Finta from the kindred Aba (; died 1287) was a Hungarian lord in the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
, who served as
Palatine of Hungary from 1280 to 1281. He is best known for capturing King
Ladislaus IV of Hungary
Ladislaus IV (, , ; 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hung ...
in early 1280.
Family
Finta was born into the Széplak branch of the prestigious and fairly extended
Aba kindred as the son of ''
ispán
The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. (, , and ),Kirschbaum 2007, p. 315. deriving from title of župan, ...
'' David Aba. He also had at least three siblings: Palatine
Amadeus Aba, who became a powerful
oligarch at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries,
Judge royal
The judge royal, also justiciar,Rady 2000, p. 49. chief justiceSegeš 2002, p. 202. or Lord Chief JusticeFallenbüchl 1988, p. 145. (,Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 72. ,Zsoldos 2011, p. 26. , ), was the second-highest judge, preceded only by the Palati ...
Peter Aba and a sister who engaged to Simon Kacsics from the Zagyvafő branch in 1290. Finta had a daughter, Klara who married to
Julius III Kán, ''ispán'' of
Baranya County
Baranya (, ; German language, German:Croatian language, Croatian:'' Baranjska županija'') is a Counties of Hungary, county () in southern Hungary. It is part of the Southern Transdanubia statistical region and the historical Baranya (region), B ...
(also known as Julius Siklósi) and died before 1300.
[Engel: ''Genealógia'' (Genus Aba 1., Széplak branch)]
Career
In 1277–1278, when declared to be of age,
Ladislaus IV of Hungary
Ladislaus IV (, , ; 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hung ...
successfully defeated and eliminated the aspirations of power of
Roland, son of Mark and the entire
Geregye clan led by former
Voivode
Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...
Nicholas Geregye and ''ispán''
Geregye II Geregye. The latter one was executed for high treason before September 1278. This was the first time when the central royal power participated actively in dismantling of a local authority following the anarchic situation since 1272.
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 80.] Finta took a major role in the fights against the Geregyes as a result he was donated the whole
Ung County by King Ladislaus IV later in 1279.
[Markó 2006, p. 215.][Zsoldos 2011, p. 218.] Although the king's expedition against the
Kőszegi family
The Kőszegi () was a noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Croatia in the 13th and 14th centuries. The ancestor of the family, Henry the Great, descended from the ''gens'' ("clan") Héder. Henry's paternal great-grandfathe ...
was unsuccessful, the major opponent
Csák clan compromised with the
Gutkeleds (
Joachim Gutkeled was killed not long before) who immediately broke the alliance with the Kőszegis in the summer of 1278.

Following this agreement a new baronial government formed where the eight "great officers of state" were held by four members of Csák kindred, two from the Gutkeleds,
Jakó Kaplon and Finta Aba, who became Voivode of Transylvania replacing
Nicholas Pok.
[Treptow, Popa 1996, p. ''lvi''.] However the activity of
papal legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...
,
Bishop of Fermo
The Archdiocese of Fermo () is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northern Italy, with its seat in the city of Fermo, Marche. It was established as the Diocese of Fermo in the 3rd century, and elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Sixtus ...
demolished the fragile peace, when
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...
Ladislaus IV and placed Hungary under
interdict
In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for ...
because of the pagan
Cumans
The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...
' growing influence.
[Engel 2001, p. 109.] The barons were divided in the support of King Ladislaus the Cuman. Tensions escalated when the king decided to arrest and imprisoned Philip of Fermo in early January 1280. The thoughtless act has resulted that Hungary confronted with the whole Christian Europe and the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
.
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 84.]
Presumably under the leadership of Palatine
Matthew Csák the barons decided to imprison Ladislaus IV. Sometimes after 17 January 1280, when the king stayed in
Transylvania
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
, Finta Aba captured Ladislaus
and handed him over to
Roland Borsa, a long-time ally of the Csáks who held Ladislaus in custody.
Gyula Kristó,
Jenő Szűcs
Jenő Szűcs (July 13, 1928 – November 24, 1988) was a Hungarian historian who was born in Debrecen
Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Reg ...
and other historians say that Finta was the head of the conspiracy however Attila Zsoldos argued that Finta was appointed Palatine only months later replacing Matthew Csák.
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 85.] In less than two months, both the legate and the king were set free and Ladislaus took a new oath to enforce the Cuman laws and also forgave his captors.
When Ladislaus IV again felt himself strong enough in the summer of 1280, he deposed Matthew Csák and replaced him with Finta Aba, proving that the lord was only executive in Matthew's conspiracy. The new Voivode
Stephen, son of Tekesh was a strong ally of Finta.
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 86.] Beside the position of Palatine, Finta also functioned as ''ispán'' of
Somogy[Zsoldos 2011, p. 195.] and
Sopron
Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely.
When ...
Counties in 1280,
[Zsoldos 2011, p. 199.] and also ''ex officio''
Judge of the Cumans.
Uprising against Ladislaus
By mid-1281 Ladislaus decided to raise the rival baronial group when the excommunicated
Ivan Kőszegi
Ivan Kőszegi (, ; died 5 April 1308) was an influential lord in the Kingdom of Hungary at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Earlier historiographical works also refer to him Ivan Németújvári (, , ). He was Palatine of Hungary, Palatin ...
was elected Palatine, replacing
Peter Csák, who succeeded Finta shortly before. Voivode Stephen, son of Tekesh and Judge royal Peter Aba, brother of Finta also lost their positions. Following royal charters refer to Finta as "disloyal", "traitor", "domineering", "impenitent" and "perfidious" who caused "much suffering to the realm".
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 91.] As Peter Aba was appointed
Master of the treasury and there is no mention of Amadeus Aba, it is likely to be declared that only Finta rebelled against the king and not the whole Aba clan. The revolt caused an internal conflict; Ladislaus launched a campaign against him and seized his castles (e.g. Gede,
Szalánc) in the summer of 1281, the royal army was also involved by Kőszegi forces.
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 92.]
Ladislaus was not able to definitively defeat Finta until the end of the year as there were also battles and sieges at Northeast Hungary in the next year and the
Sárospatak Castle was also under siege which probably defended by Stephen, son of Tekesh where he was ''ispán''. However the
Cuman rebellion in 1282 appeared as a much more serious problem.
[Zsoldos 1997, p. 94.] Nevertheless, Finta Aba lost all of his political influence and died in 1287.
References
Sources
* Engel, Pál (2001). ''The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526''. I.B. Tauris Publishers. .
* Markó, László (2006). ''A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig – Életrajzi Lexikon'' ("The High Officers of the Hungarian State from Saint Stephen to the Present Days – A Biographical Encyclopedia") (2nd edition); Helikon Kiadó Kft., Budapest; .
* Treptow, Kurt W. & Popa, Marcel (1996). ''Historical Dictionary of Romania''. Scarecrow Press, Inc. .
* Zsoldos, Attila (1997). "Téténytől a Hód-tóig. Az 1279 és 1282 közötti évek politikatörténetének vázlata." In: ''Történelmi Szemle'', Vol. XXXIX Issue 1. pp. 69–98.; .
* Zsoldos, Attila (2011). ''Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1000–1301'' ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1000–1301"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aba, Finta
1287 deaths
Palatines of Hungary
Voivodes of Transylvania
Finta
13th-century Hungarian nobility