Nikolaus, Count Esterházy

Nikolaus Esterházy de Galántha (1583–1645) was a Hungarian nobleman born at Galanta and the founder of the House of Esterházy. Raised a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism and became, with Cardinal Pázmány, a pillar of Habsburg rule in Hungary, fighting the Ottoman occupation and opposing the Protestant princes Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczi.

His first marriage brought him wealth and the lordship of Munkács, which he surrendered to Bethlen under the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1622 in exchange for imperial compensation. Matthias II later made him a baron and then count of Bereg.

He defeated the Turks on the Nyitra in 1623, and in 1625 Ferdinand II named him Palatine of Hungary, the kingdom's highest office. He received the Golden Fleece in 1626.