Baron Miklós Istvánffy de Baranyavár et Kisasszonyfalva (Latin: Nicolaus Istuanfius; 8 December 1538 – 1 April 1615) was a Hungarian politician, Humanist historian and poet, who served as Palatinal Governor of Hungary (Hungarian: nádori helytartó) from 19 January 1582 to November 1608.

[2] The family had to leave Baranya County, when the Ottomans invaded and occupied Pécs in 1543 (the Christian armies were able to recapture the town only in 1686).

He studied at the universities of Bologna and Padua after 1551; at the latter place he learned Latin philology from the great Humanist scholar János Zsámboky.

Istvánffy returned home in 1556 and presumably became a soldier of Nikola Šubić Zrinski (Hungarian: Zrínyi Miklós), the hero of Szigetvár.

He served as envoy, along with Péter Heresiniczy, the bishop of Győr and Chancellor of Hungary, to the Kingdom of Poland to releasing Archduke Maximilian, between December 1588 and March 1589.

He was also present at the Siege of Nagykanizsa (1600), when the town fell to Tiryaki Hasan Pasha and became the capital of the newly established Kanije Eyalet.

In 1608, István Pálffy and Miklós Istvánffy traveled to Hainburg to invite Archduke Matthias before the Diet of Hungary.