Stephen II (; ; ; 1101 – early 1131), King of Hungary and Croatia, ruled from 1116 until 1131. His father, King Coloman, had him crowned as a child, thus denying the crown to his uncle Álmos. In the first year of his reign, Venice occupied Dalmatia and Stephen never restored his rule in that province. His reign was characterized by frequent wars with neighbouring countries. Early years (till 1116) Stephen and his twin brother, Ladislaus, were sons of the Hungarian king Coloman by his wife, Felicia of Sicily. According to the Illuminated Chronicle, they were born "... in the year of our Lord 1101." Stephen was named after the first king of Hungary, who had been canonized in 1083, implying that he was his father's heir from birth. A document written in Zadar in approximately 1105 AD makes mention of "Stephen, our most renowned king" along with Coloman, proving that the latter had his four-year-old son crowned king. By the time of Stephen's coronation, Coloman had demonstrated his intention to secure the succession for his son. Coloman's ambitious brother, Álmos who had already rebelled against the king in 1098 opposed this plan and left Hungary. He first sought the assistance of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, followed by an appeal to Duke Boleslaw III of Poland. When all of his efforts ended in failure, Álmos submitted to Coloman and returned to Hungary, although he made several abortive attempts to dethrone Coloman in the following decade. In order to bring an end to the threat these plots presented to Stephen's succession, Coloman had Álmos and Álmos's young son, Béla, blinded. When he fell gravely ill in early 1116, Coloman also had his brother imprisoned. The Illuminated Chronicle narrates that the dying king "instructed his son and his great men" to invade Rus' in order to take vengeance for Coloman's failure in the 1099 siege of Peremyshl (Przemyśl), Poland. Coloman died on 3 February 1116. Reign Wars and internal conflicts (1116–1127) Stephen was crowned king by Archbishop Lawrence of Esztergom in Székesfehérvár within thirty days of his father's death. His peaceful succession showed the effectiveness of the measures Coloman had implemented to prevent Álmos from usurping the throne. Upon his councilor's advice, Stephen initiated a meeting with Vladislaus I, Duke of Bohemia, in order to improve the countries' relations, which had deteriorated in the previous decade. The two monarchs met on