The Status of the Village Nobility in Spiš

The article provides a list of members and a developmental description of the Máriássy nobility family in Spiš (Szepes, Zips), especially two of its branches that resided in Batizovce (Batiszfalva, Botsdorf) and Markušovce (Markusfalva, Marksdorf). The oldest family member Batyz, who founded Batizovce on territory given to him by royal donation, is mentioned in 1264. Other family members also acquired royal benefits for their military service. The majority of the family belonged to the Lutheran Church; Batizovce became the centre of Lutheran life in Spiš thanks to Máriássy patronage. Andreas Máriássy (1759 – 1846), who received the rank of major general and field marshal for his merits in the war against Napoleon, had the most significant military career. The representatives of later generations of this noble family engaged themselves in politics in addition to military service – field marshal Ioannis Máriássy became a member of the House of Magnates in the Hungarian Diet and was given the title of baron in 1888. The greater part of the family estates in Spiš were sold by the heirs in the first half of the 19th century and especially at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, including significant lands in the High Tatras (such as the Gerlach Peak and the mountain lake Batizovské pleso, amongst others). The author also provides information on the contemporary state of the family manors in Batizovce, as well as other material monuments (tombs, commemorative inscriptions and signs, ancestral archives).