Szatmári Gizella: Signs of Remembrance - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2005)

■ Portrait ofj Voivod látván

As defender of Christendom, Sigismund invited István to join the ranks of the Order of the Dragon and serve as a reliable member of the chivalric order established in 1408. Having pledged loyalty to the order, István received an estate in Hungary. In 1414 he came into possession of Szatmár and Németi, Asszonypataka (today's Nagybánya) and Felsőbánya (villages near rich gold mines) and the city of Debrecen together with 36 smaller nearby settlements. "What is more," says Elemér Mályusz in his study of Sigismund’s period, "as a baron of Hungary, he was entitled to a further dominion, in the County of Torontál, whose income he used to cover the costs of 'protocol', i.e. the daily expenses of his court.” László Szilágyi, father of the famous Erzsébet Szilágyi and magistrate in the towns of Szatmár and Németi, was a loyal follower of Prince.István. Future husband of Erzsébet and father of their son who was to become King Matthias, István was raised as a page

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