Mate Csak
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Mate
(III) Csak (1260-65 - March 18, 1321) was one of the Little Kings within the Kingdom of Hungary, who ruled de facto independently the north-western counties of the Kingdom (today roughly the western half of present-day Slovakia. He held the offices of Marshal (folovaszmester) (1293-1296), Palatine (nador) (1296-1297, 1301-1310) and Master of the Treasury (tarnokmester) (1310). He was the main ally of Aba family against Charles Robert of Anjou, and he maintained his rule over his territories even after the Battle of Rozgony. It is essential to know that while Mate Csak agreed to have his armies take a part in the Battle of Rozgony he himself personally was not present.
In 1291, Mate took a part on the side of King Andrew III of Hungary in the campaign against Austria. Following that year, when Nicholas Koszegi Aba rebelled against King Andrew III and occupied the town of
Pozsony
(today Bratislava, Slovakia). Mate managed to reoccupy the castles on behalf of the king. Henceforward, the Danube became the border between the developing domains of the Koszegi Aba and Csak families.
Sometime near the end of 1296, Mate acquired Castle Trencsen (Trencin in present-day Slovakia). In the same year, King Andrew appointed him Palatine of Hungary. However, his domain had gradually been developing before the Battle of Rozgony, and it reached its greatest territorial extent around 1311. Mate Csak died on March 18, 1321, and because his son had since passed away and his grandsons were still minors at the time of his death, his cousin Stephen Sternberg became the head of his domain. Since Stephen Sternberg could not resist King Charles I invasion, Mate Csak's former lands were occupied by the king's armies. |
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