A Szent István-i államról

Abstract

Up to now Hungarian historiography has held the general view that the kingdom of St Stephen (1000/1—1038) can be regarded as a state. In the last few years, however, following the theory put forward by Joseph R. Strayer, a new concept appeared in historical literature, according to which the kingdom of St Stephen cannot be considered a state by modern standards, and it can only be seen as a power centre. The author of the present study, on the other hand maintains that the Christian Hungarian state can be regarded as a western European-type state from its birth onward, which can rather be characterised by territorial organisation, than by the former tie of kindred concept. The kingdom of St Stephen with the active cooperation of Christian church lived up to the criteria required by a state. Accordingly, the contemporary Latin expressions referring to it - regnum, monarchia - depicted its main functions as well, i.e. they showed that the kingdom of St Stephen - as a dynastic state - was a functioning political power system in reality.