Its double name reflects that it has (co-)cathedral sees in two major Hungarian cities, the old primatial archiepiscopal seat Esztergom and the present national capital Budapest.

It was founded in 1001 by Stephen I of Hungary, as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Esztergom, on Hungarian territories split off from the dioceses of Nitra, Passau and Regensburg (the latter two with sees in Bavaria, southern Germany).

It had a uniquely prominent status, giving the archbishop the title of prince primate, and the privilege of crowning the kings of Hungary.

Archbishop Miklós Oláh re-established the Esztergom cathedral school at Nagyszombat, and in 1561 invited the Jesuits to administer it.

[1] In 1619, Primate Péter Pázmány founded the Pázmáneum in Vienna as a seminary to train Hungarian candidates for the priesthood.

Freed during the short-lived Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Mindszenty was granted political asylum at the United States embassy in Budapest when the Russians invaded.