Bánffy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Coa_Hungary_Family_B%C3%A1nffy.svg/220px-Coa_Hungary_Family_B%C3%A1nffy.svg.png)
The Banffy family is an ancient Hungarian noble family, whose members occupied many important political positions in the Kingdom of Hungary and later within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
History
[edit]Their first recorded ancestor Dénes came from the gens Tomaj and was first mentioned in the 12th century.[1] His grandson, Dénes Losonczi, who lived in the 13th century, was founder of the Losonczi family.[2] His great-grandson László de Losoncz (1368-1427), founded his own line of the family. From the 14th century onward, this line bears the name Bánffy de Losoncz.[3] They intermarried with other most important families of the Kingdom of Hungary and later of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Members of the family held the title of Baron, granted to them in 1729 by Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor.[4] On 20 May 1855, members of elder line of the family were upgraded to the title of Count in the Austrian Empire, granted to them by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.[5] The title was heritable by all legitimate male line descendants.
Notable members
[edit]- Katalin Bánffy, 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman
- Dezső Bánffy (1843–1911), Hungarian politician
- Miklós Bánffy (1873–1950), Hungarian nobleman, politician, and novelist
- Eszter Bánffy (born 1957), Hungarian prehistorian, archaeologist, and academic