# Nicholas Felsőlendvai

Nicholas (I) Felsőlendvai (Hungarian: Felsőlendvai (I.) Miklós, Croatian: Nikola Omodejev; died April or May 1325) was an influential Hungarian baron and military leader, who served as Ban of Slavonia until his death.

## Early life

Nicholas Felsőlendvai was born into the powerful and extended gens (clan) Gutkeled. His father was Amadeus Gutkeled, who administered Vas and Zala counties in the 1270s. He died sometime before 1286. In that year, King Ladislaus IV of Hungary assured his widow and orphans that he would confirm all the royal donations he had once made in his favor, and promised to confirm the donations with a golden bull at an opportune moment if the situation in the realm improved. Among Amadeus' multiple children, only the name of Nicholas is known. His unidentified mother was still alive in 1332, outliving Nicholas.
Felsőlendvai is first mentioned by contemporary records in 1292, when he was a landowner in Bagamér in Bihar County, and took part in the process of the determination of its borders along with his neighbors. He also possessed inherited landholdings Gút in Fejér County (present-day a borough of Isztimér), the neighboring lands Marcaltő, Malomsok and Szente at the confluence of Marcal and Rába in the borderland of Veszprém and Győr counties, in addition to his main residence, the castle of Felsőlendva (or simply Lendva, present-day Grad, Slovenia) and its accessories in Vas County. He paid the remaining 50 silver marks to Stephen Dárói, a descendant of the original owner family in 1308. Similarly to the majority of nobles in the region Western Transdanubia and Slavonia, Felsőlendvai also entered the service of the powerful Kőszegi family. He was mentioned as an owner of Mórichely (present-day a borough of Nagykanizsa) in Zala County in 1307. Felsőlendvai married an unidentified daughter of Egidius Monoszló, who was once a powerful lord in the 1270s. The dying Egidius bequeathed half portion of the castle of Rupoly (or Ropoly) and its lordship in Somogy County (present-day Bőszénfa and Kaposvár) to Felsőlendvai in his last will in 1313. Thereafter, his family was also known as Rupolyi. Pál Engel argued that Felsőlendvai was only a maternal relative (cognatus) of Egidius Monoszló.

## Military career

Felsőlendvai remained a supporter of the Kőszegis during the era of Interregnum in the first decade of the 14th century. In the first half of 1310, he still acted as a representative and trustee of his lord, Ban Henry Kőszegi during a mortgage agreement with members of the Héder clan, regarding the estate Déshida in Somogy County. Felsőlendvai was referred to as a leading member of the entourage of John Kőszegi (Henry's son) in 1313. However, soon Charles I, who had defeated his rivals and became the undisputed King of Hungary, decided to eliminate the de facto independent oligarchic domains throughout the kingdom, including the Kőszegis' territory in Western Transdanubia and Slavonia. Charles waged war with the southern Kőszegi dominion in the first half of 1316; as a result, several familiares of John Kőszegi left his allegiance, including Felsőlendvai. He was present in the royal camp in Zsibót, Baranya County (present-day a borough of Szigetvár) in May 1316, when the monarch returned possessions to the minor sons of the late James Győr upon the request of some lords, including Felsőlendvai. He participated in the subsequent military campaign against his former lord; the power of John Kőszegi in Southern Transdanubia was eliminated by August.
In February 1317, Charles I donated the lands Berény, Dencs and Osztopán in Somogy County to Felsőlendvai, rewarding his loyalty and role in the previous year's campaign. Since all of these were queenly estates prior to that, Queen Maria of Bytom formally contributed to the donation.