Maurice II Pok
Maurice II was born into the gens (clan) Pok, which possessed landholdings in Győr County in the westernmost part of Hungary.
His father was Maurice I, the earliest known member of the kindred, who performed judicial activity in the court of Andrew II of Hungary and was elevated from the status of royal servants to the upper elite of the Hungarian nobility within a single generation.
The eldest one was Nicholas, ancestor of the Meggyesi and Báthory families, who held positions in the royal court since the 1270s and acquired extensive landholdings and estates in the area between the rivers Tisza and Szamos (Someș), becoming one of the so-called oligarchs, who ruled de facto independently their dominion during the era of feudal anarchy by the end of the 13th century.
The younger sons – Maurice III, Stephen I and Dominic – were mentioned only once in 1280 when they were excommunicated due to their involvement in the sack of Veszprém four years earlier.
[8] His earliest activity was recorded by the royal charter of Béla IV, issued in January 1246, regarding the events of the first Mongol invasion of Hungary, which took place five years earlier.
[8] After the catastrophic defeat, Béla IV and his royal companion – including Maurice – fled to the coast of the Adriatic Sea, where the monarch resided until the withdrawal of the Mongols in the next year.
[7] As a reward for his faithful service, Maurice was granted the castle of Fülek (present-day Fiľakovo, Slovakia) and its accessories, altogether seven villages, by Béla IV in January 1246; the fort previously was confiscated from Fulco Kacsics, who committed serious crimes during the Mongol invasion and thereafter.
[8] According to the donation letter, Maurice had to pay 300 marks or hand over one third part of the landholdings to Stephen Báncsa, Archbishop of Esztergom due to Fulco's former plundering attacks which caused severe damage to the archdiocese, including the devastation of the village Hatvan near Fülek Castle.
Maurice's donations, including port and trade duties at Mórichida, to his new abbey covered the southwest corner of the Pok's landholdings along the right bank of the Rába river.
[12] Fulfilling the last testament of his deceased wife, Maurice donated the tenth part of the river duty at Drávaszentgyörgy to the Premonstratensian friars of Mórichida in 1267, in order to redound her spiritual salvation.
[19] Beside the place of his origin, Maurice acquired lands and estates in various regions of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 1250s, including Nyitra County, Transylvania and Slavonia, consequently he did not own a single coherent and extensive lordship.
[22] Maurice also bought the Vatasomlyó lordship (present-day Șimleu Silvaniei, Romania) in the region of Szilágyság (Sălaj) in 1258; this landholding in the northern part of Transylvania became the main basis of his son Nicholas' oligarchic domain by the end of the 13th century.
Maurice and his brothers successfully defended the fortress; they ever erected a tower and other buildings in the upper castle ("in castro superiori") at their own expense.
[3] Maurice's potential active political and military involvement in the 1260s civil war between Béla IV and his eldest son and heir Duke Stephen is uncertain.
