Stephen I Lackfi

Stephen (I) Lackfi (Hungarian: Lackfi (I.) István, Croatian: Stjepan I. Lacković; c. 1305 – 1353) was an influential Hungarian nobleman and a successful military leader in the Kingdom of Hungary. He played a significant role in the Neapolitan campaigns of Louis the Great.

Early life

Stephen was the eldest son of Lack, or Ladislaus, of the Hermán kindred, who was Count of the Székelys from 1328, and his first unidentified wife. Stephen was born around 1305. He had seven younger brothers, including his strong ally and military co-leader Andrew, Voivode of Transylvania and Denis I, Archbishop of Kalocsa.

According to Simon of Kéza's Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum and the 14th-century Illuminated Chronicle, which was written in the 1350s, when Stephen's political career reached its peak and the Lackfis became the most powerful family in the royal court, the Hermán kindred descended from a knight Herman (Hermán), who originated from Nuremberg and settled down in the Kingdom of Hungary after escorting Gisela of Bavaria in 996, who became the wife of Stephen I of Hungary, the future first King of Hungary.

Sources

• Csukovits, Enikő (2016). "Lackfi István Apuliában [Stephen Lackfi in Apulia]". In Dáné, Veronka; Lupescu-Makó, Mária; Sipos, Gábor (eds.). Testimonio litteratum. Tanulmányok Jakó Zsigmond tiszteletére (in Hungarian). Erdélyi Múzeum Egyesület. pp. 61–68. ISBN 978-606-739-054-4.
• Engel, Pál (1996). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1301–1457, I.[Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1301–1457, Volume I] (in Hungarian). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. ISBN 963-8312-44-0.
• Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526. I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN 1-86064-061-3.
• Farkas, Csaba (2018). "Egy udvari katonabáró I. Károly szolgálatában. Lackfi István és az Anjouk Magyarországa [A Royal Court Baron in Arms. Stephen Lackfi's and the Angevin's Hungary]". In Szanka, Brigitta; Szolnoki, Zoltán; Nagy, Zsolt Dezső (eds.). Középkortörténeti tanulmányok 10. A X. Medievisztikai PhD-konferencia (Szeged, 2017. június 7–9.) előadásai (in Hungarian). University of Szeged. pp. 13–33. ISBN 978-963-315-376-5.
• Farkas, Csaba (2021). "Erdély Lackfi István vajdaságának éveiben (1344–1350) [Transylvania under the voivodeship of Stephan Lackfi (1344–1350)]". In Thoroczkay, Gábor (ed.). Középkortörténeti tanulmányok 11. A XI. Medievisztikai PhD-konferencia (Szeged, 2019. május 30–31.) válogatott előadásai (in Hungarian). University of Szeged. pp. 71–88. ISBN 978-615-6194-02-2.
• Kristó, Gyula (1988). Az Anjou-kor háborúi[Wars in the Age of the Angevins] (in Hungarian). Zrínyi Kiadó. ISBN 963-326-905-9.
• Markó, László (2006). A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig: Életrajzi Lexikon[Great Officers of State in Hungary from King Saint Stephen to Our Days: A Biographical Encyclopedia] (in Hungarian). Helikon Kiadó. ISBN 963-547-085-1.