Batthyany

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Batthyány is the name of an old distinguished Hungarian Magnate family.

They were first mentioned in documents in 1398 and had their ancestral seat in Güssing in the Austrian region Burgenland since 1522.

In 1570, Balthasar Batthyány transformed the seat of the family, Güssing, into the center of protestantism in the region. His descendant however, Ádám Batthyány (* 1610, † 1659) was catholic and founded a Franciscan monastery in Güssing (in the south of the present-day Burgenland). Lajos Batthyány became the first Prime Minister of Hungary during the revolution of 1848 and was executed in Pest in 1849. After 1945 the Batthyány family was largely expropriated in the then socialist countries, although they kept some important property in the Burgenland, Austria.

The Batthyány family can trace its roots to the founding of Hungary in 896 AD by Árpád. Árpád had 7 chieftains, one by the name of Őrs. Later the name became Kővágó-Őrs. In 1398 Miklós Kővágó-Őrs 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). For up-to-date information on the family nowadays and other links, please visit the Batthyány family website on www.batthyany.org

[edit] Family members

Baltazár Batthyány (1543-1590), baron, well-educated humanist, became Protestant in 1570
Ádám Batthyány (1610-1659), count, Founder of the Franciscan monastery in Güssing
Carl Joseph Batthyány (1698-1772), Austrian Field Marshal and later educator of Joseph II
Joseph de Batthyany (1727-1799), bishop
Ignatius de Batthyany (1741-1798), bishop
Franciska Countess Batthyany (1802-1861), born Széchenyi
Lajos Batthyany (1807-1849), executed, first Hungarian Prime Minister
Prince Gustavus Batthyany (1803-1883), English sportsman, Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder
Prince Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann (1870-1931), oculist, beatified in 2003
Comtesse Margit Batthyany (1914-1959), lived in France and was the owner of a major Thoroughbred horseracing stable