Stephen I (c. 975 – 15 August 1038) was the last Grand Prince of the
Hungarians and the first King of Hungary (from 1000 or 1001 until his
death). The first member of his family to become a devout Christian, he
married Gisela of Bavaria, a scion of the imperial Ottonian dynasty.
After succeeding his father in 997, Stephen had to defend the throne,
with aid from foreign knights, against his relative Koppány. In a
series of wars against semi-independent tribes and
chieftains—including the Black Hungarians and his uncle, Gyula the
Younger—Stephen unified the Carpathian Basin. He established at least
one archbishopric, six bishoprics and three Benedictine monasteries, all
independent of the archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire. Hungary enjoyed
lasting peace during his reign, and became a preferred route for
pilgrims and merchants traveling between Western Europe and the Holy
Land or Constantinople. Stephen was canonized by Pope Gregory VII in
1083. In Hungary, his feast day (celebrated on 20 August) is a public
holiday commemorating the foundation of the state.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_I_of_Hungary>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1511:
Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city of Malacca, giving
Portugal control over the Strait of Malacca, through which all sea-going
trade between China and India was concentrated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_%281511%29>
1907:
Raphael Morgan was ordained as what is believed to be the first
Black Orthodox clergyman in America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Morgan>
1948:
The Republic of Korea was established with Syngman Rhee as its
first president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Korea>
1998:
A car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army
killed 29 people and injured approximately 220 others in Omagh, Northern
Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omagh_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cooling glasses:
(India) Sunglasses.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cooling_glasses>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The highest spirituality indeed moves in a free and wide air far
above that lower stage of seeking which is governed by religious form
and dogma; it does not easily bear their limitations and, even when it
admits, it transcends them; it lives in an experience which to the
formal religious mind is unintelligible.
--Sri Aurobindo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo>