House of Erdődy coat of arms
Erdődy Mansion, Doba

Erdődy de Monyorókerék et Monoszló (also Erdödy) is the name of a Hungarian noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary (most notably in Croatia). Elevated to the Hungarian nobility in 1459, the family was subsequently raised to the rank of Count in 1485. In 1565 the family was then recognised by the Habsburg Monarchy who granted them the title Reichgraf / Gräfin. The family was raised again in 1566 to the rank of Reichfürst; however, due to the death the following year of the recipient (Péter II), the title was not nostrificated and hence, did not become hereditary.

The family was first raised in a document dated 1187, under the name of Bakoch de genere Erdewd. They received the title of Count in 1485. (The first hereditary count in Hungary was John Hunyadi in 1453 by the king Ladislaus V).The family origins from the town of Erdőd (Romanian: Ardud, German: Erdeed) which is in the region Szatmár (now Satu Mare in Romania). They are barons of Monyorókerék (German: Eberau) and counts of Monoszló (Croatian: Moslavina). Monyorokerék is a small village in the south of Burgenland (today Austria) near the Hungarian border. Monoszló is a region in central Croatia.

The Erdődy family originated from the Bakócz family, initially belonged to the serfdom at the Drágffy estates. They acquired wealth, when Tamás Bakócz became the Archbishop of Esztergom in 1497. After his death his estates were passed down to his nephew Peter and he took the name Erdődy.

Numerous members of the family held important offices: judges of the royal court, masters of the treasury, chamberlains, Croatian bans, bishops, Master[s] of the Horse and generals were among the members of the family. In 1607, because of the family's great contribution to the Croatian-Ottoman Wars, King Rudolph named the family the perpetual counts of Varaždin County, and they consequently gave 17 župans up until 1845.[1][2]

Notable members included:

The family owned many estates in western Hungary and in Croatia and were one of the largest landowners in the empire, making them magnates of the empire. The Palais Erdődy in Vienna, which was acquired by the Erdődy family from the Esterházys, suffered bombing damage during World War II and was consequently demolished in 1955.

After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Erdődys' possessions in the successor states of the monarchy were reduced, mostly through forced expropriation by the Béla Kun regime. This caused some of the family to flee west into Germany and France.

During World War II, the Bavarian royal family, relatives of the Erdődy family, stayed in the castles of Somlóvár and Vép, after they had fled from the Nazis in Germany. The invasion of the Soviet Red Army forced most descendants of the family to flee to the West and resulted in their complete expropriation and the destruction of most of their goods.


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