Buzád was born into the Buzád branch of the Hahót clan, the son of Buzád I. According to magisterÁkos, the founder of the Hahót kindred was Buzád's grandfather, a certain German knight Hahold I, who himself was a descendant of the Counts of Weimar-Orlamünde and settled down in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1163 upon the invitation of Stephen III of Hungary to fight against his usurper uncle Stephen IV of Hungary and his allies, the Csáks. Buzád's brother was Arnold I, who erected the family monastery at Hahót. Buzád had four sons from his unidentified wife: Buzád III, Csák I, Voivode of Transylvania, Tristan and Lancelot. According to a non-authentic charter, Buzád served as the Ispán of Győr County in 1209. There is no record of him receiving any official positions for the coming two decades. According to a late 17th-century family tree of his kindred, Buzád participated in the first phase of the Fifth Crusade, led by King Andrew II of Hungary, albeit the anonymous author confused his name with the name of his grandfather and clan founder Hahold, but the rest of the data is the same as his life path. He functioned as the Ispán of Bihar County in 1222. After that he was the head of Pozsony County between 1222 and 1224. During that time there were emerging tensions between King Andrew II and his son, Béla. The latter rebelled against his father's rule. Buzád became a supporter of Béla, as a result of which he had to follow his lord into exile to Austria in 1223. After reconciliation between father and son, he returned to Hungary and became the Ispán of Vas County in 1225. Buzád served as the Ban of Severin from 1226 to c. 1232, when Béla governed Transylvaniade facto independently from the king, holding the title of Duke of Transylvania. In 1233, he called himself "former ban" in a charter; as a result former archontological and genealogical works of Hungarian historians referred to him as the Ban of Slavonia. Nevertheless it is more likely that Buzád held the office of Ban of Severin, because of his close relationship with Béla, and there is also reason to believe he came into contact during that period with the Dominican friars, who were engaged in proselytizing among the Cuman people. Buzád served as Ispán of Sopron County in 1232. For this reason historian Attila Zsoldos considered he left Béla's court to return Andrew's loyalty by that year.
Monastic life
Around 1233, Buzád joined the Dominican Order, giving up his political career and forsaking all property. As a charter dated 14 February 1233 mentioned, he already lived in a monastery at Pest. Then his eldest son Buzád III inherited his main estate and centre Szabar. According to tradition narrated by a contemporary chronicler Thomas of Cantimpré, not willing to leave the monastery, the invading Mongols killed Buzád before the altar in the middle of April 1241, shortly after the disastrous Battle of Mohi. Buzád was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church because of his martyrdom and self-sacrifice. The narration of his martyrdom was preserved by Jesuit scholar and theologian Gábor Hevenesi at the end of the 17th century in his work Ungaricae Sanctitatis Indicia.
Honors
In honor of Hahót, a wooden sculpture was erected in 2009 at Hahót, Zala County, which village was founded by his clan. The lifesize statue depicts the noble, with one hand holding a sword and a Latin cross in the other, referring to his secular and ecclesiastical careers. László Vigh, a member of the Hungarian National Assembly, gave a speech during consecration, where he said the youth should follow persons who lived out their lives with God's love and honest work, instead of false role models.
