Perpetual count explained

A perpetual count (Hungarian: örökös főispán, Latin: supremus et perpetuus comes)^[1] 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

County	Perpetual count	Period	Notes	Source
Baranya	Bishop of Pécs	? - 1777
Bács	Archbishop of Kalocsa	? - 1776
Bihar	Bishop of Várad	1466 - 1776
Esztergom	Archbishop of Esztergom	1270 - 1300 1301 - 1881	granted 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	^[2] ^[3] ^[4]
Fehér	Voivode of Transylvania
Győr	Bishop of Győr	1453 - 1783		^[5]
Heves	Bishop (from 1804 Archbishop) of Eger	1498 - 1840
Nyitra	Bishop of Nyitra	? - 1777		^[6]
Outer Szolnok	Bishop (from 1804 Archbishop) of Eger	1569 - 1840
Pest	Palatine	? - 1848		^[7]
Pilis	Castellan of the Visegrád Castle	? - ?
	Palatine	1569 - 1848
	Bishop of Bosznia	1753 - 1770	renounced of the title	^[8]
Veszprém	Bishop of Veszprém	1313 - 1323 1392 - 1773	although 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	^[9]

Hereditary ispánates

County	Family	Period	Notes	Source
	Perényi	1570 - 1598 1643 - 1699		^[10]
	Csáky	1702 - 1764
	Thurzó	1585 - 1626	also perpetual ispáns of Szepes County	^[11]
	Thököly	1666 - 1668
	Schönborn	1740 -	last grant of a perpetual ispánate	^[12]
Beszterce	Hunyadi	1452 - 1458	earliest example of a hereditary title in Hungary proper	^[13]
Beszterce	Szilágyi	1458 - ?		^[14]
	Koháry	1711 - 1826		^[15]
	Nádasdy	1751 -	last grant of a perpetual ispánate	^[16]
	Illésházy	1582 - 1838	also perpetual ispáns of Trencsén County	^[17]
	Keglevich	1707 - 1749		^[18]
	Pálffy	1651 -	always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1580	^[19]
	Rákóczi	1666 - 1711	always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1622	^[20]
	Esterházy	1686 -	always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1626	^[21]
	Szapolyai	1464 - 1528		^[22] ^[23]
	Thurzó	1531 - 1635		^[24]
	Csáky	1638 -		^[25]
Teočak	Újlaki	1464 - ?	in Bosnia	^[26]
	Illésházy	1600 - 1838	also perpetual ispáns of Liptó County	^[27]
	Révay	1712 - 1875	always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1532	^[28]
	Draskovich	1693 - 1695	the county was dissolved in 1695	^[29]
	Erdődy	1570 - c. 1582		^[30]
	Erdődy	1687 -	always a member of the family was appointed ispán from 1607
	Batthyány	1728 -		^[31]
	Althann	1721 - 1824		^[32]

See also

• County (Kingdom of Hungary)
• Ispán

References

• Engel, Pál (1996). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1301 - 1457, I. ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1301 - 1457, Volume I"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest. .
• Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. I.B. Tauris Publishers. .
• Fallenbüchl, Zoltán (1994). Magyarország főispánjai, 1526 - 1848 ("Lord-Lieutenants of Counties in Hungary, 1526 - 1848"). Argumentum Kiadó. .
• 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. .
• Rady, Martyn (2000). Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary. Palgrave (in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London). .
• Sedlar, Jean W. (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000 - 1500. University of Washington Press. .
• Zsoldos, Attila (2011). Magyarország világi archontológiája, 1000 - 1301 ("Secular Archontology of Hungary, 1000 - 1301"). História, MTA Történettudományi Intézete. Budapest. .

Notes and References

1. Nemes 1989, p. 81.
2. Fallenbüchl 1994, p. 9.
3. Zsoldos 2011, p. 149.
4. Engel 1996, p. 126.
5. Engel 1996, p. 132.
6. Engel 1996, p. 159.
7. Engel 1996, p. 163.
8. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 11., 130.
9. Engel 1996, p. 231.
10. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 99.
11. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 61.
12. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 66.
13. Engel 2001, p. 293.
14. Book: Pannon Reneszánsz : A Hunyadiak és a Jagelló-kor (1437–1526) . Encyclopaedia Humana Hungarica . 4 . 20 April 2018.
15. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 82.
16. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 83.
17. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 84.
18. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 11., 129-130.
19. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 92-93.
20. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 93-94.
21. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 96.
22. Engel 2001, p. 311.
23. Fallenbüchl 1994, p. 99.
24. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 9-10., 99.
25. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 9., 99.
26. Engel 2001, p. 312.
27. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 103.
28. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 9., 104.
29. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 11., 132.
30. Fallenbüchl 1994, p. 132.
31. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 107-108.
32. Fallenbüchl 1994, pp. 10., 111.