ESTERHAZY OF GALANTHA, a noble Magyar family. Its origin has been somewhat doubtfully traced to Salamon of Estoras, whose sons Peter and Illyes divided their patrimony in 1238. Peter founded the family of Zerhazy, and Illyes that of Illyeshazy, which became extinct in the male line in 1838. The first member of the family to emerge definitely into history was Ferencz Zerhazy (I 563-94), vice lord-lieutenant of the county of Pressburg, who took the name of Esterhazy when he was cre ated Freiherr of Galantha, an estate acquired by the family in 142I. His eldest son, Daniel (d. 1654), founded the house of Czesznek, the third, Pal (d. 1641), the line of Zolyom (Altsohl), and the fourth, Miklos, that branch of the family which occupies the most considerable place in Hungarian history, that of Frakno or Forchtenstein.
This MIKLOS [Nicholas] ESTERHAZY of Galantha (1582-1645) was born at Galantha on April 8, 1582. He opposed the two great Protestant champions of the period, Gabriel Bethlen (Beth len Gabor) and George I. Rakoczy. In 1611 he married Orsolya, the widow of the wealthy Ferencz Magocsy, thus coming into possession of her gigantic estates, and in 1622 he acquired Frakno. He received many honours from Matthias II. and Ferdinand II., including the order of the Golden Fleece. At the diet of Sopron, 1625, he was elected palatine of Hungary. As a diplomatist he powerfully contributed to bring about the peaces of Nikolsburg (1622) and Linz (1645) (see HUNGARY : History) . His political ideal was the consolidation of the Habsburg dynasty as a means towards freeing Hungary from the Turkish yoke and he himself, in 1623, defeated the Turks on the banks of the Nyitra. He died at Nagy-Heflan on Sept. II, 1645, leaving five sons.
See Works of Nicholas Esterhdzy, with a biography by Ferencz Toldi (Hung.) (Pest, 1852) ; Nicholas Count Esterhazy, Palatine of Hungary (a biography, Hung.) (Pest, 1863-7o) .
His third son PAL [Paul] (1635-1713), prince palatine, founded the princely branch of the family of Esterhazy. He was born at Kis Marton (Eisenstadt) on Sept. 7, 1635. In 1663 he fought, along with Miklos Zrinyi, against the Turks, and distinguished himself under Montecuculi. In 1667 he was appointed comman der-in-chief in south Hungary, where he defeated the malcontents at Leutschau and Gyork. In 1681 he was elected palatine. In 1683 he participated in the deliverance of Vienna from the Turks, and entered Buda in 1686 at the head of 20,000 men. Thoroughly reactionary, and absolutely devoted to the Habsburgs, he con tributed more than any one else to the curtailing of the privileges of the Magyar gentry in 1687, when he was created a prince of the Empire, with (in 1712) succession to the first-born of his house. His "aulic tendencies" made him so unpopular that his offer of mediation between the Rakoczy insurgents and the government was rejected by the Hungarian diet, and the negotiations, which led to the peace of Szatmar, were entrusted to Janos Pallfy. He died on March 26, 1713. He loved the arts and sciences, wrote several religious works and was one of the chief compilers of the Trophaeum Domus Inclytae Estoratianae.
See Lajos Merenyi, Prince Paul Esterhazy (Hung.) (Budapest, Prince PAL ANTAL, grandson of the prince palatine Pal, was a distinguished soldier, who rose to the rank of field-marshal in 1758. On his death in 1762 he was succeeded by his brother.
Prince Minos JozsEF [Nicholas Joseph] (1714-9o), also a brilliant soldier, was a patron of the fine arts. Emperor Joseph II. conferred the princely title, which had previously been limited to the eldest-born of the house, on all his descendants, male and female. Esterhazy died in Vienna on Sept. 28, 179o. He rebuilt in the renaissance style Schloss Esterhazy, the splendour of which won for it the name of the Hungarian Versailles. Haydn was for thirty years conductor of his private orchestra and general musical director, and many of his compositions were written for the private theatre and the concerts of this prince.
His grandson, Prince MIKL0s [Nicholas] (1765-1833) was born on Dec. 12, 1765. He made at Vienna an important collection of paintings and engravings (which came to the Hungarian Academy at Budapest in 1865), and at his summer palace of Kis Marton (Eisenstadt) he erected a monument to Haydn. When the French invaded Austria in '797, he raised a regiment of 1 000 men at his own expense. In 1809, when Napoleon invited the Magyars to elect a new king to replace the Habsburgs, overtures were made to Prince Nicholas, who refused the honour and, further, raised a regiment of volunteers in defence of Austrian interests; but his immense expenditures in this way and on building and the arts involved the family in financial difficulties for two generations. He died at Como on Nov. 24, His son, Prince PAL ANTAL [Paul Anthony] (1786-1866), entered the diplomatic service. In 18o6 he was secretary of the embassy in London, and in 1807 worked with Prince Metternich in the same capacity in Paris. In 1810 he was accredited to the court of Dresden, where he tried in vain to detach Saxony from Napoleon, and in 1814 accompanied his father on a secret mission to Rome. He took a leading part in all the diplomatic negotia tions consequent upon the wars of 1813-15, especially at the congress of Chatillon, and on the conclusion of peace was, at the express desire of the prince regent, sent as ambassador to London. In 1824 he represented Austria as ambassador extraordinary at the coronation of Charles X., and was the premier Austrian com missioner at the London conferences of 183o-36. In 1842 he at tached himself to "the free-principles party." He was minister for foreign affairs in the first responsible Hungarian ministry (1848), but resigned his post in Sept. because he could see no way of reconciling the court with the nation. His last years were spent in comparative poverty and isolation, as even the Esterhazy Forchtenstein estates were unequal to the burden of supporting his fabulous extravagance and had to be placed in the hands of curators.
The cadet branch of the house of Frakno, the members of which bear the title of count, was divided into three lines by the sons of Ferencz Esterhazy (1641-83) .
The eldest of these, Count ANTAL (1676-1722), distinguished himself in the war against Rakoczy in 1703, but changed sides in 1704 and commanded the left wing of the Kuruczis at the en gagements of Nagyszombat (17o4) and Veresko 0705). In 1706 he defeated the imperialist general Guido Stahremberg and pene trated to the walls of Vienna. Still more successful were his oper ations in the campaign of 1708, when he ravaged Styria, twice invaded Austria, and again threatened Vienna, on which occasion the emperor Joseph narrowly escaped falling into his hands. In 1709 he was routed by the superior forces of General Sigbert Heis ter at Palota, but retreated very skilfully. In 1710 he joined Rakoczy in Poland and accompanied him to France and Turkey. He died in exile at Rodosto on the shores of the Black Sea. His son Balint Jozsef [Valentine Joseph], by Anna Maria Nigrelli, entered the French army, and was the founder of the Hallewyll, or French, branch of the family, which became extinct in the male line in 1876 with Count Ladislas.
See Count Esterhazy's Campaign Diary (Hung.), ed. by K. Thaly (Pest, 1901) .
Count BALINT MIKL6s son of Balint Jozsef, was an enthusiastic partisan of the duc de Choiseul, on whose dis missal, in 1764, he resigned the command of the French regiment of which he was colonel. He conveyed to Marie Antoinette the portrait of Louis XVI. on the occasion of their betrothal, and the close relations he maintained with her after her marriage were more than once the occasion of remonstrance on the part of Maria Theresa. At the French court he stood in high favour with the Comte d'Artois. He was raised to the rank of marechal de camp, and made inspector of troops in the French service in 1780. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, he was stationed at Va lenciennes and facilitated the escape of the French emigres by way of Namur; but, in 1790, he hastened back to Paris to assist the king. At the urgent entreaty of the comte d'Artois in i 791 he quitted Paris for Coblenz, accompanied Artois to Vienna and was sent to the court of St. Petersburg the same year to enlist the sympathies of Catherine II. for the Bourbons. He died at Grodek in Volhynia on July 23, 1805.
See Memoires, ed. by E. Daudet (Fr.) (Paris, 19o5), and Lettres (Paris, 1906) .
Two other sons of Count Ferencz (d. 1685), Ferencz and Jozsef, founded the houses of Dotis and Cseklesz (Landschutz) respec tively. Of their descendants, Count Moxlcz (1807-9o) of Dotis, Austrian ambassador in Rome until 1856, became in 1861 a mem ber of the ministry formed by Anton Schmerling and in 1865 joined the clerical cabinet of Richard Belcredi. His bitter hostility to Prussia helped to force the government of Vienna into the war of 1866. His official career closed in 1866, but he remained one of the leaders of the clerical party.
See also Count Janos Esterhazy, Description of the Esterhdzy Family (Hung., Budapest, 5901). (R. N. B.; X.)