The Kórógyi (in Hungarian; ), initially also known as Csapai, was a medieval noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary from the early 13th century to the 1470s, which possessed estates in southern Transdanubia and northern Slavonia, primarily around the city of Osijek. The family reached its peak in the last decades of the 14th century, when several members held important functions in the royal court. Since the early 15th century, the family played a key role in defending the kingdom's southern border against the Ottoman Empire.
The Kórógyis were the first family of Hungarian origins to use the title of count in the Kingdom of Hungary. They became extinct in 1472.
Name The kinship is first referred with the suffix "de Chapa" (i.e. Csapai) in 1256, which suggests that before the construction of the Kórógy Castle (present-day ruins near Ovčara and Ivanovac, Croatia), their main residence was Csapa in Valkó County (present-day Čepin, Croatia). Since the 14th century, members of the family appear with the title "lord of Kórógy" () in many variants: de Chorogh, de Korogh, de Koroug, de Korough. Thus the family is referred to as Kórógyi and Korođski in modern Hungarian and Croatian historiography, respectively. In early 20th century, amidst striving Croatisation, there was an attempt to refer the family as "od Kruga", "Kružić" or "Koroćski" in Croatian historiography, under the mistaken assumption that the name was derived from a Slavic root, which it was not. Instead, the Kórógyis were named after their fortification of Kórógyvar (located near the village of Korođ, but actually nearer to Ivanovac), so the valid Croatian forms may include Korođvarski, Kolođvarski and Korođgradski after the name of their stronghold.
History Origin
Hungarian medieval chronicles preserved a contradictory and confused story about the origins of the Kórógyi family. The 14th-century Illuminated Chronicle says that the ancestor was a certain Keled (Cletus or Klet), who originated from the Margravate of Meissen. His offspring, Stephen, who was a son of a sister of the margrave and a certain Count Herfold, assassinated the landgrave of Thuringia during the imperial election in Frankfurt. To escape reprisals, he fled to Hungary with sixty armored knights, where King Géza II (r. 1141–1162) offered him refuge. It is possible that story is connected to the 1130 unsolved murder of Henry Raspe I, who was the brother of Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia. Most historians remain skeptical about the authenticity of the story. Historian Elemér Mályusz considered that the story was a fabrication of the mid-13th-century chronicler Ákos, who is credited with recording the origins of influential Hungarian families in the text of the chronicle. The Kórógyi family did not adopt Ákos' narration, and it did not appear in the family tradition.
In his work Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum (1280s), the chronicler Simon of Kéza modified Ákos's narrative at several points; accordingly, the Kórógyis' ancestor was a knight Geoffrey (Gottfried) from Meissen, who fled to Hungary during the reign of King Stephen III (r. 1162–1172). He was the son of the Count of Hersfeld, and he allegedly killed the landgrave of Thuringia amidst an uprising that broke out during the election of the emperor in Frankfurt. Although his enemies demanded his extradition, Stephen refused this. Simon narrates that Geoffrey led a victorious royal campaign against Bosnia. This story is also highly doubtful. There is no trace of the existence of a Count of Hersfeld family, as the town was an abbey estate, while the sequence of events described did not take place. It is possible that both Ákos and Simon mixed the event with the murder of Philip of Swabia took place in 1208, after which some of the perpetrators (relatives of Andrew II's wife) fled to Hungary. It is also not known whether a campaign against Bosnia took place under Stephen III. It is possible that, instead of the Kórógyis, the Frankói family from western Transdanubia claimed Geoffrey of Hersfeld as their ancestor, and the two chroniclers mistakenly attributed the ancestor to the Kórógyis. Charters of Géza II and Stephen III from 1156 and 1171, respectively mention some imperial knights Gottfried (Geoffrey) and Albert as expatriates, who could thus in this sense be the ancestors of the Kórógyis (or rather the Frankóis), in line with the chronicle tradition.
Genealogist Mór Wertner tried to find the historical roots of the chronicle narrative; the Counts of Gudensberg were granted advocatus position over Hersfeld Abbey in the late 11th century. Following the death of Giso IV, Count of Gudensberg (1122), both Hersfeld and Gudensberg were escheated to Henry Raspe I, who married Giso's widow and thus he was the stepfather of the minor Giso V, Count of Gudensberg, the last male member of the lineage. Wertner claimed that the young knight Geoffrey, a member of the Hersfeld family, murdered Henry because of this inheritance. After his crime took place in 1130, he fled to Hungary, where King Stephen II granted him asylum. He spent the following decades in Hungary, where he was given estates along the southern border. As an adjacent lord, he was given command to lead the campaign against the Byzantine Empire to the territory of Bosnia in 1166, when Stephen III was embroiled into war with the powerful realm. Wertner claimed that Geoffrey had a son named Keled (Cletus), whose son Gregory looted the estates of Arad Chapter in 1223. For his act he was excommunicated. Therefore, Gregory went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he made a deal with abbot Gottfried before the presence of Pope Honorius III. He possessed the estate Csebza in Temes County. Wertner claimed that this Gregory was the brother of Philip (I), who is the first known member of the Kórógyi family. Wertner's theory did not find its way into historical science.
The 16th-century Humanist scholar Miklós Istvánffy incorrectly claimed that the ancestor of the Kórógyis took part in the murder of Saint Gerard in 1046. Istvánffy's mistake persisted in Hungarian historiography for a very long time. This tradition, in fact, concerns another family with the same name.
13th century Early years Philip (I), known only by name, lived in the second half of the 12th century. He had two sons, Philip (II), Cletus, and a daughter Chen, who were old enough to have adult children by 1241. Prior to the Mongol invasion, Philip (II) died without male descendants. King Béla IV donated his estates, including Orljavac in Požega County to his brother Cletus for the latter's faithful service in the royal court. With the king's consent, Cletus bequeathed half portion of Orljavac to his son-in-law Vincent Báncsa. After Philip's daughters filed a complaint, Cletus gave them the estate in exchange for compensating Vincent with 100 marks. During the Mongol invasion took place in 1241, Cletus and Philip's daughters were perished, while Cletus' adult sons – Ladislaus (I), Philip (III) and Gregory – belonged to the royal escort of Béla IV, who fled to the Dalmatian coast to escape the pursuing Mongols. After the withdrawal of the Mongols, the lawsuit over Orljavac was settled in October 1243; Cletus' widow, Macha and her sons – Ladislaus, Philip and Gregory – declared before the cathedral chapter of Pécs that they would give up their share of the property (half portion of Orljavac) in favor of Vincent in exchange for 100 marks, and that they were ready to sell the other half to him for 60 marks. The Hungarian monarch approved the transaction in March 1244.
Béla IV confirmed all donations that he made in favor of the late Cletus to his sons in 1256, since the previous royal charters were destroyed during the Mongol invasion. For their faithful service, especially during the Mongol invasion, Ladislaus, Philip and Gregory were granted the lands Kos, Dubrava (Dombró) and Csapa in Valkó County (present-day Čepin, Croatia) by Béla IV in August 1258. These possessions were removed from the jurisdiction of the castle of Vukovar with this act. The three brothers paid the daughters' quarter to their aunt Chen in exchange for her land Szentiván (present-day a borough of Čepinski Martinci) in 1259. By that time, Chen was a widow, her late husband Peter Apor died prior to that.
First acquisitions
Philip (III) elevated into important positions in the royal court by the late 1250s. As a confidant of Queen Maria Laskarina, he served as ispán of Požega County from 1259 to 1266, and thus he plausibly supported Béla IV in the internal war against his son Duke Stephen. Simultaneously, Philip was referred to as Master of the cupbearers by royal charters in 1263. Philip also served as ispán of Valkó County – which then belonged to the realm of Béla, Duke of Slavonia – from 1265 or 1266 to 1267. Philip and his brothers built their stronghold at Kórógy (present-day Korođ, Croatia) sometime in the 1250s or 1260s; the Kórógyi family then adopted its surname ("nobiles de Korod") after the fort. Stephen V ascended the Hungarian throne following the death of his father in 1270. The new monarch sought to reconcile with Béla's former barons, who had not invested themselves heavily in the civil war. Upon the request of Cletus' sons, King Stephen V transcribed and confirmed his father's aforementioned donation regarding Kos, Dombró and Csapa in 1270, after his ascension to the Hungarian throne. It is plausible that Stephen V considered that Philip could be a key ally and mainstay in his power in Slavonia. Accordingly, Philip was appointed Master of the cupbearers. He held the dignity until the death of Stephen V in August 1272. Beside that he also administered Doboka County for a very brief period in the latter year, when the ailing monarch reorganized the government after the kidnapping of his son.
Philip lost political influence during the era of feudal anarchy, which characterized the reign of Ladislaus IV (r. 1272–1290). The Kórógyi brothers bought the estate Koromszó in Tolna County (present-day a borough of Máza in Baranya County) from Emeric Csák for 100 marks in 1276. In an unidentified year (possibly around 1275), Ladislaus, Philip and Gregory had a lawsuit against Apaj (II) Gutkeled over the rightful possession of Nezde and Kőröshegy in Somogy County (southern Balaton). Prior to 1290, the three brothers divided their inherited landholdings among themselves. When Gregory, who suffered from severe gout, made his last will and testament in that year, he bequeathed Orljavac with its castle to his only daughter Yolanda (the spouse of Ladislaus Nevnai from the gens (clan) Péc), while Kos, Apáti (Opatovac), Kórógy (with its castle), Csapa, Lippó, Zeeeya and Szava were inherited by Ladislaus and Philip, his brothers. Most of these estates were probably inherited and acquired over time. By the end of the 13th century, the Kórógyis possessed most of their lands in the lower part of the region Podravina along the river Drava. King Andrew III confirmed Gregory's last will and testament in October 1291. Yolanda and Ladislaus Nevnai were progenitors of the powerful Treutel and Garai families.