György Thurzó (Slovak: Juraj Turzo, Zsolnalitva, Hungarian Kingdom 2 September 1567 - Nagybiccse, Hungarian Kingdom 24 December 1616) was the Palatine of Hungary between (1609–1616).
György Thurzó was born into the richest noble house in Upper Hungary the Thurzó family which was of Slovak ethnicity. When György was 9 years old his father Ferenc died and he was raised by his mother Katarina Zrinski (Kata Zrínyi) who was the daughter of Croatian Ban Nikola Šubić Zrinski (Miklós Zrínyi).
In 1575 Katarina and her children moved to the Nagybiccse (now Bytča, Slovakia) estate. György's mother remarried to Imre Forgách who rather liked György and ensured him a very high standard of education with the highly regarded scientist from Saxony, Christoph Echardus.
At the age of 17 György decided to take up a military and political career which he was able to put into action against the invading Ottomans in many battles. In 1590 at the Battle of Esztergom he won a great victory over the Ottomans and then in the same year at the Battle of Székesfehervár. György was a very educated man he spoke Slovak, Hungarian, German, Latin, Greek and Croatian fluently he was also very interested in the arts and the sciences he became a man excited by new ideas.
He was a proud Slovak and was one of the first people to claim the Slovaks an independent people and he also preached the Slovak language. He grew up on the Royal court of then Archduke Matthias, brother of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, who he succeeded. On the 26 April 1585 György's mother Katarina Zrinski died and he was forced to return to Nagybiccse to take care of his estates of Árva (now Orava, Slovakia), Zsolnalitva (now Lietava Slovakia) and Nagybiccse.
In the same year he married Zsófia Forgách they had 2 daughters together the 2nd to which she died giving birth to in 1590. Few years past György remarried to Erzsébet Czobor with whom he had 6 unnamed daughters and 1 son [Istvan Thurzo]]. György.
Thurzó is perhaps best remembered for being the judge of mass murderer and Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory. As a proud Slovak he was also a very passionate Lutheran he built Lutheran churches in his lands he paid for the construction of Lutheran guilds in his estates, in 1610 he issued a decree Cius regio, eius religio. In 1609 he was bestowed with the title of Palatine of Hungary and became one of the most highly regarded people in Europe. Until his death he remained loyal to the Hapsburg emperor. He died in 1616 in his estate in Nagybiccse.