House of Hahót

This clan was brought into Hungary by King Stephen, son of Bela II, in order to aid the said king. They are sprung from the counts of Orlamund. The first to come was called Hadolch, whose son was called by the like name of Hadolch and also Arnold. The people of this country could not pronounce Hadolch, and so he was called by the similar name of Hohold. The clan of Csak conspired with some other clans against the King; it is said that they were defeated by Hohold and by the army which he had brought with him.

- Illuminated Chronicle, 14th century

This is a map of early Europe circa 500-800 A.D. before the conquest of the Carpathian Basin by the Magyar tribes. Orlamund was part of the Duchy of Thuringia. The 13th century historian, Akos, wrote that that Hahold was descended from Count Otto of Weimar who took over Orlamund in about  1062. Otto and his family went on to rule as Counts of Weimar-Orlamünde until the dynasty became extinct in 1112. Otto's ancestry traces back through three generations of Counts of Weimar (Dukes of Thuringia) to the early 900s from:

• Wilhelm I - (d. 963)
• Wilhelm II (d. 1001)
• Wilhelm III (d. April 16, 1039)

In the year 1162 in Thuringia, Hahold I was asked by the exiled Hungarian king, Stephen III, to help him regain the throne that had been usurped by his uncle with the help of the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel I, and the Csak clan. Hahold brought his own own army and defeated the Csak forces. After Stephen III's victory in 1163 over his uncle and the Byzantine Empire, Hahold stayed in Hungary and received land donations and settled down in Zala County near the Austrian border. 

These are images, also from the Illuminated Chronicle, of the 15 year old Stephen III being crowned and then being deprived of his throne by his uncle who, I suppose, is the one with the devious expression running away on a horse with the crown. It reminds me of the picture of the king running away from battle on the Hedervary page.  I find it funny that of all the things to write about in Hungarian history, the author of the Illuminated Chronicle, chose to mention that Hahold's original name, Haldolch, was changed because people couldn't pronounce it. 

I was curious about this coat-of-arms because I had not seen the bull figure in any imagery of Hungarian heraldry. At first I couldn't find any information so I decided to research the heraldry of the Counts of Weimer-Orlamund and what I found was pretty cool......

At first when I found the crest above I thought the lion figure was holding two brooms and I wondered if the Counts of Weimer-Orlamund had been janitors (lol). But as it turned out what I thought were brooms were actually bells with peacock feathers at the ends...oh of course. ???? The image is of a tournament helmet and apparently German knights liked to make a happy jingling sound when they walked around so they attached bells to their helmets. ????? Strange but true- the things you learn researching genealogy- priceless. So anyway, the only thing that struck me as connected to the Hahot crest was that the two protruding feathers reminded me a little of the bull's horns so searched a little more and found this.......

The picture above is another incarnation of the same coat-of-arms above but look at the colors- the black, red and gold are the same colors as the Hahot crest. Then I found this........ 

The coat-of-arms of the count palatines of the Duchy of Thuringia in Weimar with the horns of a bull and on the same site I found this.....

Above is the ancient coat-of-arms of the Landgrave (meaning count or prince) of Thuringia. Now if you go back and look at the shield that the Hahold figure from the medieval manuscript is carrying and then at the Hahot coat-of-arms, you see how the family's heraldry is derived from the Counts of Weimar-Orlamund in Thuringia. There is debate among historians because a later medieval manuscript says Hahold came from Styria (today's Slovenia) as opposed to Thuringia as claimed in the Illuminated Chronicle but I think this proves that he definitely came from the Weimar-Orlamund in Thuringia.

The difference between Panyit and Buzad II is extreme but they both seem to have been a little nutty.

Buzad II - Saint (or close enough)

1209 - Count of Gyor

1222 - Count of Pozsony (now Bratislava in Slovakia)

1225 - Count of Vas

1226 - Ban (Duke/Viceroy) of Slavonia (now Croatia). According to law of the Kingdom, the Bans were considered "Barons of the Realm."

1233 - Renounces secular privileges to become a monk in the Dominican Order.

1241 - enthusiastically insists on being martyred and encourages his followers to do the same during the Mongol Invasion and is consequently burnt at the stake.

1242 (or sometime thereafter) - Beatified as a 'Martyr' by Catholic Church.

Read more about him here.

Panyit - Definitely Sinner

1254 - Captures and imprisons his neighbor in order to take over his estate. Is fined 30 denari (silver coins) by King Bela IV for forgery and violent actions. 

1254 - That same year the castle folk on his estate rebel against him for cruel treatment and disrespecting thier rights and he suppresses the revolt.

1260 - Panyit harasses his neighboring nobles and King Bela confiscates his lands. Panyit flees and joins Bela's son, Stephen V who is Duke of Transylvania. In exchange for his support, Stephen promises to restore Panyit's estates.

1263-64 - Stephen, with help from Panyit, forces his father to cede power to him of lands east of the Danube and is crowned as 'junior king' but when Stephen invades the lands of his sister, Anna, Bela IV gives her troops. She takes command of the army and wins her lands back from her brother.

1266 - A treaty reconciling the father and son kings, specifies that Panyit will be granted amnesty in exchange for promising not to trespass against other landowners.

1267 - Panyit is up to his old tricks again and captures the land of the neighboring family, the Jaks.  On September 15 a court of six nobles including his own cousin denounce him for being "disruptive and a common bandit."

1268 - To avoid being imprisoned Panyit returns lands to the Jak brothers so King Bela gives him back some of his estates.

1269 - But it seems Panyit can't stop causing trouble and his soldiers invade adjacent estates, murder serfs and cut out the tongue of a relative of the Jaks.

1270 - Bela IV dies and Stephen V, former ally of Panyit, is crowned. After investigating the allegations agains Panyit, the the new king orders him to a "trial by combat" to take place on October 6 but Panyit avoids this by paying out 170 denari to his enemies in compensation for murder and property damages.

1272 - He hands over additional estates to the Jaks as compensation.

After this last transaction Panyit remains quiet and no more history is told of him, much to the relief of the new king no doubt. 

You can read more about him here.

The first lords of the region, the Counts of Weimar Orlamunde, built a castle on the hilltop in the 11th century.

It is interesting to note that Buzad's seal looks appropiately like a bull while Panyit's seal looks like a devil.

The church in the center of Hahot village was built in the 1700s over the ruins of a Benadictine monastery that was founded by Arnold Hahot (direct ancestor) in 1234 and served as the Hahot burial ground. A wooden statue of Arnold's brother Buzad II was created and erected in 2009.