Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary explained

Order of Saint Stephen
Awarded By: The Head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Type:Dynastic order
Established:1764
House:House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Religion:Catholic
Head Title:Sovereign
Head:Archduke Karl
Head2 Title:Grand Master
Head2:Archduke Georg
Head3 Title:Chancellor
Lower:Order of Leopold (Austria)
Classes:Grand Cross
Commander
Knight

The Order of Saint Stephen (Hungarian: Szent István rend) is an order of chivalry founded in 1764 by Maria Theresa. In 1938, Miklós Horthy took the rights and activities of Grand Master as Regent of Hungary. The name of the Order changed to the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen (German: Königlich Ungarischer Sankt-Stephans-Orden, Latin: Ordo Equitum Sancti Stephani Regis (Hungariae) Apostolici). The Order was terminated at the time of the proclamation of the Second Hungarian Republic in 1946. It was recreated in 2011 as the Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen, and to this day remains the highest order in Hungary.[1] [2] [3]

Significance to Hungarians

The order is named after Hungary's most famous king, Stephen I, whose reign (997–1038) was marked by his consolidation of the monarchy, the establishment of the medieval state of Hungary,[4] and his adoption of Christianity as the state religion. His coronation, as recognized in the Church, is dated 1001.[5] He died August 15, 1038, during the Feast of the Assumption. His feast day in Hungary is August 20. Canonized by Pope Gregory VII in 1083 along with his son Imre (who preceded him in death in 1031, after a hunting accident) and Bishop Gerhard of Hungary, St. Stephen is the patron saint of "Hungary, kings, the death of children, masons, stonecutters, and bricklayers." Though its exact provenance is somewhat disputed, the Crown of St. Stephen is said to have been a gift from Pope Silvester II, upon Stephen's 1001 coronation.[6]

Creation and qualifications for membership

Empress Maria Theresa and her son, Emperor Joseph II, made several political concessions to ease tensions within their empire—most especially between Austria and Hungary, among them being the creation of the Order. Membership was available to various members of the Hungarian nobility. To receive the Order, according to collector and historian Stephen Herold,

Insignia

Grand Cross : For ceremonial purposes, a full set of robes were prescribed, following the tradition of other orders, such as the Austrian and Spanish Orders of the Golden Fleece and Great Britain's Order of the Garter. The robes were crimson and green, and were lined with ermine. A collar of gold was worn about the neck and shoulders, with the badge of the Order suspended from the collar. For normal occasions and every-day wear, a sash of crimson, edged with green, was worn over the right shoulder and extended to the left hip, the distinctive badge of the Order suspended from the sash at the hip. An eight-pointed star was worn on the left breast. During the waning days of the monarchy, especially during the Great War, a less formal option was also authorized, whereby a miniature (a so-called “kleine Decoration”) of the breast star was affixed to the center of the ribbon of an ordinary knight's cross, and was worn on the left breast with other orders and military medals, in order of precedence.
  • Commanders : Wore the badge of the Order at the throat, suspended from the crimson edged with green ribbon about the neck. During the Great War, the informal wear of the miniature, gold, Crown of Saint Stephen kleine Decoration was worn on an ordinary knight's cross, to delineate them from ordinary knights and Grand Cross knights, and worn on the left breast with other orders and military medals, in order of precedence.
  • Knights : Wore the badge of the Order, suspended from a tri-fold ribbon of crimson, edged in green, on the left breast with other orders and military medals, in order of precedence.

    • List of members

    Grand Masters

    Order of St. Stephen – Kingdom of Hungary (1764–1918)

    Knights, Grand Cross

    Knights Commander

    Knights

    The Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen – Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)

    After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Hungary and Austria could not make a legal agreement on the rights of the Order. The base of the argument was whether Maria Theresa founded the Order de jure as the sovereign of Hungary, or the sovereign of Austria, or as Holy Roman Empress. In 1938, when Austria as a de jure successor state of Austria-Hungary ceased to exist by becoming part of Germany, Horthy issued an addendum to be attached on 4 November 1938 to the statutes of the Order which declared that as long as the Regent was the head of the Kingdom of Hungary, he also held the powers and duties of the Grand Master.

    Knights, Grand Cross

    Knights Commander

    See also

    References

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Kitüntetések. www.keh.hu. 21 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20190726083156/https://www.keh.hu/kituntetesek/1514-Kituntetesek%26pnr%3D1. 26 July 2019. dead.
    2. Web site: Kiállítás nyílt a Szent István-rend világáról a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeumban. 21 August 2018.
    3. Web site: A zöld szárú kereszt lovagjai. Csordás. Lajos. 8 May 2014. 21 August 2018.
    4. Web site: 20th August. augusztus20.kormany.hu. 21 August 2018.
    5. Web site: Message to the Hungarian Nation on the first Millennium of St Stephen's coronation (August 21, 2000) – John Paul II. www.vatican.va. 21 August 2018.
    6. Web site: Stephen I – king of Hungary. 21 August 2018.
    7. Book: Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1918. Kelly's. 1250. In view of the fact Austria-Hungary were at war with Britain from August 1914 it is highly likely his award was made before that month. He had entertained Archduke Franz Ferdinand at his English estate in 1913.
    8. Sauer, Arthur (1889). Almanak Administrativo, Mercantil e Industrial (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Laemmert & C.
    9. https://books.google.com/books?id=YQsQAAAAIAAJ&dq=Order+of+Saint+Stephen+of+Hungary&pg=PA148 "Treaty of 1824", Provisional U.S. Charts Delimiting Alaskan Territorial Boundaries, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972, p. 148

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