Nicholas Geregye

Nicholas from the kindred Geregye (Hungarian: Geregye nembeli Miklós; died after 1279) was a Hungarian baron and landowner, member of the gens Geregye, who held several positions.

Biography

He was the son of judge royal Paul (d. before 1271) and an unidentified mother from the Győr clan, who was a daughter 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. There is no information about Nicholas' any wives or descendants.^[1]

Nicholas functioned as voivode of Transylvania between 1267 and 1268, during the end of the reign of Béla IV.^[2] He supported the king in the civil war conflict between father and son, duke Stephen, thus when the latter ascended the throne in 1270, 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.^[3]

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.^[4][5] He was elected judge royal and head of Bánya (Árkibánya) ispánate in 1275.^[6]

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.^[3]

References

Sources

• Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN 1-86064-061-3.
• (Hungarian) Markó, László (2006). A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig – Életrajzi Lexikon ("The High Officers of the Hungarian State from Saint Stephen to the Present Days – A Biographical Encyclopedia") (2nd edition); Helikon Kiadó Kft., Budapest; ISBN 963-547-085-1.
• (Hungarian) Zsoldos, Attila (2011). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1000–1301 ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1000–1301"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest. ISBN 978-963-9627-38-3