St. Ladislas succeeded his father, king Béla I in 1077 to the throne of Hungary and the two decades of his reign until his death in 1095 constituted a period of prosperity. After several decades of constant feud, civil strife and anarchy with rare interims of peace that started with the death of king Stephen I he was the one to re-establish order and public security, bringing in Draconian laws. His reign was also an age of intense defensive fight against the nomadic peoples of the steppes (the Oghuz, Pechenegs and Cumans) whose repeated forays threatened the country. The memory of these victorious battles and campaigns has probably crystallised around the figure of the king in various forms of folk poetry (heroic songs, lays) already in his lifetime; as a result, Ladislas became the most popular hero of medieval Hungary, the main embodiment of knightly virtues. The king completed the organisation of the church begun under Stephen I; a milestone in this work was the canonization, in 1083, of king Stephen and his son Emeric, of bishop Gerald and of the two saint hermits, preparing the foundation for the Christian valences and international reception of the sacral aura of the Arpadians, alive in pre-Christian tradition. Ladislas died in 1095 and was canonized in 1192 under king Béla III. His remains were buried in the cathedral, founded by him, of Nagyvárad (today Oradea, Romania). His tomb and especially his head relique transformed Nagyvárad into a famous shrine (Tarnoczi 1681; Tarczay 1930; Györffy 1977b; Szovák 1994; Magyar 1996b; Magyar 2001, 118-127) that attracted pilgrims from all over Europe until its destruction during the Turkish occupation towards the middle of the 16th century (Cowenberg 1927:145).