Rokonok rivalizálása – Árpád-házi Koppány és István ellentétéről
The Rivalry of Two Kinsmen – on the Conflict of two Árpáds, Koppány and Stephen

Summary/Abstract: In 997, a fateful battle came to pass between two kinsmen of the Hungarian ruling dynasty. The later King Stephen I the Saint defeated the powerful warlord of Somogy, called Koppány, who was the son of Szerind the Bald. According to the chronicle, Koppány wanted to marry Stephen’s mother, to kill Stephen himself and to get the supreme power over the Hungarians. In this battle Koppány, was killed, his dead body was quartered and was sent to Esztergom, Veszprém, Gyõr and Erdély. Only few solid aspects can help us to reconstruct their conflict. Koppány was surely the member of the Árpád-dynasty (he was originated from an elder line), otherwise he would have had no right to claim the throne and the marriage with Sarolt, widow of Great Prince Géza (the ancient custom of the levirate came from the steppe). As Géza and his son Stephen descended from the youngest son of Árpád, the battle with Koppány brought the clash of the old and the new order represented by the heathen and the Christian lines of the same ruling house of Hungary.

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