Egervár Summary
Egervár
Summary
Summary
Egervár lies on the Western verge of the earlier marshy valley of the Sárvíz stream, on the border of Zala and Vas counties, along main road 74, north of Zalaegerszeg.
The village today consists of Egervár and Dénesfa, two settlements that used to be separate.
The name of Egervár is derived from the alder tree, which is abundant in its marshy environment, and its castle which existed already in the XIII century. It was first mentioned in writing in 1281. We have some sources mentioning about its fortress first in 1288. According to a charter, there was a change in the ownership of the castle: palatine János exchanged his castle and estates in Polosnicza with Miklós ban for the caste of Egervár and its accessories. This building, which on the basis of the customary architecture of the age, was probably made of wood, and strengthened with wicker-work and stake lines, and stood in the middle of a marshy field, was destroyed between 1313 and 1325 during local wars. Later, when János and Mihály calling themselves Egervári, sons of Kalmer from the Geregye dynasty, divided the estate between themselves, it was not mentioned any more.
There were several famous families living, or having the centres of their estates in the settlement. It belonged to the Egervári family in the XIV–XV centuries. László Egervári, was the most prominent member of the family, who became one of the nobility during the reign of King Matthias – as one of his confidential people –, and who was nominated by King Wladislas as Lord Chief Treasurer. He had the ancestor of the today castle, and church, which is still standing in the settlement, built in 1495. It was dedicated to Saint Catherine. Next to the church, a Franciscan monastery was also built by 1510, the completion of which is linked to the name of bishop Bereck Egervári, another member of the family, which monastery, however, – was ruined with time.
The settlement received the right of a borough from King Wladislas in 1497, and it remained so until the end of the XIX century, although with varying economic significance. We can evaluate the XV century as the golden age of Egervár. The unique architectural style of mature, already gothic-type renaissance appeared here, thanks to László Egervári. The building workshop, and the building units working here used not stone but terracotta as the material of ornamental elements. That is how the castle was built between 1477 and 1489, and the church between 1489 and 1495.
After the Egerváries, Egervár became the property of the Kanizsai and later the Nádasdy families. The names and activities of Tamás, Ferenc and Kristóf Nádasdy from this family were linked with the settlement. Tamás Nádasdy, who became Lord Chief Justice in 1542, and the chaplain of the country in 1554, could not stay here a lot, and on his behalf, Ferenc Nádasdy, his father, who became the Lord Lieutenant of Vas county, managed the necessary tasks. He had the strongly deteriorating castle reconstructed. In the 1550-ies, Egervár was usually managed from Sárvár, but it had a certain level of independence among the Nádasdy-estates. Seven villages belonged to the domain in Egervár. Its population paid taxes on thirty-four houses in 1554. Kristóf Nádasdy, reconstructed the castle into one with four corner turrets, and Italian bastions. The construction was completed by 1569.
After Kanizsa got under Turkish control (1600), the fortress became one of the most important border fortresses of the Western part of the country. Its reinforcement was ordered by several legal articles. The settlement did not get fully devastated during the centuries of Turkish rule. Its remaining population, however, had to survive some very difficult decades, they had to pay taxes not only to the Hungarian landowners but also to the Turks.
One of the most important families of the Hungarian history played a significant role in resuscitating the village in the XVIII century. The Széchenyi family was the landowner in Egervár from 1676 until 1873. Among them, the acts of György, Zsigmond, Ignác, and Ferenc Széchenyi left their marks here. György Széchenyi re-erected the church from its ruins, re-populated the village, and made the dishevelled domain productive again. Zsigmond, his son created a by-law (a kind of local code) for the borough, and also regulated the hill with vineyards. (The hill next to the settlement with a modest number of population – twenty-one serf families lived here at the time – was more significant with its one hundred and one vineyard owners registered. It shows a further growth in the significance of the hill that the hill-toll list in 1730 already spoke about 306 vineyard owners.) The total baroque reconstruction of the church between 1749 and 1757 was linked to the name of Ignác Széchenyi. Its pulpit and altar made at that time are outstanding examples of the Hungarian baroque arts.
Egervár was not spared by the events of the Rákóczi freedom fight either: the battle at Győrvár, one of the most significant battles of the freedom fight, yielding the victory of the Kuruts, was fought in the field around it.
The castle received its present look in 1712–13: at this time, Zsigmond Széchényi, in order to save the building, eliminated the external defence system, and had the Northern wing of the building pulled down.
The end of the XVIII century was a prosperous period again. A serious economic growth took place at the time when Ferenc Széchenyi was the owner. The second half of XIX, however, was a period of decline. Egervár was very much pushed to the background in comparison with other properties of the Széchenyi family, which yielded much more income.
The Széchenyies sold the castle and the estate in 1873 to László Solymosy, who was rising from the rank of a citizen to the nobility. László Solymosy was an outstanding representative of the family, who lived in Egervár from 1930 until 1945. Then, he could not any longer live in the castle due to its deteriorated state, and he moved his collection of natural history, which had a European fame, into the castle.
The life of the village started to change significantly again from the end of the 1940-ies. Egervár and Déneslak merged under the name of Egervár in 1948, thus the number of the inhabitants rose to 1760. (In 1991, Lakhegy, which was part of the earlier Déneslak, was detached from Egervár as an independent settlement.) New job opportunities were created in the Andráshida State Farm Plant, which was established in 1948, and later in the mixed industrial co-operative, which was transformed into a Timber Industrial Co-operative in 1963. The agricultural co-operative was born in 1960, and worked until 1995.
The end and the aftermath of the war led to such a level of deterioration of the castle that it was close to full destruction. Its renovation took place between 1960 and 1965, during which, it regained its original gothic image – except for the Western facade. A second renovation took place in 1995.
Egervár has belonged to Zala county since 1950. Zalaegerszeg, the quickly developing capital seat of the county, ten kilometres from the settlement, has influenced its development since the 1950-ies until today. Its population lived almost fully from agriculture until the middle of the XX century. After the 1950-ies, more and more people started to work in Zalaegerszeg in the industrial and the trade sectors. Local jobs – in spite of some improvement – are still scarce today. The prime source of extra income is tourism, which by now has its basic conditions created. From this point of view, the castle and the church, the two outstanding monuments are significant, but so are also the monumental wine-cellar of the estate from the XVIII century, and the chapel on the hill from the same time, which has been renovated from its ruins. The meadow and the hills around the village are registered as the habitats of several protected plants.
Egervár has preserved its central position in the region since the Middle Ages until today. There are 1040 people living in it now – after the separation of Lakhegy in 1991. The significant level of immigration started in the 1940-ies stopped at the end of teh 1980-ies, and the 1990-ies are again characterised by the increase of the population.
