The Hungarian Court Chancellery (; ; ) was an important institution in the Kingdom of Hungary's self-government under the Habsburg monarchy.
History
After the defeat at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Kingdom of Hungary became an internal state of the Habsburg Empire. In the period between the 16th and 19th centuries, the Hungarian Court Chancellery, established by the Habsburg monarch, played an important role in Hungarian self-government, which was headquartered in Vienna. The affairs of the Austrian hereditary provinces and Bohemia were handled by two similar offices, the Austrian and Bohemian Court Chancelleries. From 1694, it became a sister institution of the Transylvanian Court Chancellery.
The primary task of the Court Chancellery was the exercise of the sovereign's rights, the granting of estates and various secular and ecclesiastical offices, the administration of ennoblements and other promotions, appointments, and contact with the various Hungarian government bodies. The direct connection with Hungary gave the Chancellery the opportunity to act as an intermediary between the monarch and the Hungarian estates. Thus, the chancellery and the chancellor became an indispensable factor in Hungarian estate politics.
Establishment The Hungarian Court Chancellery was established by Ferdinand I in Pressburg (present-day Bratislava). During the reign of Rudolf II, it operated in Prague between 1576 and 1612, and then again in Pressburg. In 1690, it was transferred to Vienna, where it moved to 6 in 1747, in the former Strattmann Palace. This building was built in 1692–94, during the reign of Leopold I, according to the plans of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, originally for Count Theodor Heinrich von Strattmann (1637–1693), Imperial Court Chancellor, and in 1747 was purchased by Count Lipót Nádasdy, head of the Hungarian Court Chancellery, for himself and his office. The late Baroque façade of the palace was rebuilt in Rococo style betwee 1766 and 1767 based on designs by Nicolò Pacassi, and the building was expanded to include house number 4, whose façade was designed by Franz Anton Hillebrandt in a style matching that of house number 6. Since the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, this building (Bankgasse 4-6) has housed the Hungarian Embassy in Vienna.
Hungarian Court Chancellors
ImageNameTerm StartTerm EndNotes Tamás Szalaházi 1527 1536 Ferenc Újlaki 1539 1539 Péter Perényi 1541 1542? Miklós Oláh 1543 1568 János Liszti 1568 1577 Juraj Drašković 1578 1586 Péter Heresinczy 1586 1590 János Kutassy 1592 1597 Márton Pethe 1598 1602 Ferenc Forgách 1602 1607 Bálint Lépes 1608 1623 István Sennyey 1623 1635 György Lippay 1635 1642 István Bosnyák 1642 1644 György Szelepcsényi 1644 1666 Ferenc Lénárd Szegedi 1666 1669 1669 1679 János Gubasóczy 1679 1686 Péter Korompay 1686 1690 Balázs Jaklin 1690 1695 László Mattyasovszky 1696 1705 Miklós Illésházy 1706 1723 László Ádám Erdődy 1725 1725 Imre Esterházy 1725 1725 Ádám Péter Acsády 1725 1732 Lajos Batthyány 1733 1746 Lipót Flórián Nádasdy 1746 1758 Miklós Pálffy 1758 1762 Ferenc Esterházy 1762 1785 Károly József Jeromos Pálffy 1787 1807 József Erdődy 1807 1819 Ferenc József Koháry 1820 1826 Mihály Nádasdy 1826 1827 Ádám Reviczky 1827 1836 Fidél Pálffy 1836 1838 Antal Mailáth 1839 1847 György Apponyi 1847 1848 Miklós Vay 1860 1861 Antal Forgách 1861 1864 Hermann Zichy 1864 1865 György Majláth 1865 1867
See also Imperial Court Chancellery Austrian Court Chancellery Bohemian Court Chancellery Transylvanian Court Chancellery
References
Further information *Fazekas István: A Magyar Udvari Kancellária és hivatalnokai 1527–1690 között; ELKH BTK TTI, Budapest, 2021 (Magyar történelmi emlékek. Értekezések)