Gregory Bicskei

According to the Chronicon Posoniense ("Chronicle of Pressburg"; present-day Bratislava, Slovakia), his father was Botond, which fact was also confirmed by a letter of Pope Benedict XI.

Beforehand, Jesuit scholar György Pray incorrectly considered that Gregory originated from the gens Koppán (or Katapán), while Nándor Knauz also shared this opinion in his work Monumenta ecclesiae Strigoniensis.

[1] Gregory was first mentioned by a contemporary record in September 1274, when a certain noble, John Csapoli, declaring that he has no legitimate heir, handed over a portion of his estate Csabdi as a morning-gift to his wife, Botond's sister.

[1] It is possible he is identical with that Gregory, a canon of Székesfehérvár, who represented his king Stephen V in a court of arbitration during a conflict between Philip of Spanheim, Patriarch of Aquileia and the Counts of Gorizia in 1271.

[7] Benedict Rád, the Bishop of Veszprém nominated Gregory as his legal representative in the lawsuit over the tithe of the three villages of Marót between the diocese and the Dömös Chapter in May 1295.

[9] Before that they resided in the royal court of King James II of Aragon for a while, where they acted as envoys of Andrew III, who unsuccessfully tried to establish an alliance against the Angevins.

[10] As a result, Hunyadi considered Gregory was elected as provost only after his return to Hungary, sometime in the first half of 1297 (a new guardian named Andronicus also appeared in this dignity in that year).

[11] Following his elevation as provost-elect, Lodomer, the incumbent Archbishop of Esztergom, personally wrote a letter to Pope Boniface VIII in order to confirm Bicskei's election.

[12] As Lodomer reported in the letter, Bicskei, who "was of great origin and had proficiency in canon law", was unable to make a personal journey to Rome because of the "poverty of the church [Székesfehérvár]" and the "intrigues of his relatives".

[14] In that capacity, for instance, Bicskei formulated that royal charter on 2 November 1297, in which Andrew III donated Pozsony County to his spouse Queen Agnes, the daughter of Albert I of Germany.

[15] Historians agree that Bicskei wanted to reach the papal confirmation of his election as soon as possible, as a result he turned against Andrew and his courtiers, and became a strong advocate of the claim of Charles of Anjou to the Hungarian throne, who enjoyed Pope Boniface's support.

[5] With this step, Bicskei intended to disrupt the unity of the Hungarian prelates, who were the strongest pillars of Andrew's reign, but the suffragan bishops remained faithful to the monarch, with the leadership of John Hont-Pázmány, Archbishop of Kalocsa.

[22] Other historians argue the papal rejection of his confirmation prove that Pope Boniface represented a neutral and cautious stance in the struggle between Andrew III and Charles of Anjou.

[24] Taking canon law into account, Gábor Thoroczkay emphasizes that Bicskei temporarily administered the archdiocese on behalf of the pope, and, consequently, he was not consecrated, which later became an important consideration in judging the legality of Charles' first coronation.

In the same time Andrew III sent two envoys, Paul, provost of Kalocsa, and Henry Balog, a royal councillor of the inner council, to the court of Esztergom to reconcile with the rebellious archbishop,[27] but, by then, Bicskei resided in Transdanubia under the protection of the Kőszegis.

[28] As a delegated justice of the pope, Bicskei judged over the lawsuit between Buda and the Dominican nuns of Rabbits' Island regarding local fair duties in December 1299.

As the other pretenders, Wenceslaus and Otto were allowed to enter the settlement, historian Attila Zsoldos considered the magistrate of Fehérvár refused entry because of the doubtful legitimacy of Bicskei's status, whose position of archbishop-elect have not been universally recognized in Hungary by then.

Some historians, including Gyula Kristó and Elemér Mályusz claimed, that chapter of the chronicle was written by a pro-Přemyslid Minorite friar, while philologist János Horváth argued the unconfirmed election of Bicskei was considered "invalid" in the eyes of his contemporaries.

There he visited the castle of Boldogkő and successfully convinced the powerful oligarch Amadeus Aba to support Charles in the emerging conflict, while he also dealt with the possession cases of the provostry of Szepes (today Spišská Kapitula, Slovakia), which was vacated not long ago.

[39] The pope instructed Gregory Bicskei to support him in fulfilling his mandate, nevertheless his name is never appeared in the accompaniment of Boccasini following that, which also shows the permanence of his political isolation.

Historian Gergely Kiss argued convincingly against the authenticity of the diploma and he regarded it as the private action of Bicskei who thus tried to gain room for maneuver in vain.

On 7 September 1303, an army led by King Philip of France's minister Guillaume de Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna attacked Boniface at his palace.