Máté Csák or Matthew III Csák (between 1260 and 1265 – 18 March 1321; Hungarian: Csák (III.) Máté, Slovak: Matúš Čák III), also Máté Csák of Trencsén (Hungarian: trencséni Csák (III.) Máté, Slovak: Matúš Čák Trenčiansky), was a Hungarian oligarch who ruled de facto independently the north-western counties of Kingdom of Hungary (today roughly the western half of present-day Slovakia and parts of Northern Hungary). He held several of the highest royal offices in the kingdom, serving as Master of the Horse (főlovászmester) (1293–1296), Palatine (nádor) (1296–1297, 1302–1309), and Master of the Treasury (tárnokmester) (1309–1311). During the Hungarian succession crisis that followed the extinction of the House of Árpád in the male line, he was able to maintain his rule over his territories even after his defeat at the Battle of Rozgony against King Charles I of Hungary. In the 19th century, he was often described as a symbol of the struggle for independence in both the Hungarian and Slovak literatures.
He was a son of the Palatine Peter I Csák, a member of the Hungarian genus ("clan") Csák. Hungarian medieval chronicles identified Szabolcs, the second captain of the Hungarians, as the ancestor of the Csák kindred. Around 1283, Matthew and his brother, Csák, who later served as bearer of the sword (kardhordó) in 1293, inherited their father's possessions, Komárom (Slovak: Komárno) and Szenic (Slovak: Senica). At about that time, they also inherited their uncles' (Matthew II and Stephen I Csák) possessions around Nagytapolcsány (Slovak: Veľké Topoľčany, now Topoľčany), Hrussó (Slovak: Hrušovo) and Tata. Their father had started to expand his influence over the territories that surrounded his possessions.
Matthew was born around 1260s. A diploma recorded his lameness which caused by either birth defect or a result of a war injury. He was presumably first mentioned by a charter issued by the Somogyvár Abbey on 5 August 1284, where the sons of the late Peter were summoned in a case of land title rights to Kötcse. Historian Gyula Kristó argues that the document mentions the possible elder brothers of Matthew and Csák as they first appeared in contemporary sources only in 1291. Following Peter's death, the members of the rival Kőszegi family from the Héder clan strengthened in Pozsony and Sopron Counties taking advantage of that the Csák clan has been weakened due to the death of Matthew II and Peter I. The Kőszegis defeated the local Osl clan in Sopron County and also forged ahead to Pozsony County where captured Pozsony Castle for a short time.
In 1291, Matthew took part in the campaign of King Andrew III of Hungary against Austria. In the next year, when Nicholas I Kőszegi rebelled against King Andrew III and occupied Pozsony (German: Pressburg, Slovak: Prešporok, today Bratislava) and Detrekő (Slovak Plavecké Podhradie), Matthew managed to reoccupy the castles on behalf of the king. Henceforward, the Danube became the border between the developing domains of the Kőszegi and Csák families. King Andrew appointed him to master of the horse and he also became the ispán (comes) of Pozsony County (1293–1297). On 28 October 1293, Matthew issued a charter and promised that he would respect the liberties of the burghers of the city of Pozsony that King Andrew had confirmed before.
During this period, Matthew started to augment his possessions not only by the king's donations, but also by using force. In 1296, he bought Vöröskő (Slovak: Červený Kameň) from its former holders for money; however, contemporary documents prove that he enforced several neighboring landowners to transfer their possessions either to him or his partisans. He even was ready to occupy territories; e.g., around 1296, he took possession of the lands of the Archabbot of Pannonhalma south of the Danube and he also trespassed the possessions of the Collegiate Chapter of Pressburg.
Around the end of 1296, Matthew acquired Trencsén (Slovak: Trenčín) and afterwards, he was named after the castle. In 1296 King Andrew appointed him Palatine, but shortly afterwards the king absolved one of Matthew's opponents, Andrew of Gimes from the Hont-Pázmány clan of all responsibility for the damage he had caused to Matthew. The document proves that the relationship of the king and Matthew worsened and the king deprived him of his office of Palatine in 1297. At the same time, the king granted Pozsony County to his queen, Agnes of Austria.
Matthew continued to style himself Palatine even after 1297. He managed to overcome Andrew of Gimes and his family and thus expanded his influence along the Zsitva River (Žitava River).
In 1298, King Andrew III allied himself with King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia; the alliance was probably directed against Matthew whose possessions lay between the two monarchs' territories. In the next year, King Andrew sent his troops against him, but he could resist the attack; only Pozsony County was reoccupied by the king's partisans.
Before 1300, Matthew entered into negotiations with the representatives of King Charles II of Naples and reassured him that he would assist the claim of his grandson, Charles for the throne against King Andrew III. However, in the summer of 1300, Matthew visited Andrew's court, but the king, the last male member of the Árpád dynasty, died on 14 January 1301, and following his death a rivalry broke out among the several claimants for the throne. At that time, Matthew's brother, Csák died childless and therefore Matthew inherited his possessions.
Following the death of King Andrew III, he became the Neapolitan prince's follower, but shortly afterwards, he joined the party that offered the crown to Wenceslaus, the son of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. He was present at the coronation of the young Bohemian prince (27 August 1301) who granted him Trencsén and Nyitra counties; therefore he became the lawful holder of all the royal castles and possessions in the two counties. In the following years, Matthew Csák occupied the possessions of the Balassa family in the two counties and he also took several castles in Nógrád and Hont counties.
King Wenceslaus could not strengthen his rule against his opponent and he had to leave the kingdom (August 1304). By that time Matthew Csák had already left King Wenceslaus' party, and shortly afterwards he made an alliance with Duke Rudolph III of Austria against the king of Bohemia. Although he did not join to King Charles' partisans, but his troops took part in the campaign King Charles and Duke Rudolph lead against the Kingdom of Bohemia (September–October 1304). The internal struggles, however, did not end, because on 6 December 1305 a new claimant, Otto III, Duke of Bavaria was crowned King of Hungary. Matthew Csák did not accept King Otto's rule, and his troops struggled together with King Charles' armies who occupied some castles on the northern part of the kingdom.
On 10 October 1307, an assembly confirmed King Charles' rule, but Matthew Csák and some other oligarchs (Ladislaus Kán, Ivan and Henry II Kőszegi) absented themselves from the assembly. In 1308, Pope Clement V sent a legate to the kingdom in order to strengthen King Charles' position. The legate, Cardinal Gentile Portino da Montefiore managed to persuade Matthew to accept King Charles' rule at their meeting in the Pauline Monastery of Kékes (10 November 1308). Although Matthew himself was not present at the following assembly (27 November) in Pest where King Charles' reign was again confirmed, he sent his envoy to attend at the meeting. Shortly afterwards, King Charles appointed Matthew Palatine of the kingdom. However, at the new coronation of King Charles (15 June 1309), he was only represented by one of his followers. In the next year, King Charles appointed him to the office of master of the treasury, which then was the first high-ranking political position during the first regnal years of Charles as the position of palatine was "devaluated".
Matthew Csák did not want to accept the king's rule; therefore, he did not attend King Charles' third coronation, when he was crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary (27 August). Moreover, Matthew Csák still continued to expand the borders of his domains and occupied several castles in the northern part of the kingdom. On 25 June 1311, he led his troops towards Buda and pillaged the surrounding territories and on this account the Cardinal Gentile excommunicated him on 6 July 1311. However, he did not accept the punishment and persuaded some priests to continue their services on his territories.