THE NON-LITURGICAL SIGNIFICANCE of function in ecclesiastical buildings is best illustrated by foundations directly connected with ruling sovereigns. Yet between the ninth and eleventh centuries, the Piast, Přemyslid, and Árpád lands were no different from other parts of Christian Europe. Foundations elsewhere would always in some way serve a religious purpose. Of course, at that time power was closely associated with Christian spirituality, and the main source of its meaning and sense: any action by the ruling monarch—providing it fitted with the canon of behaviours expected of a Christian ruler—carried a religious aspect.

However, certain royal gestures can be interpreted as a manifestation of the position of the ruler and other representatives of the “first family.” New foundations were most frequent at a coronation or immediately afterwards, which we see in all three lands in the mid-eleventh century. While crises could arise for various reasons, the effect was always to undermine the power and position of the local duke or prince. Depending on the nature of the crisis, the monarch could select such remedies as would allow him to re-seize full authority and appease the situation. In the Piast dynasty, following the destruction of ducal and ecclesiastical power structures during the 1038–1039 invasions, Casimir the Restorer sought his remedy in reorganizing his centres of power. He moved his main seat from Poznań and Gniezno in Greater Poland to Kraków in Lesser Poland. Although Přemyslid rule was more stable than that of the Piasts, the death of Spytihněv II in 1061 triggered an internal dynastic crisis. The power struggle between the sons of Bořivoj I and Spytihněv's brothers Vratislaus II and Jaromír-Gebhard stymied the foreign policies of the Přemyslids for a long time. Vratislaus II was forced to dissociate himself from his brother's actions and seek the support of papal and imperial forces in countering him.

After the death of Stephen I in 1038, the Kingdom of Hungary managed to avoid a potential crisis but it did lead to turbulence and local struggles that weakened royal and ecclesiastical power. Ultimately, consolidation of power took place during the long reign of Vladislav I.