COGNOMEN A PATERNO PAGO INDITUM. ON THE ORIGIN AND SOCIAL ASCENSION OF PAUL KINIZSI
COGNOMEN A PATERNO PAGO INDITUM. ON THE ORIGIN AND SOCIAL ASCENSION OF PAUL KINIZSI

Summary/Abstract: Paul (Pál) Kinizsi is a very well-known Hungarian personage from the last decades of 15th century. Although he was widely praised for his role in defending the Kingdom of Hungary from the Ottoman advance, Paul’s origin remained a mystery. In Romanian historiography he was considered to be born in a humble knezial family from the present-day Banat, but this assertion was erroneous. The available documents from the Hungarian National Archives indicate that Paul Kinizsi was born in a Hungarian noble family from northern Hungary i.e. from Abaúj County. His sole connection with the present-day territory of Banat was his office of the count of Timiș and general captain of the southern parts of the Kingdom. Since he was endorsed by Blasius (Balázs) Magyar, a powerful nobleman from the same region, to whom he was related, Kinizsi career swiftly went upwards. Paul was most probably born as the son of Anton (Antal) of Kenys (today Nagykinizs and Kiskinizs in northern Hungary), the village from which he took his surname i.e. noble predicate. Although his degree of kinship with Blasius Magyar is still debated (namely, if he was his stepson or just son-in law and adoptive son), Paul was the creator of his own destiny and a remarkable character who had great impact on Central European history and culture.

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