Peter (I) from the kindred Csák was a powerful Hungarian baron, landowner and military leader, who held several secular positions during the reign of kings Stephen V and Ladislaus IV. His son and heir was the oligarch Matthew III Csák, who, based on his father and uncles' acquisitions, became the de facto ruler of his domain independently of the king and usurped royal prerogatives on his territories.

Ladislaus IV, also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hungary. At the age of seven, he married Elisabeth, a daughter of King Charles I of Sicily. Ladislaus was only 9 when a rebellious lord, Joachim Gutkeled, kidnapped and imprisoned him.