Mark I Csák

Mark (I) Csák
Ispán of Hont
Reign	1247
Predecessor	Lucas
Successor	Peter Balassa
Issue Peter II Stephen II a daughter
Noble family	gens Csák
Father	Matthew I
Mother	Margaret N
Died	after 1259

Mark (I) from the kindred Csák (Hungarian: Csák nembeli (I) Márk; d. after 1259)^[1] was a Hungarian noble, who served as ispán (comes) of Hont County in 1247.^[2]

He was born into the Trencsén branch of the gens Csák as the eldest son of Matthew I and Margaret from an unidentified family.^[3] According to a royal charter in 1259, Mark owned Lednic, Upper Hungary (today: Lednica, Slovakia), where he built a castle. The name of the village was first mentioned here as "Lednyche". The charter refers to him as comes Mark de Lednyche.^[4]

Mark's descendants remained landowners near the ancient estate of the genus, Csákvár, while his brothers, Stephen I, Matthew II and Peter I, as well as the latter's sons, Matthew III and Csák acquired possessions in the north-western counties of the Kingdom of Hungary, where later Matthew III, as the most powerful oligarch, ruled de facto independently of the king and usurped royal prerogatives on his realm.^[5]

References

1. Zsoldos 2011, p. 327.
2. Zsoldos 2011, p. 159.
3. Kristó 1986, p. 31.
4. Engel: Genealógia (Genus Csák 6., Trencsén branch 1.)
5. Kristó 1986, p. 50.

Sources

• (Hungarian) Kristó, Gyula (1986). Csák Máté ("Matthew Csák"). Magyar História, Gondolat. Budapest. ISBN 963-281-736-2
• (Hungarian) Zsoldos, Attila (2011). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1000–1301 ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1000–1301"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest. ISBN 978-963-9627-38-3