Stephen Kórógyi (, ; 1340 – 26 March 1397) was a Hungarian baron and military leader in the second half of the 14th century, who served as Ban of Macsó from 1382 to 1385 and from 1394 to 1397. He was an influential partisan of Queen Mary and King Sigismund during the 1380s' internal conflicts in Hungary. He actively participated in the establishment of the first defense system against the Ottoman Empire.
Early life Stephen (I) originated from the Kórógyi family, which possessed lands in southern Transdanubia and northern Slavonia, primarily around the town Osijek. He was born in the late 1330s or early 1340s, since he was still a minor in 1352, but in 1358 he already appears as an independent acting person. He was the only known son of Philip (VI) and his unidentified second wife. His half-brothers were Philip (VIII), Ladislaus (IV) and Lawrence (II).Engel: Genealógia (Kórógyi family)
His father Philip (VI) died in 1350 or 1351. In the latter year, King Louis I appointed a royal committee to complete the settlement of Philip's inheritance, which was divided into three parts between Philip (VIII), Ladislaus (IV), and the still minor Stephen (I) – the latter's interests were represented by Philip's widow, i.e. his second wife. The widow had to commit herself to supporting the child Stephen from his part of the income; if she remarried, this part, along with the associated burdens, would revert to Stephen's siblings; and the deceased's family archives were left in the possession of his older sons, since they were the first to have the means. However, since the parties did not submit to these provisions, a new agreement was established on 20 January 1352, at the court of Palatine Nicholas Zsámboki: this time it was decided that Philip's estates, namely Samatovci (Szombattelek), Osijek, Nádasd, Koprivna and Csapa, would be divided into three parts; one part, with Philip's house and buildings in Samatovci, would be owned by his widow and Stephen until the latter became fully fledged and could share it with his brothers; the archives would go to Philip and Ladislaus, with the stipulation, however, that they would make it available to Stephen if necessary. This agreement came into effect since the three brothers jointly purchased their father's portion of the Osijek estate from Guillaume de La Jugie, provost of Titel in 1353. The three brothers were involved in a series of lawsuits against the Cikádor Abbey (in Bátaszék) over the port and market duties in Osijek throughout from 1351 to 1353. The Kórógyi family tried to appropriate this income, but the courts forced them to return it (only the customs duties remained from the Osijek taxes).
Stephen reached adulthood by 1358, when his relative Philip (VII) from the family's Szeglak branch defended his estates and land portions in Baranya and Valkó counties before the cathedral chapter of Pécs against the aspirations of Stephen, who did not hesitate to unlawfully seize them.
The queens' partisan No information about Kórógyi's activities has survived in the following decades. He served as Master of the doorkeepers from 1381 to 1382, during the last regnal year of Louis I. In this capacity, he also acted as Steward of the Royal Household. After the young Queen Mary ascended the Hungarian throne following her father's death in 1382, Kórógyi's influence and political career soared. He belonged to that baronial league which centered around Palatine Nicholas I Garai and Bishop Bálint Alsáni and supported the aspirations of Mary and her mother, queen dowager Elizabeth against their rivals, who were unwilling to defer to a woman and objected to Mary's accession, maintaining that the lawful heir to the throne was King Charles III of Naples, the only remaining male member of the Capetian House of Anjou. Kórógyi was installed as Ban of Macsó, the southern border province of the kingdom, following Mary's coronation in the autumn of 1382. Beside that, he also administered Bács, Baranya, Bodrog, Syrmia and Valkó counties as part of his dignity's honour.
John of Palisna, Prior of Vrana, rose up in open rebellion against the rule of Mary and her mother in the spring of 1383. It is plausible that Kórógyi was involved in that royal army, which marched to Croatia and laid siege to Vrana, forcing John of Palisna to flee to Bosnia. Upon his request, Queen Mary, with the consent of Elizabeth, donated the lands of the rebellious John of Palisna – including his namesake estate Paližna – laid near Vukovar in Križevci County in Slavonia to Stephen Kórógyi and his sons – John (III), Ladislaus (VI) and Philip (IX) – in July 1384, citing his merits and loyalty, and of his late brothers. Queen Mary styled Kórógyi as a "baron" in her royal charter, reflecting his high social status in the royal court.
After Charles III of Naples stabilized his rule in Southern Italy by late 1384, a formal group centered around John Horvat and his brother, Paul, Bishop of Zagreb, was established in Hungary which supported his claim to Hungary. At the same time, Mary's neglected fiancé, Sigismund tried to persuade the queen mother to consent to his marriage to Mary and his coronation as con-monarch, but she refused him. The queens and their supporters initiated negotiations with the representatives of the opposition, but no reconciliation was reached at their meeting in Požega in the spring of 1385. Kórógyi also participated in the meeting, where the Hungarian nobles decided to break off Mary's engagement with Sigismund in order to preserve peace. Kórógyi supported Mary's engagement with Louis of France in May 1385. However, events accelerated, the Horvats and their allies formally offered the crown to Charles III of Naples and invited him to Hungary in August. Charles landed at Senj in Dalmatia in September 1385 and marched to Zagreb. Their army formally occupied the southern provinces of the realm, including the Banate of Macsó, taking control over the area. Kórógyi was dismissed as ban and was replaced by John Horvat, who, however, had already used the title arbitrarily since at least May 1385.
Kórógyi remained an influential partisan of the queens during the brief reign of Charles II, who was crowned king on the last day of 1385. At the instigation of Queen Elizabeth and Nicholas Garai, a successful assassination attempt was carried out against Charles in February 1386. Mary was restored to the throne, with her mother ruling in her name. However, the Horvat brothers rose up in open rebellion on behalf of the murdered king's son, Ladislaus of Naples. They ransacked and seized Požega, Valkó and Syrmia counties and occupied the territory of the Banate of Macsó. In the spring of 1386, the queens ordered Kórógyi to gather an army and annihilate the Horvats' domain. Kórógyi's troops marched into the southern province of the kingdom and defeated the army of Ladislaus Horvat, which was also supported by auxiliary forces sent by King Tvrtko I of Bosnia and Prince Lazar of Serbia, in several battles, capturing the forts Belgrade, Kulpin (Kölpény) and Bitva. However, the queens' rule in the entire banate failed to consolidate, as the military fortunes soon turned: Kórógyi, who was then fighting only at the head of his own banderium and was entrusted with the defense of the region, was defeated by the arriving John of Palisna together with the Horvat brothers, allegedly in superior force, and forced him back to the left bank of the Sava. In retaliation, the Horvat forces, which also recruited mercenaries, destroyed and looted the landholdings of Kórógyi and other supporters of the queens in Požega and Valkó counties. Osijek was also attacked and looted by the pro-Ladislaus neighboring lords, including Kórógyi's relative, Ladislaus (V) from the family's Szeglak branch, and Sigismund Nekcsei. While the enemy was already considering crossing the Drava, Kórógyi received military reinforcements in the person of the queens' other barons. Their joint army successfully routed the Horvat forces near the town Požega along the Drava.
Queen Elizabeth believed that her daughter's mere presence would help calm the opposition in Slavonia and Croatia. It is likely that the royal court significantly overestimated Kórógyi's victory over the rebels. Accompanied by Nicholas Garai and a modest following, including Kórógyi, Elizabeth and Mary set out for Đakovo in mid-July 1386. Croatian historian Ive Mažuran considered that the royal entourage crossed the Drava at Osijek, where the Kórógyis accommodated them. Elizabeth had seriously misjudged the situation. On 25 July 1386, they were ambushed en route and attacked by John Horvat, John of Palisna and their retainers near Gorjani (Gara). Their small entourage failed to fight off the attackers. They fought the attackers, but all were massacred or captured. Nicholas Garai and Blaise Forgách (Charles' assassin) were killed by the rebels and their heads were sent to Charles's widow Margaret, while the queens were imprisoned in the bishop of Zagreb's castle of Gomnec, and later the Novigrad Castle on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Stephen Kórógyi was among those nobles, who were captured and transferred to the fort Počitelj in the Lika region, which was a stronghold of John of Palisna.
Sigismund's baron Kórógyi was held in captivity until May 1387. During this time, significant changes took place in Hungary; The barons of the realm installed Sigismund of Luxembourg as regent. In January 1387, he invaded Slavonia, but could not defeat the rebels. In the same month, John Horvat's henchmen strangled Queen Elizabeth in Mary's presence. Sigismund was crowned king in March. Kórógyi was liberated, when Sigismund's supporter, Ivan V Krk besieged and captured the fort of Počitelj in May 1387. Kórógyi swore loyalty to the new monarch and joined the royal campaign which aimed to expel the rebels from Slavonia. From June, he led the royal army in battles against John Horvat in Baranya and Slavonia, and then defeated the rebels at Pobosuć. During the fighting, he captured several rebel leaders, Berislav of Palisna, Ladislaus Szeglaki (his relative), and Stephen "Kont" Hédervári while the remaining rebel army retreated to Bosnia.
Kórógyi became a mainstay of Sigismund's reign thereafter. He was granted the royal land Cseri in Temes County (laid near present-day Sacoșu Turcesc, Romania) from Sigismund already in August 1387. There, Kórógyi's descendants built a castle in the upcoming decades. King Sigismund donated the castle of Harsány (Szársomlyó) in Baranya County for his merits to Kórógyi in 1388. During this act, he was also granted the estate Baranyavár (present-day Branjin Vrh, Croatia) with its fortified manor. Kórógyi served as ispán of Keve and Krassó counties in 1389. Kórógyi participated in the royal campaign against Moravian Serbia in the autumn of 1389, which later proved to be first stage of the wider Hungarian–Ottoman War. He was present during the sieges of Borač és Čestin; both forts laid near present-day Kragujevac. Following its capture, the king entrusted Borač to Peter Gyulaházi, Kórógyi's familiaris. During the 1389 campaign, Sigismund donated the estate Németi (present-day a borough of Szalánta) with its accessories (including portions in Nemetin, Asszonyfalva, Kovászd, Mocsár and Szilköz) in Baranya County in exchange for Paližna to Kórógyi and his three elder sons, after the king confiscated them from the disgraced Lack de Szántó family.