Baron Koháry István of Csábrág and Szitnya (1616 – Léva, 19 July 1664) was a Hungarian soldier, and Chief Comes of Hont county.
He was born in 1616, his father was Koháry Péter who gained the rank of a baron in that very year. According to different sources, his mother was either Kazy Borbála or Vethle Regina. (Please note that I use the Oriental name order for Hungarians, where the surname comes first.)
He was already mentioned in 1629 when he and his father were registered as owners of the settlement of Beluja. Koháry Péter died in 1630 and István’s foster father became Esterházy Dániel. When he grew up, he took over his domains and settled down in his castle called Csábrág (Čabrad).
When Prince Rákóczi I György of Transylvania launched his campaign against the Habsburgs in 1644, Koháry was summoned to Pozsony (Presporok, Bratislava, Pressburg). No sooner had he left the castle than one of Rákóczi’s lieutenants, Bornemissza Pál, captured Csábrág.
He was appointed as the Captain of Szécsény in 1647 and he became the “perpetual” Captain of Fülek (Filakovo) Castle. The Emperor made him the “perpetual” Chief Comes of Hont County in 1661.
Koháry István was fighting in the anti-Ottoman war in 1663-64 and he was appointed lieutenant-general and captain-general of the Mining District by Leopold I. Although he protested, he was ordered by the emperor to join General De Souches, who wanted to retreat to the Vág River after the capture of Léva.
He was leading the troops made up from the noble estates of Hungary in 1664, under General Jean-Louis Radouit de Souches. They took Léva Castle back from the Turks and they scattered the enemy in the Battle of Zsarnóca. Then, the Turks led by Pasha Ali of Érsekújvár set out to retake Léva and besieged the castle.
Hearing this, De Souche turned back toward Léva, his vanguard was led by Koháry. He engaged in small skirmishes with the Turks, whose task was to defend the passages of the Garam River until the arrival of the main Ottoman army. He clashed with the Crimean Tatar troops on 18 June at the Garam River but he could defeat them only with reinforcement.
The Battle of Garamszentbenedek took place the next day where Koháry led the right wing of the army. At the beginning of the battle, he attacked the enemy but his unit was outnumbered and had to withdraw. When he received some reinforcement, he repeated the attack and managed to scatter the Janissaries and the Sipahi riders. Yet, suddenly he was hit by a bullet of a Jannissary and fell dead from his saddle.
His horse got frightened and dragged his body which was found later near Garamkeszi. A chapel was built there in 1714 to commemorate his heroic death. There was a memorial tablet on the battlefield where his name also could be read but the Communist Czechoslovakian state removed this. The tablet was placed there again in 2001, though.
The inscription on it says that he “had to kill for his country and God”:
AD LEVAM DEXTRE STEPHANUS KOHÁRY
PRO PATRIA OCCUBUIT CAESARE PROQUE DEO.
Koháry`s first wife died and only his second wife, Balassa Judit gifted him with children. His eldest son, István II became the Captain of Fülek Castle and was imprisoned by Prince Thököly who took the castle by siege in 1682. He used to write poems and religious writings during his captivity. When he was released, Emperor Leopold I made him a Count. He took part in the retaking of Buda Castle and Eger Castle and became the Judge of the Country in 1714.
(Source: Szibler Gábor, and Hungarian Wikipedia)
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