Lawrence, son of Kemény

Lawrence, son of Kemény (Hungarian: Kemény fia Lőrinc; died after 1274) was a Hungarian influential lord and military leader in the 13th century, who held various position in the royal court since the late 1250s. He was a skilled and loyal soldier during the reign of Béla IV of Hungary. He retained his influence in the courts of Stephen V and Ladislaus IV too, representing a stable point in the government, when two baronial groups fought for the supreme power. Through his sons, he was ancestor of the Cseményi and Matucsinai noble families.

Lawrence, son of Kemény
Palatine of Hungary
Reign	1267–1270 1272 1273
Predecessor	Henry Kőszegi (1st term) Mojs (2nd term) Roland Rátót (3rd term)
Successor	Mojs (1st term) Roland Rátót (2nd & 3rd term)
Died	after 1274
Noble family	Matucsinai kinship
Issue Kemény II Nicholas
Father	Kemény I

In 1260, Konstantin Tih sent an army to attack the Banate of Severin, but the Hungarian commander, Lawrence, fought the invaders off.[1][2]

Family

Lawrence was born into a noble family, which possessed lands in southern Transdanubia, especially Baranya County. His father was Kemény (I), the first known member of the family.[3] He served as ispán of Nyitra County from 1234 to 1235, during the last years of King Andrew II of Hungary.[4]

Lawrence had two sons from his unidentified wife. Kemény (II) functioned as Master of the cupbearers in 1289 and ispán of Baranya County in the 1290s.[5] He married an unidentified daughter of Nicholas Budmér, the Master of the stewards from 1251 to 1256. They were ancestors of the Cseményi family, which flourished until the early 15th century. Lawrence's second son was Nicholas, the progenitor of the Matucsinai family, which reached its peak by the second half of the 15th century, when Gabriel Matucsinai was elected Archbishop of Kalocsa in 1471. Because of their influence, Lawrence retrospectively was also referred to as Lawrence Matucsinai (Hungarian: Matucsinai Lőrinc) by later documents.[3]

Early career

[...] In this battle, where the horse of our most liked son-in-law, the prince /Rostislav/, who have already been mentioned several times, was killed, Master Lawrence, following steadily the passion of customary faithfulness and thinking more of the life of the above-mentioned prince than his own life, gave the horse he was riding to the prince mentioned above, and he flung himself at the thick lines of the enemy exposing himself to streams of perils, which have been proven to us by the narration of the above-mentioned prince and the reports of our many followers and other trustworthy men.

— King Béla’s Charter of 13 April 1264 to Lawrence, Judge of the Royal Court and Count of Moson[6]

References

1. Fine 1994, p. 174.
2. Madgearu 2017, p. 248.
3. Engel: Genealógia (Matucsinai [Cseményi] family)
4. Zsoldos 2011, p. 175.
5. Zsoldos 2011, pp. 61, 133.
6. Kristó 2000, pp. 74–75.

Sources

• Fine, John V. A. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kristó, Gyula, ed. (2000). Középkori históriák oklevelekben (1002–1410) [Medieval Stories in Charters (1002–1410)] (in Hungarian). Szegedi Középkorász Műhely. ISBN 963-482-423-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Madgearu, Alexandru (2017). The Asanids: The Political and Military History of the Second Bulgarian Empire, 1185–1280. BRILL. ISBN 978-9-004-32501-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Markó, László (2006). A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig: Életrajzi Lexikon [Great Officers of State in Hungary from King Saint Stephen to Our Days: A Biographical Encyclopedia] (in Hungarian). Helikon Kiadó. ISBN 963-208-970-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Szőcs, Tibor (2014). A nádori intézmény korai története, 1000–1342 [An Early History of the Palatinal Institution: 1000–1342] (in Hungarian). Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Támogatott Kutatások Irodája. ISBN 978-963-508-697-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Szűcs, Jenő (2002). Az utolsó Árpádok [The Last Árpáds] (in Hungarian). Osiris Kiadó. ISBN 963-389-271-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Zsoldos, Attila (2007). Családi ügy: IV. Béla és István ifjabb király viszálya az 1260-as években [A family affair: The Conflict between Béla IV and Junior King Stephen in the 1260s] (in Hungarian). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. ISBN 978-963-9627-15-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Zsoldos, Attila (2011). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1000–1301 [Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1000–1301] (in Hungarian). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. ISBN 978-963-9627-38-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Political offices
Preceded by Mojs	Master of the horse 1258–1259	Succeeded by Herrand Héder
Preceded by Stephen Csák (?)	Ban of Severin 1260	Succeeded by Lawrence
Preceded by Henry Kőszegi	Judge royal 1262–1265	Succeeded by Ernye Ákos
	Palatine of Hungary 1267–1270	Succeeded by Mojs
Preceded by Ugrin Csák	Ban of Severin 1270	Succeeded by Panyit Miskolc
Preceded by Panyit Miskolc	Ban of Severin 1270–1272	Succeeded by Albert Ákos
Preceded by Mojs	Palatine of Hungary 1272	Succeeded by Roland Rátót
Preceded by Roland Rátót	Palatine of Hungary 1273