page_title: Hermán (genus)
section_title: Theories of origin
hierarchical_section_title: Hermán (genus) / Theories of origin
caption_attribution_description: Miniature of knight Herman, ancestor of the Hermán kindred, and thus the Lackfi family
context_page_description: Hermán was the name of a gens in the Kingdom of Hungary. The powerful Lackfi family ascended from this clan.
context_section_description: The Hermány kindred originate from Nuremberg. They are of quite high nobility and came to Hungary with Queen Gisela.
  — Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians
  This clan of Herman of Alamannia came with the Queen Keisla. They are free men from Nurumburg, poor in lands.
  — Illuminated Chronicle
  Medieval Hungarian chronicles preserved its origin from the Duchy of Bavaria. Accordingly, the ancestor of the Hermán kindred, knight Herman originated from Nuremberg, who escorted Gisela of Bavaria to Hungary in 996. She became the wife of Stephen I of Hungary, the future first King of Hungary. Following that marriage, Herman stayed in Hungary and received land donations in Vas County. It is presumable that Herman also participated in Stephen's civil war against his relative Koppány in the following year, similarly to other German knights, for instance Vecelin and brothers Hont and Pázmány, ancestors of the Hont-Pázmány kindred.
  The narration of the medieval chronicles about the kindred's origin is unverifiable, but historian János Karácsonyi argued, the Hermáns definitely settled down in Hungary ahead of the Héder and Hahót clans, also of German origins, who came to the kingdom in the middle of the 12th century and their lands laid in the "gyepűelve", a mostly uninhabited or sparsely inhabited area beyond the Austrian border, while the Hermáns were granted estates in the inner parts of Transdanubia. Other historians considered, knight Herman was a descendant of the Diepoldinger kinship and its cadet branch, the House of Raabs which ruled the Burgraviate of Nuremberg in the 12th century, until their extinction around 1191, as both families used the depiction of dragon in their coat-of-arms.
  Contrary to other descriptions, both the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum and the Illuminated Chronicle (which utilized magister Ákos' work) remained short-spoken while presented the history of the Hermán clan. As chronicler Simon of Kéza was contemporary to Rubinus Hermán, an illustrious soldier and faithful subject to the royal court of Ladislaus IV of Hungary, and, in addition, the powerful Lacki family reached its peak by the Illuminated Chronicle was compiled, this phenomenon is not malicious and intentional. According to historian Attila Zsoldos, the terms "quite high nobility", "free men" and "poor in lands" prove that the Hermáns originally belonged to the social status of royal servants who owned possession and was subordinate only to the king. By the end of the 13th century, the use of the expression ceased, and the "royal servants" merged into the nobility of the kingdom, including the Hermán clan. Zsoldos referred to a royal charter, which mentioned a Swabian "free man" Kaal, who also escorted Gisela to Hungary in 996 and settled down in Sopron County. His descendants were members of the group of castle warriors.
caption: Knight Herman depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle
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