Ferenc Nádasdy

Count Ferenc II Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld (6 October 1555 – 4 January 1604) was a Hungarian nobleman and a distinguished soldier. His family, the Nádasdy family, was one of the wealthiest and most influential of the era in Hungary. In 1571, when Ferenc was 16, his mother, Orsolya Nádasdy (née Kanizsay de Kanizsa; 1521–1571), using her association with many noble families in Hungary, organized a marriage to the young Elizabeth Báthory, daughter of the Count György Báthory of Ecsed and his wife and cousin, Baroness Anna Báthory of Somlyó (1539–1570). The Báthory family were as rich and illustrious as the Nádasdy family, though older and more influential, since they had several relatives who had the charge of Nádor (palatine) of Hungary. Among them, included a cardinal, a King of Poland-Lithuania, and a Prince of Transylvania.