Batthyány


Batthyány is the name of an ancient and distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. Members of this family bear the title Count/Countess Batthyány von Német-Ujvar respectively, while the title of Prince von Batthyány-Strattmann is reserved only for the Head of the family. A branch of the family was notable in Croatia as well, producing several Bans of Croatia in the 16th, 17th and 18th century.
The Batthyány family can trace its roots to the founding of Hungary 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 gave Miklós the region around the town of Battyán and he took the name Batthyány. The family were first mentioned in documents in 1398 and have had their ancestral seat in Güssing in the Austrian region of Burgenland since 1522.
There the family meets once a year for a so-called Familientag. Currently, the family has about 60 name bearers who live mainly in Austria, but also in Hungary, Germany, United States and South America.
The family is headed by Prince Laszlo Pascal Batthyány-Strattmann, who lives in Vienna.
In 1570, Boldizsár Batthyány transformed the seat of the family, Güssing, into the center of Protestantism in the region. His descendant Ádám Batthyány, 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. The current family members have strong ties to Hungary currently.

Family members