His origin is uncertain; Tudor Sălăgean assigned him to the
kindred Aba, however, according to Pál Engel, he belonged to the Illyéd branch of the
gens Kán. He had a son from his unidentified wife,
Lawrence II, who served as
master of the cupbearers (1272–1273; 1274) and
ban of Severin (1279; 1291). Lawrence was first mentioned by contemporary records in the first regnal year (1235) of
Béla IV of Hungary, when he functioned as
ispán (
comes) of
Fejér County. In 1238, a charter in a connection with donation from
Andrew II of Hungary, referred to him as "former" (
tunc temporis) ispán, which implies Lawrence maybe already held that office during the end of Andrew's reign. He served as ispán of
Bihar County between 1236 and 1238. He was appointed master of the cupbearers and ispán for the stablemen (; ) in 1240. After the
Mongol invasion (1241–1242), where voivode
Pousa, son of Sólyom died, the consolidation of the province of
Transylvania was the main task of Lawrence, who was appointed voivode by Béla IV and held the office for 10 years from 1242. He also fought in the royal army in a war against
Austria in 1246 and participated in the
battle of the Leitha River, where
Frederick the Quarrelsome was killed. Besides his voivodeship, Lawrence also functioned as ispán of Valkó County from 1248 to 1252. In the 1260s, factional conflicts in gaining the throne saw him supporting junior king
Stephen, who rebelled against his father's rule and governed Transylvania independently from Béla IV, holding the title of
duke of Transylvania. He was appointed ban of Severin () in 1263, where Stephen also exercised the royal rights. ==References==