Századok – 2003

TANULMÁNYOK - Kristó Gyula: I. Károly király harcai a tartományurak ellen (1310-1323) 297

I. KÁROLY KIRÁLY HARCAI A TARTOMÁNYURAK ELLEN. 347 THE STRUGGLES OF CHARLES I AGAINST THE OLIGARCHS (1310-1323) by Gyula Kristó Summary In the first decade of his reign, when he had to fight against other pretenders to the throne, Charles I (Charles Robert, 1301-1342) made efforts to secure the fidelity of the greatest possible number among the elite. After his third, lawful coronation on 10 August 1310, however, he turned agaist his confessed enemies as well as against those who feigned faith but cherished plans directly opposed to those of the king. Charles „shared" the government of his kingdom with eleven oligarchs, only one of which, the Frangepan family along the Adriatic coast, avoided open conflict with the king. The study reviews the royal policy (mostly taking the form of war) against the oligarchs, relying on, but also sometimes debating, the results of the late Pál Engel in the field. The events had to be reconstructed from terse references in the charters as well as from the royal itinerary, and, because of the sparse und uneven source material, several campaigns and battles failed to be dated exactly. The sons of Aba Amadé were one of the first to oppose the king in 1311, which led to the battle of Rozgony and Charles' victory in 1312. Nevertheless, the Amadé-sons revolted again at the end of 1317. The strongest among the oligarchs was beyond doubt Csák Máté. Charles campaigned against him as early as 1311, which resulted in Máté's supporting the Amadé-sons in 1312. Later Máté took the initiative, and, at the head of his kin, managed to press hard the king in 1314/15. Charles himself secured the support of John, king of Bohemia against Máté in 1315. After minor successes scored in 1317 and 1320, Charles finally occupied Máté's territory after the latter's death in 1321. The Kőszegi family remained „officially" faithful to the king until 1315, but consequently Charles had to fight against one of their three branches almost every year (1315, 1316, 1318, 1319, 1320/21). The Borsa family, to which belonged the palatine himself, revolted first early in 1315 and then at the end of 1316, but were defeated by Charles in 1315 and 1317. Although Moys cannot be reckoned among the oligarchs, but was already on the way to become one. He was the son-in-law of palatine Borsa Kopasz, and helped his father-in-law against the ruler. Two royal campaigns were led against him in 1315 and 1318. The second revolt of the Borsa was backed by Peter son of Petenye, who was defeated early in 1317, but later supported Moys in Northern Transylvania. At the beginning of 1315 the voivode of Transylvania, Kán László also revoked his faith. Although his sons were defeated in 1317, they were nevertheless able to stir up some trouble in Transilvania until as late as 1329. The sons of Ákos István allied themselves first with Csák Máté (1315) and later with the sons of Kán László (1317), and seem to have been crushed in 1319 by the king's supporters. Charles' sent two armies against Tivadar Vejtehi and his son, but none of the two campaigns can be dated exactly (probably 1316 and 1321). Subie Mladen was captured in 1322 by Charles, and János Babonic was defeated by the royal army in 1323. In the meantime, Charles led two campaigns to Serbia (1314 and 1319). Thanks to his several victories over the oligarchs, after 1323 Charles could regard himself as the omnipotent master of his realm.