Palatine (Kingdom of Hungary) - Important Palatines

Important Palatines

For more details on this topic, see List of palatines of Hungary.

Important families that provided several palatines were: in the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th century were the Aba (family), Lackfi, in the 15th century the Garay, afterwards the Báthory and the Zápolya, Esterházy, Pálffy, and ultimately the Joseph branch of the Habsburg.

Prominent palatines have been: in the early 17th century, István Illésházy of Trencsén, then up to 1616, György Thurzó and János Zakmárdi. Thurzó is the palatine who arrested Elizabeth Báthory, the countess accused for killing numerous girls and young women. The position was occupied in the remaining 17th century by members of the families Esterházy, Pálffy, Francis Wesselényi and others. The last palatines at the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century were the Habsburgs Archdukes Alexander Leopold, Joseph and his son Stephen, who resigned in 1848. Following Stephen's death in 1867 without issue, his half-brother Archduke Joseph August of Austria inherited the title, though the post by that time was symbolic only.