Stephen (997-1038) becomes chieftain when Géza dies, and he consolidates his rule by ousting rival clan chiefs and confiscating their lands.

Stephen now asks Pope Sylvester II to recognize him as king of Hungary.

The pope agrees, and legend says Stephen was crowned on Christmas Day in the year 1000.

The crowning legitimizes Hungary as a Western kingdom independent of the Holy Roman and East Roman empires.

It also gives Stephen virtually absolute power, which he uses to strengthen the Roman Catholic Church and Hungary.

Stephen orders the people to pay tithes and requires every tenth village to construct a church and support a priest.

Stephen donates land to support bishoprics and monasteries, requires all persons except the clergy to marry, and bars marriages between Christians and pagans.

Foreign monks work as teachers and introduce Western agricultural methods.

A Latin alphabet is devised for the Magyar (Hungarian) language.