Coronation of the Hungarian monarch

The Coronation of the Hungarian monarch was a ceremony in which the king or queen of the Kingdom of Hungary was formally crowned and invested with regalia. It corresponded to the coronation ceremonies that occurred in other European monarchies. While in countries like France and England the king's reign began immediately upon the death of his predecessor, in Hungary the coronation was absolutely indispensable as if it were not properly executed, the Kingdom stayed "orphaned".

In the Middle Ages, all Hungarian coronations took place in Székesfehérvár Basilica, the burial place of the first crowned ruler of Hungary, Saint Stephen I. The Archbishop of Esztergom anointed the king or queen (however the Bishop of Veszprém claimed many times his right of crowning the queen consort, being an established tradition). The Archbishop then placed the Holy Crown of Hungary and mantle of Saint Stephen on the head of the anointed person. The king was given a sceptre and a sword which denoted military power. Upon enthronement, the newly crowned king took the traditional coronation oath and promised to respect the people's rights. The Archbishop of Esztergom refused to preside over the coronation ceremony three times; in such cases, the Archbishop of Kalocsa, the second-ranking prelate, was the one who performed the coronation. Other clergy and members of the nobility also had roles; most participants in the ceremony were required to wear ceremonial uniforms or robes. Many other government officials and guests attended, including representatives of foreign countries.

As the legends say, the first Hungarian monarch, Saint Stephen I was crowned in the St Adalbert Cathedral in Esztergom in the year of 1000. After his death he was buried in the Cathedral of Székesfehérvár which he started to build and had buried his son Saint Emeric. Since then, the following Hungarian monarchs starting with Peter Orseolo, Saint Stephen's nephew in 1038. The huge Romanic cathedral was one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, and later became also the burying place for the Medieval Hungarian monarchs.

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