Stephen I Csák

Stephen (I) Csák
Master of the stewards
Reign	1275–1276 1276–1279
Predecessor	Reynold Básztély (1st term) Reynold Básztély (2nd term)
Successor	Reynold Básztély (1st term) Peter Csák (2nd term)
Born	c. 1235
Died	between 1279 and 1283
Noble family	gens Csák
Spouse(s)	unknown
Issue none
Father	Matthew I
Mother	Margaret N

Stephen (I) from the kindred Csák (Hungarian: Csák nembeli (I.) István; c. 1235 – 1279/83) was a Hungarian noble and landowner, who held secular positions during the reign of king Ladislaus IV. His nephew and heir was the oligarch Matthew III Csák, who, based on his uncles' acquisitions, became the de facto ruler of his domain independently of the king and usurped royal prerogatives on his territories.

He was born into the gens Csák as one of the four sons of Matthew I, founder and first member of the Trencsén branch, who served as master of the treasury (1242–1245), and Margaret from an unidentified noble family. Stephen's brothers were Mark I, ispán (comes) of Hont County in 1247, but there is no further information about him; Matthew II, a notable general and palatine of Hungary (1278–1280; 1282–1283); and Peter I, who also held powerful positions, including palatine (1275–1276; 1277; 1278; 1281) and who, furthermore, was the father of the notorious Matthew III. He had also a younger sister, who married to the Moravian noble Zdislav Sternberg, a loyal bannerman of the Csák clan. Their son, Stephen Sternberg (or "the Bohemian") later inherited the Csák dominion because of the absence of a direct adult male descendant after the death of Matthew III in 1321.

Stephen was first mentioned by a royal charter, issued in 1260. According to this, he formerly occupied the village of Tata from the local Benedictine abbey. Pope Innocent IV, who died in 1254, instructed Zlaudus Kaplon, the Bishop of Veszprém to recover the estate for the Roman Catholic Church. Thus Stephen's tyrannical act occurred in or before 1254, so he might have been born around 1235. However Stephen did not give back the possession to its rightful owner until 1260, as a result Innocent's successor, Pope Alexander IV asked the Hungarian king, Béla IV to force him.

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