| Sámuel | |
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| King of Hungary | |
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| Reign | 1041-1044 |
| Predecessor | Peter I |
| Successor | Peter I |
| Spouse | Sarolta of Hungary |
| Full name | |
| His Royal and Apostolic Majesty King Samuel Aba of Hungary | |
| Born | likely 991 a.d. Castle Gonce/ Castle Abaújvár, County of Aba, Kingdom of Hungary |
| Died | July 5 1044 (aged 33-34) |
| Burial | Abasár, Hungary |
Samuel Aba (Hungarian: Aba Sámuel)[1] (died on the fifth of july 1044), King of Hungary (1041–1044), Palatine of Hungary (c. 1009-c. 1038).
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Samuel was from Northern Hungary, Castle Gonce / Castle Abaújvár, County of Aba. He married his older cousin Sarolta, the youngest daughter of Prince Géza of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty and his second wife, Adelaide of Poland, a sister of Prince Mieszko I of Poland, born circa 950, d. after 997.)
Some historians claim that Samuel Aba was the leader of the Kabar tribe in the early 11th century. It is also presumed by the same group that he was a member of the Khazar Jewry but (formally) converted to Christianity with his entire tribe when he married Sarolta. Even though he acted as a Christian and even founded a monastery in Abasár, converting to Christianity was mainly a political move for him, and he was not really a religious man.
During the reign of Stephen I of Hungary, who was the first Christian King of Hungary, Samuel Aba became Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the death of Stephen I of Hungary the new ruler, Peter Urseolo of Hungary (Stephen's nephew) continued to strengthen the feudal Christian state and removed Samuel from the royal court for not supporting him enough. Many of the people were opposed to Christianity and feared that Peter would make the Hungarian kingdom subservient to the Holy Roman Empire; so they supported Samuel who might have had an active role in deposing Peter.
Peter fled Hungary, and Samuel became king in 1041. He had many of Peter's supporters killed or tortured, and he abolished several laws made by Peter. This sheds some light on who his supporters might have been: since he abolished the laws that mainly affected the poor people and commoners, and in chronicles he was criticised for socializing with the peasants instead of the nobles, it is likely that he was supported by the lower classes who still held their Pagan beliefs.
Samuel knew that he could remain on the throne only if he could make peace with Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, who was Peter's main ally. He succeeded in this in 1043, but had to pay a heavy price: Hungary lost some of its territories to Henry and had to pay tribute.
Because of the tribute paid to Henry and the abolishing of taxes, Samuel had to look for sources of money. He claimed back the donations the preceding kings gave to the Church, and made the bishops pay taxes. This was in keeping with his intentions of diminishing the role and power of the Church. (According to some sources he and his followers were excommunicated by the pope).
In several ways Samuel's rule meant a relapse from Feudalism to a tribal society. He was less and less popular, and was opposed by the Church, by the nobles, who resented him favouring the commoners, and by Henry III, who was furious that Samuel did not keep all the points of their peace treaty. Peter, with the help of Henry, attacked Samuel, and defeated him in the Battle of Ménfő, near Győr. Samuel fled to the East. Contemporary sources offer different opinions about his fate; some say he was captured and killed by Peter and Henry, others say he reached the Tisza river and was killed there by Hungarians who opposed him. He was buried in the monastery he founded at Abasár.
There are no further data about what happened to his wife and sons, but his family, the Aba clan continued to be one of the most influential clans of Northern Hungary, where their name is preserved in the name of Abaúj-Torna county (today its Hungarian half is a part of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and its Slovakian half forms the region of Abov), and that of several villages.
The Hungarian noble clan of Aba (Genus Aba), was already a very powerful clan in Hungary in the 9th century. The Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum ("The Deeds of the Huns and the Hungarians") connects the family to Attila the Hun.
Csaba and Aladar, were Attila's legitimate sons by Justa Grata Honoria, the daughter of the emperor Honorius. Csaba in turn had two sons, Edemen and Ed. Edemen entered Pannonia with his father's and mother's great entourage (his mother being a Chorasminian) when the Hungarians came back for the second time, whereas Ed remained in Scythia with his father. Csaba is the ancestor of the clan of Aba.[1]
—Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum[2]
NOTE: Honoria was the only daughter of later Emperor Constantius III and Galla Placidia. She had an older, maternal half-brother by the first marriage of Placidia to Ataulf of the Visigoths. Theodosius, her half-brother, was born in Barcelona by the end of 414. Theodosius died early in the following year, thus eliminating an opportunity for a Romano-Visigothic line.[2][3] Honoria also had a full brother, Valentinian III. He was born in 419.
During the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries the clan Aba itself split into several associated families and each took their surnames from the estates or a manor that they possessed at that time. The Rhédey family took its name from the estate of 'Kisréde' (now Nagyréde) of Heves County, Hungary.
There are nineteen noble families that directly descend from the Royal House of Aba, and belong to Clan Aba - “Genus Aba”. They are: Athinai, Báthory, Báthory de Gagy, Berthóty, Budaméry, Csirke, Csobánka, Frichi, Gagyi, Hedry, Keczer, Kompolthi, Kõszeghi, Laczkffy de Nádasd, Lapispataky, Rhédey, Sirokay, Somosy de Somos, Vendéghy and Vitéz.
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Samuel Aba, King of Hungary
Born: c. 990 Died: 5 july 1044 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Peter Orseolo |
King of Hungary 1041-1044 |
Succeeded by Peter Orseolo |
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