Alexander Köcski


Alexander Köcski was an influential Hungarian nobleman and soldier, who served as Judge royal from 1324 until his death.
Initially, as a familiaris and possibly distant relative of the powerful Kőszegis, he did not involve in the conflicts of civil war which characterized the Hungarian kingdom in the first two decades of the 14th century. Ultimately, he took an oath of allegiance to Charles I of Hungary in 1316, therefore his lands were plundered and many of his relatives were massacred. Following that Köcski was a dedicated military general of the king in his war against the oligarchs. He belonged to Charles's "new aristocracy", who supported the king's efforts to restore royal power after half a century of feudal anarchy.

Family

According to his 19th-century biographer Antal Pór, Alexander Köcski was born into a family of castle warrior origin, which resided in Köcsk, Vas County. For their military service, King Ladislaus IV granted nobility to the family in 1273. Based on Alexander's seal, the Köcski family was presumably related to the local powerful Kőszegi family, and was also a scion of the gens Héder, at least from maternal side. Historian Pál Engel, however, considered that Alexander Köcski individually adopted his seal following his decisive victory over his ardent enemies, the Kőszegis, as a prominent general in Charles' unification war against the oligarchic domains.
His parents were comes Alexander I Köcski and a certain Venis from an unidentified family. His father had a brother Thomas I, whose branch lived until the early 15th century. His grandmother was Dominika from the neighboring Káld. Alexander II had a sister, who married Ladislaus Nádasd, a member of his clan's Gerse branch. Their only daughter was Margaret, who married Paul Magyar, the first royal treasurer in the Kingdom of Hungary. Alexander married twice; the name of his first wife is unknown. His second spouse was Clara Nagymartoni, the sister of Paul Nagymartoni, his immediate successor in the position of Judge royal. Their only known child was George, who married a noblewoman from the Szabari family, and died without heirs sometimes between 1357 and 1361.

Military career

Alexander Köcski was first mentioned by contemporary records in 1309. He bought a land in the village of Sár from his maternal relative Marcellus Káldi in 1312, where he already possessed lands. During that time, he was considered a familiaris of the Kőszegi family, who de facto ruled significant parts of Transdanubia, including Vas County, independently from the royal power. Therefore, he did not participate any military campaign during the era of Interregnum, when a civil war between various claimants to the throne—Charles of Anjou, Wenceslaus of Bohemia, and Otto of Bavaria—followed Andrew's death and lasted for seven years from 1301 to 1308.
on a contemporary depiction, about 1334
When Charles launched a campaign against the Kőszegis in Transdanubia and Slavonia in the first half of 1316, Köcski and his kinship took an oath of allegiance to the king. Andrew Kőszegi, the head of the family responded it with a cruel revenge: he sent his familiaris Solomon the Red with a marauding army to Gerse, where Köcski's brother-in-law Ladislaus Nádasd and his three servants were killed in the local church, which was burnt down too. Ladislaus's brother Denis barricaded himself in the manor along with his wife, Ladislaus' widow and six other relatives, including their children. The building was set on fire by the Kőszegi troops, where all but one of Köcski's relatives burned to death. Only his niece, the child Margaret managed to survive the massacre and fled the village with her nanny. In the same time, Köcski's lands and mills were also plundered and destroyed. Köcski left Vas County and joined Charles' royal army as a penniless nobleman, who thereafter could hope the recovery of lost family landholdings only from a successful restoration of the strong royal power.
When Stefan Uroš II Milutin captured the Hungarian-proxy ruler Vladislav and invaded the Syrmia, Charles I launched a counter-campaign across the river Száva and seized the fortress of Macsó in the winter of 1317. Köcski and his servants, the Gencsi family participated in the campaign, where Köcski was seriously injured by falling rocks during the siege. Former historiography put this campaign to the year of 1319, but Pál Engel corrected the date, distinguishing two campaigns in a direction to Syrmia. By 1318, Köcski was made castellan of Pannonhalma, following its castle was recovered from the Kőszegis in the previous year. He held the position until 1323. On 3 May 1318, when Köcski was first referred to as castellan, he was granted the lands of Sebes, Takács and Egered in Sopron and Győr counties by Charles I, as a compensation for his earlier heavy losses. 1319 was a turbulent year for Köcski; following the rebellion of Andrew Kőszegi, Alexander Köcski and Nicholas Felsőlendvai led a royal campaign against the Kőszegi dominion in the first half of 1319. Fulfilling his vengeance, Köcski seized the Kőszegis' six fortresses within months; he overcame Andrew Kőszegi's army at Szalafő, also defeating the Austrian auxiliary troops, thereafter besieged and captured the forts of Kőszeg and Kapronca. During the siege of Kőszeg, Köcski was wounded by an arrow. After the fall of Andrew Kőszegi, his relative, the pro-Charles Nicholas II Kőszegi was granted the ispánates of Zala and Vas. However, by early 1321, he became disgraced too at the royal court. Alexander Köcski and Lawrence Csornai again led a royal campaign in Transdanubia. At first, they captured Pölöske. Following its fall, the army seized Kabold, Rohonc and Kanizsa. It is plausible that the two generals also occupied the castles of Tátika and Szigliget in the same time. Nicholas Kőszegi could retain only Léka.
Köcski and other castellans, for instance Alexander Ozorai, led a Hungarian auxiliary contingent, which consisted of 2200 Hungarian cavalry and 4000 mounted Cuman archers, to support Frederick the Fair and the Austrian army in the war for the throne of Germany against his Bavarian rival Louis of Wittelsbach. In the Battle of Mühldorf, which took place on 28 September 1322, the Austrians suffered a heavy defeat, while Frederick was captured. During the battle, the Hungarian troops were neglected and sent to a secluded hill. Köcski lost only a few dozen people, while more than 1000 nobles from Austria were captured or killed. For his loyal military services in the previous campaigns, Köcski was granted Nagyécs and Pázmánd in Győr County in 1323, which act was confirmed by the cathedral chapter of Győr on 31 October, still in that year. The death of Matthew Csák in March 1321 resulted the collapse of his oligarchic domain within months. One of his unlawfully acquired castles, Várna in Trencsén County was returned to its original owners, the Zólyom kinship. However, Charles I took the castle back to royal property in early 1323. Following that Köcski was made castellan of the fortress, mentioned in that capacity in April 1323. Sometimes after 1321, Charles also donated the castle of Beszterce to Köcski, who was first referred to its castellan in early 1324, few months before his appointment as Judge royal. Thereafter the castle was considered an income accessory to that dignity until 1382.

Judge royal

Following a few months period of vacancy, Köcski elevated into the position of Judge royal in the week between 26 September and 3 October 1324, replacing Lampert Hermán, who died in office in July 1324. Köcski's first known charter in that capacity was issued on 12 October. 141 documents were preserved from his tenure of three and a quarter years, which reflects the increasing professionalism of the judiciary system. In comparison, his predecessor Lampert Hermán issued 161 charters during his decade-long term. Köcski and his court resided in Visegrád, after Charles I moved his capital from Temesvár to the centre of his kingdom in 1323, when he defeated the last powerful oligarchs. Unlike his predecessors, he did not use the title of "magister" in his official documents. Instead, he was styled as "comes Alexander, judge of the king's court". His jurisdiction covered the entire kingdom, including its southern counties, Syrmia and Požega counties. However, his judicial competence over Transylvania had been abolished in 1324; he acted there in various lawsuit with "special royal license". For instance, he chaired an ad litem court, which made a judgment on a case of ownership of Felvinc in favour of the Esztergom Chapter against the Székelys of Kézd Seat.
His deputy, the vice-judge royal was a certain Peter, son of Moch during Köcski's full term. One of his notaries was Paul Ugali, who later has elevated into higher positions and dignities in the upcoming decades. A certain Michael acted as Köcski's pristaldus in 1326, while Nicholas Gősfi served as a collector of the judicial fines in 1325. Köcski also participated in the works of other judicial courts. Several documents confirm that Köcski and his court established a harmonious, flexible and professional relationship with the royal chancellery. He remained a faithful confidant of Charles. He was granted the village of Pápoc and its associated lands, Csatabér and Elk by Charles in 1325. He donated the land of Egered to his second wife, Clara Nagymartoni in 1326. In the same year, he also donated Sár to his some relatives, and later the neighboring Mihályfölde to his familiares, the Sári family. In December 1326, he expanded his possessions of Pázmánd and Nagyécs with cultivated queenly lands. According to a summary from 1327, Köcski was a landowner in Vas, Sopron, Veszprém and Győr counties.
Continuing the method of his predecessors in the early 14th century, the usage of material evidences during the litigation processes became widespread under Köcski's term, pushing back those traditional practices of justice, like trials by ordeal and combat. By Köcski's last years as Judge royal, majority of his charters, which closed a court case, consisted method of evidence by using previously issued charters and documents. This also resulted the increased number of out-of-court settlements in these years. In many situations, Köcski ordered these out-of-court settlements for the plaintiff and defendant, who could continue the litigation after the payment of court surcharge.
When the Babonići and the weakened Kőszegis rose up in open rebellion in 1327, Ban Mikcs Ákos and Alexander Köcski defeated them. During the military campaign, Köcski seized Sárvár, Németújvár and two other forts in Kőszeg from the rebellious John Kőszegi. For his merits, Köcski was appointed ispán of Vas County and castellan of Sárvár in the summer of 1327. He was responsible for integrating the rest of the Kőszegi domain to the royal power. Charles provided him broad power in the redistribution of lands to the loyal local nobility and he had the mandatory of royal grace to the Kőszegis' former familiares. Köcski fell ill by mid-December 1327. He compiled his last will and testament on his deathbed in the presence of Archbishop Ladislaus Jánki, Master of the treasury Demetrius Nekcsei and Ban Mikcs Ákos. He pledged some of his lands to his orphan niece, Margaret Nádasd. His property was inherited by his only son George and cousin Nicholas. Köcski was still alive on 28 January 1328, but died by 9 February. Ten days later, Charles issued a document on the wedding and morning gift of Köcski's widow Clara Nagymartoni. The majority of his lands were ultimately possessed by Paul Magyar after series of land contracts and purchases in 1332.