Peter de Began

Peter de Began is the first name on the historical family tree found in Iván Nagy: Families of Hungary.

I have these historical trees listed on the website as Beganyi Trees of Nobility.

The family is from the tribe of Bél, of which Peter, in the 1319 registry order for [[the town of]] Bégány, is already called “de Bégán.” An early ornament of the family was Miklós de Nagy-Bégán who in 1463 was the bailiff (Comes) of Bereg County. The various branches of the family wrote their name as “de Ó [[Old]]-Bégán”, “Kis [[Little]]-Bégány” and “Nagy [[Big]]-Bégány”. Their ancient nest is the latter two places mentioned, as well as Fornos, from which several were named, and several sources suggest that this family is the same as the Fornossy family.

The following story was relayed to me through email: My mother was a history teacher and she told me about Peter de Begany who is supposed to be the original ancestor of the begany family. Peter came to Hungary with Charles I,. a.k.a Charles Robert, after the house of Arpad of the Hungarian Kings no longer had male heirs to the throne. Charles, an Anjou prince, got the Hungarian throne through marriage to a female from the House of Arpad. According to the feudal system's rules, Peter received nobility and land from the new king for his services and for leaving France to serve Charles. The villages Kisbegany and Nagybegany mark the approximate location where the original fuedal land was located and the first Begany crest was given with the land.