Miklós Esterházy (1711–1764)

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Count
Miklós "Nikolaus" Esterházy
Portrait of Count Esterházy, 1758
Austrian Ambassador to Russia
In office
16 April 1753 – 22 May 1761
MonarchMaria Theresa
Preceded byJohann Franz von Pretlack
Succeeded byFlorimond Claude von Mercy-Argenteau
Personal details
Born(1711-11-16)16 November 1711
Vienna, Archduchy of Austria
Died21 June 1764(1764-06-21) (aged 52)
Karlovy Vary, Kingdom of Bohemia
Spouse
Princess Anna Lubomirska
​
​
(m. 1744; died 1764)​
RelationsFerenc Esterházy (brother)
János Pálffy (grandfather)
Parent(s)Ferenc Esterházy
Maria Sidonia Pálffy ab Erdöd
ProfessionDiplomat
The native form of this personal name is galánthai gróf Esterházy Miklós. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Count Miklós "Nikolaus" Esterházy de Galántha (16 November 1711 – 21 June 1764) was a Hungarian noble and diplomat from the Esterházy family. He served as an Imperial and Royal Chamberlain, Privy Councilor, and diplomat who served as Empress Maria Theresa's Envoy to Russia between 1761 and 1763.[1]

Early life

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Esterházy was born in Vienna in the Archduchy of Austria on 19 September 1715. He was the eldest son of Count Ferenc Esterházy de Galántha (1683–1754) and Countess Maria Sidonia Pálffy ab Erdöd. Among his siblings was Ferenc Esterházy, who was the Ban of Croatia and Slavonia.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Count Ferenc "Ferko" Esterházy de Galántha (the youngest son of Count Nikolaus Esterházy de Galántha), and Countess Katalin "Catharina" Thököly de Késmárk (a daughter of Count István Thököly de Késmárk).[3] His maternal grandparents were Count János V Pálffy ab Erdöd, the Ban of Croatia and Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary, and, his first wife, Countess Teréz Czobor de Czoborszentmihály.[4]

Esterházy attended the Jesuit grammar school in Pressburg (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia). In 1732, his father sent him and his younger brother to the academy of Lunéville in Lorraine, where they spent half a year together and from October 1732 to April 1733 before taking a journey through southern Germany, port cities in the Netherlands, Great Britain, Flanders, France, northern Italy, as well as Rome and Naples. They returned to Vienna in July 1735.

Career

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The family's castle in Cseklész, located in what is today western Slovakia

During the reign of Empress Maria Theresa, Esterházy was appointed special Envoy of Empress Maria Theresa in Poland. In 1747, the Austrians wanted to raise the rank of ambassador, but Augustus III of Saxony refused because it was linked to the alliance and the marriage of his daughter with France, the enemy of Austria, and did not want problems with her relations. This led to short-term rupture of relations between the Empress and Augustus III.

After his time in Poland, he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on 16 April 1753, succeeding Baron Johann Franz von Pretlack, who became General of the Cavalry (General der Kavallerie). For eight years in St. Petersburg, he managed diplomatic relations between the Austrian and Russian imperial courts until 22 May 1761 when he was replaced by Count Florimond Claude von Mercy-Argenteau, the former Ambassador to Sardinia-Piedmont.[5] Esterházy served as Captain of the Hungarian Noble Guard, based in Vienna, from 1762 until his death.

Personal life

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Portrait of his son, János Baptist, in the costume of Fiesco in Schiller's The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa, attributed to Heinrich Füger

In 1744, he married Princess Anna Lubomirska (1722–1771), a daughter of Prince Teodor Lubomirski and the former Elizabeth "Elżbieta" Culler-Cumming.[6][7] Together, they were the parents of:[8]

Count Miklós Esterházy died on 21 June 1764, at Karlovy Vary in the Kingdom of Bohemia. His widow died in Vienna on 17 August 1771.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Markó 2006, p. 309.
  2. ^ Markó, László: A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig – Életrajzi Lexikon pp. 308–309. (The High Officers of the Hungarian State from Saint Stephen to the Present Days – A Biographical Encyclopedia) (2nd edition); Helikon Kiadó Kft., 2006, Budapest; ISBN 963-547-085-1.
  3. ^ Holzwarth, Franklin James (1892). Világtörténet (in Hungarian). Csanád-egyházmegyei könyvsajtó. p. 375. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  4. ^ Esterházy (gróf), Antal (1940). Galánthai és fraknói gróf Esterházy Antal levelei feleségéhez gróf Nigrelli Mária Annához, 1701-1706 (in Hungarian). Sárkány Nyomda. pp. 153–154. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  5. ^ Peper, Ines; Wallnig, Thomas (18 July 2022). Central European Pasts: Old and New in the Intellectual Culture of Habsburg Europe, 1700–1750. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 10. ISBN 978-3-11-064929-1. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  6. ^ Levéltár, Magyar Országos (1964). Az Eszterházy család tatai és csákvári levéltára: Repertórium (in Hungarian). Művelődésügyi Minisztérium Levéltári Osztálya Levéltárak Országos Központja. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  7. ^ Babel, Fanch (2 January 2025). François Claude André Le Roy de Lozembrune (1749-1801) - Aventures et mésaventures d'un littérateur français en pays allemands (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 32. ISBN 978-2-336-50270-0. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  8. ^ Nagy, Iván Felsögyöri (1859). Magyarország családai czimerekkel es nemzekrendi tablakkal (in Hungarian). Ráth. p. 224. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  9. ^ Éble, Gábor (1913). A nagy-károlyi gróf Károlyi család leszármazása a leányági ivadékok feltüntetésével: levéltári és anyakönyvi eredeti és hiteles okiratok alapján (in Hungarian). Franklin-Társulat. p. 5. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  10. ^ Lau, Thomas (10 October 2016). Die Kaiserin. Maria Theresia (in German). Böhlau Verlag Wien. pp. 290, 435. ISBN 978-3-205-79421-9. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  11. ^ a b Nagy, Iván (1857). Magyarország családai: Czimerekkel és nemzékrendi táblákkal (in Hungarian). Kiadja Friebeisz I. p. 90. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  12. ^ Esterházy, Péter (2003). Harmonia caelestis (in Italian). Feltrinelli Editore. p. 7. ISBN 978-88-07-01627-1. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Austrian Ambassador to Russia
1753–1761 		Succeeded by