[3][4] After Béla IV was forced to renounce of Styria in favor of Ottokar II, Stephen returned to Transylvania and started to rule it for the second time after 20 August 1260.
After a brief civil war between them, Benedict of Szeben mediated the reconciliation between father and son at Pressburg (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia) in the autumn of 1262, alongside other prelates.
[4] Initially, Benedict remained loyal to the duke, but just before the emerging civil war between father and son, he escaped from Transylvania and defected to the royal court not long before October 1264.
[5] It is possible that Benedict actively participated in the conflict with his troops, as two of his familiares, brothers Simon and Synke were granted a land in Zala County in April 1265 by Béla for "their loyalty in various military campaigns".
[6] When Stephen V succeeded his father as King of Hungary in May 1270, Béla's numerous partisans were forgiven, including Benedict, who took the role of royal vice-chancellor immediately after the death of the old monarch.
When Bishop Lampert Hont-Pázmány requested the monarch to transcribe and confirm his father's privilege letter for the Diocese of Eger in 1271, Benedict represented the king in the committee, which was sent to the bishopric to examine the documents and boundaries.
Nicholas Kán, Dowager Queen Elizabeth's protege arbitrarily and forcibly took the dignity in February 1273, but his election with doubtful legality was rejected by both Pope Gregory X and the majority of the canons.
Following the fall of Nicholas Kán, it took Benedict some time to get his validly elected status accepted by the political elite that was currently in power, which only succeeded in the beginning of 1274.
[13] Subsequently, he sent his two emissaries Roman, archdeacon of Bars and Fulcus, a canon of Esztergom to the Holy See for confirmation of his election, but they had to turn back at Senj due to recent piracy on the upper Adriatic coast.
In accordance with the resolution of the Second Council of Lyon, which drew up plans for a crusade to recover the Holy Land, Pope Gregory X sent his vice-dean Gerardus de Mutina in 1274 to Hungary to collect tithe imposed for 6 years on all the benefices of the Hungarian Catholic Church.
The king was trying to reward his support; for instance, he donated the St. Nicholas chapel and its right of patronage in Bana to the Dominican Order, upon the request of archbishop-elect Benedict and canon Reynold.
Ladislaus IV granted the land of Gyarmat (today Žitavce, Slovakia), belonged to Szolgagyőr Castle, to the Esztergom cathedral chapter in 1275.