Editing Stephen I of Hungary (section)

=== Wars with Poland and Bulgaria ({{circa}} 1009–1018) ===

Stephen's brother-in-law, [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II]], became [[King of Germany]] in 1002 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1013.{{sfn|Makk|2001|p=45}} Their friendly relationship ensured that the western borders of Hungary experienced a period of peace in the first decades of the 11th&nbsp;century.{{sfn|Makk|2001|p=45}}{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 140}} Even when Henry II's discontented brother, [[Bruno of Augsburg|Bruno]], sought refuge in Hungary in 1004, Stephen preserved the peace with Germany and negotiated a settlement between his two brothers-in-law.{{sfn|Makk|2001|p=45}}{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 133}} Around 1009, he gave his younger sister in marriage to [[Otto Orseolo]], [[Doge of Venice]] (r. 1008–1026), a close ally of the [[Byzantine Emperor]], [[Basil II]] (r. 976–1025), which suggests that Hungary's relationship with the [[Byzantine Empire]] was also peaceful.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 144}} On the other hand, the alliance between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire brought her into a war with Poland lasting from around 1014{{sfn|Kristó|2003|p=71}} until 1018.{{sfn|Lenkey|2003|p=88}} The Poles occupied the Hungarian posts along the river Morava.{{sfn|Makk|1993|pp=48–49}} Györffy and Kristó write that a [[Pechenegs|Pecheneg]] incursion into Transylvania, the memory of which has been preserved in Stephen's legends, also took place in this period, because the Pechenegs were close allies of the Polish duke's brother-in-law, Grand Prince [[Sviatopolk I of Kiev]] (r. 1015–1019).{{sfn|Kristó|2003|p=71}}{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 143}}

Poland and the Holy Roman Empire concluded the [[Peace of Bautzen]] in January 1018.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 143}} Later in the same year, 500 Hungarian horsemen accompanied [[Bolesław I the Brave|Boleslav of Poland]] to [[Kyiv]], suggesting that Hungary had been included in the peace treaty.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 143}} The historian Ferenc Makk says that the Peace of Bautzen obliged Boleslav to hand over all the territories he had occupied in the Morava valley to Stephen.{{sfn|Makk|1993|pp=48–49}} According to Leodvin, the first known [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Oradea Mare|Bishop of Bihar]] (r. {{circa}} 1050 – {{circa}} 1060), Stephen allied with the Byzantines and led a military expedition to assist them against "[[barbarian]]s" in the [[Balkan Peninsula]].{{sfn|Györffy|1994|pp= 145–146}} The Byzantine and Hungarian troops jointly took "Cesaries" which Györffy identifies as the present-day town of [[Ohrid]].{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p=146}} Leodvin's report suggests that Stephen joined the Byzantines in the war ending with [[Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria|their conquest of Bulgaria]] in 1018.{{sfn|Kristó|2003|p=72}} However, the exact date of his expedition is uncertain.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p=146}} Györffy argues that it was only in the last year of the war that Stephen led his troops against the Bulgarians.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p= 146}}