Gisela of Hungary

Born around 985 into Bavaria's ruling family, Gisela was sister to Henry II, who would become Holy Roman Emperor. She married Stephen I of Hungary, the monarch who Christianized the Magyar tribes and forged them into a kingdom. As queen consort, she stood beside him through the violent work of conversion and state-building in the early 11th century. She outlived Stephen by decades, dying on 7 May 1065. The Catholic Church beatified her centuries later, marking her as one of the founding figures in Hungary's Christian turn.