realm.[22] His military force, which consisted ofSzékely,Romanian and Cuman troops, routed an Austrian army.[22][23] However, in the decisiveBattle of Kressenbrunn King Béla's and Stephen's united army was vanquished on 12 July, primarily because the main forces, which were under King Béla's command, arrived late.[23][24] Stephen, who commanded theadvance guard, barely escaped from the battlefield.[25] ThePeace of Vienna, which was signed on 31 March 1261, put an end to the conflict between Hungary and Bohemia, forcing Béla IV to renounce of Styria in favor of Ottokar II.[24]
Stephen returned to Transylvania and started to rule it for the second time after 20 August 1260.[15][24] He and his father jointly invadedBulgaria and seizedVidin in 1261.[3] His father returned to Hungary, but Stephen continued the campaign alone.[26] He laid siege toLom on the Danube and advanced as far asTirnovo in pursuit of TsarConstantine Tikh of Bulgaria.[26] However, the Tsar succeeded in avoiding any clashes with the invaders and Stephen withdrew his troops from Bulgaria by the end of the year.[26]
Stephen's relationship with Béla IV deteriorated in the early 1260s.[27] Stephen's charters reveal his fear of being disinherited and expelled by his father.[27] He also accused some unnamed barons of inciting the old monarch against him.[27] On the other hand, Stephen's charters prove that he made land grants inBihar,Szatmár,Ugocsa, and other counties which were situated outside Transylvania.[28]
ArchbishopsPhilip of Esztergom andSmaragd of Kalocsa undertook to mediate after some clashes occurred between the two kings' partisans in the autumn.[29][30] According to thePeace of Pressburg, which was concluded around 25 November, Béla IV and his son divided the country and Stephen received the lands to the east of the Danube.[31][32] When confirming the treaty on 5 December, Stephen also promised that he would not invade Slavonia which had been granted to his younger brother,Béla, by their father.[29] On this occasion, Stephen styled himself "Junior King, Duke of Transylvania and Lord of the Cumans".[29][31]
A Bulgarian nobleman,DespotJacob Svetoslav sought assistance from Stephen after his domains, which were situated in the regions south of Vidin, were overrun by Byzantine troops in the second half of 1263.[33][34] Stephen sent reinforcements under the command ofLadislaus II Kán,Voivode of Transylvania to Bulgaria.[34] The Voivode routed the Byzantines and drove them out of Bulgaria.[35] Stephen granted Vidin to Jacob Svetoslav who accepted his suzerainty.[35]
The reconciliation of Stephen and his father was only temporary.[36] Stephen confiscated the domains of his mother and sister,Anna—includingBeszterce (present-day Bistrița, Romania) andFüzér—which were located in the lands under his rule.[32] Béla IV's army crossed the Danube under Anna's command sometime after the autumn of 1264.[32][37] She besieged and tookSárospatak and seized Stephen's wife and children.[37] Voivode Ladislaus Kán turned against Stephen and led an army, which consisted of Cuman warriors, to Transylvania.[38] Stephen routed him at the fort ofDéva (now Deva, Romania).[31][37] King Béla'sJudge royal,Lawrence arrived at the head of a new army and forced Stephen to retreat toFeketehalom (now Codlea, Romania).[37][39] The Judge royal lay siege to the fortress, but Stephen's partisans relieved it.[37][39] Stephen launched a counter-offensive and forced his father's army to retreat.[36][40] He gained a decisive victory over his father's army in theBattle of Isaszeg in March 1265.[20][37] The two archbishops mediated a new consolidation between father and son, which confirmed the 1262 division of the country.[41] Béla and Stephen signed the peace treaty in the Convent of the Blessed Virgin on the Rabbits' Island (nowMargaret Island in Budapest) on 23 March 1266.[36][42]
During the civil war in Hungary, Stephen's vassal, Despot Jacob Svetoslav submitted himself to Tsar Constantine Tikh of Bulgaria.[43] In the summer of 1266, Stephen invaded Bulgaria, seized Vidin,Pleven and other forts and routed the Bulgarians in five battles.[42][44] Jacob Svetoslav again accepted Stephen's suzerainty and was reinstalled in Vidin.[44] From then on, Stephen used the title "King of Bulgaria" in his charters.[20]
Béla and Stephen together confirmed the liberties of the "royal servants", from then on known asnoblemen, in 1267.[45] A double marriage alliance between Stephen and KingCharles I of Sicily—Stephen's son, Ladislaus married Charles's daughter,Elisabeth, and Charles'snamesake son married Stephen's daughter,Mary—strengthened Stephen's international position in 1269.[45][46] Confidence was never restored between Béla and Stephen.[46] On his deathbed, the old King requested King Ottokar II of Bohemia to give shelter to his daughter Anna and his partisans after his death.[46][47]
The senior King died on 3 May 1270.[20] His daughter, Anna, seized the royal treasury and fled to Bohemia.[20][48]Henry Kőszegi,Nicholas Geregye, andLawrence Aba—Béla's closest advisors—followed her and handed overKőszeg,Borostyánkő (Bernstein, Austria) and their other castles along the western borders to Ottokar II.[20][49] Instead of leaving Hungary,Nicholas Hahót garrisoned Styrian soldiers in his fort atPölöske, and made plundering raids against the nearby villages.[50] Stephen nominated his own partisans to the highest offices; for instance,Joachim Gutkeled becameBan of Slavonia, andMatthew Csák was appointedVoivode of Transylvania.[49] Stephen grantedEsztergom County to Archbishop Philip who crowned him king inEsztergom on or after 17 May.[49][51]
The Polish chroniclerJan Długosz writes that Stephen made "a pilgrimage to the tomb ofSt. Stanisław"[52] inKraków and visited his brother-in-law,Boleslaw the Chaste,Duke of Kraków at the end of August.[49] The two monarchs renewed "the old alliance between Hungary and Poland" and entered into an alliance "to have the same friends and the same enemies".[49][52] Stephen also met Ottokar II on an island of the Danube nearPressburg (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia), but they only concluded a truce.[48][49]
Stephen launched a plundering raid into Austria around 21 December.[53] King Ottokar invaded the lands north of the Danube in April 1271 and captured a number of fortresses, includingDévény (now Devín, Slovakia), Pressburg andNagyszombat (present-day Trnava, Slovakia).[51][54] Ottokar routed Stephen at Pressburg on 9 May, and atMosonmagyaróvár on 15 May, but Stephen won the decisive battle on theRábca River on 21 May.[54] Ottokar withdrew from Hungary and Stephen chased his troops as far asVienna.[54] The two kings' envoys reachedan agreement in Pressburg on 2 July.[51][54] According to their treaty, Stephen promised that he would not assist Ottokar's opponents in Carinthia, and Ottokar renounced the castles he and his partisans held in Hungary.[20][54] The Hungarians soon recaptured Kőszeg, Borostyánkő and other fortresses along the western border of Hungary.[54]
According to theLife of Stephen's saintly sister,Margaret, who had died on 18 January 1270,[47] Stephen was present when the first miracle attributed to her occurred on the first anniversary of her death.[55] Stephen, in fact, initiated Margaret's canonization at theHoly See in 1271.[55] In the same year, Stephen grantedtown privileges to the citizens ofGyőr.[54] He also confirmed the liberties of theSaxon "guests" in theSzepesség region (present-day Spiš, Slovakia), contributing to the development of their autonomous community.[56] On the other hand, Stephen protected the Archbishop of Esztergom's rights against theconditional nobles of the archbishopric who attempted to get rid of their obligations.[54]
Ban Joachim Gutkeled kidnapped Stephen's ten-year-old son and heir,Ladislaus and imprisoned him in the castle ofKoprivnica in the summer of 1272.[20][57] Stephen besieged the fortress, but could not capture it.[57] Stephen fell ill and was taken to theCsepel Island. He died on 6 August 1272.[51] Stephen was buried near to the tomb of his sister, Margaret, in the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin on Rabbits' Island.[58][59]
Stephen's wife, Elizabeth, was born around 1239, according to historianGyula Kristó.[60] A charter of her father-in-law, Béla IV, refers to one Seyhan, aCuman chieftain as his kinsman, implying that Seyhan was Elizabeth's father.[60][61] Stephen's first child by Elizabeth,Catherine, was born around 1256.[62] She was given in marriage toStephen Dragutin, the elder son and heir of KingStephen Uroš I of Serbia, in about 1268.[63] Her sisterMary was born around 1257 and married the futureCharles II of Naples in 1270.[64] Their grandsonCharles Robert becameKing of Hungary in the first decade of the 14th century.[64]
According to historian Gyula Kristó, Stephen's third (unnamed) daughter was the wife of Despot Jacob Svetoslav.[65] Stephen's third (or fourth) daughter,Elizabeth, who was born in about 1260, became aDominican nun in the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin on Rabbits' Island.[64] She was appointedprioress in 1277, but her brother, Ladislaus, kidnapped and married her to a Czech baron,Záviš of Falkenstein, in 1288.[66][67] Stephen's youngest daughter,Anna, was born in about 1260.[65] She marriedAndronikos Palaiologos, son and heir of theByzantine Emperor,Michael VIII.[65]
Stephen's first son,Ladislaus IV, was born in 1262.[68] He succeeded his father in 1272.[69] Stephen's youngest child,Andrew, was born in 1268 and died at the age of 10.[69][70]
Stephen V of Hungary Born: before 18 October 1239 Died: 6 August 1272 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Coloman | Duke of Slavonia 1245–1257 | Vacant Title next held by Béla |
| Vacant Title last held by Béla | Duke of Transylvania 1257–1258 1260–1270 | Vacant Title next held by Louis |
| Preceded by | Duke of Styria 1258–1260 | Succeeded by |
| King of Hungary andCroatia 1270–1272 | Succeeded by | |
| House of Árpád |
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