Ugrin Csák

Joachim Gutkeled died while battling against the Babonići in April 1277. A month later, the general assembly declared Ladislaus IV to be of age, who was also authorized to restore internal peace with all possible means. These events ended the five-year chaotic conditions in the realm. Ugrin was appointed Master of the treasury around November 1277, and held the dignity until December 1279. Beside that he was also ispán of Bánya (Árkibánya) ispánate, which laid in the territory of Nyitra County.[15] He was made Ban of Macsó and Bosnia in 1279.[16] He was styled as "ban and lord" of the two territories by a royal document in the summer of 1279. He was again referred to as "lord of Bosnia" in December in that year. According to historian Péter Galambosi, his title reflects an extended power over his court dignities. Accordingly, when Ladislaus IV concluded an agreement with the Gutkeleds, and gave royal pardon to Joachim's brothers in June 1278, Ugrin Csák was entrusted to govern the southern part of the Hungarian kingdom, which meant a significant victory for the Csák clan.[17]

When Ladislaus IV imprisoned papal legate Philip of Fermo in late 1279, Ugrin lost his dignity during a major change in the composition of the royal council. However, thereafter Ladislaus himself was also captured by some lords. In less than two months, both the legate and the king were set free and Ladislaus took a new oath to enforce the Cuman laws. In accordance with the agreement, Ugrin was appointed Master of the treasury again in the spring of 1280. However he lost the position within months.[18] Based on some indirect data in the contemporary documents, it is plausible that Ugrin became disgraced in the royal court for the remaining part of the reign of Ladislaus. This includes that the king's mother, Queen Dowager Elizabeth the Cuman was created Duchess of Macsó and Bosnia in 1279, which seriously violated and threatened the local interests of Ugrin. With this appointment, Ladislaus IV intended to restore royal power over the southern border area against Ugrin, who increasingly dominated the region with his informal power.[19]

Ugrin retired to his province across the river Sava for the upcoming decades. He extended his influence over the whole territory of Syrmia County.[20] He built his residence, Újlak Castle (Croatian: Ilok) in Valkó County in the 1280s.[21] Ugrin also acquired some lands in Požega County.[20] He was referred to as the ispán of the county in 1293.[22] Initially, he was a loyal confidant of King Andrew III, who ruled Hungary since 1290, after Ladislaus' assassination.[3] According to a royal charter issued by Andrew III in July 1298, Ugrin and his familiares crossed the river Sava and defeated an invading Tatar army, who had plundered the region of Macsó.[3] The two generals of the Tatars were executed and their heads were sent to Buda. It is possible the army was hired by Bulgarian warlords Darman and Kudelin against Stephen Dragutin's realm, who ruled the neighboring Hungarian banates and northern Serbia, altogether known as Lower Syrmia. These events presumably occurred at the turn of 1291 and 1292.[23] In the latter year, Andrew sent Ugrin to Primorje in order to escort his mother Tomasina Morosini to Hungary, but he was captured and imprisoned by certain "disloyal barons". He was freed from captivity by Radoslav Babonić, Ban of Slavonia upon the king's order.[20][24] The Kőszegis rose up in open rebellion against Andrew in spring 1292, acknowledging Charles Martel, as King of Hungary. Under this situation, Ugrin's territory functioned as a buffer zone between the royal lands and Slavonia, where the majority of lords accepted Charles' suzerainty. However Andrew III appointed his mother Duchess of Slavonia to administer Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia. Due to her activities, the Babonići, Šubići, and the Dalmatian towns acknowledged Andrew's rule. As previously Queen Elizabeth, Tomasina also became Ugrin's rival in the region. Ugrin held Syrmia and Valkó counties firmly under his control, but Tomasina's duchy prevented his western expansion into Požega County.[23]

Charles's arrival to Hungary, depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle

Andrew III made his maternal uncle, Albertino Morosini, Duke of Slavonia, in July 1299, stirring up the Slavonian and Croatian noblemen to revolt. A powerful Croatian baron, Paul Šubić, sent his brother, George, to Italy in early 1300 to convince Charles II of Naples to send his grandson to Hungary to claim the throne in person. The king accepted the proposal and the twelve-year-old Charles arrived to Hungary with his escort. They landed at Split in Dalmatia in August 1300. From Split, Paul Šubić escorted him to Zagreb, where Ugrin Csák swore loyalty to Charles, who also handed over Požega Castle to him.[25] Ugrin placed the young pretender under his guardianship. He was also called Charles' protector (Latin: conservator).[24] Other sources confirm that he already took an oath of allegiance to the pretender prior to that. According to the Illuminated Chronicle, Ugrin was one of those lords, who requested Pope Boniface VIII to provide a new king for Hungary. In February 1300, Charles II listed Ugrin's name among those Hungarian barons, who urged him to send his grandson to Hungary. His familiaris and skilled diplomat, Benedict also visited the Neapolitan court several times in that period. It is possible that Ugrin turned against Andrew already in 1298, as he did not countersign the decrees of the national diet in that year, which aimed to destroy forts built without permission and ordered the punishment of those who had seized landed property with force. Ugrin did present neither before the king's judicial court in 1300, during a lawsuit regarding his former palace in Esztergom.[26]

Ugrin Csák's province among the oligarchs in early 14th century

Andrew III died on 14 January 1301. With his death, the House of Árpád became extinct. A civil war between various claimants to the throne – Charles of Anjou, Wenceslaus of Bohemia, and Otto of Bavaria – followed Andrew's death and lasted for seven years. Hungary had disintegrated into about a dozen independent provinces, each ruled by a powerful lord, or oligarch. Among them, Ugrin's distant relative, Matthew III Csák dominated the northwestern parts of Hungary (which now form the western territories of present-day Slovakia), Amadeus Aba controlled the northeastern lands, the Kőszegis ruled Transdanubia, James Borsa dominated Tiszántúl, and Ladislaus Kán governed Transylvania. Ugrin Csák was the de facto ruler of Upper Syrmia.[27] He was styled as ispán of Syrmia, Valkó, Bács and Požega counties in August 1303, thus he was considered the omnipotent lord in the region. Historian Pál Engel argued he held these dignities since the beginning of the 14th century until his death.[28]

Ugrin was the most ardent domestic supporter of Charles' claim to the Hungarian throne for a decade until his death.[29][30] The so-called Chronicon Posoniense ("Chronicle of Pressburg"; present-day Bratislava, Slovakia) also emphasized his importance several times, which fact suggests that the chronicle was written in the court of the Csáks' Újlak branch.[31] In the lists of barons, which were part of the royal charters issued by Charles in the first decade of the 14th century, Ugrin's name was constantly placed to the first place, ahead of the king's another mainstay Amadeus Aba.[29] Following Andrew's death, Ugrin had an important role in the subsequent events; under his guidance, Charles hurried Székesfehérvár, then Esztergom, where he was crowned king irregularly in the spring of 1301. Being Pope Boniface's candidate for the Hungarian throne, Charles had always been unpopular, because the Hungarian lords feared that they would "lose their freedom by accepting a king appointed by the Church", as the Illuminated Chronicle narrates. The majority of the lords supported Wenceslaus instead of him.[32] After Wenceslaus's coronation, Charles withdrew to Ugrin Csák's domains in the southern regions of the kingdom.[25]

Despite his advanced age, Ugrin participated in the unsuccessful siege of Buda in September 1302. Through his diplomat Benedict, he also played a decisive role in the concluding alliance between Charles and his cousin Rudolph III of Austria, in Pressburg on 24 August 1304.[32] According to the Chronicon Posoniense, Ladislaus Kán handed over his prisoner, the self-declared claimant Otto of Bavaria sometimes in the second half of 1307 in Szeged to Ugrin, who "expelled" Charles' last rival pretender from Hungary. In the same year, Vincent, Archbishop of Kalocsa withdrew the punishment of excommunication against Peter Monoszló, Bishop of Transylvania at the request of Charles and Ugrin Csák. The elderly bishop, formerly, refused to fulfill the pope's order to excommunicate Ladislaus Kán and confiscate his unlawfully acquired lands.[33] Ugrin was made Master of the treasury around September 1307 and held the office until late 1309 or early 1310.[34] His dignity became temporarily the most prestigious position in the royal court, as half dozen of lords arbitrarily took the title Palatine, which caused the "devaluation" of that dignity. Gyula Kristó considered the dignity of Master of the treasury elevated into its highest status because of Ugrin's privileged position in the inner circle of Charles.[35] Ugrin was present at the Diet of Rákos on 10 October 1307, which confirmed Charles's claim to the throne.[36] Due to his advanced age and possible declining health, he gradually retired from public life. He did not attend the synod of Buda in November 1308 nor the second coronation of Charles I on 15 June 1309 personally; he was represented by his envoys at both events.[25] Historian Iván Bertényi argued Ugrin Csák functioned as Judge royal from 1304 to 1311, however majority of the historians do not accept his theory, and considered that the position of Judge royal was in a state of vacancy for a decade, until Charles's third coronation was performed in full accordance with customary law in August 1310. Ugrin Csák performed his judicial role exclusively in his province in Syrmia, thus he did not hold the dignity of Judge royal necessarily.[37] The first known office-holder in the Angevin era was Ugrin's second nephew John Csák.[38]