The family of Count Károlyi of Nagykároly, from the Kaplony kindred, received the rank of Hungarian baron in 1609, first given to Royal Commissioner Mihály Károlyi (I), the Lord Lieutenant of Szatmár County. Subsequently, in 1712, Sándor Károlyi (I), Chief of Szatmár County, kuruc general, Deputy Imperial Commander in Chief, received the rank of Hungarian count.

For centuries, the centre of the family was the castle of the ancient estate, Nagykároly.

In 1686, Leopold I, Holy Roman emperor and king of Hungary, bestowed the castle and the estates of Füzér on Baron László Károlyi of Nagykároly, as compensation for his losses in the Turkish wars. It was then that the more than two-and-a-half-century history of the Károlyis’ possession of Radvány Palace began – with only a brief interruption.

The seventeenth child of Baron László Károlyi was Sándor Károlyi, the general of the Rákóczi War of Independence, the chief lord of Szatmár County, one of the most important Hungarian politicians of the 18^th century. On behalf of Ferenc Rákóczi, II, prince of Transylvania, as commander-in-chief, in 1711 he signed the Treaty of Szatmár in Nagykároly, which ended the battles. In 1712, along with the title of Count, Sándor Károlyi also received a new, enlarged coat of arms from the ruler.

József Károlyi, chief lord of Szatmár County and deputy governor of Békés County died in 1803, when his minor sons, when his minor sons, István Károlyi I, Lajos Károlyi I, and György Károlyi I, inherited his estates. Radvány continued to be inherited through the István I branch.