Nádasdy Tamás

(1498 - 2 Jun. 1562)

Palatine

Az eredeti magyar verziót itt lehet tanálni (the original Hungarian version can be found here).

Tamás (Thomas) was born at Egervár (Eger castle) in Heves county, Hungary to Nádasdy Ferenc and enyingi Török Orsolya in 1498. (Enyingi means his mother was from a place called Enying in Fejér county in the Dunántúl region of Hungary).

He was educated in Italy and upon returning home in 1520, king Lajos II (Louis II) gave him employment at the Chancellery which involved handling diplomatic matters.

After the disaster at Mohács (the Ottoman Turks crushed the Hungarian army in 1526 there) Tamás sided with king Ferdinand and became the military commander of Buda castle in 1527. Hungary had elected Ferdinand I of Habsburg -- brother of the Emperor Charles V, and eventually Emperor himself -- to the throne, vacant owing to the death of the young and yet childless King Louis II at Mohács.

In 1529 he became a prisoner of the Turks, and was handed over to Zápolya János in whose service Tamás became the royal revenue manager. Zápolya János was the other claimant to the Hungarian throne with Turkish help. Because Tamás had a falling out with Gritti Lodovico, he sided again with king Ferdinand in 1533.

Tamás became governor of Vas county in 1534, and married Kanizsay Orsolya in 1535 from whom he acquired huge estates in the counties of Vas and Zala.

Tamás developed and encouraged printing in 1537. Between 1537 and 1541 he was to be found in Croatia (grey area on map above), while from 1540 to 1544 he was Lord Chief Justice.

From 1554 till his death he wore the title of "paladin" or "palatine" - a knight errant (originally one of Charlemagne's twelve peers). He forcefully guarded the interests of, and protected, the region known as Dunántúl (it means 'past or over the Danube').

His greatest military achievement included the saving of the city of Szigetvár, Somogy county, Hungary in 1556.

Last updated 23 January 1999

Maintainer T. Majlath