page_title: John Kőszegi
section_title: Downfall
hierarchical_section_title: John Kőszegi / Downfall
caption_attribution_description: English: Márévár, Castle, Hungary, aerial photography
context_page_description: John Kőszegi was a Hungarian influential lord in the early 14th century, who served as Master of the horse from 1311 until 1314. He inherited large-scale domains in Slavonia and Transdanubia in 1310. After 1314 or 1315, he became an ardent enemy of Charles I of Hungary, who defeated him in 1316 and 1317, resulting the collapse of his province within months. He was the ancestor of the Tamási family.
context_section_description: According to historian Pál Engel, John Kőszegi's behavior regarding the heirdom of Atyina, among others, contributed to the open confrontation between Charles I and the oligarchic powers, which reached its peak at the general diet in the autumn of 1314. In Engel's hypothesis, Charles launched a military campaign against the Kőszegis beyond the river Drava in the summer. There were some clashes, where numerous familiares of John Kőszegi were captured. Accordingly, Charles summoned the diet thereafter and broke the alliance with the provincial lords and intended to defeat them one after another. In contrast, historian Gyula Kristó questioned Engel's analysis: there is no information that the diet has been held in 1314, which proved to be a peaceful year without serious military campaigns. Kristó said there are no proofs that a confrontation between John and the royal armies took place in that year, and it was only a local war against the Atyinai (or Nyéki) family.
  In the autumn of 1315, Charles I launched his first large-scale campaign against John and Peter Kőszegi and their territory. Charles personally led his troops into Tolna County. He besieged and captured the fort of Nyék in November. However John sought assistance from his relatives, Andrew, who administered Western Transdanubia and Nicholas II; they represented the other two branches of the Kőszegi family. According to Pál Engel, the united Kőszegi troops managed to expel the royal army from the region, while successfully recovered the castle of Nyék. Gyula Kristó doubted Charles' personal presence and considered the royal troops failed to take Nyék. After a few months of ceasefire, Charles launched his second campaign against the Kőszegis' province in Southern Transdanubia in the spring of 1316. John's relatives, were unable to provide help, including Andrew, because his several familiares pledged allegiance to the king and left his army in the same time. The royal army stormed into John's territory across the port of Báta along the Danube in May, in order to eliminate the Kőszegis' hinterland. They besieged and destroyed Somogyvár in Somogy County, then captured the forts of Tolnavár, Nyék and Tamási in Tolna County within weeks in June. Subsequently, Charles' army occupied Harsány and Kéménd in Baranya County before their ultimate successful siege at Kőszeg (Batina) in July. John's other castles in Transdanubia – for instance, Dombóvár, Szekcső, Döbrököz and Máré – surrendered without combat. Pál Engel argued several familiares of John Kőszegi, including Nicholas Felsőlendvai, Alexander Ozorai and Stephen Máréi, had departed from his allegiance before the war due to Charles' successful persuasion and bribery, which resulted the monarch's decisive victory. In the upcoming months, Charles handed over a significant part of the occupied lands and castles to their original rightful owners. The king returned to Temesvár (present-day Timișoara, Romania) by August. After the loss of Southern Transdanubia, John and Peter Kőszegi withdrew to Upper Slavonia beyond the Drava. Kristó argued the aforementioned minor clashes there occurred in the second half of 1316 (and not in 1314, as Engel proposed), when Mikcs Ákos captured seventeen servants of the Kőszegis, who tried to destroy the village of Križevci.
  John and Peter Kőszegi entered alliance with the sons of the late Stephen Babonić, who ruled Lower Slavonia, at the end of 1316. Their anti-Charles league, which directed against the newly appointed Ban John Babonić, was also supported by a local powerful lord, Peter Monoszló. Charles I, who managed three other campaigns against the oligarchs – including Andrew Kőszegi – at the same time, sent his army, led by Demetrius Nekcsei, Paul Garai and Stephen Máréi, against the insurgents in June 1317. John Babonić launched a counterattack too; he defeated the Kőszegis in two battles and also captured several castles, including Orahovica, Monoszló (today Podravska Moslavina, Croatia), Polosnica, Međurača (Megyericse) and Zdenci (Izdenc) by the end of the year. Withdrawing to the
caption: Máré Castle, owned by John Kőszegi until 1316
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