Milyen koronája volt I. István királynak? = What was King Stephen I’s Crown Like?

Holler, László (1999) Milyen koronája volt I. István királynak? = What was King Stephen I’s Crown Like? In: Numizmatika és társtudományok III., 1997. 10. 17. - 1997. 10. 19., Nyíregyháza.

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Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to show that 11th and 12th century Hungarian kings possessed a crown of Byzantine-type, and very probably King Stephen I actually used this type of a crown as well. The author arrived to this conclusion by examining the crown images to be found on 11th–12th century Hungarian coins. The crown images of early Hungarian coins weren’t studied in detail till now. These representations show two important characteristics of Byzantine crowns. The first is the application of pendants, supplied with tiny gems, hanging down onto the face on both sides. These pendants, carrying semi-precious stones of trefoil shape at their extremities, can be found on the Hungarian Royal Crown itself, as well as on the enamel portraits on the same crown that represent Emperor Michael and Constantinos. A closer Iook at coin H14 [Nr. 14 in Huszár’s Münzkatalog Ungarn] of King Solomon (1063–1074), clearly discern the pendants of the crown on both sides of the king’s face. A little circle marks the gems attached to the extremities of the pendants. This feature characterizes coin H24 of Ladislaus I (1077–1095), H44 of Stephen II (1116–1131, H59 of Ladislaus II (1161–1162), and the coin H72, of Béla III (1172–1196). The other characteristic is the decoration to be found on the upper part of the crowns. Taking a Iook at Emperor Michael’s and Constantinos’ portraits attached to the Hungarian crown we perceive little white circles on the mid-top and the two brims of his crown, which symbolize some decoration. The same trifurcate decoration can be observed on the crown appearing on Solomon’s coin, back in the middle of the crown, partially covered by the band, and bilaterally, above the two pendants. The shape of these trifurcate decorations is marked by three hatches, each in the form of an arrow. The same three trifurcate claws appear on the coins of Ladislaus I and Stephen II, although three crosses replace the trifurcate claws on the stylized crowns that can be seen on Ladislaus II’s and Béla III’s coins. The author concludes from these characteristics that the coins represented a typical Byzantine crown, and therefore the official Hungarian royal crown was of Byzantine type in the 11th and 12th centuries. Also we may safely affirm that the Hungarian coins do not represent the Hungarian Royal Crown known today. Stephen I already may have had a crown like that - this is indirectly proved by the Hungarian gold coin, extant only in three specimens, which carries the inscription STEPHANUS REX on its obverse, and the inscription PANNONIA on its reverse. Visibly, the depicted crown is supplied with pendants on both sides, with some decoration, marked by a little circle, at the end of the pendants, while thrice three circlets on the top represent the same decorative elements that can be found on the coins described above. This supports that the crown of King Stephen I must have originally been like that too, and the representation of the same crown can be found on some Hungarian coins in the 11th and 12th centuries.

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