page_title: Stephen Rátót
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Stephen Rátót / Career
caption_attribution_description: Cistercian Convent - Pásztó - Hungary - Europe
context_page_description: Stephen (I) from the kindred Rátót was a Hungarian lord in the 13th century, who served as Master of the treasury. He was a prominent member of the queenly court for years. His acquisitions of lands in Central Hungary proved to be basis for establishment of his clan's province during the era of feudal anarchy.
context_section_description: Sometimes before 1264, Stephen belonged to the royal household of Maria Laskarina, King Béla IV of Hungary's consort. In that year, he was referred to as "former" Master of the horse and count (ispán; head) of the tárnoks (financial officials) in the queenly court. During that time tensions emerged between King Béla IV and his eldest son Stephen. Béla's favoritism towards his younger son, Béla (whom he appointed Duke of Slavonia) and daughter, Anna irritated Stephen. Following a short skirmish, Béla and his son divided the country and Stephen received the lands to the east of the Danube. Despite his brothers, Roland and Oliver were considered faithful partisans of Béla IV, Stephen Rátót left the royal court and defected to Duke Stephen in 1264, due to his fear following the dismissal and imprisonment of Csák from the Ugod branch of the gens Csák. Because of his betrayal, the king plundered his landholdings, which laid in Béla's realm, causing severe damage to Stephen Rátót. Stephen Rátót participated in the subsequent civil war between father and son. He was present at the decisive Battle of Isaszeg in March 1265, leading the queenly castle folks.
  As a compensation for his previous financial loss, the duke donated Ágasvár (lit. "Ágas Castle"), a small fort located in the mountain range of Mátra in Nógrád County, to Stephen in 1265, after the civil war. The castle functioned the seat centre of the Rátót clan for the upcoming decades. Stephen was also granted the right of patronage over the Cistercian Abbey of Pásztó. Ágasvár and its surrounding lands became the basis of the future Rátót province by the end of the 13th century, which laid roughly in Nógrád and Heves counties.
  Stephen was made Master of the horse in the court of Duke Stephen's spouse Elizabeth the Cuman in 1265. It is plausible that he held the dignity until 1272, remaining the confidant of the duchess, who became Queen of Hungary in 1270, when Stephen V ascended the throne, and even after she was widowed after Stephen's death in 1272. Beside that he also served as ispán of Trencsén County in the second half of 1272. During the emerging feudal anarchy following Stephen V's death, when rivaling baronial groups fought each other for the supreme power during the minority of Ladislaus IV of Hungary, Stephen Rátót initially belonged to Dowager Queen Elizabeth's favourites. He was appointed Master of the treasury for a brief time in the spring of 1273. The queen was soon expelled from power and her regency remained only nominal. Thereafter Stephen shared his elder brother Roland's political orientation, but definitively lost effective influence in the royal court. He was styled as ispán of Veszprém County in 1275. He was last mentioned as a living person at the end of 1277.
caption: Ruins of the Cistercian abbey in Pásztó
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