Count Imre Thurzó de Bethlenfalva (11 September 1598 – 19 October 1621) was a Hungarian aristocrat, son of

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

György Thurzó György Thurzó (, ; 2 September 1567 – 24 December 1616) was a prominent Hungarian nobleman and Palatine of Hungary between 1609 and 1616, a position equivalent to a prime minister or viceroy, serving under the rule of the Habsburgs in the ...

, who served as

Perpetual Ispán A perpetual count (, )Nemes 1989, p. 81. was a head or an ''ispán'' of a county in the Kingdom of Hungary (“Lord Lieutenant”) whose office was either hereditary or attached to the dignity of a prelate or of a great officer of the realm. The ear ...

(Count; ''comes'') of

Árva County Árva County (, , , , ) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 14th century until 1920. Its territory is now in northern Slovakia and southern Poland. Today, the Slovak name is only used as an informal design ...

between 1616 and 1621. Count Imre also functioned as Rector of the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

from 1616 to 1621. He was the last male member of the prestigious

Thurzó family The House of Thurzó (; ) was a Hungarian noble family from the 15th century to the first half of the 17th century. It was in Kraków that the rise of the Thurzó family began, and the family in turn boosted that city into an important center of b ...

Biography

He was born in Nagybiccse,

Trencsén County Trencsén county (Latin: ''comitatus Trentsiniensis / Trenchiniensis''; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Trencsén (vár)megye''; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Trenčiansky komitát / Trenčianska stolica / Trenčianska župa''; ) was an administra ...

on 11 September 1598. His parents were György Thurzó, Palatine of Hungary and Erzsébet Czobor, daughter of Imre Czobor, who served as Palatinal Governor of Hungary between 1572 and 1581. As the only surviving son of Palatine Thurzó, he received careful and thorough education: firstly in the parental home, then at the

. His close schoolmate was

Juraj V Zrinski Juraj V Zrinski (; 31 January 1599 – 28 December 1626) was a Croatian Ban (viceroy), warrior and member of the Zrinski noble family. Biography Juraj V Zrinski was born in Csáktornya Kingdom of Hungary (today Čakovec, a town in the Međ ...

, future

Ban of Croatia Ban of Croatia () was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102, viceroys of Croatia. From the earliest periods of the Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by Ban (title), bans as a ruler's representative (viceroy) and sup ...

. On

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

of 1616, György Thurzó died at the age of 49, thus Count Imre inherited the Thurzó prosperity and became Count of Árva. He was appointed rector of the Wittenberg university in that same year. Count Imre, as a Lutheran magnate, supported

Gabriel Bethlen Gabriel Bethlen (; 1580 – 15 November 1629) was Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and Duke of Opole from 1622 to 1625. He was also King-elect of Hungary from 1620 to 1621, but he never took control of the whole kingdom. Bethlen, sup ...

Prince of Transylvania The Prince of Transylvania (, , , Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 77.) was the head of state of the Principality of Transylvania from the late-16th century until the mid-18th century. John Sigismund Zápolya was the first to adopt the title in 1 ...

, who fought against the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

and Ferdinand II in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. He also had a significant role in the election Gabriel as

King of Hungary The King of Hungary () was the Monarchy, ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Magyarország apostoli királya'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

. He served as envoy of Gabriel to the

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

nobility. He was one of the signatory of the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1621. He died suddenly there on 19 October 1621.

Marriage

Thurzó's wife was Baroness Krisztina Nyáry (1604–1641), daughter of Pál Nyáry, the castellan of Várad (''Nagyvárad''; today: ''Oradea, Romania''),

Ispán The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. (, , and ),Kirschbaum 2007, p. 315. deriving from title of župan, ...

(Count; comes) of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and Közép-Szolnok Counties. They married in Helmec on 15 November 1618. The marriage was highly luxurious during that time, which was celebrated by Péter Alvinci. They had two daughters: * Erzsébet (20 February 1621 – 4 July 1642), married to Count István Esterházy (1616–1641) on 26 July 1638, the eldest son of Krisztina's second husband, Count Nikolaus and Baroness Orsolya Dersffy *Krisztina (25 April 1622 – 22 March 1632), died young After the death of Imre Thurzó, Baroness Krisztina converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

from

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and married Count Nikolaus (Miklós) Esterházy (1583–1645) for the second time in Szucsány (today: ''Sučany, Slovakia'') on 21 July 1624. This marriage was established the

Esterházy family The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, durin ...

's property.Esterhazy Wiki
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References

Sources

* Miklós Kubinyi
''Bethlenfalvi gróf Thurzó Imre 1598–1621''
Budapest, Méhner Vilmos kiadása, 1888. * Zoltán Ferenczi

Budapest, Magyar Történelmi Társulat, 1911. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurzo, Imre 1598 births 1621 deaths People from Bytča Hungarian Lutherans Hungarian nobility Imre University of Wittenberg alumni