Hont-Pázmány

Who he is

Name

Martin son of Vajk; Thomas, later comes of Nyitra, with his sons Alexander and Sebes; perhaps Mog, the deposed palatine

Title

the kindred (nemzetség) of Hont and Pázmány; no single head

Since

the kindred since the early 11th century

Family

Descended, by the chronicle tradition, from the Swabian knights Hont and Pázmány who girded Stephen I with his sword; 'Hunt' is the older spelling of the same name.

Confidence

medium

Martin, a loyal supporter of Duke Andrew, is ispán of Szolnok in 1201 and ban of Slavonia in 1202 under Andrew as duke; Alexander frees Andrew from prison in early 1204 and is his cupbearer, with a grant of Csütörtökhely in Pozsony county in 1206; Sebes receives Szentgyörgy (Svätý Jur) in 1209. Thomas is called comes of Nyitra (date not pinned; dead before 1216). Mog, palatine 1198-1199, whose plot against Emeric was exposed in 1199, is placed in the kindred's Födémes branch by Wertner and Engel, but Zsoldos thinks he may be of the Csanád kindred.

Overlord

King Emeric of Hungary

What it holds

• Bozók (Bzovík) in Hont: the kindred's abbey and estates (Premonstratensians since 1180-1181)
• Bény (Bíňa) and the lower Garam: the Bény branch
• estates in Hont along the Ipoly (the county is named after their ancestor)
• the Födémes branch's estates in Pozsony county (Pusztafödémes)
• Ság (Ipolyság) abbey is NOT yet founded: Martin founds it about 1236
• Szentgyörgy (1209) and Csütörtökhely (1206) come later

How it was acquired

By royal grant in the 11th century and by inheritance since.

Allies and rivals

Duke Andrew and his party (Bishop Boleslaus of Vác, Mog, Abbot John of Pannonhalma); against King Emeric's officers. Tied by marriage to the Miskolc kindred: Sebes married Elizabeth, daughter of Dominic Miskolc, the former judge royal and ban.

How things stand that morning

Estates held; the kindred's leaders are Andrew's partisans waiting on the brothers' quarrel. None is known to hold a royal office on 1 January 1200.

Wealth

Old estates in the Ipoly and Garam valleys, near the Selmec silver; mills, vineyards and serfs; no figures.

Military

The kindred's own retinues; no castle of theirs is attested in 1200 (Drégely castle is first named as a fortress by 1285).

Threats

• Emeric's revenge on Andrew's partisans if the reconciliation fails
• loss of estates by confiscation

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. summer 1200When Emeric restores Croatia and Dalmatia to Andrew, Martin and others of the kindred go to serve in the duke's court (Martin is a count in Andrew's court about 1201).Depends on: the reconciliation going through Stopped by: a new war between the brothers, which would make them rebels in arms

Places of note

• Bozók abbey: Founded by Lampert of the kindred, 1124-1131; Premonstratensians from 1180-1181
• Bény (Bíňa): Centre of the Bény branch on the lower Garam

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The kindred's leaders' service to Andrew is attested from 1201-1204; their position on 1 January 1200 is inferred. Estates for 1200 are known in outline from the kindred's foundations.

On the map: Only the best-known estate centres are drawn; the kindred's villages were scattered among castle and church land.

Primary sources for Hungary

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
• The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
• History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
• The Book of Census of the Roman Church, Cencius Camerarius (Cencio Savelli, later Pope Honorius III) (1192, with later additions). The papal rent roll: every church, monastery, town and kingdom that owed a census to Rome in 1192, diocese by diocese, with the sums, followed by lists of papal lands and castles, the ceremonial Ordo and copies of charters. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online

4 more in the sources library for Poland, Hungary and the Adriatic.