Stephen crowned first King of Hungary

1000

On Christmas Day, the Magyar chieftain Vajk was anointed with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II and reborn as Istvan. He welded a pagan steppe confederation into a Latin Christian kingdom, founding bishoprics and breaking the shamans who resisted his rule. The Holy Crown of Hungary would become the most sacred relic of the nation, venerated for a thousand years as the symbol of statehood itself.