Ugrin from the kindred Csák (; c. 1190 – 11 April 1241) was a Hungarian prelate and military leader in the first half of the 13th century, who served as Archbishop of Kalocsa from 1219 until his death at the Battle of Mohi (Sajó River) on 11 April 1241. He was also chancellor of the royal court from 1217 to 1219 and from 1230 to 1235.

Family

Ugrin (I) (also known as Ugolin or Hugolin) was born into the Újlak branch of the gens Csák as the son of ispán Bás (I). His brothers were Bás (II) and Pós (or Pous),Engel: Genealógia (Genus Csák 8., Újlak branch) who served as Master of the treasury and Ban of Severin in 1235, and was considered an influential courtier of Duke Béla of Transylvania. The Csák clan was one of the most ancient and powerful kindreds in Hungary. According to the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum ("Deeds of the Huns and Hungarians"), the ancestor of the kindred was Szabolcs, son of chieftain Előd, the leader of one of the seven Magyar tribes, who participated in the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century.

Due to his influence through his ecclesiastical career, Ugrin was a prominent patron of his branch within the Csák kindred. His namesake nephew (possibly son of Bás II) studied at the University of Paris, where he spent twelve years and his theologian studies was financially funded by his uncle Ugrin. Later, this Ugrin (II) served as Archbishop of Split from 1244 to 1248. Another namesake nephew was the son of Pós, who died by 1240. In that year, his minor sons (Ugrin III and other unidentified one[s]) and their cousin Csák (another son of Bás II) were involved in a lawsuit against the St. Michael church in Vas County. During the case, the children were represented by Demetrius Csák from the clan's Ugod branch and their uncle, Archbishop Ugrin. By the end of the 13th century, Ugrin (III) became one of the most powerful oligarchs in the Kingdom of Hungary.

Chancellor Ugrin is first mentioned by contemporary records in 1217, when he was appointed chancellor of the royal court of Andrew II. Under his tenure, the structure of royal diplomas has undergone a significant change. The charters had a full promulgatio and corroboratio thereafter, while the section arenga usually emphasized King Andrew's reform policy, the so-called "new institutions". This was the most significant chancellery reform since the reign of Béla III of Hungary. His role as royal chancellor in the first time is also unique, as he had no known ecclesiastical position (stallum) simultaneously.

As royal chancellor, Ugrin participated in the Fifth Crusade, where accompanied Andrew II to the Holy Land in the second half of 1217. During their journey to Zagreb, the local bishop Stephen and the cathedral chapter requested Andrew to confirm their privileges. Upon the order of the king, Ugrin read out and transcribe the former letters of royal donation and the monarch confirmed those thereafter. The majority of the Hungarian contingent, including Ugrin, returned to home in early 1218. Ugrin held the office of chancellor until 1219, when he was elected Archbishop of Kalocsa. He was succeeded by Cletus Bél, who continued his chancellery reform.

More than a decade later, Ugrin was made chancellor for the second time in 1230. He held the office until the death of Andrew II in 1235. His activity resulted the return of forms of corroboratio in royal charters.

Archbishop of Kalocsa Ecclesiastical affairs Ugrin Csák was elected Archbishop of Kalocsa in early 1219, succeeding Berthold, who was transferred to the Patriarchate of Aquileia in the previous year. Thereafter, the joint cathedral chapters of Kalocsa and Bács (present-day Bač, Serbia) sent the provost of Hájszentlőrinc and the archdeacon of Bodrog to the Roman Curia in order to request Pope Honorius III to confirm Ugrin's election. The pope, however, initially refused to do that, suggesting further consideration to the canons in his reply letter dated March 1219. The pope also expressed his wish to meet the archbishop-elect in person. Three months later, in June 1219, Honorius confirmed his election and permitted him to wear his pallium. Theologians Augustin Theiner and József Udvardy argued Ugrin himself and some of the canons visited the Holy See, where the archbishop-elect made a good impression on the pope, who then confirmed his election and personally consecrated him as bishop.

He was the last Archbishop of Kalocsa, who impugned the supremacy of the Archdiocese of Esztergom. It is plausible, he raised objection against John, Archbishop of Esztergom in the Roman Curia simultaneously with his confirmation and consecration. Consequently, Pope Honorius rebuked John, because he unduly exercised jurisdiction over royal churches in the Archdiocese of Kalocsa, in violation of the privilege of the newly elected Ugrin Csák. Honorius emphasized in his rescript that "the equal [archbishop] can not have power over the equal [archbishop]". He permitted Ugrin to supervise royal churches located in his archdiocese and collect tithes from their revenues. Despite the pope's favorable decision, Ugrin and his successors could not enforce it; the Hungarian kings even prevented the popes from exerting influence over the operation and income of the royal churches. The strengthening of secular barons soon smoothed out the internal hierarchical conflicts of the Church in the following decades, and Ugrin no longer tried to increase the influence of his archdiocese to the detriment of Esztergom.

It is possible that Ugrin was present in England on 7 July 1220, when Thomas Becket's remains were moved from his first tomb to a shrine, in the recently completed Trinity Chapel. The event was attended by King Henry III, the papal legate Pandulf Verraccio, the Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton and large numbers of dignitaries and magnates secular and ecclesiastical throughout from Europe. Alongside Langton and Guillaume de Joinville, Archbishop of Reims, an unidentified Hungarian archbishop among the guests is referred by Walter of Coventry in his work Memoriale, when described the events. László Solymosi argued this archbishop may have been John, at whose seat in Esztergom there was a provostry erected in the honour of Thomas Becket. Due to John's advanced age, historian Gábor Thoroczkay considers Walter's narration refers to Ugrin Csák of Kalocsa, who was much younger than John. Around 1220 or 1221, Ugrin, alongside other lords and prelates, for instance Nicholas Szák and Bishop Robert of Veszprém, pledged to return to the Holy Land and fight against the Ayyubid Sultanate. Pope Honorius supported their effort, but in the end no new Hungarian contingent was launched to take part in the Fifth Crusade. Honorius instructed Ugrin to protect the family and wealth of Nicholas Szák, who had returned to the Holy Land, on behalf of the Holy See in December 1223. After Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Honorius concluded a peace, where the emperor promised to depart on the crusade by 15 August 1227, the pope sent a letter to Ugrin in January 1226, in which he instructed him to proclaim the crusade and begin recruiting in his province.

Ugrin was also involved in some ecclesiastical affairs in the early years of his archiepiscopal tenure. In 1222, he contested the election of Raynald of Belleville as Bishop of Transylvania due to Raynald's half-blindness, but Honorius refused his complaint. Ugrin judged over various ecclesiastical lawsuits, including the trial between Pannonhalma Abbey and Robert of Veszprém. He also acted an arbiter in the lawsuit between Stephen II, Bishop of Zagreb and the Knights Templar over the land Rassecha in 1230. With the leadership of Ugrin, the Hungarian prelates summoned in the first half of 1223 and persuade Andrew II to forgive his son Duke Béla, and withdraw the order which compelled his son to separate from his wife Maria Laskarina in the previous year. Ugrin also sent a letter to the pope, to inform him truthfully of the complicated matter. Béla fled Hungary, but after the pope's mediation, he was able to return together with his wife in the spring of 1224. The pope authorized Ugrin and his suffragans to supervise the "harmful" royal land grants made by King Andrew II in his ecclesiastical province in August 1225 (he had called him for this before, as early as 1220). When the majority of the cathedral chapter of Várad (present-day Oradea, Romania) elected Benedict Osl as Bishop of Várad in May 1231, his superior Ugrin Csák confirmed his election and consecrated him shortly thereafter. However, Pope Gregory IX contested Benedict's election and supported the candidacy of his subdeacon Primogenitus. The conflict continued in the coming years.

In 1232, Ugrin established a Cistercian abbey in Gotó (or "Honesta Vallis") in Požega County, dedicated to Mary the Virgin. The first monks arrived from Zirc Abbey. In May 1234, Ugrin instructed two conversi (monks originally laity) to administer the hospital and almshouse near Bács, founded by the archbishop himself too. In December 1233, Ugrin merged the revenues of the Hájszentlőrinc Chapter, founded by Queen Anna of Châtillon, into the Archdeaconry of Bodrog, whereas the former's sources of income had dwindled by then, so he had integrated the provostry into the organizational structure of the archdiocese. Pope Gregory IX confirmed Ugrin's decision in May 1234. During his long lasting archiepiscopal reign, Ugrin initiated and conducted the reconstruction of the Kalocsa Cathedral into Romanesque style (the so-called "second cathedral"), on the model of the Notre Dame d'Avesnières in Laval, Mayenne, according to art historian Imre Henszlmann (in contrast, architect Ernő Foerk put the date of the rebuilding to the 1150s).

A significant number of Muslim communities lived in the territory of the Archidocese of Kalocsa. In 1225, Pope Honorius blamed Ugrin of tolerating the violation of the prohibition of the employment of Jews and Muslims in the royal administration in his archdiocese. According to the pope's complaint, Ugrin ignored the fact that many Muslims possessed Christian slaves and maintained family and business relations from the Muslim world. During the conclusion of the Oath of Bereg (August 1233), papal legate James of Pecorara instructed Ugrin and four other Hungarian prelates, whose dioceses were inhabited by a significant number of Muslim or Jewish communities, to separate those people from Christian settlements and ensure the permanence of segregation during their annual cruises. Upon Andrew's request, Pope Gregory IX allowed the investigation of the separation of non-Christians to take place once every two years after 1235.

Bosnian Crusade