Franz Wesselényi

Franz Wesselényi, engraving by Elias Widemann (1646)

Fame sheet on Franz Wesselényi ( HGM )

Franz Wesselényi von Hadad (Hungarian: Wesselényi Ferenc ; * 1605 ; † March 27, 1667 in Slovak Liptsch ) was a Hungarian palatine and one of the ringleaders of the magnate conspiracy .

Live and act

Born as the son of Stephan Wesselényi, a councilor of Ferdinand II of Inner Austria , he was raised Catholic at the Jesuit school in Tyrnau . At a young age he took part in several battles against the Turks . Franz also supported King Władysław IV of Poland with a Hungarian force against the Russians and Tatars, which was rewarded with Polish citizenship and a valuable asset. Subsequently, he was raised to the rank of count by Ferdinand II and appointed commander of the castle of Fülek . In 1647 he was promoted to general , as such he fought against the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War and later against Prince George I. Rákóczi of Transylvania . In 1644 he attacked the castle of Untermuran . For this act he received the castles of Murany and Balog from Ferdinand II . On March 15, 1655 he was elected Palatine in Pressburg (until 1667). In 1662 he was accepted into the Order of the Golden Fleece .

In the same year, however, he took an active role in the political debates on Protestant affairs in favor of the Protestant nobility. On December 19, 1666, he joined the union that would later go down in history as the Wesselényi or magnate conspiracy. The conspiratorial meetings took place in the baths of Trencin and Zvolen , but Wesselényi died before the conspiracy was discovered. His widow was interned in Vienna and his property confiscated.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Wesselényi, Franz (Palatine) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 55th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1887, pp. 146–149 ( digitized version ).
• Archduke Rudolf: The Austro-Hungarian monarchy in words and pictures. Hungary. Volume 1 . (= Kronprinzenwerk ; Complete Works, Volume 5). Kk Hof- und Staatsdruckerei Alfred von Holder, Vienna 1888 ( digitized ).
• Ágnes Ruttkay Várkonyi: Wesselényi von Hadad, Ferenc Graf . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Munich 1981, pp. 460-462.

Web links

Commons : Franz Ferenc Wesselényi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry about Franz Wesselényi in the Hungarian Biographical Lexicon (MEK) of the National Széchényi Library (Hungarian)
• Entry www.austria-lexikon.at

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} www.austria-lexikon.at Volume 5, page 197, accessed on June 5, 2012

predecessor	Office	successor
Paul Pálffy from Erdöd	Palatine of Hungary 1655–1667	Paul Esterházy de Galantha (1668–1680 the office remained vacant)