Miklós Kásler - Zoltán Szentirmay (szerk.): Identifying the Árpád Dynasty Skeletons Interred in the Matthias Church. Applying data from historical, archaeological, anthropological, radiological, morphological, radiocarbon dating and genetic research (Budapest, 2021)
CHAPTER TWO – Historical background
István also established a tradition when he had himself crowned in the provostry church of the Virgin Mary (Basilica) in Székesfehérvár, which was constructed under his reign. All of his successors followed this example up until the Turkish occupation of the city in 1543. Székesfehérvár therefore became the coronation capital of the Hungarian Kingdom where 38 Hungarian kings were crowned between 1000 and 1527. István also displayed his conscious royal sovereignty by choosing not to appoint a bishop or archbishop at Székesfehérvár. He was so fond of the Virgin Mary Basilica that Bishop Hartvik remarked “the King considered this remarkably beautiful church to be his own personal chapel, giving it such liberties that no bishop could exercise authority over it” (Kristo 1999). He did not allow the coronation church to become a part of the church hierarchy, giving it a privileged provost status to serve him and his successors. The first Hungarian King, Saint István, died on August 15, 1038. His legacy was the restructuring of the Hungarian state: he put the Hungarian Kingdom in place of the Hungarian Principality and made it an autonomous and respectable member of the community of Christian monarchies in Europe. He offered up his country to the Virgin Mary, and it is symbolic that he died on the day of the Virgin Mary’s death and assumption into heaven. He had himself buried in the Basilica of Székesfehérvár built under his reign. His personal tragedy was that he was not the first of the house of the Árpád to be buried in the Basilica: in the autumn of 1031, his only son to reach adulthood, Prince Imre, who would later be canonized alongside him, was placed in his grave there. It took some time for the burials at Székesfehérvár to become a real tradition. In the 11th century, the mortal remains of Hungary’s Kings 40
