Memorial plaque of Dr. László Gyula Erdélyi

The memorial plaque, which the local government had made in memory of the famous native of the village in 2000, can be seen on the wall of the Catholic church. ; Gyula László Erdélyi (Zsigárd, March 2, 1868 – Zalaapáti, August 17, 1947) was a Hungarian Benedictine monk, cultural historian, university professor, and corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1905). He entered the Order of St. Benedict on August 1, 1884, took simple vows in 1887, and solemn vows in 1890. He graduated from Pannonhalma College in 1890. He was ordained a priest in 1891. He continued his studies at the University of Budapest between 1890 and 1892, where he obtained a university doctorate in 1892 and a secondary school teacher's certificate in 1893. He taught at the Pannonhalma College and was also the archivist and librarian of the order there, and at the same time, with Sörös Pongrácc, he began to partly edit and partly write the history of the Benedictines in Hungary. The 12-volume work was published between 1902 and 1916. In 1906, he was elected to the list of corresponding members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and his academic chair was on the topic of Critical Charters of the Tihany Abbey. In 1907, he was also admitted to the list of members of the Saint Stephen Academy, and the title of his academic chair was: Church Landlord and Servant in the Middle Ages. He went to the University of Cluj to teach cultural history, where he was appointed as a public extraordinary and then a public regular professor. As a professor at Cluj, he got into a heated debate with the archivist of Pest, Károly Tagányi, about the most important issues of Hungarian social history in the Árpád era. After the loss of the First World War, he also fled to Budapest with the University of Cluj and the faculty. He continued his teaching and research activities at the new seat of the Ferenc József University of Cluj in Szeged, as the head of the Department of Cultural History. In 1924/25, he also held the office of Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and in 1936/37, he performed the duties of rector of the Ferenc József University of Szeged. He was retired at the age of 70, on 1 July 1938. From 1938 until his death, he was a barrister in Zalaapáti. ; ; His main works: ; • History of the Abbey of Tihany ; • History of Hungarian culture ; • Saint Imre and his time ; • Society and culture of the Hungarian Age of Chivalry: 1205–1526 ; • Anonymous, Béla III.'s clerk ; • Our Chronicles: The Hands of His Father ; • The generation of the Mohács disaster ; • Fifty historians about Saint Stephen ; • Laws of Hungary from Saint Stephen to Mohács