Szirmay Gábor: A szirmai és szirmabesnyői Szirmay család története (Régi magyar családok 4. Debrecen, 2005)
Abstract
genealogical tables of both Szirmay branches. Hopefully, and I am convinced for my part that this is the actual case, the tables of the Borsod County branch are complete. As regards the Ugocsa branch of the Szirmays, there might be several members missing from the tables as of the 1900s, since quite a few of them left Hungary and, thus, the possibilities for researching them are somewhat restricted. (Nevertheless, there have been some partial successes in this respect, too.) The Tables included in this volume have been based upon material from several sources. There are a number of different manuscripts available, containing the genealogical table of the Szirmay family, for example, in the archives of Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár [the National Library named after Count István Széchenyi]. In the collection, I cite 6 manuscripts altogether. In the files of Magyar Országos Levéltár [Hungarian National Archives], containing the Szirmay family's material after the battle of Mohács (1526), there are 41 geneological items, out of which I present five. As a matter of course, I also consulted Iván Nagy 's book from 1863 and the material published by Antal Doby in 1902. The Genealogical Tables were compiled either by the ancestors or the researchers on the basis of the documents and certificates preserved in the family archives. Starting with the patent issued in 1343, I list a number of other authentic documents in the book to certify the continuous lineage of the family. Through presenting the files of Országos Levéltár [National Archives] as well as the documents owned by the family, dating from the 1800s and the 1900s, the Szirmay descendants can be traced to down the present time. It was King Zsigmond [Sigismund] who introduced the use of coats of arms in Hungary on the basis of examples from the west. The Szirmay family was given their letter patent granting armorial bearings by King Zsigmond on June 27, 1417, at the Synod of Konstanz [the Council of Constance]. The letter patent mentions the grandchildren and the greatgrandchildren of János Szirmay of the Borsod branch. The original copy of the letter is kept in Országos Levéltár [the National Archives]. The blazonry is as follows: in a field azure above a background vert, a crab standing on its tail aslant on the left, holding a green wreath with white flowers. György Szirmay of the Ugocsa branch submitted a request to the court chancellery in 1723, asking for armorial bearings to replace the old one of his family, lost to looting Tartars. The bearings granted to him look similar to those of the Szirmays in Borsod County, the only difference being that the shield is in a perpendicular position. Specimens of the Szirmay insignia are displayed on several buildings and castles even today both in Hungary and in the southern part of Slovakia. Just like about the origins of the Szirmay family, there are numerous, oftentimes conflicting, explanations concerning the etymology of the surname itself, coming from various studies in the fields of etymology, geography, history, and genealogy. On the authority of the hypothesis of historian Antal Szirmay, recorded in 1798: the clan of Szirmays, i.e., the ancestors participating in the conquest of the Carpathian basin by Hungarian tribes, settled first in Szerémség [Syrmio], as a consequence of which the Hungarians called them Szirmiai-s [from Syrmio], and then, for the sake of easier pronunciation, Szirmay-s.
