The House of Szécsényi was a noble family of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

in the 14-15th centuries. The ancestor of the family, Thomas descended from the ''gens'' ("clan") Kacsics. He was one of the most powerful barons of King

Charles I of Hungary Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia in the union with Hungary, Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel of A ...

and he hold several dignities during his reign. The family was named after its possession,

Szécsény Szécsény is a town in Nógrád county, Hungary. Etymology The name comes from the Slavic ''sečь'': cutting (''Sečany''). 1219/1550 ''Scecen''. History The valley of the Ipoly and especially the area of that around Szécsény was inhabite ...

. The male line of the family ended in 1460.

Family tree

Notable members of the family

Thomas Szécsényi Thomas (I) Szécsényi (; died 1354) was a Hungarian powerful baron and soldier, who rose to prominence during King Charles I's war against the oligarchs. He belonged to the so-called "new aristocracy", who supported the king's efforts to restor ...

(cca. 1285-1354), the son of Farkas Szécsényi, joined King Charles I against the powerful Máté Csák III in 1301. In 1342, he was appointed to the office of Master of the King's Treasury ''(tárnokmester)'' and in 1349, he became

judge royal The judge royal, also justiciar,Rady 2000, p. 49. chief justiceSegeš 2002, p. 202. or Lord Chief JusticeFallenbüchl 1988, p. 145. (,Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 72. ,Zsoldos 2011, p. 26. , ), was the second-highest judge, preceded only by the Palati ...

''(országbíró)''.

Sources

* Markó, László: A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig - Életrajzi Lexikon ''(The High Officers of the Hungarian State from Saint Stephen to the Present Days - A Biographical Encyclopedia)''; Magyar Könyvklub, 2000, Budapest; . * Engel, Pál: Magyarország világi archontológiája (1301–1457) ''(The Temporal Archontology of Hungary (1301-1457))''; História - MTA Történettudományi Intézete, 1996, Budapest; .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Szecsenyi Hungarian noble families