Nicholas II Pálffy

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Count Nikolaus II. Pálffy de Erdőd ( Hungarian Pálffy Miklós ; born September 10, 1552 in Csábrág Castle (Csábrágvarbók), Kingdom of Hungary ; † April 23, 1600 in Bibersburg , Kingdom of Hungary) was an imperial field marshal and captain of Bratislava .

Life

The Pálffy s were among the Hungarian nobility. The Hungarian barony was granted to them in 1581. From 1599 they became Imperial Counts of the HRR .

Nicholas II Pálffy (1552–1600)

Nikolaus Pálffy was the youngest child of Peter Pálffy (1512–1568) and his wife Sophia Dersffy von Zerdahely (1525–1569). Nikolaus had received an excellent upbringing, which in his day was a rarity even among the most distinguished. From 1564 he was educated at the imperial court in Vienna . Afterwards he had visited Greece , Constantinople , Germany , the Netherlands , France and Spain and enjoyed the practical lessons of the most famous generals of those countries, from which he benefited after his return home.

In December 1580 Emperor Rudolph II granted him the title of Obergespans in the Pressburg county . On April 25, 1581, the emperor and his brothers elevated him to baronial dignity. On December 9, 1581, he also conferred the office of treasurer of Hungary on Nicholas himself.

Grave monument of Nicholas II. Pálffy in St. Martin's Cathedral in Pressburg

Pálffy was Hungary's most successful military leader at that time. In the course of his life he took part in about 30 campaigns against the Ottomans. During the so-called Fifteen Years Turkish War , however, he earned special services. On March 29, 1598, together with Adolph Freiherrn von Schwarzenberg , he conquered the Raab fortress, which is extremely important for Christianity . The jubilation in Vienna and other places over the recapture of this important place was indescribable. Emperor Rudolph ordered that pillars of thought be erected everywhere on the Stations of the Cross with the inscription: "Praise and thanks to God that Raab has come into the hands of Christians" to commemorate this incident .

Also by Popes Gregory XIII. and Clement VIII. he received repeated letters of thanks. Clement VIII wrote in a letter in June 1595: “Our nuncios have described to us your excellent activities in the defense of the Catholic faith ... which we are infinitely happy about, and we hope that you can see from our letter, that your activities also receive our great recognition and honor on the side of the highest authorities. "

After this battle, Pálffy became extremely popular and well-known throughout the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary . In Hungary he got the nickname "a törökverő" ("The Turkish bat "). In addition to numerous other gifts and honors, he was awarded the main crew of the Pressburg Palace (along with the important palace gardens) as a reward . In 1599 he was raised to the hereditary imperial count of the Holy Roman Empire (German Nation).

On April 23, 1600, Nikolaus Pálffy died unexpectedly on the Beaver Castle. According to the customs of the time, the funeral did not take place until a month later. The funeral conduit moved through the whole city of Pressburg with great sympathy from the population and ended at St. Martin's Cathedral , where the actual funeral ceremony with subsequent burial took place in the newly built Pálffy crypt. The city council of Pressburg, the guilds, numerous religious congregations and the high clergy headed by the Primate of Hungary and Archbishop of Gran János Kutassy (~ 1545–1601) gave the deceased the final escort.

In 1601, Pálffy's widow, Maria Magdalena Fugger , commissioned the Augsburg sculptor Paul Mayr to erect a grave monument for her husband. Today the monument stands in the third yoke of the north aisle of the Pressburg Martinsdom, a life-size armored figure made of yellowish marble.

Pálffy's widow Maria Magdalena Fugger was also buried here in 1646 - according to her own wishes. Other members of the Pálffy family followed. When the crypt was last opened (in the first years of the 21st century), twenty coffins were found. Their examination revealed that they were all empty. The investigative commission could not clarify where the bones of the deceased were taken ...

family

On June 4, 1583, Nikolaus II. Pálffy married Maria Magdalena Fugger von Kirchberg and zu Weißenhorn (* April 30, 1566 in Augsburg , † May 29, 1646 at the Bibersburg), who brought the Bibersburg rule as a dowry into the marriage. The extremely happy marriage resulted in eight children (five boys and three girls), but only six of them reached adulthood:

  • Stephan (1586–1646), Hungarian Crown Guardian, head team of the Preßburg County ∞ Eva Susanna Countess Puchhaim
  • Johann (1588–1646), Hungarian Crown Guardian ∞ Judith von Amadé
  • Katharina (1590–1639) ∞ Baron Zsigmond Forgách de Ghymes et Gács (1560–1621)
  • Paul (1592–1653), President of the Hungarian Court Chamber, Palatine of Hungary ∞ Maria Franziska Countess of Khuen and Belásy
  • Niklas (1593–1621), chamberlain
  • Maria Sophia (* 1596 in Preßburg, † 1668 in Graz ) ∞ Maximilian Graf von Trauttmansdorff (1584–1650)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ His older siblings were: Katharina (1542–1616), Magdalena (1546–1623), Johann (1548–1593) and Stephan (1550–1597)
  2. ↑ BLKÖ, Volume 21, p. 213.
  3. ↑ a b Haľko: Dóm ..., p. 214f.
  4. ↑ Benyovszky .., p. 97.
  5. ↑ cit. after Haľko: Dóm ... p. 216
personal data
SURNAME Pálffy, Nicholas II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erdőd, Nikolaus II. Pálffy de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Imperial General Field Marshal and Castle Captain of Pressburg
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1552
PLACE OF BIRTH at Csábrág Castle (Csábrágvarbók), Kingdom of Hungary
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1600
Place of death Beaver Castle , Kingdom of Hungary