The House of Batthyány () is the name of an ancient and distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. Members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf/Gräfin) Batthyány von Német-Ujvar respectively, while the title of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

( Fürst) von Batthyány-Strattmann is reserved only for the Head of the family. A branch of the family ( hr, Baćan) was notable in

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as well, producing several Bans (viceroys) of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in the 16th, 17th and 18th century.

History

The Batthyány family can trace its roots to the founding of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

in 896 CE by Árpád. The family derives from a chieftain called Örs. 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 Szabadbattyán is a village in Fejér county, Hungary. Located about 10 km from Székesfehérvár and about 30 km from Lake Balaton. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Archeological record go back to the Bronze Age ...

) and he took the name Batthyány (lit. "from Battyán"). The family were first mentioned in documents in 1398 and have had their ancestral seat in Güssing in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n region of

Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

since 1522. In 1570, Boldizsár Batthyány transformed the seat of the family, Güssing, into the center of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in the region. His descendant

Ádám Batthyány Ádám Batthyány (1610–1659) was a Hungarian count of the Batthyány family. He presided over a period of religious tensions between Protestants and Catholics, which extended to his court. His father had been Calvinist, as had he, but he later b ...

(1610–1659), however, was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and founded a Franciscan monastery in Güssing. On 3.1.1764 Count Karl Josef Batthyány was created

Prince of the Holy Roman Empire Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors o ...

. As he didn't have surviving sons, his princely title was inherited by his nephew Count Adam Wenzel (1722-1787). Count Lajos Batthyány became the first Prime Minister of Hungary during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although t ...

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. The current family members have also strong ties to Hungary currently.

Modern era

Currently, the family has about 60 name bearers who live mainly in Austria, but also in Hungary,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. The current head of the family is Prince Laszlo Edmund Christof Maximilian Eugen Anton von Batthyány-Strattmann, son of Prince Laszlo Pascal von Batthyány-Strattmann (1938-2015) and his wife Veronika Hauschka von Treuenfels (b. 1942). Prince Laszlo lives with his wife and children in Austria. The family meets once a year for a so-called Familientag (family gathering) at their ancestral seat Güssing Castle.

Family members

* Boldizsár Batthyány (1543–1590), baron, well-educated humanist, became Protestant in 1570, protector of the botanist

Carolus Clusius Charles de l'Écluse, L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius (19 February 1526 – 4 April 1609), seigneur de Watènes, was an Artois doctor and pioneering botanist, perhaps the most influential of all 16th-century scientific horticulturists. Life Clu ...

(1610–1659), count, Founder of the Franciscan monastery in Güssing * Adam II. Batthyány (1662–1703), Ban of Croatia * Lajos Batthyány (1696–1765), Hungarian Court Chancellor and Palatine of Hungary. * Károly József Batthyány (1698–1772), Austrian field marshal and later educator of

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

, Ban (viceroy) of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

* József Batthyány (1727–1799), bishop *

Ignác Batthyány Ignác Batthyány (born 30 June 1741, Németújvár (present-day Güssing), Kingdom of Hungary; died 17 November 1798, Gyulafehérvár (present-day Alba Iulia), Principality of Transylvania) was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Transylvania. He was l ...

(1741–1798), bishop and founder of the Batthyaneum Library,

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...

, now Romania *

Kázmér Batthyány Count Kázmér Antal Ferenc Batthyány de Németújvár (3 June 1807 – 13 July 1854) was a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. At the beginning he was a conservative aristoc ...

(1807–1854), politician, minister in the

* 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 * Edmund Gustavus, 6th Prince Batthyany-Strattmann (1826–1914) * Ludovika Olga Karoline Philippine Antonia Batthyany (1869–1939) * Count Tivadar Batthyány (1859–1931) * László, 7th Prince Batthyány-Strattmann (1870–1931), ophthalmologist, beatified in 2003 * Ervin Batthyány (1877–1945), anarchist and school reformer * Countess Margit Batthyány (1911–1989) :de:Margit von Batthyány, lived until the end of World War II on Castle Rechnitz (

) where she was engaged in breeding horses and maintaining a reconvalescence home for members of the SS. Her involvement in the infamous Rechnitz massacre is still controversial. * Sacha Battyhány Swiss journalist and writer, author of the book "A Crime in the Family" about the participation of Comtesse Margit Battyhány and other members of the family in the Rechnitz massacre

External links

Family website
*Archival material (ca. 212 running meters)
The_Batthyány_Family_Archive_at_the_National_Archives_of_Hungary_[P_(4545)
/nowiki>.html" ;"title="''P (4545)">The Batthyány Family Archive at the National Archives of Hungary [P (4545)
/nowiki>">''P (4545)">The Batthyány Family Archive at the National Archives of Hungary [P (4545)
/nowiki>*Archival material (about 200 records)
Batthyány Family Collection at the National Library of Israel (ARC. 4* 2031)
*Shaul Greenstein, ''
he Hungarian Noble Family That Took in the Exiled Jews
', The Librarians, Blog of the National Library of Israel, December 18, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Batthyany Hungarian noble families Croatian noble families Hungarian-language surnames

History

Modern era

Family members

See also

References

External links