A perpetual count (Hungarian: örökös főispán, Latin: supremus et perpetuus comes) was a head or an ispán of a county in the Kingdom of Hungary (“Lord Lieutenant”) whose office was either hereditary or attached to the dignity of a prelate or of a great officer of the realm. The earliest examples of a perpetual ispánate are from the 12th century, but the institution flourished between the 15th and 18th centuries. Although all administrative functions of the office were abolished in 1870, the title itself was preserved until the general abolition of noble titles in Hungary in 1946.

List of perpetual ispánates

Ex officio ispánates

Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary
Archduke Joseph of Austria, palatine of Hungary, perpetual count of Pest and Pilis Counties
CountyPerpetual countPeriodNotesSource
BaranyaBishop of Pécs?–1777[verification needed]
BácsArchbishop of Kalocsa?–1776[verification needed]
BiharBishop of Várad1466–1776[verification needed]
EsztergomArchbishop of Esztergom1270–1300 1301–1881granted to archbishop Philip Türje by King Stephen V King Andrew III temporarily deprived the archbishop from the ispánate castellans of the archbishops' castle at Esztergom sometimes styled themselves ispán
FehérVoivode of Transylvania[citation needed]
GyőrBishop of Győr1453–1783
HevesBishop (from 1804 Archbishop) of Eger1498–1840[verification needed]
NyitraBishop of Nyitra?–1777
Outer SzolnokBishop (from 1804 Archbishop) of Eger1569–1840[verification needed]
PestPalatine?–1848
PilisCastellan of the Visegrád Castle?–?
Palatine1569–1848[verification needed]
Požega/PozsegaBishop of Bosznia1753–1770renounced of the title
VeszprémBishop of Veszprém1313–1323 1392–1773although King Charles I awarded the bishops with the ispánate, he seems to have failed to confirm this grant in 1323 the bishops perpetually held the office from 1392

Hereditary ispánates

Pálffy Palace at Pozsony
Pálffy Palace, Pressburg/Pozsony (now Bratislava, Slovakia)
CountyFamilyPeriodNotesSource
AbaújPerényi1570–1598 1643–1699
Csáky1702–1764
ÁrvaThurzó1585–1626also perpetual ispáns of Szepes County
Thököly1666–1668
BeregSchönborn1740–last grant of a perpetual ispánate
DoborBerislavići1514–a Bosnian hereditary title
BeszterceHunyadi1452–1458earliest example of a hereditary title in Hungary proper
BeszterceSzilágyi1458–?
HontKoháry1711–1826
KomáromNádasdy1751–last grant of a perpetual ispánate
LiptóIllésházy1582–1838also perpetual ispáns of Trencsén County
Požega/PozsegaKeglevich1707–1749
PozsonyPálffy1651–always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1580
SárosRákóczi1666–1711always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1622
SopronEsterházy1686–always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1626
SzepesSzapolyai1464–1528
Thurzó1531–1635also perpetual ispáns of Árva County
Csáky and later also Csáky-Pallavicini branch1638–
TeočakÚjlaki1464–?in Bosnia
TrencsénIllésházy1600–1838also perpetual ispáns of Liptó County
TurócRévay1712–1875always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1532
ValkóDraskovich1693–1695the county was dissolved in 1695
Varaždin/VarasdErdődy1570–c. 1582
Erdődy1687–always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1607
VasBatthyány1728–
ZalaAlthann1721–1824

See also

Footnotes

  • (in Hungarian) Engel, Pál (1996). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1301–1457, I. ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1301–1457, Volume I"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest. ISBN 963-8312-44-0.
  • Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN 1-86064-061-3.
  • (in Hungarian and German) Fallenbüchl, Zoltán (1994). Magyarország főispánjai, 1526–1848 ("Lord-Lieutenants of Counties in Hungary, 1526–1848"). Argumentum Kiadó. ISBN 963-7719-81-4.
  • (in Hungarian) Nemes, Lajos (1989). Entry örökös főispán in: Bán, Péter; Magyar történelmi fogalomtár, I. kötet: L–Zs [=Thesaurus of Terms of Hungarian History, Volume I: L–Zs]. Gondolat. ISBN 963-282-204-8.
  • Rady, Martyn (2000). Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary. Palgrave (in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London). ISBN 0-333-80085-0.
  • Sedlar, Jean W. (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500. University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97290-4.
  • (in Hungarian) Zsoldos, Attila (2011). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1000–1301 ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1000–1301"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest. ISBN 978-963-9627-38-3.