Bertrand Nagymartoni
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Bertrand Nagymartoni | |
|---|---|
| Ispán of Szolgagyőr | |
| Reign | 1243 |
| Predecessor | Peter (1239) |
| Successor | Ernye Ákos (1250) |
| Died | after 1276 |
| Noble family | House of Nagymartoni |
| Spouse(s) | 1, Ahalyz (or Elizabeth) 2, unidentified |
| Issue | a daughter |
Bertrand Nagymartoni (also Bajóti or Martinsdorfi, Hungarian: Nagymartoni Bertrand; died after 1276) was an Aragonese-born Hungarian knight and nobleman in the 13th century. He and his siblings settled down in Hungary, where the family integrated into the social elite.
Bertrand (or Bertram) was born into an Aragonese noble family. He had a sister Tota and a brother Simon (I).[1] As Bertrand was still alive in 1276, he was probably much younger than his siblings.[2] The circumstances of their arrival to Hungary are narrated by two near-contemporary chroniclers, Ákos and Simon of Kéza, albeit with some differences. According to Ákos (his text is preserved by the 14th-century Illuminated Chronicle), Simon and Bertrand settled in Hungary during the reign of Andrew II, after their unidentified father "fought for many years against the king of Aragon, until at last he was captured by the king and put in prison".[3] In contrast, Simon of Kéza narrates that the brothers arrived to Hungary under Emeric's rule, as members of the accompaniment of Queen Constance of Aragon. The author of the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum says that the "kindred had long been at odds with a particular great count, and that finally they gathered an army and took to the field against him. The count was taken prisoner and strangled on the orders of Simon [...], and Bertram [...]. The ensuing enmity was what first brought Simon and Bertram to Pannonia [Hungary] with the aforesaid queen [Constance]".[4] Both chronicles mention the family's castles in the Iberian Peninsula ("Boiot"), their clashes against the "sultan of Tunis" (plausibly Abu Zakariya Yahya) in Mallorca and Menorca and the coat-of-arms donation of eagle derived therefrom. In addition, Simon of Kéza does not omit to mention Tota, who was lady-in-waiting of Queen Constance and married a powerful lord Benedict, son of Korlát and was granted the estates Nagymarton (or Mattersdorf, present-day Mattersburg, Austria) and Bajót as her dowry in 1202.[5]
While Tota was in fact belonged to the entourage of Queen Constance, historian Antal Pór ruled out that Simon and Bertrand had also came to Hungary during the reign of King Emeric. While Simon first appears in contemporary Hungarian records in 1220, Bertrand is first mentioned only decades later. For instance, when Simon inherited Nagymarton and Bajót from her sister in the 1220s, there is no sign of Bertrand's presence. Both Simon and Bertrand arrived to Hungary during the reign of Andrew II, but the latter settled in Hungary even later, following his elder brother.[6] Historian Attila Zsoldos considered if anyone from the family, only Bertrand participated in the conquest of Majorca (1228–1231), but he settled down in Hungary too before 1241.[2] Bertrand mediated the prenuptial agreement between James I of Aragon and Violant of Hungary in February 1233, alongside Pope Gregory IX and Bartholomew le Gros, the Bishop of Pécs.[7]