[4] Garai launched, in 1369, a punitive expedition against Vladislav I of Wallachia who had rebelled against King Louis I and defeated a royal army led by Nicholas Lackfi, voivode of Transylvania.

[1] The 17th-century historian, Mavro Orbin relates that Garai supported Lazar Hrebeljanović of Serbia and Tvrtko I of Bosnia against their opponents, Nikola Altomanović.

[9] At the side of the eleven-year-old monarch, her mother, Elizabeth acted as regent, but the kingdom was in fact administered by Palatine Garai and Cardinal Demetrius.

[9] Taking advantage of his preeminent position at the royal court, Garai arranged the imprisonment of his last powerful opponent, Peter Cudar, the governor of Galicia by accusing him of treachery.

[10] One party, led by John of Palisna, the Hospitaller prior of Vrana openly turned against the queen and proposed the crown to Charles III of Naples, the last male member of the royal house.

[9] A second group, led by the judge royal, Nicholas Szécsi and the Lackfis supported Sigismund of Luxembourg, the margrave of Brandenburg who had been engaged to the young queen.

[12] Nicholas I Garai is most famous because he courageously defended his cousin and sovereign, Queen Mary of Hungary, and her mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia, from the Horvat (Horváti) brothers (John and Paul) who were sent to kidnap them.

With arrows protruding from his chest, breaking them off so as not to hinder him, dismounting his horse the gallant Miklos delivered sabre blows on the attackers, protecting the Queens by fighting beside the royal carriage.