Batthyány

Coat of arms of princes Batthyány in Vienna, Austria

Batthyány is the name of an old distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. The members of this family bear the title count or countess (Graf/Gräfin) respectively prince or princess (Fürst/Fürstin) Batthyány von Német-Ujvár. A branch of the family (Croatian: Baćan) was notable in Croatia as well, producing several Bans (viceroys) of Croatia in the 16th, 17th and 18th century.

The Batthyány family can trace its roots to the founding of Hungary in 896 AD by Árpád. The family derives from Chief Örs genus.^[1][2][3] Árpád had seven chieftains, one by the name of Örs, which later became Kővágó-Örs. In 1398 Miklós Kővágó-Örs married Katalin Battyány. King Zsigmond (Sigismund) gave Miklós the region around the town of Battyán (now called Szabadbattyán) and he took the name Batthyány (lit. "from Battyán"). The family were first mentioned in documents in 1398 and had their ancestral seat in Güssing in the Austrian region Burgenland since 1522.

In 1570, Boldizsár Batthyány transformed the seat of the family, Güssing, into the center of Protestantism in the region. His descendant Ádám Batthyány (1610–1659), however, was Catholic and founded a Franciscan monastery in Güssing. Lajos Batthyány became the first Prime Minister of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and was executed in Pest in 1849. After 1945 the Batthyány family's property was largely expropriated in Hungary and other countries under Communist rule, although they retained their property in Austria.

Family members

• Boldizsár Batthyány (1543 – 1590), baron, well-educated humanist, became Protestant in 1570
• Ádám Batthyány (1610 – 1659), count, Founder of the Franciscan monastery in Güssing
• Károly József Batthyány (1698 – 1772), Austrian Field Marshal and later educator of Joseph II, Ban (viceroy) of Croatia
• József Batthyány (1727 – 1799), bishop
• Ignác Batthyány (1741 – 1798), bishop
• Kázmér Batthyány (1807 – 1854), politician, minister in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
• Franciska Batthyány (1802 – 1861), born Széchenyi
• Lajos Batthyány (1807 – 1849), executed, first Hungarian Prime Minister
• Count József Sándor Batthyány (1777–1812), his father
• Gusztáv, 5th Prince Batthyány-Strattmann (1803 – 1883), English sportsman, Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder
• Ludovika Olga Karoline Philippine Antonia Batthyany (1869–1939)
• Count Tivadar Batthyány , (1859–1931)
• László, 7th Prince Batthyány-Strattmann (1870 – 1931), oculist, beatified in 2003
• Comtesse Margit Batthyány (1914 – 1959)de:Margit von Batthyány, lived until the end of World War II on Castle Rechnitz (Burgenland) where she was engaged in breeding horses and maintaining a reconvalescence home for members of the SS. Her involvement in the infamous Rechnitz massacre^[4] is still controversial.

External links

• Family website

References

1. ^ August Ernst, Geschichte des Burgenlandes, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1991, p.140 [1]
2. ^ András Koltai, Adam Batthyány und seine Bibliothek, Országos Széchényi Könyvtár, 2002, p.292 [2]
3. ^ Miklós Füzes, Batthyány Kázmér, Gondolat, 1990, p. 5
4. ^ http://www.signandsight.com/features/1591.html