John Csák
John had numerous illustrious close relatives, including his second cousin Ugrin Csák, the de facto ruler of Upper Syrmia in the early 14th century.
For his court service, John was granted the castle of Visk (or Wysk) and its surrounding lands in Hont County (present-day Vyškovce nad Ipľom in Slovakia) on 25 April 1296.
Initially, John supported Wenceslaus in the war of succession, [10] despite that Ugrin Csák, also from the clan's Újlak branch, was considered the strongest domestic pillar of Charles' dominion in the early years.
John captured and sent to the court of Archbishop Thomas of Esztergom those local pro-Wenceslaus clergymen, who even excommunicated Pope Boniface VIII prior to that, and were labelled as heretics.
[12] Historian Pál Engel considered the dignity of Judge royal was vacant during the period of the Interregnum, at least since 1301, when the Kingdom of Hungary had disintegrated into autonomous provinces ruled by powerful oligarchs.
[13] However, majority of historians, including John Csák's biographer Ildikó Tóth accept Pál Engel's theory and consider that the position of Judge royal was in a state of vacancy for a decade, until Charles's third coronation was performed in full accordance with customary law in August 1310.
[15] According to a royal charter from the next year, he betrayed Charles I and joined to the allegiance of his distant relative, Matthew Csák, who was the most ardent enemy of the king, and ruled de facto independently the north-western counties of the kingdom.
John's motivation is unknown, but the year of 1314 saw a large-scale replacement of the former elite, when Charles decided to struggle the oligarchs' power (Palatine James Borsa was also dismissed during that time) and appointed his supporters to the dignities.
[20] As John's successor Lampert Hermán already appeared as Judge royal in a contemporary record on 29 September 1313, a scholarly debate emerged on the relevance of the aforementioned charter.
[15] In contrast, Iván Bertényi argued John Csák and Lampert Hermán simultaneously held the dignity for a time until 1315, similarly to that case, where many oligarchs were styled themselves palatines during the era of feudal anarchy.
[21] As this would be a unique solution in the history of the position, both Ildikó Tóth and Gyula Kristó refused Bertényi's theory and supported Engel's idea about the wrong date.
[21] Heretofore, John also owned (and possibly built himself) the castle of Ecseg in Nógrád County, which then became a property of Wulfing I Haschendorfer and his family (later the Szécsényis demolished the fort).
