That is they used their vast network of friends, clients and allies to introduce new concepts in the arts, facilitate the exchange of ideas among scientists, and open contacts among different high status social groups.

[3][4] Their original land holdings were located around the village of Betlenfalva in the Szepes county (today Betlanovce, Spiš region).

From the end of the 15th century, they were mostly businessmen and entrepreneurs in Kraków, Levoča, Szepes, Gemer, central Upper Hungary, Transylvania, Bohemia and Germany.

From their earnings they bought lands in the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary (today Slovakia), and owned several castles and their surroundings, for example Červený Kameň, Lietava, Tematín, Zvolen, Hlohovec, Orava and so on, as well as land in the other parts of the Kingdom of Hungary and Germany.

In the whole of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century, they were one of the most prominent families of Royal Hungary, and slowly began to control the key top posts in the kingdom.