The Bánffys’ Era The name of Dolnja Lendava unequivocally appeared for the first time in a written source in 1192, regarding the dispute of ‘valiant knight’ Hahold, − his witness was the Zala County district governor, Stephen – he was the winner of the lawsuit against Paris, the son of Mayor Ivan (John).52 From then up until 1645, when the last male descendant of the Bánffy family of Dolnja Lendava (the most famous branch of the HahótBuzád family) died53 and for a short period after Knight Hahold (Illustrated Chronicle. Budapest, 2003, 30.) his death, the remaining family solidified their role as the central border castle. Under the rule of the Hungarian king, Ladislaus the Kuman, the town was the residence of the CroatianSlavonian ban and the count (Latin: comes, Hungarian: ispán) of Zala County, Nicholas Háhot. In 1366, the settlement, that was even then mentioned as oppidum, received from the Hungarian king, Louis the Great, permission to hold annual fairs on the Feast of Saint Simon and Saint Jude.54
The document from 1366 by King Louis I of Hungary, with which he gave permission to hold annual fairs to Alsólendva (Dolnja Lendava)
52
WERTNER Mór 1898, 19-33. FEJÉR György 1829-1844, III/1, 277. VÁNDOR László 1994, 59. „Hoholdo, militi religioso, duo praedia Lindua et Fenetü adiudicat. A. 1192. p. 277. A. 1193. p. 289.” Codex diplomaticvs Hvngariae ecclesiasticvs ac civilis/INDEX 1./Index Tomi II./Comites Palatini.
53
TÓTH Sándor 1995, 94.
54
Oppidum Lyndua 1403, MOL DL 8902. (MOL DL: Magyar Országos Levéltár, Diplomáciai Levéltár = Hungarian State Archive, Diplomatic Archive).
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