Taksony was born about 931, the son of Zoltan, prince of Hungary. He was the fejedelem (ruling prince) of Hungary between 955 and 970. Hispolicies were a change from the previous habit of the Hungarian leaders of conducting rapid raids on neighbouring countries, as he was probably present at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, in which the German king Otto I 'the Great' decisively defeated an invasion by the Magyars, who lost their leader Bulcsu. Fought on the Lechfeld, a plain near present-day Augsburg in Germany, it marked the last Hungarian effort to invade Germany. Relations with the Byzantine empire progressively deteriorated, possibly due to propaganda from Otto I, now the Holy Roman Emperor, who depicted the Hungarians as ungodly. In the second half of his reign Taksony increasingly pursued campaigns against the Byzantine empire. Taksonyasked the pope to send a bishop to Hungary (a request which was thwarted by Otto). However he did not follow an open policy favourable to the spreading of Christianity within his realm. Taksony arranged the marriage of his son Geisa to Sarolt von Siebenburgen (Transylvania), the daughter of Gyula, Fürst von Siebenburgen; their son Geisa became the father of St. Stephan, king of Hungary (969-1038), one of the iconic figures of Hungarian history. Taksony's other son Mihály was the father of Vazul, founder of a long line of Hungariankings.
Markus Oswald
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