Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/100

STEPHElf 74 STEPHEN dation of the temporal sovereignty of the Church of Rome. He died in 757. Stephen III., succeeded Paul I. in 768. Throughout his career he was at variance with the Lombards and threatened to excommunicate Charles (afterward Charlemagne) and Carlo- man, sons of Pepin, if they entered into an alliance with them, or intermarried with the daughters of the Lombard king. Charles, however, married Hermen- garda, daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards, but put her away a year afterward. Stephen was succeeded by Adrian L He died in 772. Stephen IV., succeeded Leo III. in 816, but died in the same year. Stephen V., elected in succession to Adrian III., in 885. He was a leaiTied pontiff and greatly contributed to relieve the people of Rome from the effects of a terrible famine which had desolated the country shortly before his accession. He died in 891. Stephen VI., became Pope in suc- cession to Boniface VI. in 896. He caused the body of Pope Formosus to be disin- terred and cast into an ordinary grave, on the plea that the Pope had been ex- communicated by John VIII. anterior to his elevation to the tiara. In 898 the partisans of Formosus burst into an in- surrection, and having seized Stephen strangled him. Stephen VII., the successor of Leo VI., was elected to the papacy in 929. There are no reliable records of his pontificate. He died in 931. Stephen VIII., the successor of Leo VII. At the time of his election, 939, Rome was governed by Alberic, son of Marozia, who styled himself "Prince and Senator of all the Romans." The records of his papacy are extremely un- trustworthy; but it is stated by one au- thority that Stephen VIII. was, during a revolt of the Roman populace, rendered a cripple for life. He died in 942. Stephen IX., elected to the papacy in succession to Victor II. in 1057. He had previously filled the office of papal legate at the court of Constantinople. After his elevation, he dispatched legates to Milan to enforce celibacy among the clergy of that church; the disputes on which decree lasted during a quarter of a cen- tury. He was a learned and energetic pontiff, but too ambitious of worldly in- fluence. He died in 1058. STEPHEN, the name of several kings of Hungary, viz.: Stephen I., succeeded his father Geisa in 997. He reformed the manners of his subjects, enacted excellent laws and in- troduced Christianty into his kingdom. He died in 1038. Stephen was canonized and his memory is held in great venera- tion throughout Southern Germany, where churches are met everywhere ded- icated to his name. Stephen II., succeeded his father Koloman in 1114. He invaded Poland and Austria, and marched into Russia, but was unsuccessful everywhere. He abdicated, retired to a monastery, and died in 113L Stephen III., crowned king in 1161; was almost immediately deposed by the nobles. He regained the crown, however, in 1165, and reigned till 1174. Stephen IV., ascended the throne in 1161, but was defeated by the preceding in 1163, soon after which he died at Semlin. Stephen V., reigned two years only, but gained an illustrious name by his victories over Ottocar, King of Bohemia, 1270-127*2. STEPHEN, King of England; son of the Count of Blois by his wife Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror; born in Blois, France, in 1105. Being in England on the death of Henry I., he seized on the crown and royal coffers, to the prejudice of Henry's daughter, Ma- tilda, the empress, and was crowned in 1135. Four years elapsed before Ma- tilda was able to land with forces to dispute Stephen's possession of the throne, and after a long civil war that lasted nearly the whole reign and in which Stephen was once taken prisoner but released for Matilda's brother, the Earl of Gloucester, it was finally decided that Stephen should retain the crown for his own life, on condition that Prince Henry, Matilda's son by her first hus- band, should succeed. These terms were concluded in 1154. He died in Dover, England, Oct. 25, 1154. STEPHEN, King of Poland, surnamed ) Bathori; a noble Hungarian; born in 1532, elected Prince of Transylvania, 1571, and succeeded to Henry of Valois as King of Poland, 1575. He died in Grodno, Poland, Dec. 12, 1586. STEPHEN, SIR LESLIE, English au- thor; born in London, Nov. 28, 1832. He was educated at Cambridge, and subse- quently edited leading London periodi- cals. His greatest undertaking was the "Dictionary of National Biography" in about 60 volumes, of which he edited the first 26. He published: "Hours in a Library" (1871-1879); "Essays on Free Thinking and Plain Speaking" (1873) ; "History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century" (1876) ; "Science of