John Ernuszt, Sr. ( hu, csáktornyai Ernuszt János; died after 3 March 1476) was
Ban of Slavonia
Ban of Slavonia ( hr, Slavonski ban; hu, szlavón bán; la, Sclavoniæ banus) or the Ban of "Whole Slavonia" ( hr, ban cijele Slavonije; hu, egész Szlavónia bánja; la, totius Sclavoniæ banus) was the title of the governor of a territor ...
from 1473 to 1476. He was born
into a Jewish family in Vienna. He moved to
Buda
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
, the capital of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
, and converted to Roman Catholicism. He became a purveyor to the royal court, which enabled him to meet
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...
,
King of Hungary
The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...
. His career in the administration of royal revenues began in 1461, with responsibility for the collection of the
thirtieth (a custom duty) in
Pozsony County
Pozsony county was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now mostly part of Slovakia, while a small area belongs to Hungary. In 1969, the three villages that remained in Hungary were combined to form Du ...
. He purchased copper mines in
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...
(now Slovakia) in 1466.
Ernuszt inspired Matthias's reform of the royal revenues (especially the centralization of their administration and the abolishment of tax exemptions) in 1467. In the same year, the king made him
royal treasurer
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
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. Six years later, he was appointed ban of Slavonia and became one of the barons of the realm. His most estates were confiscated in the early 1470s, but he had secured the aristocratic status of his family.
Early career
John was born
into a Jewish family in Vienna. The date of his birth is unknown. He was also known as John Hampó. He was first mentioned as a burgher in
Buda
Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...
in 1457 or 1458, showing that he had moved from Vienna to the capital of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
. He converted to Roman Catholicism. Since he regularly delivered goods to the royal court, he was introduced to
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...
,
King of Hungary
The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...
. Before long, the king made him knight of the royal court.
Emeric Zápolya
Emeric Zápolya, also Emeric Szapolyai ( hu, Szapolyai Imre; hr, Mirko Zapoljski died September 1487), was the Ban of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia between 1464 and 1465 and Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary between 1486 and 1487. Notes
Source ...
, who was royal treasurer between 1459 and 1464, tasked John with the administration of the
thirtieth (a custom duty) in
Pozsony County
Pozsony county was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now mostly part of Slovakia, while a small area belongs to Hungary. In 1969, the three villages that remained in Hungary were combined to form Du ...
in 1461. John, and two burghers of Buda, Lawrence Bajoni and Stephen Kovács, concluded an agreement and took charge of the administration of the same tax in the whole kingdom in 1464. John Túz (a former royal treasurer) and John Ernuszt bought two copper mines at Besztercebánya (now
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica (, also known by other alternative names) is a middle-sized town in central Slovakia, located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mo ...
in Slovakia) and a house in the town from Stephen Jung in 1466. Ernuszt inspired Matthias Corvinus's reform of the royal revenues, especially the centralization of their administration and the abolishment of previous tax exemptions. Matthias also decided to mint new, stable pennies on Ernuszt's advice.
Royal official and baron
The king made him the administrator of the Crown's customs (a new tax which replaced the thirtieth) in 1467. In the same year, Matthias Corvinus appointed John Ernuszt royal treasurer. He was initially responsible only for the management of the ordinary royal revenues, because
Janus Pannonius
Janus Pannonius ( la, Ioannes Pannonius, hr, Ivan Česmički, hu, Csezmiczei János or ; 29 August 1434 – 27 March 1472) was a Croatian- Hungarian Latinist, poet, diplomat and Bishop of Pécs. He was the most significant poet of the Re ...
,
Bishop of Pécs
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
, administered all extraordinary income as chief treasurer. From 1468 or 1469, John administered all royal revenues, save for the revenues from royal estates (which were collected by the castellan of Buda).
John persuaded the king to put a new official, the Prefect of the Jews, at the head of the Jewish community in Hungary. The perfects were chosen from among the members of the Mendel family who were allegedly Ernuszt's kinsmen, according to historian Tamás Fedeles. John Ernuszt was made the ''
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. ( hu, ispán, la, comes or comes parochialis, and sk, župan)Kirs ...
'' (or head) of
Turóc,
Körös
The Körös () or Criș () (German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös (''Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös (''Crișul Negru'') to its outflo ...
and
Zólyom Counties in 1470. He was one of the first
perpetual ''ispáns'', but he lost this title. The king also confiscated his most estates around 1473, because he was accused of fraud.
Even so, Matthias Corvinus made John
ban of Slavonia
Ban of Slavonia ( hr, Slavonski ban; hu, szlavón bán; la, Sclavoniæ banus) or the Ban of "Whole Slavonia" ( hr, ban cijele Slavonije; hu, egész Szlavónia bánja; la, totius Sclavoniæ banus) was the title of the governor of a territor ...
on 21 November 1473. He was preoccupied with the administration of the royal treasury even thereafter. He received the domain of Csáktornya (
Čakovec
Čakovec (; hu, Csáktornya; la, Aquama; german: Tschakathurn) is a city in northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, sm ...
in Croatia) around that time. He also seized
Đurđevac
Đurđevac is a town in the Koprivnica-Križevci County in Croatia. According to the 2011 census, there are a total of 8,264 inhabitants in the municipality, in the following settlements:
* Budrovac, population 373
* Čepelovac, population 3 ...
in Slavonia.
The
Diet of Hungary
The Diet of Hungary or originally: Parlamentum Publicum / Parlamentum Generale ( hu, Országgyűlés) became the supreme legislative institution in the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and ...
assembled in 1474 in the absence of the king who continued
his war for the Bohemian Crown. The
Estates of the realm
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
passed decrees about the collection and administration of the royal revenues. The new decrees prescribed that taxes were to be spent on the defence against the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
instead of continuing the war for Bohemia. The Diet also authorized the
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
to elect officiers to collect the royal taxes, which limited the competence of the royal treasury. At the demand of the Diet, Ernuszt promised that he would execute the new laws. After his return to Hungary, the king made Ernuszt a scapegoat for the decisions adopted at the Diet, but did not dismiss him.
Ernuszt died after 3 March 1476. He was buried in a chapel dedicated to the
Holy Virgin
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
in Buda.
Family
His wife was called Catherine, but her family is unknown. Their first son,
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...
, was born around 1445. Matthias Corvinus made him
bishop of Pécs
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
in 1473. John's younger son and namesake was born around 1465. He was Ban of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia. John Ernuszt was one of the few commoners making a career during Matthias Corvinus's reign to be able to secure the aristocratic status of his family.
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernuszt, John 01
1420s births
1476 deaths
John 01
Bans of Slavonia
Royal treasurers (Kingdom of Hungary)
Hungarian people of Jewish descent
Politicians from Vienna
15th-century Hungarian people