Characteristics
The term was formerly also used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to distinguish the Transleithanian part of the Habsburg Monarchy (Austria-Hungary after 1867) from the Cisleithanian territories. After 1867, it meant three main administrative districts:
- the Kingdom of Hungary proper (including the former Principality of Transylvania)
- the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, which had autonomy under the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement signed in 1868
- Fiume and its surroundings (separatum sacrae regni coronae adnexum corpus)
A separate administrative territory known as the Military Frontier also existed before 1882.
While the Diet of Hungary opposed the existence of a separate Principality of Transylvania (whose territory was formerly a part of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary), they unsuccessfully demanded reestablishment of the historical connections with Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Galicia and Lodomeria. These Cisleithanian provinces were theoretically part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, according to historical reasons. The Habsburg rulers conquered these territories and claimed right to them as "Hungarian kings" alluding to the Árpád-dynasty, but these provinces were attached to the Austrian, not the Hungarian part of the Monarchy.
After the union with Transylvania in 1848 and 1867, the term denoted only Hungary proper and Croatia-Slavonia.
On 29 October 1918 the Croatian Parliament joined the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). The Kingdom of Hungary ceased on 16 November 1918 and the first republic of Hungary was proclaimed. At that point the term lost its meaning and its use ceased.
Read more about this topic: Lands Of The Crown Of Saint Stephen