Palatine (Kingdom of Hungary)
Encyclopedia
The palatine was the highest dignitary in the Kingdom of Hungary
after the king
(a kind of powerful prime minister
, commander-in-chief of the army and supreme judge) from the kingdom's rise up to 1848/1918. This position corresponds to the British Lord High Steward
.
Initially, he was in fact the representative of the king, later the vice-regent (viceroy
). In the early centuries of the kingdom, he was appointed by the king, later elected by the Diet
of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the Habsburg
s solidified their hold of Hungary, the dignity became an appointed position once again. Finally, it became hereditary in a cadet (junior) branch of the Habsburg dynasty after King Francis
appointed his brother Joseph.
na dvor špan meaning approximately "at-the-Court count."
Initially the palatine was the leader (administrator, manager) of the curia regis
(Court of the king, in terms of persons and institutions); he was responsible for the functioning of the Court, for its economy and internal order. From 1002 onwards, leading members of the supreme nobility (the oligarchs) held the function. He was responsible for the royal properties ("courts", ) scattered in the country with their "court" peasants .
From the 12th century onwards, the palatine was also a representative of the king in judicial affairs. He was the judge of all "free" persons (oligarch
s, servientes regis, hospites and other land owners), especially the judge of the nobles outside the capital, but in 1222 nobles were exempt from his jurisdiction. He was also the judge of the Jászok (Alans), of the Cumanians and of the Jews. Title of Palatine is abolished in 1848.
From 1200, he was also the comes
of several counties, thus being entitled to one third of the county taxes. From the 13th century, his deputy (vicepalatinus) was based in Pest (around 1300 temporarily in Old Buda
), where he was simultaneously the county leader of the Pest county and judge of the middle nobility.
The Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary of 1455 and 1456 issued the decree "de officio Palatinus", which guaranteed the palatine's position as the representative of the king.
of the king, a function which however only became important after 1526. He was allowed to command the royal army and to preside over the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary instead of the king. When the king was not of age or if there was an interregnum
, he also could convene the Diet. From around 1450 he had the right to grant royal property — like the king himself but with certain restrictions. An act of 1485 explicitly stipulated that the palatine shall be the vicegerent in the king's absence.
After 1526, when the Habsburgs became rulers of the kingdom and the Turks
seized large parts of the kingdom, the palatine, as the vice-regent (viceroy), had his seat outside Royal Hungary
in Prague
and later in Vienna
. In 1526, the palatine became a life function. In 1527, the palatine István Báthory
created the Hungarian Vice-regency Council (a kind of government, seat in Pozsony (German: Pressburg, now Bratislava
) since 1531) comprising also other noble representatives, which became a permanent institution headed by the palatine in 1549. In 1608, the functions of vice-regent and palatine were separated. The Vice-regency council was abolished in 1673, but renewed in 1723, when the palatine became the official president of the council.
After 1848, the palatine was only a symbolic function, but it was only in 1918 — with the end of Habsburgs in the Kingdom of Hungary (the kingdom continued formally until 1945) — that the function ceased officially.
, 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 Archduke
s 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.
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
after the king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
(a kind of powerful prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, commander-in-chief of the army and supreme judge) from the kingdom's rise up to 1848/1918. This position corresponds to the British Lord High Steward
Lord High Steward
The position of Lord High Steward of England is the first of the Great Officers of State. The office has generally remained vacant since 1421, except at coronations and during the trials of peers in the House of Lords, when the Lord High Steward presides. In general, but not invariably, the Lord...
.
Initially, he was in fact the representative of the king, later the vice-regent (viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
). In the early centuries of the kingdom, he was appointed by the king, later elected by the Diet
Diet (assembly)
In politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is mainly used historically for the Imperial Diet, the general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and for the legislative bodies of certain countries.-Etymology:...
of the Kingdom of Hungary. After the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s solidified their hold of Hungary, the dignity became an appointed position once again. Finally, it became hereditary in a cadet (junior) branch of the Habsburg dynasty after King Francis
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
appointed his brother Joseph.
Name
The Latin word palatinus (which is related to the word for "palace" that also gave us the name of the Palatine Hill in Rome) came to mean, approximately, imperial or royal ("of the palace"), and comes, which originally meant merely a companion or member of the household (of an important personage), eventually became a title of nobility and is often translated "count." The Hungarian word nádorispán derives from the SlavicSlavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
na dvor špan meaning approximately "at-the-Court count."
Middle Ages
The Hungarians settled in the Carpathian Basin around 896.Initially the palatine was the leader (administrator, manager) of the curia regis
Curia Regia
The Curia Regia was the supreme court of the Kingdom of Hungary .Charles VI in 1723 divided it into two courts: the Tabula Septemviralis and the Tabula Regia Iudiciaria ....
(Court of the king, in terms of persons and institutions); he was responsible for the functioning of the Court, for its economy and internal order. From 1002 onwards, leading members of the supreme nobility (the oligarchs) held the function. He was responsible for the royal properties ("courts", ) scattered in the country with their "court" peasants .
From the 12th century onwards, the palatine was also a representative of the king in judicial affairs. He was the judge of all "free" persons (oligarch
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
s, servientes regis, hospites and other land owners), especially the judge of the nobles outside the capital, but in 1222 nobles were exempt from his jurisdiction. He was also the judge of the Jászok (Alans), of the Cumanians and of the Jews. Title of Palatine is abolished in 1848.
From 1200, he was also the comes
Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)
A county is the name of a type of administrative units in the Kingdom of Hungary and in Hungary from the 10th century until the present day....
of several counties, thus being entitled to one third of the county taxes. From the 13th century, his deputy (vicepalatinus) was based in Pest (around 1300 temporarily in Old Buda
Óbuda
Óbuda was a historical city in Hungary. United with Buda and Pest in 1873 it now forms part of District III-Óbuda-Békásmegyer of Budapest. The name means Old Buda in Hungarian...
), where he was simultaneously the county leader of the Pest county and judge of the middle nobility.
The Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary of 1455 and 1456 issued the decree "de officio Palatinus", which guaranteed the palatine's position as the representative of the king.
15th – 20th century
From around 1400 he was the vicegerentVicegerent
Vicegerent is the official administrative deputy of a ruler or head of state: vice + gerere .-Related usage:*The Byzantine Emperors held as a title "God's Vicegerent on Earth"....
of the king, a function which however only became important after 1526. He was allowed to command the royal army and to preside over the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary instead of the king. When the king was not of age or if there was an interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
, he also could convene the Diet. From around 1450 he had the right to grant royal property — like the king himself but with certain restrictions. An act of 1485 explicitly stipulated that the palatine shall be the vicegerent in the king's absence.
After 1526, when the Habsburgs became rulers of the kingdom and the Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
seized large parts of the kingdom, the palatine, as the vice-regent (viceroy), had his seat outside Royal Hungary
Royal Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary between 1538 and 1867 was part of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, while outside the Holy Roman Empire.After Battle of Mohács, the country was ruled by two crowned kings . They divided the kingdom in 1538...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and later in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. In 1526, the palatine became a life function. In 1527, the palatine István Báthory
István Báthory
Stephen VIII Báthory was a Hungarian noble.He was a son of Nicholas Báthory of the Somlyó branch of the Báthory family.In 1521, he was appointed deputy voivode of Transylvania, serving under the Voivoid John Zápolya...
created the Hungarian Vice-regency Council (a kind of government, seat in Pozsony (German: Pressburg, now Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
) since 1531) comprising also other noble representatives, which became a permanent institution headed by the palatine in 1549. In 1608, the functions of vice-regent and palatine were separated. The Vice-regency council was abolished in 1673, but renewed in 1723, when the palatine became the official president of the council.
After 1848, the palatine was only a symbolic function, but it was only in 1918 — with the end of Habsburgs in the Kingdom of Hungary (the kingdom continued formally until 1945) — that the function ceased officially.
Important palatines
Important families that provided several palatines were: in the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th century were the Aba (family)Aba (family)
Aba is the name of a Genus Aba in the Kingdom of Hungary. Their ancestors may have been among the tribal leaders of the Kabars...
, Lackfi, in the 15th century the Garay
Gorjanski
Garay or Garai were a Hungarian noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary, a branch of the Dorozsma clan, with notable members in the 14th and 15th centuries. They were lords of Csesznek.-Name and origin:...
, afterwards the Báthory
Báthory
The Báthory were a Hungarian noble family of the Gutkeled clan. The family rose to significant influence in Central Europe during the late Middle Ages, holding high military, administrative and ecclesiastical positions in the Kingdom of Hungary...
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
Trencín
Trenčín is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 56,000, which makes it the ninth largest municipality of the country and is the seat of the Trenčín Region and the Trenčín District...
, then up to 1616, György Thurzó
György Thurzó
György Thurzó was the Palatine of Hungary between .-Biography:György Thurzó was born into the richest noble house in Upper Hungary the Thurzó family which was of Slovak ethnicity...
and János Zakmárdi. Thurzó is the palatine who arrested Elizabeth Báthory
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
, 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 Archduke
Archduke
The title of Archduke denotes a noble rank above Duke and below King, used only by princes of the Houses of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine....
s Alexander Leopold
Archduke Alexander Leopold of Austria
Archduke Alexander Leopold of Austria was the fourth son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Maria Louisa of Spain. After the accession of his father to the Imperial throne in 1790, Alexander Leopold was appointed Palatine of Hungary...
, Joseph and his son Stephen
Archduke Stephen, Palatine of Hungary
Palatine Stephen of Hungary or Archduke Stephen Francis Victor of Austria was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.-Biography:...
, who resigned in 1848. Following Stephen's death in 1867 without issue, his half-brother Archduke Joseph August of Austria
Archduke Joseph August of Austria
Archduke Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia was for a short period head of state of Hungary, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and the eldest son of Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria and his wife Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
inherited the title, though the post by that time was symbolic only.