Paul Nagymartoni

Paul Nagymartoni (also Mertensdorfi, Hungarian: Nagymartoni Pál, German: Paul von Mertensdorf; died June 1351) was an influential Hungarian nobleman and jurist in the first half of the 14th century, who served as Judge royal from 1328 to 1349.

He was a loyal partisan of Charles I, who strengthen royal power after decades of civil wars and feudal anarchy. Under Nagymartoni, the prestige of his position was restored. He established a professional staff and bureau on a permanent basis, initiating structural and judicial reforms. After 21 years in office, he was dismissed by Louis I.

He was born into the Nagymartoni (also known as Bajóti, and later Fraknói) family of Aragonese origin, as the son of Simon II, who functioned as ispán of Bars County between 1277 and 1278. Paul's grandfather Simon I and his siblings arrived to Hungary as members of the escort of Queen Constance of Aragon, who married King Emeric of Hungary in 1198. The family owned Bajót and subsequently Nagymarton (today in Burgenland, Austria, by its present–day name Mattersburg). Paul had a brother, Lawrence, who participated in Charles' various campaigns and married Margaret Haschendorfer, a daughter of Austrian noble Wulfing I Haschendorfer, whose other daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Kónya Szécsényi. Paul's sister Clara married Alexander Köcski, also a renowned soldier. Thus Nagymartoni had kinship relationship with both of his predecessor Köcski and successor Thomas Szécsényi in the dignity of Judge royal.

Nagymartoni married twice; his first wife was Elizabeth von Pottendorf (fl. 1325). After her death, Nagymartoni married Elizabeth Puchaim with royal permission in 1343. Her father was Austrian noble Henry Puchaim, whose other daughter Agnes was the wife of powerful lord Stephen Lackfi. Paul had a daughter Anne, who married her relative Albert Puchaim.

Nagymartoni was first mentioned by contemporary records in 1307. His lands laid in Sopron County, which were constantly threatened by two neighboring powerful oligarchic powers, Matthew Csák and the Kőszegi family. For a long time, he did not commit himself to support Charles I in the civil war because of his delicate situation. When the king launched a campaign against the Kőszegis in Transdanubia and Slavonia in the first half of 1316, Nagymartoni took an oath of allegiance to Charles. Therefore his possessions were pillaged and burned by the Kőszegi mercenaries. When Andrew Kőszegi attacked the towns of Sopron and Győr, which refused to acknowledge his supremacy, in the winter of 1317, the burghers successfully repelled the offense with the assistance of the troops of his former familiares, Paul and Lawrence Nagymartoni. After the successful royal campaign against the Kőszegi family in 1317, when, among others, they lost Győr County, Nagymartoni was appointed to its ispán, restoring the position after two decades. He appeared in that capacity in a document issued on 10 July 1318, when took over the castle of Győr, which was confiscated from the diocese by the monarch due to its strategic importance against Matthew Csák.

For their loyalty and bravery, Paul and Lawrence regained the castle of Kabold (present-day Kobersdorf, Austria) by Charles in 1319, who seized the fort from the Kőszegis in his military campaign. Around the same time, the brothers built the first known castle of Forchtenstein (Hungarian: Fraknó). The fortress became the family's new household, which, therefore adopted the Fraknói surname by the mid-14th century. According to a document, Paul Nagymartoni invaded and plundered the land of Lábatlan in 1322. It is possible it was a counter-attack against the Csák dominion. In 1323, Nagymartoni was referred to as a member of the royal court, without holding any specific offices. He was styled as simply "magister" in early 1328, when he and his brother Lawrence implemented their brother-in-law Alexander Köcski's last will and testament, and donated certain lands and allowances to their sister, Clara.

Following the death of Köcski, Paul Nagymartoni was made Judge royal on 5 March 1328 (but it is also possible that he had already held the dignity since 25 February). His 21-year of service in the position is the longest tenure in Medieval Hungary. Beside that he also functioned as castellan of Beszterce (today Považský hrad in Slovakia). As honors to his dignity, Nagymartoni also possessed the castles of Litva, Várna (Óvár) and Sztrecsény (present-day Lietava, Starhrad and Strečno in Slovakia, respectively). Historian Iván Bertényi Sr. called Nagymartoni's two-decade term as "the development of permanent of the institution of Judge royal".

Most of the times, Nagymartoni judged in lawsuits between nobles, in addition to cases of dominations. Occasionally, he was also involved in ecclesiastical affairs, when the ownership rights of church lands were disputed between two church entities. For instance, his court discussed the conflict over the tithe between the Abbey Pannonhalma and the Diocese of Veszprém in 1341, which legitimacy was questioned and contested by the latter's lawyers. In response, Nagymartoni states this issues were "de facto fall under his competence". He also made decisions in lawsuits, where serfs were involved, but in decreasing numbers, as the rights of landlords gradually expanded in the era. The Banate of Slavonia was excluded from Nagymartoni's territorial jurisdiction according to the contemporary documents. However, Požega County, which laid on the border between Slavonia and Macsó, belonged to the competence of the Judge royal. Since 1340, Transylvania returned to the jurisdiction of the Judge royal after sixteen years, excluding some special administrative units in the province (e.g. Szolnok County). During Nagymartoni's tenure, the Banate of Severin also enjoyed the privilege of own judicial authority.

Nagymartoni and his judicial court resided in the royal court in Visegrád, then Buda since January 1347, when Louis I temporarily moved there for years, but Visegrád retained its permanent capital status until 1408. There are several information on the members of his professional staff. His deputy was vice-judge royal was Desiderius Poki, who served in that capacity from 1329 until 1346. However he had more limited functions than his predecessors' authority at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, when the position reached its peak for a short time. It is presumable Poki was primarily responsible for the management of the ever-growing Nagymartoni landholdings. Paul Ugali was a long-time member of the judicial staff. He acted as chief notary (Hungarian: ítélőmester; Latin: protonotarius) and thus he was head of the judicial bureau, effectively the second most prominent member in the staff after Paul Nagymartoni. During his absence, Ugali took the daily affairs and guarded the Judge royal's grand seal. One of Nagymartoni's employees was notary James Szepesi, who himself also served as Judge royal in 1370s, as a high impact factor in the history of the dignity.

Five days after his father's death, Louis I was crowned King of Hungary on 21 July 1342. Soon, the young monarch re-appointed Nagymartoni in his position, as he was considered the king's personally appointed officer, whose mandate lasted until the death of his monarch or himself. In the following years, Nagymartoni and his staff were usually fell under the pressure of Queen mother Elizabeth of Poland, who exerted a powerful influence on her son for decades. This fact also affected some of Nagymartoni's judgments in the favor of Elizabeth during the various lawsuits in the 1340s. When the queen visited the Kingdom of Naples in the summer of 1343 to promote the interests of her second son, claimant Andrew, who was betrothed to Joanna I, Nagymartoni belonged to her escort. Subsequently, he traveled further to the papal court of Avignon as a member of the Hungarian delegation, led by Vid Vasvári, the Bishop of Nyitra. Pope Clement VI was the overlord of the Kingdom of Naples; in contrary to their hopes, they were only able to persuade him to promise that Andrew would be crowned as Joanna's husband. According to historian Erik Fügedi, Nagymartoni adopted his seal on a pattern of the cardinals' seal from Avignon, as it also contained a Maltese cross. Nagymartoni again participated in a diplomatic mission to the papal court in the first half of 1345. Alongside the other members of the mission, he was instructed to be present at the coronation of Duke Andrew as envoys of the Kingdom of Hungary, but the duke was murdered before the ceremony could be held.

Nagymartoni acquired rich, fertile and extensive lands during his two decades of tenure. According to a contract of estate division with his late brother Lawrence's branch in 1346, the family possessed the most of its lands in Sopron County. Beside the inherited possessions, like Nagymarton, Fraknó, Röjtök or Siklósd (present-day Sigleß, Austria), Paul Nagymartoni acquired Pomogy (present-day Pamhagen in Austria). He also had extensive landholdings in Esztergom County (e.g. Bajót, Kesző, Nyergesújfalu) and Nógrád County (Mohora and Oroszd). He acquired Széleskút in Pozsony County (present-day Sološnica in Slovakia) and several lands in Vas County. He also owned landholdings in Somogy, Komárom and Szabolcs counties. Summarizing, he owned approximately 50 estates throughout the country. In several occasions, he bought these lands, but in other cases, he misused his position, similarly to his contemporaries. For instance, during a lawsuit in 1337, he placed the lands of Sárfő and Csataj (present-day Blatné and Čataj in Slovakia, respectively) under lien, instead of imposing a fine. After the deadline, Nagymartoni himself paid the fine to the defendant and registered himself as the owner of the two lands, which laid in Pozsony County.

Louis I dismissed Nagymartoni and replaced him with the powerful baron Thomas Szécsényi in the summer of 1349, sometimes between 18 June and 8 July. According to historian Antal Pór, the king made his decision because of Nagymartoni's rapid wealth and the corruption allegations against him. It is also possible he became a political victim in the public sentiment before the adoption of the momentous 1351 Laws. A royal charter notes that Nagymartoni was replaced "after numerous complaints". Iván Bertényi also considered that Nagymartoni was dismissed because of his advanced age and declining health. Nagymartoni lost all political influence and retired from the royal court. He last appeared in contemporary records in November 1349, when acted as a co-judge with Szécsényi during a lawsuit. He died two years later, in June 1351. By the 1370s, his family turned against Louis I, enjoying support from the Austrian dukes. In parallel with this, they had been gradually Germanised.