Stephen Sáfár

Stephen Sáfár de Csév (Hungarian: csévi Sáfár István; 1280s–1345) was a Hungarian diplomat, soldier and noble in the first half of the 14th century, a loyal supporter of Charles I of Hungary and his consolidation efforts. In this regard, Stephen served as ispán of Pilis County and castellan of Visegrád Castle, simultaneously from 1318 until his death.

His origin and family background remain unknown. According to a royal charter from 1338, his father was a certain Paul. As a document issued on 30 August 1326 noted, Stephen "arrived to the realm along with the king [Charles]", while another charter (dated 29 January 1327) suggested Stephen served Charles immediately after the king's arrival in late 1300. Thus it is possible that Stephen of foreign origin accompanied the twelve-year-old Charles from Naples to Hungary. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that Stephen served as envoy of Charles to foreign lands at least nine times by 1326, which assumed he was fluent in French and Italian.

Based on land donations and inheritance contracts in the decades of the 14th century between Stephen and his familials, historian Krisztina Tóth suggested he originated from a lesser noble family which gained their first lands and villages in Požega County during the reign of Ladislaus IV. Following the end of the Mongol invasion of Hungary, Béla IV donated the entire territory to his wife Maria Laskarina thus Požega County became a permanent queenly estate. In 1281, Queen Dowager Elizabeth donated the villages Alsókamarica and Berzince to her courtly youths, brothers Ambrose and Leonard of Požega, respectively. When Ladislaus IV was killed in 1290, his sister Mary, Queen of Naples announced her claim to Hungary. She transferred her claim to his firstborn son, Charles Martel in January 1292. Among others, several Slavonian noble families acknowledged his claim against Andrew III. Many of them left for Naples alongside Charles Martel after his failure. Tóth assumed Paul, Stephen's father was one of them. As Stephen performed diplomatic duties already in the 1310s, it is presumable that he was born in the 1280s as a contemporary of Charles Martel's son, Charles, who raised as claimant to the Hungarian throne, surrounding himself with Hungarian tutors, pages and courtiers. Accordingly, Stephen learnt Italian and French languages in the Neapolitan royal court, which explains his high degree of language proficiency, despite his social status of lesser nobility.