Editing Stephen I of Hungary (section)

=== Conflicts with the Holy Roman Empire (1024–1031) ===

Stephen's brother-in-law, Emperor Henry, died on 13 July 1024.{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=40}} He was succeeded by a distant relative,{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=187}} [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]] (r. 1024–1039), who adopted an offensive foreign policy.{{sfn|Lenkey|2003|p=90}} Conrad II expelled Doge Otto Orseolo{{mdash}}the husband of Stephen's sister{{mdash}}from Venice in 1026.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p=148}}{{sfn|Lenkey|2003|p=90}} He also persuaded the Bavarians to proclaim his own son, [[Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry]], as their duke in 1027, although Stephen's son Emeric had a strong claim to the [[Duchy of Bavaria]] through his mother.{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=187}} Emperor Conrad planned a marriage alliance with the Byzantine Empire and dispatched one of his advisors, Bishop [[Werner I (Bishop of Strasbourg)|Werner of Strasbourg]], to Constantinople.{{sfn|Butler|Cumming|Burns|1998|p=159}}{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|pp=197–198}} In the autumn of 1027, the bishop seemingly travelled as a pilgrim, but Stephen, who had been informed of his actual purpose, refused to let him enter into his country.{{sfn|Butler|Cumming|Burns|1998|p=159}}{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|pp=197–198}} Conrad II's biographer [[Wipo of Burgundy]] narrated that the Bavarians incited skirmishes along the common borders of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire in 1029, causing a rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p=149}}{{sfn|Kristó|2003|p=74}}

Emperor Conrad personally led his armies to Hungary in June 1030 and plundered the lands west of the River [[Rába]].{{sfn|Györffy|1994|p=149}}{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=231}} However, according to the ''Annals of Niederalteich'', the emperor, suffering from consequences of the [[scorched earth]] tactics used by the Hungarian army,{{sfn|Kristó|2003|pp=74–75}} returned to Germany "without an army and without achieving anything, because the army was threatened by starvation and was captured by the Hungarians at [[Vienna]]".{{sfn|Wolfram|2006|p=231}} Peace was restored after Conrad had ceded the lands between the rivers [[Lajta]] and [[Fischa]] to Hungary in the summer of 1031.{{sfn|Györffy|1994|pp=149–150}}

{{Blockquote|At this same time, dissensions arose between the Pannonian nation and the Bavarians, through the fault of the Bavarians. And, as a result, King [Stephen] of Hungary made many incursions and raids in the realm of the Norici (that is, of the Bavarians). Disturbed on this account Emperor Conrad came upon the Hungarians with a great army. But King [Stephen], whose forces were entirely insufficient to meet the Emperor, relied solely on the guardianship of the Lord, which he sought with prayers and fasts proclaimed through his whole realm. Since the Emperor was not able to enter a kingdom so [[gyepü|fortified with rivers and forests]], he returned, after he had sufficiently avenged his injury with lootings and burnings on the borders of the kingdom; and it was his wish at a more opportune time to complete the things he had begun. His son, King [[Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry]], however, still a young boy entrusted to the care of Eigilbert, [[bishop of Freising]], received a legation of King [Stephen] which asked for peace; and solely with the counsel of the princes of the realm, and without his father's knowledge, he granted the favor of reconciliation.|[[Wipo of Burgundy|Wipo]], ''The Deeds of Conrad II''<ref>''The Deeds of Conrad II (Wipo)'' (ch. 26.), pp.&nbsp;85–86.</ref>}}