Nicholas Geregye

He was the son of judge royal Paul (d. before 1271) and an unidentified mother from the Győr clan, who was a granddaughter of palatine Pat Győr. He had three brothers – Stephen, Geregye II, Eth II – and a sister, Agnes who married Turul Nagymihályi and after her husband's death, she joined to the monastery at Margaret Island. Nicholas' grandfather was voivode Eth I.[1] As Geregye and Eth appeared in contemporary records decades later at the turn of the 1270s and 1280s than their elder brothers, historian Attila Zsoldos considers they were children from a supposed second marriage of Paul Geregye.[2] There is no information about Nicholas' any wives or descendants.[1]

Nicholas and his brother Stephen were first mentioned by a royal charter in 1256, when Béla IV of Hungary obliged their father Paul to return certain acquired lands along the Sebes-Körös: Telegd, Szabolcs, Sonkolyos and Bertény with its royal customs (today Tileagd, Săbolciu, Șuncuiuș and Birtin in Romania, respectively) to the original owners. In the previous year, the Geregye troops seized the landholdings of the neighboring Csanád clan; it is plausible that both Nicholas and Stephen had participated in the skirmhish.[3] According to a 1278 charter, Paul and his sons unlawfully possessed the land of Székelyhíd (today Săcueni, Romania) too.[3] Following these lawless deeds, Paul became disgraced in the royal court and never held any dignities or positions anymore. In this context, Nicholas and Stephen belonged to the partisans of Duke Stephen, whose relationship with his father Béla IV deteriorated by the early 1260s.[4]

It is possible Nicholas was identical with that namesake courtier, who served as count (head) of the ducal household in 1259.[5] Around the same time, his brother Stephen was ispán of Vas County in 1260.[6] Following that Nicholas functioned as voivode of Transylvania between 1267 and 1268, during the end of the reign of Béla IV (it is presumable, he held the dignity uninterruptedly from 1264 to 1270). The voivodeship belonged to the realm of Duke Stephen, who even adopted the title junior king in the second half of the 1260s.[7] The Geregye brothers supported the duke in the civil war conflict between father and son, which evolved in 1264–65. It is possible that they fought in the Battle of Isaszeg in March 1265, as one of Nicholas' castle warriors from Vas County was granted the status of royal servants for his military merits in the battlefield by Stephen.[8] Historian Attila Zsoldos considers their lands' geographical proximity to the ducal court in Transylvania, and their father' Paul deteriorating relationship with Béla IV both contributed to their involvement in the rebellion against the royal power.[8]

The Geregye brothers' loyalty to Duke Stephen suddenly broke up in May 1270, when the latter ascended the throne and became King of Hungary as Stephen V. Nicholas, along with several magnates, fled the country and placed himself under the protection of Ottokar II. The Bohemian king also received the Dobronya Castle at Dobróváralja, Upper Hungary (today Podzámčok, Slovakia) by Nicholas. He participated in Ottokar's campaign against Hungary in 1271, when Nicholas besieged and occupied the Nyitra Castle and came through on the Garam River. After the peace treaty between Stephen V and Ottokar II (1271), he returned to Hungary, however he regained his former political influence only after the death of king Stephen V in 1272.[9]

Between 1272 and 1274, during the reign of the minor Ladislaus IV, Nicholas was voivode of Transylvania and thus ispán (comes) of Szolnok County three times.[10][11] He was elected judge royal and head of Bánya (Árkibánya) ispánate in 1275.[12]

He actively participated in the struggle for power between the barons and supported the Kőszegi family and Joachim from the Gutkeled clan. Nicholas and his brothers tried to establish a dominion independently of the king. Nicholas had started to expand his influence over the territories that surrounded his possessions and castles, Adorján, Almás, Sólyomkő and Valkó. However king Ladislaus IV eliminated their rebellion with a military force in 1277. After that the Geregye clan lost its estates and political positions.[9]