According to writings of 13th century medieval chronicler, Thomas the Archdeacon, the Church of St. Stephen was built by queen Helen of Zadar, who then donated them to the diocese of Split.

Thomas claims, that the churches were temporarily given to some monks who performed rituals there, due to the royal tombs being inside, until king Zvonimir of Croatia donated them back to the diocese of Split.

[2] Although this area was affected by the Mongol invasions of 13th century, who chased Hungarian king Bela IV all the way to Dalmatia and besieged the nearby Klis fortress, most Croatian scholars nowadays agree that the church of St. Stephen survived these invasions, since it is still visible on 14th century maps.

The research led by Frane Bulić was conducted during the summer of 1898[4] and as a result of it, fragmented and burnt remains of an epitaph were found.

After more than 90 fragments were recovered, Bulić and his team had them reconstructed and got the following inscription: In this tomb rests queen Helen, servant of God, wife of king Michael, mother of king Stephen [...] On the eight day, month of October, she was buried here, 976th year after ascention of Lord [...] She, who was during her life a mother of Kingdom, became (the mother) of poor and protector of widows.