Lawrence, son of Kemény


Lawrence, son of Kemény was a Hungarian influential lord and military leader in the 13th century, who held various position in the royal court since the late 1250s. He was a skilled and loyal soldier during the reign of Béla IV of Hungary. He retained his influence in the courts of Stephen V and Ladislaus IV too, representing a stable point in the government, when two baronial groups fought for the supreme power. Through his sons, he was ancestor of the Cseményi and Matucsinai noble families.
In 1259, Konstantin Tih sent an army to attack the Banate of Severin, but the Hungarian commander, Lawrence, fought the invaders off.

Family

Lawrence was born into a noble family, which possessed lands in southern Transdanubia, especially Baranya County. His father was Kemény, the first known member of the family. He served as ispán of Nyitra County from 1234 to 1235, during the last years of King Andrew II of Hungary.
Lawrence had two sons from his unidentified wife. Kemény functioned as Master of the cupbearers in 1289 and ispán of Baranya County in the 1290s. He married an unidentified daughter of Nicholas Budmér, the Master of the stewards from 1251 to 1256. They were ancestors of the Cseményi family, which flourished until the early 15th century. Lawrence's second son was Nicholas, the progenitor of the Matucsinai family, which reached its peak by the second half of the 15th century, when Gabriel Matucsinai was elected Archbishop of Kalocsa in 1471. Because of their influence, Lawrence retrospectively was also referred to as Lawrence Matucsinai by later documents.