The Nagymartoni or Martinsdorfi (also Bajtói, and later Fraknói; , later von Forchtenstein) was a noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary of Aragonese origin, which existed from the early 13th century to the mid-15th century. In the last period of their existence, they were subjects of the Duke of Austria too.
History Arrival in Hungary
The origin of the family was preserved by two chronicles, the 14th-century Illuminated Chronicle, which utilized the text of magister Ákos' now-lost gesta, and Simon of Kéza's Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum. Both Ákos (early 1270s) and Simon (early 1280s) were contemporaries of the Nagymartonis' second generation – ispáns Simon and Michael, as a result both of them called the family as "the kinship of Simon and Michael". The circumstances and time of their arrival are narrated differently by the two chroniclers. While Ákos claims the kinship came to Hungary belonging to the accompaniment of Queen Yolanda of Courtenay, who became the second wife of King Andrew II of Hungary in 1215, Simon of Kéza narrates that the family escorted Constance of Aragon, the wife of King Emeric to Hungary at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. While both authors mention the Nagymartonis' castles in the Iberian Peninsula ("Boiot"), their clashes against the "sultan of Tunis" (plausibly Abu Zakariya Yahya) in Mallorca and Menorca and the coat-of-arms donation derived therefrom, but, the two authors disagree as to why they left Aragon; according to Ákos, the unidentified father of Simon I and Bertrand (or Bertram) rebelled against King James I of Aragon, which resulted his imprisonment. His young sons decided to flee the kingdom and seek refuge in Hungary. In contrast, Simon of Kéza writes the brothers embroiled into a conflict with an unidentified count and though they defeated him, the resulting hostility forced them to settle in Hungary. In addition, Simon of Kéza does not omit to mention Tota, the sister of Simon and Bertrand, who was lady-in-waiting of Queen Constance and married a powerful lord Benedict, son of Korlát, which laid the foundations for the social rise of the Nagymartoni family in Hungary.
Historian Antal Pór accepted the narration of Simon of Kéza regarding Tota whose marriage with Benedict and her dowry – Nagymarton (or Mattersdorf, present-day Mattersburg, Austria) and Bajót – can be proved in the sources. Pór, however, ruled out that Simon and Bertrand had also came to Hungary during the reign of King Emeric. The 1202 donation letter to Tota narrates that she left behind her parents, siblings and relatives, when escorted Constance to Hungary. A charter of Andrew II from 1223 refers to that Simon previously came to visit her sister to Hungary, when he wheedled himself into Andrew's confidence to such an extent that the monarch encouraged him to settle in the kingdom. According to historian György Szabados, Tota was much more younger than her brothers. Upon Constance's request, King Emeric, attaching it to her dowry, donated all royal revenues of Nagymarton to Tota, exempting the landholding from taxation in 1202. According to a royal charter of Andrew II from 1221, Benedict was exiled and confiscated all of his estates prior to that (it is possible he participated in the 1209–10 conspiracy against the monarch). Despite that, his wife Tota remained in Hungary and continued to belong to the royal household. She faithfully served Yolanda of Courtenay, the second wife of Andrew II since 1215. In the aforementioned charter (1221), Andrew II returned Benedict's confiscated lands – Nagymarton and Bajót – to Tota in recognition of her services. Her wealth was inherited by her brother Simon, who, however, was forced to prove the legitimacy of his ownership right during a lawsuit in 1230. Historian Attila Zsoldos also argued Simon and Bertrand arrived to Hungary only during the reign of Andrew II. Simon is first referred to as a member of the entourage of Duke Béla in 1220. Antal Pór assumed the younger brother Bertrand settled in Hungary even later. Zsoldos considered if anyone from the family, only Bertrand participated in the conquest of Majorca (1228–1231), but he settled down in Hungary too before 1241. Bertrand mediated the prenuptial agreement between James I of Aragon and Violant of Hungary in February 1233, alongside Pope Gregory IX and Bartholomew le Gros, the Bishop of Pécs.
Rise
Simon (I) was considered one of the faithful confidants of King Andrew II since the 1220s. He served as ispán of Bars County in 1221. For his service, Simon was granted the land Röjtökör in Sopron County (Rahtukeuri, present-day Neudörfl, Austria) in 1223. His sister Tota died childless sometime between 1221 and 1230. Her wealth – Bajót and Nagymarton – was inherited by Simon. His family derived its surname – Nagymartoni and, less frequently, Bajóti – from these two villages until the first half of the 14th century. Sometime around the late 1220s, Simon was also granted the land Csenke in Esztergom County (laid near present-day Mužla, Slovakia) by Andrew II. He also bought Besenyő (present-day Pöttsching, Austria). By the 1230s, Simon belonged to the king's innermost circle. He served as ispán of Győr County from 1232 to 1234 (or 1235). Simon performed diplomatic mission to the Holy See in 1232, when the king complained against the interdict of Hungary. imon was also among those barons, who swore to the oath of Bereg in September 1233.
When Béla IV ascended the Hungarian throne in 1235, Simon – unlike many barons – avoided imprisonment or fall out of favor. When the Mongols invaded Hungary in the spring of 1241, Simon and Bertrand (it is possible he arrived to Hungary not long before) participated in the disastrous Battle of Mohi on 11 April 1241. Subsequently, Simon was among those barons of noblemen, who organized the armed resistance against the Mongols in 1241–1242. He successfully defended the citadel of Esztergom against the invaders in January 1242. Following the siege of Esztergom, Simon and Bertrand have completed diplomatic missions several times throughout the year 1242 on behalf of Béla IV in order to seek military assistance and financial aid against the Mongols. The brothers were granted several lands from the king simultaneously, Gadundorf, Zolonta (present-day a borough of Okoč, Slovakia), Pucyn and Kesző. Béla also entrusted the brothers to populate, cultivate and develop these lands, whose population has fled or died during the Mongol invasion. In addition to landholdings, Bertrand was made ispán of Szolgagyőr (Galgóc) royal castle (ispánate) within Nyitra County in 1243 (present-day ruins in Hlohovec, Slovakia). Bertrand participated in the Battle of the Leitha River on 15 June 1246, where he was captured and imprisoned. He was released after a while. He was granted three villages called "Család", present-day Csapod, Hövej and Pusztacsalád. Around November 1250, Béla IV sent Simon to the Holy See in order to deliver his famous "Tartar letter" to Pope Innocent IV. The Hungarian monarch sought assistance from the pope against a planned new Mongol invasion.
Simon had two sons, Simon (II) and Michael, who first appeared in contemporary documents in the 1270s. The Nagymartoni family, which flourished until 1446, descended from the two sons of Simon.Engel: Genealógia (Bajóti, Nagymartoni, Fraknói) Bertrand married a French noblewoman Ahalyz (or Elizabeth), who was a former lady-in-waiting for Queen Yolanda, the second spouse of King Andrew II. Bertrand became her third husband; formerly she was a widow of Hungarian lords Batiz Negol then Solomon Atyusz. Their marriage produced an unidentified daughter, who married Osl (III) from the gens (clan) Osl. They were progenitors of the Ostfi (Ostffy) de Asszonyfalva noble family and Osl inherited Csapod and Pusztacsalád.Engel: Genealógia (Genus Osl 3. Ostfi [de Asszonyfalva] branch) After Ahalyz's death, Bertrand married for a second time. His widow was still alive in 1302.
Heyday
Since the 1270s, Simon (II) and Michael acquired several lands in Western Transdanubia along the border with the Duchy of Austria. They bought Kövesd for 300 silver marks, Bogyoszló (present-day Deutschkreutz, Austria), Gorbolnok, seven portions in Zillingtal (present-day Austria), Péternémeti (present-day a borough of Kobersdorf in Austria), Sikrems and Ikka, all in Sopron County along the river Leitha. Simon and Michael built fortified stone castles in their ancient estates Nagymarton in Sopron County and Bajót in Esztergom County sometime in the 1270–1280s. Simon served as ispán of Bars County from 1277 to 1278. Since the 1280s, along with other noble families in the region, Simon and Michael were forced to enter the service of the powerful Kőszegi family, which gradually extended their influence over Western Transdanubia, including Sopron County. When Albert I, Duke of Austria launched a massive military campaign ("Güssing Feud"; ) against the Kőszegis and their allies, the Austrian besieged and captured Nagymarton in May 1289.
Andrew III, with the support of the Kőszegis, ascended the Hungarian throne in 1290, he promised to recover the occupied castles and lands from Austria. In 1291, Andrew III invaded Austria, forcing Albert to withdraw his garrisons from the towns and fortresses, including Nagymarton, that he had captured two years before. Both Simon and Michael participated in the campaign. The Peace of Hainburg, which concluded the war, was signed on 26 August 1291. The peace treaty prescribed the destruction of the fortresses that Albert of Austria had seized from the Kőszegis and his allies. Simon put up with it and handed the fort of Nagymarton over to the king's officials. By 1294, the castle was demolished. To compensate for the loss of Nagymarton, Simon bought the castle of Kabold (present-day Kobersdorf, Austria) in early 14th century from the Austrian owner, who acquired the fort after the "Güssing Feud" (although, the original proprietors Stephen II then Peter III Csák laid claim).
From his marriage with an unidentified noble lady, Simon (II) had three children. The eldest one Paul (I) rose to the highest of the family members, when he served as Judge royal for two decades, from 1328 to 1349. Lawrence functioned as ispán of Zaránd County between 1332 and 1338, the "German branch" of the Nagymartonis (later Fraknóis) descended from him. Simon's only daughter Clara married the military leader Alexander Köcski, Paul's predecessor in the position of Judge royal.
Michael and his wife, an unidentified Austrian noblewoman, had five sons and a daughter. Unlike their cousins, his sons did not run into a bright career, probably due to their relatively early death. John (I) is mentioned only once in 1307, when – together with his cousin Paul (I) – bought Péli (today a borough of Bajót) from the sons of a certain Halifa. Bartholomew (I) – together with Paul (I) – bought a portion along with half of a tower in Schattendorf in 1312. His familiares lived in the estates Tord and Keych near Lake Neusiedl (Fertő) in 1318. Andrew (or Endurl) was a royal squire. Together with his cousins (Paul and Lawrence) and brother Nicholas (I), he was granted the duty of Kövesd and the estate Pomogy in Sopron County (present-day Pamhagen, Austria) in 1320 by Charles I of Hungary. Four years later, in 1324, Paul (I), Lawrence, Nicholas (I) and Denis were granted the land Alramus along the river Leitha for his services in Charles' unification war. Among the sons of Michael, only Nicholas I (or Nykul) had a descendant, Nicholas (III) "the Hungarian" from his wife Margaret, daughter of Otto von Cheyawe. By the time of the marriage, only Denis had given a guarantee for her dowry. It is plausible his brothers deceased by then. Michael also had a daughter Margaret, who married John (I) Szabari from the gens (clan) Hahót. The Szabari family became extinct in the 1370s.Engel: Genealógia (Genus Hahót 2., Buzád branch)