hurch; and in the organization of both Stephen
exhibited a measure of capacity which entitles him to high rank among
the constructive statesmen of mediaeval Europe. Under his predecessor
the court had accepted Roman Christianity, but during his reign the
nation itself was Christianized and the machinery of the Church was
for the first time put effectively in operation. In the year 1001 Pope
Sylvester II. accorded formal recognition to Magyar nationality by
bestowing upon Prince Stephen a kingly crown, and to this day the
joint sovereign of Austria-Hungary is inducted into office as
Hungarian monarch with the identical crown which Pope Sylvester
transmitted to the missionary-king nine centuries ago. In the
elaboration of a governmental system King Stephen and the advisers
whom he gathered from foreign lands had virtually a free field. The
nation possessed a traditional right to elect its sovereign and to
gather in public assembly, and these privileges were left untouched.
None the less, the system that was set up was based upon a conception
of royal power unimpaired by those feudal relationships by which in
western countries monarchy was being reduced to its lowest estate. The
old Magyar tribal system was abolished and as a basis of
administration there was adopted the Frankish system of counties. The
central and western portions of the country, being more settled, were
divided into forty-six counties, at the head of each of which was
placed a count, or lord-lieutenant (_foeispan_), appointed by the crown
and authorized in turn to designate his subordinates, the castellan
(_varnagy_), the chief captain (_hadnagy_), and the hundredor
(_szazados_). This transplantation of institutions is a matter of
permanent importance, for, as will appear, the county is still the
basal unit of the Hungarian administrative system.

*493. The Golden Bull, 1222.*--During the century and a half which
followed the reign of Stephen the consolidation of the kingdom,
despite frequent conflicts with the Eastern Empire, was continued. The
court took on something of the brilliancy of the Byzantine model, and
in the later twelfth century King Bela III. inaugurated a policy--that
of crowning as successor the sovereign's eldest son while yet the
sovereign lived--by which were introduced in effect the twin
principles of heredity and primogeniture. In 1222 King Andrew II.
(1204-1235) promulgated a famous instrument, the _Bulla Aurea_, or
Golden Bull, w