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138-418: The architectural history of the building involves a transition from an actual medieval castle, built for defense, to a palace meant for comfort and ostentatious display. The moats were removed in the early 19th century, and the architectural style was modified at various points to fit the taste of the times. 1364: The palace comes into the possession of the powerful Kanizsai family and consequently experiences

276-510: A Diet in late 1351. He confirmed all but one of the provisions of the Golden Bull of 1222 , declaring that all noblemen enjoyed the same liberties in his realms. He rejected only the provision that authorized noblemen who died without a son to freely bequeath their estates. Instead, he introduced an entail system, prescribing that the estates of a nobleman who had no male descendants passed to his kinsmen, or if there were no male relatives to

414-546: A crusade against the pagan Lithuanians in December 1344. The crusaders – including John of Bohemia , Charles of Moravia, Peter of Bourbon , and William of Hainaut and Holland  – laid siege to Vilnius . However, a Lithuanian invasion of the lands of the Teutonic Knights forced them to lift the siege. Louis returned to Hungary in late February 1345. He dispatched Andrew Lackfi , Count of

552-409: A skin disease with symptoms similar to leprosy . Thereafter he became even more zealous and dedicated more time to praying and religious contemplation. After his meeting with Louis in 1372, the papal legate, John de Cardailhac , stated: "I call God as my witness that I have never seen a monarch more majestic and more powerful ... or one who desires peace and calm as much as he." He also changed

690-400: A Dalmatian fortress that Stefan Dušan's sister, Jelena , had inherited from her husband, Mladen Šubić . In summer 1356, Louis invaded Venetian territories without a formal declaration of war. He laid siege to Treviso on 27 July. A local nobleman, Giuliano Baldachino, noticed that Louis sat alone while writing his letters on the banks of Sile River on each morning. Baldachino proposed

828-580: A branch of the Salamon clan ( de genere Salamon ) by the name Zerházi ( de Zerhásház / de Zyrház / de Zyrhas ). Their first known ancestor was Mokud (Mocud) from the Salamon clan, who was a military serviceman and landowner in the Csallóköz region of Western Hungary (today Žitný ostrov in southwestern Slovakia), and Pristaldus , a judicial office-holder in the court of Béla III of Hungary . The name Esterházy

966-599: A centralized kingdom and a rich treasury from his father. During the first years of his reign, Louis launched a crusade against the Lithuanians and restored royal power in Croatia ; his troops defeated a Tatar army, expanding his authority towards the Black Sea . When his brother, Andrew, Duke of Calabria , husband of Queen Joanna I of Naples , was assassinated in 1345, Louis accused the queen of his murder and punishing her became

1104-526: A ceremonious entry, but he refused, threatening to let his soldiers sack the town if they did not raise the taxes. He adopted the traditional titles of the kings of Naples – "King of Sicily and Jerusalem , Duke of Apulia and Prince of Capua " – and administered the kingdom from the Castel Nuovo , garrisoning his mercenaries in the most important forts. He used unusually brutal methods of investigation to capture all accomplices in

1242-776: A decree authorizing the Transylvanian noblemen to pass judgments against "malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians". He also decreed that testimony of a Romanian knez who had received a royal charter of grant weighed the same as that of a nobleman. In the same year, Louis granted the Banate of Severin and the district of Fogaras to Vladislav Vlaicu of Wallachia, who had accepted his suzerainty. Tvrtko I of Bosnia also accepted Louis's suzerainty after Hungarian troops assisted him in regaining his throne in early 1367. Louis made attempts to convert his pagan or "schismatic" subjects to Catholicism, even by force. The conversion of

1380-668: A group of Transylvanian Saxons , who had refused to pay taxes, and forced them to yield in the summer of 1344. During his stay in Transylvania, Nicholas Alexander  – who was the son of Basarab , the ruling prince of Wallachia  – swore loyalty to Louis on his father's behalf in Brassó (now Brașov in Romania ); thus the suzerainty of the Hungarian monarchs over Wallachia was, at least outwardly, restored. Louis joined

1518-478: A military expedition against Wallachia or another neighboring territory. A charter of 1360 said that a Romanian voivode , Dragoș of Giulești , restored Louis's suzerainty in Moldavia after a rebellion of local Romanians. According to most Moldavian chronicles, Dragoș , who is sometimes identified with Dragoș of Giulești and sometimes as Dragoș of Bedeu, departed "from the Hungarian country, from Maramureș " at

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1656-605: A mutiny among his German mercenaries forced him to return to Hungary. The Black Death had meanwhile reached Hungary. The first wave of the epidemic ended in June, but it returned in September, killing Louis's first wife, Margaret. Louis also fell ill, but survived the plague . Although the Black Death was less devastating in the sparsely populated Hungary than in other parts of Europe, there were regions that became depopulated in 1349, and

1794-624: A new treaty with Charles I of Hungary and Louis in Visegrád . According to the treaty, Charles of Moravia acknowledged the right of Charles I's sons to succeed their maternal uncle, Casimir III of Poland , if Casimir died without a male issue. Louis also pledged that he would marry the margrave's three-year-old daughter, Margaret . Casimir III's first wife, Aldona of Lithuania , died on 26 May 1339. Two leading Polish noblemen  – Zbigniew, chancellor of Kraków, and Spycimir Leliwita  – persuaded Casimir, who had not fathered

1932-399: A patron of music. In 1728, his mother Maria Octavia, "probably at her son's instigation" engaged the composer Gregor Werner to be the family's Kapellmeister (music director), a post in which Werner served for several decades. Much later (1761), Paul Anton engaged Joseph Haydn to be his Vice-Kapellmeister in 1761, taking over most of the aging Werner's duties. At the same time, he upgraded

2070-659: A peace treaty on 23 September 1373. House of Esterh%C3%A1zy The House of Esterházy , also spelled Eszterházy ( Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɛstɛrhaːzi] ), is a Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages . From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary , during the time that it was part of the Habsburg monarchy and later Austria-Hungary . During

2208-502: A previous agreement between the late kings of Naples and Hungary. He visited his bride's father, Charles of Moravia , in Prague to persuade him to intervene on Andrew's behalf with Charles's former tutor, Pope Clement VI , the overlord of the Kingdom of Naples . Louis also sent envoys to his Neapolitan relatives and the high officials of the kingdom, urging them to promote his brother's interests. Their mother, Elizabeth, left for Naples in

2346-569: A ransom for the imprisoned Neapolitan princes. Casimir III of Poland urged Louis to intervene in his war with the Lithuanians who had occupied Brest , Volodymyr-Volynskyi , and other important towns in Halych and Lodomeria in the previous years. The two monarchs agreed that Halych and Lodomeria would be integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary after Casimir's death. Casimir also authorized Louis to redeem

2484-674: A reconciliation between Rudolph IV and the patriarch. At a meeting with Louis's envoys in Prague, Emperor Charles made an insulting remark about Louis's mother, stating that she "was shameless", according to Jan Długosz 's chronicle. Louis demanded an apology, but the emperor did not answer. In preparation for a war against Bohemia, Louis ordered the mobilization of the royal army and marched to Trencsén (now Trenčín in Slovakia). However, his supposed allies (Rudolf IV of Austria, Meinhard III of Tyrol and Casimir III of Poland) failed to join him, and

2622-549: A result of their ethnicity) and German (as they were aristocrats of the Austrian Empire). Esterházys living in parts of the Kingdom of Hungary where other languages were spoken by the population also spoke those languages, especially Slavic languages in Slavic areas. Some family members went by both Hungarian and (rather distinct) German names. Thus, Antal Pál (Hungarian) was the same person as Paul Anton (German), and József Miklós

2760-571: A royal charter that year, he was planning to invade Wallachia because the new voivode, Vladislav Vlaicu , had refused to obey him. However, he ended up heading a campaign against the Bulgarian Tsardom of Vidin and its ruler Ivan Sratsimir , which suggests that Vladislav Vlaicu had in the meantime yielded to him. Louis seized Vidin and imprisoned Ivan Stratsimir in May or June. Within three months, his troops occupied Ivan Stratsimir's realm , which

2898-621: A royal charter, Louis remembered that in his childhood, a knight of the royal court, Peter Poháros, often carried him on his shoulders. His two tutors, Nicholas Drugeth and Nicholas Tapolcsányi, saved the lives of both Louis and his younger brother, Andrew , when Felician Záh attempted to assassinate the royal family in Visegrád on 17 April 1330. Louis was only nine when he stamped a treaty of alliance between his father and John of Bohemia . A year later, Louis accompanied his father in invading Austria . On 1 March 1338, John of Bohemia's son and heir, Charles , Margrave of Moravia , signed

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3036-460: A son, to make his sister, Elizabeth, and her offspring his heirs. According to the 15th-century Jan Długosz , Casimir held a general sejm in Kraków where "the assembled prelates and nobles" proclaimed Louis as Casimir's heir, but the reference to the sejm is anachronistic. Historian Paul W. Knoll writes that Casimir preferred his sister's family to his own daughters or a member of a cadet branch of

3174-453: A substantial development. 1371: King Louis acquires and develops the castle into a " medieval city castle" included in the northwest perimeter of the city of Kismarton. 1622: Ownership falls under the possession of the Esterházy family. After the death of Count Ladislaus Esterházy in the battle of Vezekény in 1652, his younger brother Paul I, 1st Prince Esterházy of Bum Bum inherited

3312-739: A three-year tithe to fight against Francesco II Ordelaffi and other rebellious lords in the Papal States . Louis sent an army under Nicholas Lackfi's command to support the pope's troops in Italy. Louis marched to Dalmatia in July 1357. Split , Trogir , and Šibenik soon got rid of Venetian governors and yielded to Louis. After a short siege, Louis's army also captured Zadar with the assistance of its townspeople. Tvrtko I of Bosnia , who had succeeded Louis's father-in-law in 1353, surrendered western Hum to Louis, who claimed that territory as his wife's dowry. In

3450-523: A university in Pécs in 1367, but it was closed within two decades because he did not arrange for sufficient revenues to maintain it. Louis inherited Poland after his uncle's death in 1370. Since he had no sons, he wanted his subjects to acknowledge the right of his daughters to succeed him in both Hungary and Poland. For this purpose, he issued the Privilege of Koszyce (now Košice in Slovakia) in 1374 spelling out

3588-513: The Black Death forced Louis to leave Italy in May. He made Ulrich Wolfhardt governor of Naples, but his mercenaries did not hinder Joanna I and her husband from returning in September. Louis, who had signed a truce for eight years with Venice on 5 August, sent new troops to Naples under the command of Stephen Lackfi , Voivode of Transylvania , in late 1349. Lackfi reoccupied Capua , Aversa and other forts that had been lost to Joanna I, but

3726-640: The Genoese–Venetian War , because his truce of 1349 with Venice was still in force. Louis married Elizabeth of Bosnia , who was the daughter of his vassal, Stephen II , in 1353. Historian Gyula Kristó says that this marriage showed Louis's renewed interest in the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula . While he was hunting in Zólyom County (now in Slovakia) in late November 1353, a brown bear attacked him, inflicting 24 wounds on his legs. Louis's life

3864-577: The Haydnsaal . The Haydnsaal, originally the large multi-purpose festival and banquet room, is a piece of artwork in itself in the Schloss Esterházy. With its size and ornate splendor, it reflects the political, economic and cultural dominance of the Esterházy family. Today it ranks among the most beautiful and acoustically perfect concert halls of the world. Its name goes back to the famous composer Joseph Haydn , who worked for nearly forty years in

4002-538: The Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár . Although Louis had attained the age of majority, his mother Elizabeth "acted as a sort of co-regent" for decades, because she exerted a powerful influence on him. Louis inherited a rich treasury from his father, who had strengthened royal authority and ruled without holding Diets during the last decades of his reign. Louis introduced a new system of land grants, excluding

4140-413: The Kingdom of Poland if his uncle died without a son. In exchange, Louis was obliged to assist his uncle to reoccupy the lands that Poland had lost in previous decades. He bore the title of Duke of Transylvania between 1339 and 1342 but did not administer the province. Louis was of age when he succeeded his father in 1342, but his deeply religious mother exerted a powerful influence on him. He inherited

4278-575: The Piast dynasty , because he wanted to ensure the king of Hungary's support against the Teutonic Knights . Louis's father and uncle signed a treaty in Visegrád in July whereby Casimir III made Louis his heir if he died without a son. In exchange, Charles I pledged that Louis would reoccupy Pomerania and other Polish lands lost to the Teutonic Order without Polish funds and would only employ Poles in

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4416-499: The Polish Crown Jewels were transferred to Buda, which raised discontent among Louis's new subjects. Louis's wife gave birth to a daughter, Catherine , in 1370, seventeen years after their marriage; a second daughter, Mary , was born in 1371. Thereafter Louis's made several attempts to safeguard his daughters' right to succeed him. During a war between Emperor Charles IV and Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria , Louis intervened on

4554-565: The Republic of Venice and accepted his suzerainty. Louis meanwhile returned to Visegrád . He dispatched Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia , to assist the burghers of Zadar, but the ban did not fight against the Venetians. Louis's brother Andrew was murdered in Aversa on 18 September 1345. Louis and his mother accused Queen Joanna I, Prince Robert of Taranto , Duke Charles of Durazzo , and other members of

4692-587: The Treaty of Zadar , which was signed on 18 February 1358, the Republic of Venice renounced all Dalmatian towns and islands between the Gulf of Kvarner and Durazzo in favor of Louis. The Republic of Ragusa also accepted Louis's suzerainty. The Dalmatian towns remained self-governing communities, owing only a yearly tribute and naval service to Louis, who also abolished all commercial restrictions that had been introduced during

4830-421: The siege of Vienna in 1683. He also played an important role in suppressing the autonomy of the existing Hungarian nobility. The line that descended from Paul, the first Esterházy prince, is given as in the following figure. The sequence of princes that follow him continues below. Son of Paul, he was the first to benefit from a 1712 decree of Emperor Charles VI , which made the title of Prince hereditary among

4968-447: The "Countries of St. Stephen's Crown". The medallions embellishing the walls (court painter Friedrich Rohde , 1793) portray busts of Hungarian monarchs ranging from Stephen I to Emperor Leopold I. The 18 sandstone busts seen on the main façade form part of the same series. 47°50′55″N 16°31′15″E  /  47.84861°N 16.52083°E  / 47.84861; 16.52083 Louis I of Hungary Louis I , also Louis

5106-477: The 17th century, after Nikolaus' acquisitions, the family split into four main family lines: In 1626 the Esterházys were granted the title of Count and in 1712, the older Forchtenstein line received the title of (Ruling) Prince from the Holy Roman Emperor. They had a Sovereign State when they obtained the former Edelstetten Abbey as an Imperial Principality in 1804. The success of the family arose from

5244-565: The 20th century) in 1687 by the Emperor. Paul was a poet, a harpsichordist , and a composer; a number of his cantatas survive; see Harmonia Caelestis . He also wrote a number of religious works. Under Paul the palace in Eisenstadt was rebuilt. Paul served as commander of troops in southern Hungary, during the struggle against the Turks, starting in 1667, and his troops were among the coalition that raised

5382-599: The Commanders Cross of the Order of St. Stephen. His corps was later absorbed into other military formations. He was Colonel and Proprietor (Inhaber) of the 31st Infantry Regiment, from November 1777 to October 1780, and then Proprietor and Colonel of the 34th Infantry Regiment, from September 1780 until his death. He was initiated to the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1790, and also became an imperial Chamberlain . He disbanded

5520-493: The Crown, upon his death. At the same Diet, Louis ordered that all landowners were to collect the "ninth", that is one tenth of specified agricultural products, from the peasants who held plots on their estates. On the other hand, he confirmed the right of all peasants to freely move to another landowner's estates. The "general accord" between Louis and the royal couple of Naples "was accepted by both sides" during 1351, according to

5658-680: The Esterházy family. At the end of the First World War , the Austro-Hungarian Empire was split up, and the family's land holdings thus came to be located in several different countries. In 1938, the legal instrument of fideicommiss , which had allowed families to hold property in foundations owned by the whole family, but governed by the head of the family alone, was abolished in Austria (aristocratic families had used this instrument to finance

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5796-543: The Esterházy musical establishment for the duration of his reign. Born in Vienna, on 12 December 1765, he was the son of Anton and his first wife Maria Theresia. He became reigning Prince on the death of his father in 1794. Like several of his predecessors Nikolaus II pursued a military career. He is remembered for his amassing a large art collection, for his musical patronage of Haydn and Beethoven , for his sexual debauchery, and for his high expenditures. Ultimately these led to

5934-631: The Esterházy-Forchtenstein estates were unequal to the burden of supporting his fabulous extravagance and had to be placed in the hands of curators." Owing to financial trouble, Nikolaus III sold the family art collection "on generous terms" to the Austro-Hungarian state in 1870. The collection is, as a result, on public view today in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The reign of Nikolaus IV

6072-450: The Esterházys was Kismarton (today Eisenstadt , Austria ), since the heads of the family chose to make a castle in this tiny village their primary residence. A fortified stronghold had been built there in the 14th century; after the Esterházys acquired it they rebuilt it 1663–1672 to what is now the princely Schloss Esterházy . Their practical reason for choosing to create and maintain the princely court at Eisenstadt may have been that while

6210-421: The Esterházys. Under him, the family seat at Eisenstadt evolved into a provincial musical center. He died 24 March 1721. Half-brother of Michael, he reigned for only 11 weeks, as he died on 7 June 1721. As his son Paul Anton was only ten, authority was assigned to two regents: Count Georg Erdödy , and his widow Maria Octavia von Gilleis (c. 1686 – 1762). The latter was responsible for introducing

6348-538: The German language to the court. The eldest son of Joseph. In his youth he studied in Leyden and also served as a soldier, rising to the rank of Field Marshal. He served as imperial ambassador to Naples from 1750 to 1752, and traveled extensively. Paul Anton was a musical prince; he played the violin , the flute , and the lute , and compiled a large inventory of musical manuscripts. Paul Anton also played an important role as

6486-562: The Great ( Hungarian : Nagy Lajos ; Croatian : Ludovik Veliki ; Slovak : Ľudovít Veľký ) or Louis the Hungarian ( Polish : Ludwik Węgierski ; 5 March 1326 – 10 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. He was the first child of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Poland , to survive infancy. A 1338 treaty between his father and Casimir III of Poland , Louis's maternal uncle, confirmed Louis's right to inherit

6624-795: The Khan, Atlamïş, and making the Tatars flee toward the coastal area. The Golden Horde was pushed back behind the Dniester River , thereafter the Golden Horde's control of the lands between the Eastern Carpathians and the Black Sea weakened. A conflict between Louis's uncle and father-in-law (Casimir III of Poland and Charles of Moravia) led to a war between Poland and Bohemia in April. In this war Louis supported his uncle with reinforcements in accordance with

6762-496: The Kingdom of Naples in 1351. Like his father, Louis administered Hungary with absolute power and used royal prerogatives to grant privileges to his courtiers. However, he also confirmed the liberties of the Hungarian nobility at the Diet of 1351, emphasizing the equal status of all noblemen. At the same Diet, he introduced an entail system and a uniform rent payable by the peasants to

6900-525: The Kingdom of Naples on 24 December near L'Aquila , which had yielded to him. Queen Joanna remarried, wedding a cousin, Louis of Taranto , and fled for Marseille on 11 January 1348. Their other relatives, Robert of Taranto and Charles of Durazzo, visited Louis in Aversa to yield to him. Louis received them amicably and convinced them to persuade their brothers, Philip of Taranto and Louis of Durazzo , to join them. After their arrival, King Louis's "smile

7038-435: The Lithuanians, and Hungarian troops supported Albert II, Duke of Austria , against Zürich . The Venetian delegates offered Louis 6–7,000 golden ducats as a compensation for Dalmatia, but Louis refused to give up his plan to reconquer the province. He signed an alliance with Albert II of Austria and Nicolaus of Luxemburg , Patriarch of Aquileia , against Venice. Upon his order, Croatian lords besieged and captured Klis ,

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7176-524: The Lithuanians, who even killed one of his allies, Boleslaus III of Płock , in battle. Louis returned to Buda before 13 September. A papal legate visited Louis to persuade him to wage war against Stefan Dušan , Emperor of the Serbs , who had forced his Roman Catholic subjects to be re-baptised and join the Serbian Orthodox Church . To deal with the grievances of the Hungarian noblemen, Louis held

7314-532: The Neapolitan branches of the Capetian House of Anjou of plotting against Andrew. In his letter of 15 January 1346 to Pope Clement VI , Louis demanded that the pope dethrone the "husband-killer" queen in favor of Charles Martel , her infant son by Andrew. Louis also laid claim to the regency of the kingdom during the minority of his nephew, referring to his patrilinear descent from the first-born son of Robert

7452-496: The Ottomans but also pleaded with him to send reinforcements to Italy to fight against Bernabò Visconti . A war broke out between the Republic of Venice and Francesco I da Carrara , Lord of Padova , who was an ally of Louis, in the summer of 1372. Louis sent reinforcements to Italy to assist Francesco da Carrara. The Venetians defeated the Hungarian troops at Treviso and captured its commander, Nicholas Lackfi, forcing Louis I to sign

7590-677: The Serbian lord was a member of the Rastislalić family; Gyula Kristó and Iván Bertényi identify him as Lazar Hrebeljanović . Royal charters of 1358 show that Hungarian troops fought in Serbia in October 1358. The next summer Louis also marched to Serbia, but Stefan Uroš V of Serbia avoided battle. Louis and the royal army stayed in Transylvania in November 1359 and January 1360, implying that he planned

7728-516: The Székelys , to invade the lands of the Golden Horde in retaliation for the Tatars ' earlier plundering raids against Transylvania and the Szepesség (now Spiš in Slovakia). Lackfi and his army of mainly Székely warriors inflicted a defeat on a large Tatar army on 2 February 1345. Hungarian warriors were victorious in their campaign, decapitating the local Tatar leader, the brother-in-law of

7866-504: The Tatars made no plundering raids in Transylvania after 1354, which suggests that Villani's report is reliable. In the same year, Louis invaded Serbia, Stefan Dušan successfully repelled the invasion, preserving, or even extending his original borders in the north. Under pressure, Dušan initiated negotiations with the Holy See for acknowledgement of the popes' primacy . Peace with Dušan was concluded in May 1355. The following year, Louis sent reinforcements to Casimir III to fight against

8004-424: The Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, and the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon in 1809. The family acquired its property in three principal ways: redistribution of lands taken from Protestants in the Counter-Reformation , redistribution of lands conquered from the Ottoman Empire , and felicitous marriages. Most of these lands were situated in present-day Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The family ultimately became

8142-409: The Venetians bribed his commanders. When the citizens broke out and attacked the besiegers on 1 July, the royal army failed to intervene, and the Venetians overcame the defenders outside the walls of the town. Louis withdrew but refused to renounce Dalmatia, although the Venetians offered to pay 320,000 golden florins as compensation. Lacking military support from Louis, however, Zadar surrendered to

8280-542: The Venetians on 21 December 1346. Louis sent small expeditions one after one to Italy at the beginning of his war against Joanna, because he did not want to harass the Italians who had suffered from a famine the previous year. His first troops departed under the command of Nicholas Vásári , Bishop of Nyitra (now Nitra in Slovakia), on 24 April 1347. Louis also hired German mercenaries. He departed from Visegrád on 11 November. After marching through Udine , Verona , Modena , Bologna , Urbino , and Perugia , he entered

8418-403: The Venetians to assassinate him in exchange for 12,000 golden florins and Castelfranco Veneto , but they refused his offer because he did not share the details of his plans with them. Louis returned to Buda in the autumn, but his troops continued the siege. Pope Innocent VI urged the Venetians to make a peace with Hungary. The pope made Louis the "standard-bearer of the Church" and granted him

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8556-426: The Venetians' rule. The merchants of Ragusa were explicitly entitled to freely trade in Serbia even during a war between Hungary and Serbia. Serbia started to disintegrate after the death of Stefan Dušan. According to Matteo Villani, an unidentified Serbian lord sought Hungarian assistance against his more powerful (and also unnamed) enemy in the late 1350s. Historians John V. A. Fine and Pál Engel write that

8694-412: The Wallachians ambushed it and killed many Hungarian soldiers, including the voivode. However, Louis's campaign against Wallachia from the west was successful and Vladislav Vlaicu yield to him in next summer. Upon his initiative, Louis restored Ivan Stratsimir in Vidin. Ivan Stratsimir swore loyalty to Louis and sent his two daughters as hostages to Hungary. From the late 1360s, Louis suffered from

8832-454: The Wise's father, Charles II of Naples . He even promised to increase the amount of yearly tribute that the kings of Naples would pay to the Holy See . After the pope failed to fully investigate Andrew's murder, Louis decided to invade southern Italy. In preparation for the invasion, he sent his envoys to Ancona and other Italian towns before summer 1346. While his envoys negotiated in Italy, Louis marched to Dalmatia to relieve Zadar, but

8970-433: The agreement of 1339. While Louis's armies were fighting in Poland and against the Tatars, Louis marched to Croatia in June 1345 and besieged Knin , the former seat of the late Ivan Nelipac , who had successfully resisted Louis's father, forcing his widow and son to surrender. The counts of Corbavia and other Croatian noblemen also yielded to him during his stay in Croatia. The citizens of Zadar rebelled against

9108-446: The art, supporting the Austrian side in the Napoleonic wars, reviving Haydn's musical establishment), coupled with the severe inflation and economic decline that war brought to Austria, meant that the renovations could never be completed, even by subsequent generations of princes. The grand entrance Nikolaus and Moreau planned is orphaned (see image to right), as the main entrance to the palace remains to this day in its original location on

9246-454: The building through lease. Currently, the palace is under the ownership of the Esterházy Foundation, created by Melinda Esterházy (1920–2014). As one of the most substantial palaces in Austria, it is a major tourist attraction. Visitors may view a number of rooms as well as the furnishings and artwork, and may also tour the extensive grounds behind the palace. There is a wine museum and gift shop. Guided tours are offered, as well as concerts in

9384-403: The command of Stephen Lackfi, had become notorious for their cruelty. During the campaign, Louis personally led assaults and climbed city walls together with his soldiers, endangering his own life. While besieging Canosa di Puglia , Louis fell into the moat from a ladder when a defender of the fort hit him with a stone. He dove into a river without hesitation to save a young soldier who

9522-547: The congress, Casimir III of Poland confirmed Louis's right to succeed him in Poland if he died without a male issue. Louis, who had not fathered a son either, invited a distant relative of his, Charles of Durazzo , to Hungary in 1364, but did not make the young prince his official heir. Louis allowed the Jews to return to Hungary in the same year; legal proceedings between the Jews and those who had seized their houses lasted for years. Louis assembled his armies in Temesvár (now Timișoara in Romania) in February 1365. According to

9660-634: The contemporaneous Niccolò Acciaioli . Joanna I and her husband returned to the Kingdom of Naples and Louis's troops were withdrawn. Louis even renounced the ransom that Joanna I had promised to pay for the liberation of the imprisoned Neapolitan princes, stating that he had not gone to "war for greed, but to avenge the death of his brother". Louis continued to use the titles of his grandfather, Charles Martel of Anjou (the firstborn son of Charles II of Naples), styling himself as " Prince of Salerno and lord of Monte Sant'Angelo ". Casimir III laid siege to Belz and Louis joined his uncle in March 1352. During

9798-503: The court orchestra, hiring several virtuosi who served under Haydn; the composer recognized their ability by writing many solo parts in his early symphonies. The second son of Joseph and brother of Paul II, in his youth a decorated soldier. He was the primary patron of Haydn and builder of Esterháza (see above). Son of Nikolaus I, married first, in 1763, Maria Theresia Gräfin Erdödy e Monyorokerek et Monoszlo (1745–1782), and second, in 1785 Maria Anna Gräfin von Hohenfeld (1768–1848). He

9936-472: The crusade, emphasizing that he was a powerful monarch, a devout Christian, and "well-placed to help". The next month the pope levied a three-year tithe on the church revenues in Hungary and asked Louis to support the papal officials to collect the tax. However, Louis made every effort to hinder the activities of the papal tax collectors, stating that he needed resources to cover the costs of his future wars against

10074-640: The death of his brother, according to Domenico da Gravina. Most local noble families (including the Balzos and the Sanseverinos ) refused to cooperate with him. The pope refused to confirm Louis's rule in Naples, which would have united two powerful kingdoms under Louis's rule. The pope and the cardinals declared Queen Joanna innocent of her husband's murder at a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals . The arrival of

10212-535: The demand for work force increased in the subsequent years. Louis proposed to renounce the Kingdom of Naples if Clement dethroned Joanna. After the pope refused, Louis departed for his second Neapolitan campaign in April 1350. He suppressed a mutiny that occurred among his mercenaries while he and his troops were waiting for the arrival of further troops in Barletta . While marching towards Naples, he faced resistance at many towns because his vanguards, which were under

10350-571: The district of Sebes in Temes County . Louis supported the religious orders , especially the Franciscans and the Paulines , for whom he and his mother set up dozens of new monasteries. Upon Louis's request, Pope Urban V sanctioned the establishment of a university in Pécs in 1367, with the exception of a faculty of theology . However, Louis did not arrange for sufficient revenues and the university

10488-490: The duchies of Sieradz , Łęczyca and Dobrzyń  – to his grandson, Casimir IV, Duke of Pomerania . However, the Polish prelates and lords were opposed to the disintegration of Poland and Casimir III's testament was declared void. Louis visited Gniezno and made his Polish mother, Elizabeth, regent before returning to Hungary in December. His uncle's two surviving daughters ( Anna and Jadwiga) accompanied him, and

10626-587: The duke mutually surrendered their claims to the other party's realms. Louis also persuaded the emperor to renounce his suzerainty over the Duchy of Płock in Poland. Louis decided to convert the Jews in Hungary to Catholicism around 1360. After experiencing resistance, he expelled them from his realms. Their immovable property was confiscated, but they were allowed to take their personal property with them and also to recover

10764-455: The duke's behalf and the Hungarian army invaded Moravia. After the duke and the emperor signed a peace treaty, Louis and the emperor agreed upon the betrothal of their children early the next year. The Ottomans annihilated the Serbian armies in the Battle of Marica on 26 September 1371. Lazar Hrebeljanović , one of the Serbian lords, swore loyalty to Louis. Pope Gregory XI urged Louis to resist

10902-403: The east and west ends, sealed off by two large alcoves, and served as access ways to the planned opera/theatre wing and gallery section. Subsequently, two galleries were erected supported on four wooden columns headed by palm capitals. Two girandoles (candle holders) adorn the east wall of the magnificent hall. The unique frescoes of the hall originate from the 17th century and are attributed to

11040-489: The emperor initiated negotiations that lasted for months with the mediation of Casimir III. Louis was finally reconciled with Charles IV at their meeting in Uherské Hradiště on 8 May 1363. Louis invaded Bosnia from two directions in the spring of 1363. An army under the command of Palatine Nicholas Kont and Nicholas Apáti , Archbishop of Esztergom , laid siege to Srebrenica , but the fortress did not surrender. As

11178-657: The emperor refused to dismount and to take off his hat, which offended Louis. John V pledged that he would promote the union of the Byzantine Church with the Papacy, and Louis promised to send him help, but neither the emperor nor Louis fulfilled their promises. Pope Urban encouraged Louis not to send help to Constantinople before the emperor guaranteed the Church union. Louis stayed in Transylvania between June and September 1366, implying that he waged war against Moldavia. He issued

11316-482: The family being placed under a sequestration order, roughly the equivalent of bankruptcy. Served Austria in a series of diplomatic posts, and in 1848 was briefly Foreign Minister. The family encountered financial trouble during his reign, and (according to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , ), "the last years of his life were spent in comparative poverty and isolation, as even

11454-432: The family name, Estoras , in 2009 is used to label fine Esterházy wines. The Esterházy family is known for its association with the composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), who served as their Kapellmeister . Haydn was hired by Prince Paul Anton in 1761, and from 1762 to 1790 served under Paul Anton's successor Nikolaus . During the following reign, that of Prince Anton (1790–1794), the Esterházy family mostly did without

11592-598: The family was Ferenc Zerházy (1563–1594), who was elevated to the title of baron of Galántha (an estate his family had held since 1421) and took the name Esterházy. Family history since this time is described according to three lines of descent, each originating in one of Ferenc's sons: the Fraknó (or Forchtenstein ) line, the Csesznek line, and the Zólyom (or Zvolen ) line. The Fraknó ( Forchtenstein ) line became "the most prominent of

11730-436: The forerunner to today's magnificent Haydnsaal. As an entrance to this hall, Moreau built a powerful entrance with spacious ramps on each end, resting on twenty Corinthian columns. Moreau also established a set of the different "high society" rooms; many with different styles. But Prince Nikolaus's funds, ample as they were, did not suffice to complete these renovations; his expenses (maintaining numerous mistresses, paying for

11868-400: The grantee's brothers and other kinsmen from the donation in contrast with customary law: such estates escheated to the Crown if the grantee's last male descendants died. On the other hand, Louis often " promoted a daughter to a son ", that is authorized a daughter to inherit her father's estates, although customary law prescribed that the landed property of a deceased nobleman who had no sons

12006-636: The head of his retinue, crossed the Carpathian Mountains while chasing an aurochs and settled in the valley of the Moldova River in 1359. The same chronicles presented this "dismounting" by Dragoș as a decisive step towards the development of the Principality of Moldavia . Another Romanian voivode, Bogdan , who had rebelled against Louis and plundered the estates of the Romanian landowners loyal to

12144-641: The history of the Habsburg Empire, the Esterházy family were consistently loyal to the Habsburg rulers. The Esterházys received the title of Graf (Count) in 1626, and the Forchtenstein line received the title of Fürst (Prince) from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1712. The Esterházys arose among the minor nobility of the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary (today's southwest Slovakia), originally

12282-483: The infidels and the pope's enemies in Italy. Louis signed a treaty with Emperor Charles and Rudolf IV of Austria in Brno in early 1364, which put an end to their conflicts. In September, Louis visited Kraków to attend the large congress where Peter I of Cyprus attempted to persuade a dozen European monarchs to join the crusade. Louis was the only monarch to promise assistance, but later failed to fulfill his promise. At

12420-432: The king already in the 1340s, departed from Hungary and invaded Moldavia in the early 1360s. Bogdan expelled the descendants of Louis's vassal, Dragoș, from the principality. According to John of Küküllő , Louis launched several expeditions against Bogdan, but their dates cannot be determined. Bogdan ruled Moldavia as an independent prince. Upon the pope's request, Louis sent Hungarian troops to relieve Bologna , which

12558-472: The landowners, and confirmed the right to free movement for all peasants. He waged wars against the Lithuanians, Serbia , and the Golden Horde in the 1350s, restoring the authority of Hungarian monarchs over territories along frontiers that had been lost during previous decades. He forced the Republic of Venice to renounce the Dalmatian towns in 1358. He also made several attempts to expand his suzerainty over

12696-583: The largest landowners in the Habsburg Empire, and their income sometimes exceeded that of the Emperor. The family derived its name from the settlement Esterháza, Kingdom of Hungary . The settlement no longer exists, and is not to be confused with the later castle of the same name which they inhabited since the Middle Ages. Since 1421 they have been the owners of a property in Galánta . The most important seat of

12834-547: The liberties of Polish noblemen . However, his rule remained unpopular in Poland. In Hungary, he authorized the royal free cities to delegate jurors to the high court hearing their cases and set up a new high court. Suffering from a skin disease , Louis became even more religious during the last years of his life. At the beginning of the Western Schism , he acknowledged Urban VI as the legitimate pope . After Urban deposed Joanna and put Louis's relative Charles of Durazzo on

12972-406: The lives of the two are captured in the rectangular panels. Depicted in the cruciform volute panels are scenes taken from the myth surrounding the "Golden Apples of Hesperides". Interspaced between the ceiling frescoes are the family armorial bearings of the Esterházys (earls and alliances). Worked into the volute medallions featuring grisaille techniques are allegorical female characters symbolising

13110-591: The loans they had made. No pogrom took place, which was unusual in Europe in the 14th century, according to historian Raphael Patai . Emperor Charles IV and Rudolf IV of Austria signed a treaty of alliance against the patriarch of Aquileia , who was Louis's ally, in August 1361. Fearing the formation of a coalition along the western borders of Hungary, Louis asked his former enemy, Louis of Taranto (Joanna I's husband), to send at least one of his brothers to Buda, and mediated

13248-575: The long-term family strategy, allying himself with the Catholic religion and the Habsburg emperor. He fought against the Protestant champions Gábor Bethlen and György Rákóczi and sought to free Hungary from Turkish domination. Paul was the third son of Nicholas, born in Eisenstadt. Elected Palatine in 1681 and created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (in Hungary the title of Prince did not exist till

13386-525: The new Hungarian government carried out a comprehensive land reform , "confiscating the land of gentry with estates of more than 50 hectares". Only the land in Austria remained in prince Paul's possession. Further, in the years after 1945 Hungary came under the rule of the Hungarian People's Republic , an authoritarian Communist regime sponsored by the Soviet Union . Prince Paul endured a show trial and

13524-399: The next four years. The pope stated that he had never "granted a tenth of such duration", emphasizing the link between his magnanimity and the release of the imprisoned Neapolitan princes. The pope also authorized Louis to seize the pagans' and schismatics' lands bordering on his kingdom. Although Louis signed an alliance with the Republic of Genoa in October 1352, he did not intervene in

13662-607: The opposite end of the building, facing the town. In the late 19th century renovation work finally began. Few changes were made in the early part of the 20th century. In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, a major change was made in the purpose of the palace: it accommodated the office of the Burgenland state government and later the national court for ten years. In 1969 the Burgenland state government took over major parts of

13800-534: The pagan Cumans who had settled in Hungary a century before was completed during his reign, according to John of Küküllő . After the conquest of Vidin, he sent Franciscan friars to the new banate to convert the local Orthodox population, which caused widespread discontent among the Bulgarians. In 1366, he ordered that all Serbian priests be converted and rebaptised. He also decreed that only Roman Catholic noblemen and knezes were allowed to hold landed property in

13938-512: The painter Carpoforo Tencalla . The splendid murals and ceiling paintings represent scenes from "Metamorphoses" by the Roman poet and philosopher Apuleius (200 AD). The three centre segments and six rectangular volute panels portray scenes from the satyric novel "Cupid and Psyche". The centre panels depict the marriage of Cupid and Psyche in the presence of the Olympic Gods , while scenes taken from

14076-443: The palace was the renewal of the two main staircases, which are presently the same. The palace was one of the summer residences of the Esterházy family during the time of Joseph Haydn . Prince Anton Esterházy built considerably, despite his being in power for only a short time (1790–94). Nikolaus II , the spendthrift son of Anton, launched a program to convert the residence into Classical style. Nikolaus succeeded in acquiring

14214-491: The palace. The additions he made took nearly ten years to complete, and gave it the facade we see today. The rich stucco decoration was made by the Italian master Andrea Bertinalli . There were few changes made during the high and late baroque periods. In the 18th century, the interior design and staircases were about all that changed. Most areas were equipped with furnaces and stucco ceilings. The only large construction work in

14352-584: The principal goal of his foreign policy. He launched two campaigns to the Kingdom of Naples between 1347 and 1350. His troops occupied large territories on both occasions, and Louis adopted the styles of Neapolitan sovereigns (including the title of King of Sicily and Jerusalem ), but the Holy See never recognized his claim. Louis's arbitrary acts and atrocities committed by his mercenaries made his rule unpopular in Southern Italy . He withdrew all his troops from

14490-721: The priorities of his foreign policy and began neglecting the Balkan states. Casimir III of Poland and Louis signed a treaty against Emperor Charles IV in Buda in February 1369. At their next meeting in Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia) in September, Albert I of Bavaria , and Rupert I of the Palatinate joined their coalition against the emperor and the Habsburgs . However, Emperor Charles IV persuaded

14628-551: The region was in Hungary, it had been mainly settled by Germans, and was situated rather close to the Habsburgs' Imperial residence, Vienna. (The region remained part of Hungary until 1921, when it was handed over to Austria according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain , 1919, and the Treaty of Trianon , 1920.) The Esterházys maintained a number of other residences throughout the Kingdom of Hungary , including Transylvania (today part of Romania ), and those Esterházy princes who preferred

14766-403: The representative household of the head of the family as well as to maintain palaces and castles, and to pay allowances to family members without personal wealth.) After the dissolution of the Esterházy trust, prince Paul became the sole owner of the wealth accumulated therein so far. The Second World War proved disastrous: the family was scattered during the war years, and at the end of the war

14904-609: The resistance of the local population. To celebrate the Jubilee of 1350 , Louis visited Rome during his journey back to Hungary. He arrived in Buda on 25 October 1350. With the mediation of the Holy See, the envoys of Louis and Queen Joanna's husband, Louis of Taranto, signed a truce for six months. The pope promised Louis that the queen's role in her husband's murder would again be investigated, and he ordered her to pay 300,000 gold florins as

15042-479: The royal administration in Poland. Louis received the title of Duke of Transylvania from his father in 1339, but he did not administer the province. According to a royal charter from the same year, Louis's bride, Margaret of Bohemia , lived in the Hungarian royal court. Louis's separate ducal court was first mentioned in a royal charter of 1340. Charles I died on 16 July 1342. Five days later, Csanád Telegdi , Archbishop of Esztergom , crowned Louis king with

15180-560: The royal seal was stolen during the siege, a new seal was made and all Louis's former charters were to be confirmed with the new seal. The army under Louis's personal command besieged Sokolac in July, but could not capture it. Hungarian troops returned to Hungary in the same month. Pope Urban V proclaimed a crusade against the Muslim powers of the Mediterraneum upon Peter I of Cyprus 's request on 31 March 1363. Urban V urged Louis to join

15318-423: The rulers of Bosnia , Moldavia , Wallachia , and parts of Bulgaria and Serbia. These rulers were sometimes willing to yield to him, either under duress or in the hope of support against their internal opponents, but Louis's rule in these regions was only nominal during most of his reign. His attempts to convert his pagan or Orthodox subjects to Catholicism made him unpopular in the Balkan states. Louis established

15456-467: The service of the Esterházy family. Many of his works were composed and premiered in Kismarton and the Schloss Esterházy. The Haydnsaal was established under Paul Esterházy the first, in the course of the baroque building phase (1663–72). It was part of plans made by Carlo Martino Carlone , originating from Italy, which covered the largest part of the northern wing. It extends over three stories, whereby

15594-541: The services of musicians, and Haydn, retained on a nominal appointment, spent most of this time in trips to England. Finally, during the reign of Nikolaus II , Haydn worked for the family on a part-time basis. He spent his summers in Eisenstadt and annually composed a mass for the name day of the Prince's wife (and Haydn's friend), Princess Maria Josepha Hermenegild (1768–1845). Haydn continued to perform these duties until his health failed in 1802. The first prominent member of

15732-402: The services of one of the best known French architects of the classical revolution , Charles Moreau. Moreau wanted to keep only the core of the building in baroque style, and extensively renovate and add to the palace in classical style. The eastern side would accommodate the theatre and the opera, the western the Esterházy picture gallery. Between the two north towers the garden hall would be

15870-518: The side facing to the courtyard three windows are poised one above the other. At the beginning of the classical change period, 1803, the Garden Room extended along the north side in front of the Haydnsaal. The windows previously installed there were bricked up. Friedrich Rhode , the court painter, decorated the remaining recesses with Biedermeier-style festoons. Masonry wall openings were provided at both

16008-463: The siege, which ended without the surrender of the fort, Louis was heavily injured in his head. Algirdas , Grand Duke of Lithuania , hired Tatar mercenaries who stormed into Podolia , Louis returned to Hungary because he feared a Tatar invasion of Transylvania. Pope Clement proclaimed a crusade against the Lithuanians and the Tatars in May, authorizing Louis to collect a tithe from Church revenues during

16146-608: The steady accumulation of land, and loyalty both to the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburg Emperor, the latter factor being the most important. A consistent theme of Hungarian history was an ardent and sometimes violent wish to become free of Austrian rule, a wish that was finally fulfilled at the end of World War I . The Esterházy princes were consistently loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, on several occasions rendered vital services to it in times of crisis. These included

16284-477: The stylish life of the capital spent most of their time in Vienna. In the 1770s, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy , who disliked Vienna, had a magnificent new palace constructed in Fertőd , Hungary. It was built on the site of a former hunting lodge. Today this is the most admired of the Esterházy homes, often called the "Hungarian Versailles ." The main line of the Esterházy family were generally bilingual, in Hungarian (as

16422-455: The summer, taking with her almost the whole royal treasure, including more than 6,628 kilograms (14,612 lb) of silver and 5,150 kilograms (11,350 lb) of gold. During her seven-month-long stay in Italy, she was only able to persuade her daughter-in-law and the pope to promise that Andrew would be crowned as Joanna's husband. According to the nearly contemporaneous chronicle of John of Küküllő , Louis launched his first campaign against

16560-571: The three". In the discussion that follows, Hungarian names are given in brackets. Nikolaus was born in Galanta . Raised as a Protestant , he later converted to Catholicism . Created Count by the Emperor in 1626, he achieved great wealth in part by marrying (twice) into money. In 1625, Nikolaus was elected Palatine of Hungary , the King's chief lieutenant within Royal Hungary . Nikolaus laid out what became

16698-495: The throne of Naples, Louis helped Charles occupy the kingdom. In Hungarian historiography, Louis was regarded for centuries as the most powerful Hungarian monarch who ruled over an empire "whose shores were washed by three seas". Born on 5 March 1326, Louis was the third son of Charles I of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth of Poland . He was named for his father's uncle, Louis , Bishop of Toulouse , canonized in 1317. The first-born son of his parents, Charles, died before Louis

16836-466: The two Wittelsbachs (Albert I and Rupert I) to break off the coalition in September 1370. Casimir III of Poland died on 5 November 1370. Louis arrived after his uncle's funeral and ordered the erection of a splendid Gothic marble monument to the deceased king. He was crowned king of Poland in the Kraków Cathedral on 17 November. Casimir III had willed his patrimony – including

16974-631: The two realms for 100,000 florins if Casimir fathered a son. Louis led his army to Kraków in June 1351. Because Casimir fell ill, Louis became the sole commander of the united Polish and Hungarian army. He invaded the lands of the Lithuanian prince, Kęstutis , in July. Kęstutis seemingly accepted Louis's suzerainty on 15 August and agreed to be baptised, along with his brothers, in Buda. However, Kęstutis did nothing to fulfill his promises after Polish and Hungarian troops were withdrawn. In an attempt to capture Kęstutis, Louis returned, but he could not defeat

17112-758: Was a distant cousin of the queen mother . Louis especially favored the Lackfis : eight members of the family held high offices during his reign. Andrew Lackfi was the commander of the royal army during the first war of Louis's reign. In late 1342 or early 1343, he invaded Serbia and restored the Banate of Macsó , which had been lost during his father's reign. Robert the Wise , King of Naples , died on 20 January 1343. In his testament , he declared his granddaughter, Joanna I , his sole heir, excluding Louis's younger brother, Andrew, Joanna's husband, from becoming co-ruler. Louis and his mother regarded this as an infringement of

17250-484: Was a time of revival for the Esterházy family fortunes. The family estates were made into flourishing businesses, including a "traditional welfare net, providing security for employees." With the resulting improvement in the family finances, the family properties were finally released from decades of sequestration. In addition, the family palaces—including the long-abandoned Esterháza —were restored and provided with modern plumbing and electricity. In these efforts Nikolaus

17388-547: Was besieged by Bernabò Visconti 's troops. After Visconti lifted the siege, Louis's mercenaries pillaged the region and refused to cooperate with the papal legate ; Louis had the commander of the army imprisoned. After a conflict emerged between Emperor Charles IV and Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria , rumors spread about a conspiracy to dethrone the emperor in favor of Louis or Rudolf. Charles IV, Rudolf IV and Louis met in Nagyszombat (now Trnava in Slovakia) in May. The emperor and

17526-408: Was born. Louis became his father's heir after the death of his brother Ladislaus in 1329. He had a liberal education by the standards of his age and learned French, German and Latin. He showed a special interest in history and astrology . A cleric from Wrocław , Nicholas , taught him the basic principles of Christian faith. However, Louis's religious zeal was due to his mother's influence. In

17664-524: Was closed by 1390. Vladislav Vlaicu of Wallachia made an alliance with Ivan Shishman , a half-brother of the former ruler of Vidin, Ivan Sratsimir. Their united armies imposed a blockade on Vidin. Louis marched to the Lower Danube and ordered Nicholas Lackfi, Voivode of Transylvania, to invade Wallachia in the autumn of 1368. The voivode's army marched through the valley of the Ialomița River , but

17802-675: Was elevated to the status of Prince ( Fürst ) in 1783. He received the Order of St. Stephen in 1777. He was Captain of the Hungarian Noble Life Guard from September 1791 until his death in 1794, and commanded an autonomous corps on the Upper Rhine at the beginning of the War of the First Coalition . His Corps participated in various actions between July and October, 1792, after which he received

17940-559: Was first used by Benedict Zerhas de Zerhashaz (1508–1553), who in 1539 took over the wealth of his wife, Ilona Bessenyei de Galántha. Their son, Ferenc Esterházy (1533–1604) inherited the coat of arms and title of his mother and the full surname of the family became Eszterházy de Galántha , Galanta being a small town east of Bratislava ( Hungarian : Pozsony , German : Pressburg ), now capital of Slovakia . The family rose to prominence under Count Nikolaus Esterházy (1583–1645) and his son, Prince Paul Esterházy (1635–1713). In

18078-648: Was greatly assisted by his wife, Princess Margit (1874–1910), née Countess Cziráky. Prince Nikolaus IV, his wife Margit , their son Anton († 1944) and other family members are buried in the Esterházy family cemetery in Fertőd , which is located in a small park around two kilometers northeast of the Eszterháza Palace (position: 47°38′08.1″N 16°53′04.8″E  /  47.635583°N 16.884667°E  / 47.635583; 16.884667  ( Esterházy family cemetery, Fertőd ) ). The lifetime of this prince witnessed momentous, often catastrophic changes for

18216-524: Was organized into a separate border province, or banate , under the command of Hungarian lords. The Byzantine Emperor , John V Palaiologos visited Louis in Buda in early 1366, seeking his assistance against the Ottoman Turks , who had set foot in Europe. This was the first occasion that a Byzantine Emperor left his empire to plead for a foreign monarch's assistance. According to Louis's physician, Giovanni Conversini , at his first meeting with Louis,

18354-654: Was replaced by the harshest expression as he unveiled with terrible words the true feelings he had for the princes and that he had kept hidden until then", according to the contemporaneous Domenico da Gravina . He repeated his former accusations, blamed his kinsmen for his brother's murder, and had them captured on 22 January. The next day Charles of Durazzo – the husband of Joanna I's sister, Mary  – was beheaded upon Louis's orders. The other princes were kept captive and sent to Hungary, together with Louis's infant nephew, Charles Martel. Louis marched to Naples in February. The citizens offered him

18492-511: Was saved by a knight of the court, John Besenyő, who killed the beast with his sword. According to Matteo Villani, Louis launched an expedition against the Golden Horde at the head of an army of 200,000 horsemen in April 1354. The young Tatar ruler, whom historian Iván Bertényi identified as Jani Beg , did not want to wage war against Hungary and agreed to sign a peace treaty. Although no other primary source mentioned that campaign and treaty,

18630-544: Was sentenced to solitary confinement for 15 years. Freed in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 , he moved to Zurich with his wife, Melinda Ottrubay, whom he had married in Budapest in 1945, and lived in Zurich, from there managing his Austrian domains, until his death. Paul's wealth was inherited by his wife Melinda . Since she had no children, she created several foundations to preserve the cultural and historic heritage of

18768-443: Was swept away while exploring a ford upon his order. An arrow pierced Louis's left leg during the siege of Aversa. After the fall of Aversa to Hungarian troops on 3 August, Queen Joanna and her husband again fled from Naples. However, Louis decided to return to Hungary. According to the contemporaneous historian Matteo Villani , Louis attempted to "leave the kingdom without losing face" after he had run out of money and experienced

18906-498: Was the same person as Nikolaus Josef. In discussions written in English, the Esterházy princes are occasionally given English versions of their names, as in "Nicholas". The family name is also rendered variously: Eszterházy (Hungarian spelling), Esterházy (German), and Esterhazy (typographic convenience). The full family name since the 16th century was Eszterházy de Galántha (later also styled von/of Galanta ). The Latinised form of

19044-567: Was to be inherited by his kinsmen. Louis often granted this privilege to the wives of his favorites. Louis also frequently authorized landowners to apply capital punishment in their estates, limiting the authority of the magistrates of the counties . William Drugeth , an influential advisor of Louis's late father, died in September 1342. He bequeathed his landed property to his brother, Nicholas, but Louis confiscated those estates. In late autumn, Louis dismissed his father's Voivode of Transylvania , Thomas Szécsényi , although Szécsényi's wife

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