Editing History of Slovakia (section)

====Period of the oligarchs (1290–1321)====
[[File:Oligarch domains 1301 1310.png|thumb|right|210px|Areas ruled by [[Matthew III Csák]] and [[Amade Aba]].]]
The last decades of the 13th century were characterized by discords within the royal family and among the several groups of the aristocracy.{{sfn|Benda|1981|pp=158-187}} The decay of the royal power and the rise of some powerful aristocrats gave rise to the transformation of the administrative system: the counties that had been the basic units of the royal administration ([[Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)#Royal counties (late 10th century - late 13th century)|"royal counties"]]) transformed gradually into autonomous administrative units of the local nobility ([[Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)#Noble counties (late 13th century - 1848)|"noble counties"]]); however, the local nobility was not able to stop the rise of oligarchs.{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=484}}

Following the Mongol invasion of the kingdom, a competition started among the landowners: each of them endeavored to build a castle with or without the permission of the king.{{sfn|Fügedi|1986|p=138}} The competition started a process of differentiation among the noble families, because the nobles who were able to build a castle could also expand their influence over the neighbouring landowners.{{sfn|Fügedi|1986|p=138–142}} The conflicts among the members of the royal family also strengthened the power of the aristocrats (who sometimes received whole counties from the kings) and resulted in the formation of around eight huge territories (domains) in the kingdom, governed by powerful aristocrats in the 1290s.{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=663}}
[[File:Oligarchs in the Kingdom of Hungary 14th century.svg|thumb|The provinces of the Kingdom of Hungary ruled by the "[[Oligarch (Kingdom of Hungary)|oligarchs]]" (powerful lords) in early 14th century]]
In present-day Slovakia, most of the castles were owned by two powerful aristocrats ([[Amade Aba]] and [[Matthew III Csák]]) or their followers.{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=664}} Following the extinction of the Árpád dynasty (1301), both of them pretended to follow one of the claimants for the throne, but, in practice, they governed their territories independently.{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=663}} Amade Aba governed the eastern parts of present-day Slovakia from his seat in [[Gönc]].{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=41}} He was killed by Charles Robert of Anjou's assassins at the south gate in [[Košice]] in 1311.{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=42}}

Matthew III Csák was the ''de facto'' ruler of the western territories of present-day Slovakia, from his seat at [[Trenčín]].{{sfn|Kristó|1994|p=447}} He allied himself with the murdered Amade Aba's sons against Košice, but King [[Charles I of Hungary]], who had managed to acquire the throne against his opponents, gave military assistance to the town and the royal armies defeated him at the [[Battle of Rozgony|Battle of Rozgony / Rozhanovce]] in 1312.{{sfn|Kristó|1994}}{{Page needed|date=December 2015}} However, the north-western counties remained in his power until his death in 1321 when the royal armies occupied his former castles without resistance.{{sfn|Kristó|1994}}{{Page needed|date=December 2015}}

Pressburg (Bratislava) county was ''de facto'' ruled by the [[List of rulers of Austria#Dukes of Austria#Habsburg Dukes and Archdukes of Austria|Dukes of Austria]] from 1301 to 1328 when King [[Charles I of Hungary]] reoccupied it.{{sfn|Benda|1981|p=188}}