Zsigmond Forgách

Baron Zsigmond Forgách de Ghymes et Gács, sometimes Sigismund Forgách (

Family

The

Zsigmond Forgách was born as a

In 1604, he offered peace to

Forgách served as Lord Chief Justice twice: from 15 July 1606 to 30 November 1608 and between 24 January 1610 and 11 May 1618. He was appointed one of the royal commissioners for repossession of the lands which returned to the Crown in 1607, according to the Treaty of Vienna between Bocskay and Archduke Matthias. Forgách functioned as Master of the Treasury between 1 December 1608 and January 1610. He was the Lord Lieutenant (Count; comes) of Borsod County from 1609 to 1610.

He functioned as Captain General of

After the death of György Thurzó, following a two-year period of vacancy, he was elected Palatine by the Diet of Hungary. Besides that he was also appointed Lord Lieutenant of Pest-Pilis-Solt County. After a series of victorious campaign of Gabriel Bethlen, Forgách joined to Bethlen's army in October 1619, but secretly maintained the contact with Ferdinand II. Later he rejoined to the Habsburg Army and participated in the Siege of Érsekújvár. Forgách died in 1621.

Legacy

He rebuilt the castle of Gács (today: Halič, Slovakia) on land which had been part of the estate of the owner of the county since 1598, choosing a site that was both strategic and offering natural fortifications. In 1612 it was repaired carefully and the foundations of an irregular hexagon was laid. On top of these; a storied building with six corner bastions was constructed, secured by a ditch and mounds. Wings of this hexagon led into a courtyard with plain walls, later covered with many murals depicting figures of the Roman emperors and the Hungarian kings between its windows and entrances.

Sources

• Markó, László: A magyar állam főméltóságai Szent Istvántól napjainkig - Életrajzi Lexikon p. 226. (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
  .
• Szabó de Bártfa, László: A Hunt-Pázmán nemzetségbeli Forgách család története History of the Forgách family from the kindred of Hont-Pázmány; 1910, Esztergom.