Pongrác Szentmiklósi

Pongrác the second Szent-miklós (? – 1474?) was a Liptov archdeacon, one of the Captains in Chief of Hungary, supporter of John Hunyadi and King Matthias. He was a Know robber baron Flipflopping between partys for his own gain, the "King of Trenčín".

Background
Pongrác Szent-miklós belonged to the middle noble family of Szent-miklós (also sporadically referred to as Pongrác, the ancestor of the later Pongrácz family). He was the eldest son of Matthew I (according to other sources, of Miklós II) At that time, the use of surnames was not yet common; Pongrác was also referred to as Liptóik, Berencsik or Szakolcaik, according to his origin or his estates. He had three brothers, Stephen I, James II and John III.

Pongrác was first mentioned in 1415, when King Sigismund accompanied him to the Council of Constance. His first independent charter manifestation is known from 1435, when he issued a charter in the castle of Blatnica in Turoč county (which his family had previously received from the king in 1403).

In 1434, Pongrác bought Blatnica for 2,300 gold pieces from Queen Cillei Borbála.

In 1437, The Ottomans lead an attack force on Szendrő, It was being defended by George Brankovics. Requesting Reinforcement King Sigismund sent his 3 trusted subjects John Jiskra, John Hunyadi, and Pongrác. These men were led by Pongrác while Jiskra and Hunyadi lead the Transylvanian Auxiliary. They beat the Ottoman foe and drove them away.

Also in 1437, Pongrác Received Branc Castle from Svaty Mikuláš. He Used this as a base to start his career as a robber Baron, robbing, extorting and stealing from the surrounding settlements and estates.

In 1441 he handed over Blatnica to László Neczpáli, the castle captain of Szakolca for 9,000 gold florins.

The oligarch and robber baron
By this time, Pongrac took advantage of the chaotic conditions resulting from weak central power and used violence to increase his wealth. There was nothing Władysław III could do about it.

In March 1443, because of his services to the crown, he was forgiven by the king him and his family members for their 'acts of harassment, robbery and arson'. However, his lifestyle did not seem to have ceased, for in November of the same year he was again pardoned, but this time with a warning that he might lose the king's favour.

In August 1444, Pongrác Szent-miklós, who had grown into a major local potentate, signed a treaty of friendship with János Hunyadi, by then one of the most important men in the country. When the Diet of Pest divided the country into what know as the captains in chiefs, Pongrác Szent-miklós was appointed, together with Mihály Ország, the national captain of Matyusland (the area between the Danube, Vág and Morava rivers). However, he continued his plundering and violence.

On May 4, 1449, Pongrác concluded a defensive alliance with john Jiskra, who also arbitrarily occupied castles and towns in the Highlands, which stipulated multiple fines of 10000 florins because of non-compliance.

In 1450, john Hunyadi marched against Jiskra, but he could not defeat him and was forced to make peace. Pongrác also plundered Lower Austria regularly, extorting taxes from the towns, and for this reason Emperor Frederick III sent Ulrik Cillei against him in 1450, who laid siege to Szakolca, but after Hunyadi had given Pongrác his surety, he withdrew.

In 1451, in a charter issued by Pongrác, he had already named himself as the Archbishop of Lippe.

In 1452, Hunyadi borrowed 7,000 florins from Szent-miklós to finance the war against the Turks, in return for which he mortgaged Szakolca and the thirty-third tax of Zsolna. At the end of that year, Hunyadi was elected governor of the country, and in February of the following year, the Diet of Bratislava ordered the outlawing of Pongrác Szentmiklósi, john Jiskra and Péter Komorovszky and the confiscation of their property. The decision had no practical consequences, however, as Pongrác remained the chief bailiff of Liptov, and thanks to his good relations with Hunyadi.

in September 1453 King László confirmed his possession of Berench, Ugroch, Wyvar, Likava and Naghwar, and increased the pledge of Sztrecsény and Óvár from nine thousand florins to eighteen thousand florins. In addition to the above-mentioned manors, he himself built several smaller and larger fortifications (e.g. at Nagybiccsé in Nitra), fortified his chief estate Liptószentmiklós with a wall, and used these as a base for his plundering and raiding activities. Hunyadi was finally forced to conclude a pact with Pongrác, which was signed in May 1454. According to this, Pongrác surrendered the castles of Berencs, Sztrecsény and Zsolna for 4,000 florins; in return he received the "Sido Castle, Mezősomyló, Maxond, Fruzsinkavár and Sasvár" of Timis; Újvár, Nagyvár, Likava with the chamber tax and the Liptov archbishopric; and the thirty-cent tax of Turdossin of Liptov; and the thirty-cent tax of Turdossin of Arava. His brothers, Stephen, James and John, also corresponded

Pongrác continued his usual imperiousness, so a few months after his coronation, King Matthias took from him Nagyvár, Óvár and Likava and gave them to Peter Komorovszky, who was later appointed the chief bailiff of Lipton.

Pongrác of Szentmiklós died around 1474. However, the family was not entirely out of the king's favour, for although they sued in vain for the loss of their castles, in 1479 Matthias pardoned his three brothers and their sons for all their previous sins and banned the courts from conducting trials in these cases.