Upper nobility

In 1193, King Béla III granted Modruš County in Croatia to Bartolomej, the ancestor of the Frankopans (Frangepán) family; thenceforward, he and his descendants used the hereditary title count but no specific privileges were connected to it.

Besides the Counts Frankopan, the members of foreign ruling houses and the nobles of foreign origin who held offices in the royal administration or owned estates in the Kingdom of Hungary (e.g., Duke Ladislaus of Opole, Prince Fyodor Koriatovych, the Despot Stefan Lazarević and Count Hermann II of Celje) were the first individuals who used noble titles, but in theory, their legal status was still equal to that of the poorest members of the lesser nobility.

During the reign of King Vladislaus II, the special legal position of certain noble families was enacted and the act referred to their members as "barons" even if they were not holding any high offices at that time.

In the 9th century, the tribal federation of the nomadic Magyars (Hetumoger) was composed of seven (and later, after the Kabars had joined to it, of eight) tribes (Hungarian: törzs, Greek: phyle).

[5][6] The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos recorded that[4] These eight clans /the eight tribes/ of the Turks /the Magyars/ do not obey their own particular princes, but have a joint agreement to fight together with all earnestness and zeal upon the rivers, wheresoever war breaks out.Around 896, the Magyars invaded the Carpathian Basin and by 902, they occupied its whole territory.

[9][10] The regular raids contributed to the differentiation of the tribal society because the leaders of the military actions were entitled to reserve a higher share of the booty for themselves.

[12] The Magyars were obliged to stop their regular military actions westwards following their defeat at the Battle of Augsburg on the Lech River in 955; and in 970, the raids against the Byzantine Empire also finished.

[13] When the period of the military raids closed, the organization of the future Kingdom of Hungary commenced during the reign of Grand Prince Géza (before 972-997) who united the western parts of the Carpathian Basin under his rule.

[14] The establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary is connected to King Saint Stephen (1000/1001-1038); he defeated the (semi-)independent Magyar tribal leaders who endeavoured to resist his rule and thus he managed to expand his authority over the whole territory of the Carpathian Basin by the 1030s.

And he took an oath that he would have a monastery built in his honour on the place of his prayer where he was kneeling on the soil if he triumphed over his enemy.The first knights from the western countries (mainly from the provinces of the Holy Roman Empire) arrived to Hungary during the reign of Grand Prince Géza in the 990s and he granted several estates to them on his domains.

[24] In 997, the future King Saint Stephen could gain a victory over Koppány (his relative who claimed the throne for himself after the death of Grand Prince Géza) with the assistance of the foreign knights serving in his German wife's retinues.

[27] I have granted lands that are sufficient to set up two villages and also a forest called Sár in Karakó county to my guests, i.e., to the valiant knights Geoffrey and Albert who had left their country and their inherited estates upon my invitation and they came honestly to the Kingdom of Hungary, because they are noble men who deserve that we hasten to help them by royal generosity.The kings' (and their queens') retinues and the Royal Households became the centres where the merger of the tribal aristocracy and the immigrant knights occurred (mainly by inter-marriages) in the course of the 11-12th centuries.

[28]The decrees of King Stephen I contain clear references to the "men distinguished by birth and dignity" (Hungarian: születésre és méltóságra nézve nagyobbak, Latin: maiores natu et dignitate) who can be identified with the immigrant knights and the members of the tribal aristocracy who held the highest offices at his court and in the royal administration.

[21] They formed, together with the prelates, the Royal Council (Hungarian: királyi tanács, Latin: consilium regium) which became the highest forum of political decision-making in the kingdom.

Nevertheless, the monarchs remained the biggest landowners in the country until the end of the 12th century and the scattered lands owned even by the wealthiest members of the kings' retinues did not form contiguous geographical units in the kingdom.

[35] The first references to an organized entourage around the monarchs were recorded during the reign of King Andrew I (1046–1060), but the development of the Royal Household (Hungarian: királyi udvar, Latin: aula regia) must have commenced earlier.

[44] These high-judges and the governors of certain provinces (e.g., Transylvania, Croatia, Slavonia) formed together the high-officers of the realm who enjoyed a distinguished position within the nobility:[45] The list of the high-officers of the Royal Households was developing gradually from the 11th century, and their functions also changed from time to time, but by the end of the 13th century, their hierarchy become consolidated:[1] King Béla III (1172–1196) was the first monarch who alienated a whole county when he granted the ownership of all the royal estates in Modruš county to Bartolomej, who became the ancestor of the Frankopan (Hungarian: Frangepán) family.

[67] From the 1220s, several individuals commenced to refer to their clan in the official documents by using the expression de genere ("from the kindred of") following their name which suggests that the relevance even of distant kinship started to increase.

[76] The maintenance of the fortresses required significant financial resources and therefore, the scattered character of landed property went under a radical change because the strongholds became the centres of bigger units of estates that consisted of the villages attached to them.

[77] The possession of one or more strongholds strengthened the position of the upper nobility, because the castle-owners could resist the monarchs for a longer period and they could also expand their influence over the owners of smaller estates around their castles.

[81] From the 1290s, the most powerful barons commenced to govern their domains de facto independently of the monarchs and they usurped the royal prerogatives on the enormous territories possessed by them or by their familiaris.

[89] Thenceforward, the monarchs could strengthen the financial conditions of their followers by using the prerogative of "prefection" (Hungarian: fiusítás, Latin: præfectio) and thus entitling their wives to inherit their fathers' possessions.

[92][93] He also set up the body of "knights-at-the-court" (Hungarian: udvari lovag, Latin: aule regiæ miles) who acted as his personal delegates on an ad hoc basis.

[115] In 1445, the Diet elected seven Captains General (Hungarian: főkapitány, Latin: generalis capitaneus) in order to govern the kingdom during the absence of King Vladislaus I (who actually had fallen in the Battle of Varna).

[citation needed] John Hunyadi's son, Matthias I (1458–1490) was proclaimed king by the Estates, but he had to wage war against Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor who claimed the throne for himself.

During the reign of King Vladislaus II (1490–1516), the Diet unambiguously expressed that certain noble families[129] were in a distinguished position and mentioned them as barons irrespectively of the office they held.

[83] The Diet prescribed that the barons were to arm soldiers pursuant to the number of the landed villeins who lived on their domains which prove that by that time, public law had acknowledged their special legal status and their privilege to use distinctive titles.