Csányi family


Csányi or Csány was a noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary, which first appeared in the early 14th century and had estates and villages mostly in Zala County.

History

The Csányi family originated from the notable gens Hahót. According to the fourteenth-century chronicle composition, the founder of the kindred, knight Hahold descended from the Counts of Orlamünde, arriving to Hungary in 1163 upon the invitation of Stephen III to help to defeat the rebelled Csák kindred. Hahold's great-grandson Csák I was one of the most influential members of the kindred. He built the fort of Csáktornya in the late 1250s. However Ottokar II of Bohemia then the increasing powerful Kőszegi family captured the clan's all castles in the following years, causing the Buzád branch's move into Center Zala. Csák II settled down in Csány after Ottokar's invasion, possibly he was that family member who built the local Zsidóvár. The Csányi family ascended from there. Csák III was first referred to as "Csányi" in a charter of 1325 by Elizabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary, thus he was considered as the first member of the family.
, last member of the family
Csák I had two sons Egyed and Peter, both were first mentioned in 1348. The living members of the Csányi family were among those Hahót kinships who protested against that after a praefectio in filium by her father Nicholas V in 1365, Klara granted the village of Buzádsziget. After a court decision they forced to hand over their property in Buzádsziget and Hahót to her. In the following decades, the family was only sporadically mentioned by contemporary records. In 1419, it was reported that Csák II Csányi's soldiers looted the Pető de Gerse family's serfs on their way to Vasvár. In the same year Sigismund of Luxemburg referred to Csák II and Blaise I as "royal men". The two nobles had several conflicts with the Pető de Gerse family over the next years. However, Blaise I's son John IV appeared as a prominent familiar to the Pető de Gerse family either in 1453 and 1459. However, by 1468, he belonged to the household of the powerful Kanizsai family, which dominated the politics of Zala County until the end of the 15th century.
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary confirmed the previously inherited and acquired villages and estates of the Csányi family in Zala, Somogy and Vas Counties in 1475. The first notable member of the Csányis was Blaise II, son of John IV. By the early 16th century, he has gained considerable wealth and rose among the leading noble families in Zala County. He served as vice-ispán of the county from 1500 to 1501 and from 1520 to 1527, and was elected to the royal council as one of the noble jurors. He retained his influence even after the Battle of Mohács. After the extinction of the Kanizsai family, the Csányis became familiars of Tamás Nádasdy who inherited the Kanizsais' enormous wealth through his wife. Nádasdy's steward and Blaise's son Ákos wrote around 500 letters to his lord during his lifetime, which collection is one of the most important primary sources of the 16th-century Hungarian history. The family's stone-built manor house in Zalacsány was enlarged to a fortress by him in the mid-16th century. Among Blaise II's sons only Nicholas II had legitimate male heirs, the later members of the family descended from him. Several members throughout the 16–17th centuries were officials in the county assembly and performed political career in county-level, for instance Bernard II, who was vice-ispán of Zala from 1580 to 1581.
The family gained land donations in Vas County too in the 16th century. A tax register from 1549 mentioned Ákos and Martin II as owners of Tótfalu and Nagytilaj. Bernard II's son George I built a mansion in Tótfalu, which became a seat of the family's holdings in Vas County. George's son Bernard III moved to Csákánydoroszló, where from his wife originated. He was a faithful soldier of the Batthyány family.
The birth certificates at the parish of Csány burned in 1806, making the genealogical data are incomplete and uncertain after the 16th century. The last male descendant of the family was László Csány, Government Commissioner then Minister of Public Works and Transport during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, who was executed for his revolutionary role by the Austrian Empire in October 1849.

Family tree