18: Rise of Transylvania
<< 17: The Sixteenth Century || 19: Habsburg Repression >>
THIS persecution raged most fiercely towards the
end of what is generally called "The Long War," which began in 1593, and lasted
till 1606. It was a confused four-cornered struggle between the emperor and the Turks, the
Turks and Transylvania, Michael of Moldavia and Transylvania, and Transylvania and the
emperor, desultory and languishing as regards the Turks (the one notable battle being
Sigismund Báthory's brilliant victory over the grand vizier in Walachia in 1595, when the
Magyar army penetrated as far as Giurgevo), but very bitter as between the emperor and
Transylvania, the principality being finally subdued by the imperial general, George
Basta, in August 1604. A reign of terror ensued, during which the unfortunate principality
was well-nigh ruined. Basta was authorized to Germanize and Catholicize without delay, and
he began by dividing the property of most of the nobles among his officers, appropriating
the lion's share himself. In royal Hungary the same object was aimed at by innumerable
indictments against the richer landowners, indictments supported by false title-deeds and
carried through by forged or purchased judgments of the courts. At last the estates of
even the most devoted adherents of the Habsburgs were not safe, and some of them, like the
wealthy István Illésházy (1540-1609), had to fly abroad to save their heads.
Fortunately a peculiarly shameless attempt to blackmail Stephen Bocskay, a rich and
powerful Transylvanian nobleman, converted a long-suffering friend of the emperor into a
national deliverer. Bocskay, a quiet but resolute man, having once made up his mind to
rebel, never paused till he had established satisfactory relations between the Austrian
court and the Hungarians. The two great achievements of his brief reign (he was elected
prince of Transylvania on the 5th of April 1605, and died on the 29th of December 1606)
were the peace of Vienna, (June 23, 1606) and the truce of Zsitvatörök (November 1606).
By the peace of Vienna Bocskay obtained religious liberty and political autonomy, the
restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all unrighteous judgments and a
complete retrospective amnesty for all the Magyars in royal Hungary, besides his own
recognition as independent sovereign prince of an enlarged¹ Transylvania. This
treaty is remarkable as being the first constitutional compact between the ruling dynasty
and the Hungarian nation. Almost equally important was the twenty years' truce of
Zsitvatörök, negotiated by Bocskay between the emperor and the sultan, which established
for the first time a working equilibrium between the three parts of Hungary, with a
distinct political preponderance in favour of Transylvania. Of the 5163 sq. m. of
Hungarian territory, Transylvania now possessed 2082, Turkish Hungary 1859, and royal
Hungary only 1222. The emperor, on the other hand, was freed from the humiliating annual
tribute to the Porte on payment of a war indemnity of £409,000. The position of royal
Hungary was still further improved when the popular and patriotic Archduke Matthias was
elected king of Hungary on the 16th of November 1608. He had previously confirmed the
treaty of Vienna, and the day after his election he appointed Illésházy, now reinstated
in all his possessions and dignities, palatine of Hungary.² In Transylvania,
meantime, Gabriel Báthory had been elected (Nov. 11, 1608) in place of the decrepit
Sigismund Rákóczy, Bocskay's immediate successor.
¹ The counties of Szatmár, Ugocsa and Bereg and the fortress
of Tokaj were formally ceded to him.
² He was the first Protestant palatine.
For more than fifty years after the peace of Vienna the principality
of Transylvania continued to be the bulwark of the liberties of the Magyars. It owed its
ascendancy in the first place to the abilities of the two princes who ruled it from 1613
to 1648. The first and most famous of these rulers was Gabriel Bethlen, who reigned from
1613 to 1629, perpetually thwarted all the efforts of the emperor to oppress or circumvent
his Hungarian subjects, and won some reputation abroad by adroitly pretending to champion
the Protestant cause. Three times he waged war on the emperor, twice he was proclaimed
king of Hungary, and by the peace of Nikolsburg (Dec. 31, 1621) he obtained for the
Protestants a confirmation of the treaty of Vienna and for himself seven additional
counties in northern Hungary besides other substantial advantages. Bethlen's successor,
George Rákóczy I., was equally successful. His principal achievement was the peace of
Linz (Sept. 16, 1645), the last political triumph of Hungarian Protestantism, whereby the
emperor was forced to confirm once more the oft-broken articles of the peace of Vienna, to
restore nearly a hundred churches to the sects and to acknowledge the sway of Rákóczy
over the north Hungarian counties. Gabriel Bethlen and George Rákóczy I. also did much
for education and civilization generally, and their era has justly been called the golden
era of Transylvania. They lavished money on the embellishment of their capital,
Gyulafehérvár, which became a sort of Protestant Mecca, whither scholars and divines of
every anti-Roman denomination flocked to bask in the favour of princes who were as liberal
as they were pious. Yet both Bethlen and Rákóczy owed far more to favourable
circumstances than to their own cunning. Their reigns synchronized with the Thirty Years'
War, during which the emperors were never in a position seriously to withstand the attacks
of the malcontent Magyars, the vast majority of whom were still Protestants, who naturally
looked upon the Transylvanian princes as their protectors and joined them in thousands
whenever they raided Moravia or Lower Austria, or threatened to advance upon Vienna. In
all these risings no battle of importance was fought. Generally speaking, the
Transylvanians had only to appear, to have their demands promptly complied with; for these
marauders had to be bought off because the emperor had more pressing business elsewhere.
Yet their military efficiency must have been small, for their allies the Swedes invariably
allude to them as wild and ragged semi-barbarians.
Another fortunate accident which favoured the hegemony of Transylvania
was the temporary collapse of Hungary's most formidable adversary, the Turk. From the
peace of Zsitvatörök (1606) to the ninth year of the reign of George Rákóczy II., who
succeeded his father in 1648, the Turkish empire, misruled by a series of incompetent
sultans and distracted by internal dissensions, was unable to intervene in Hungarian
politics. But in the autumn of 1656 a great statesman, Mahommed Kuprili, obtained the
supreme control of affairs at Constantinople, and all Europe instantly felt the pressure
of the Turk once more. It was George Rákóczy II. who gave the new grand vizier a pretext
for interference. Against the advice of all his counsellors, and without the knowledge of
the estates, Rákóczy, in 1657, plunged into the troubled sea of Polish politics, in the
hope of winning the Polish throne, and not only failed miserably but overwhelmed
Transylvania in his own ruin. Kuprili, who had forbidden the Polish enterprise, at once
occupied Transylvania, and, in the course of the next five years, no fewer than four
princes, three of whom died violent deaths, were forced to accept the kaftan and kalpag of
investiture in the camp of the grand vizier. When, at the end of 1661, a more stable
administration was set up with Michael Apaffy (1661-1690) as prince, Transylvania had
descended to the rank of a feudatory of the Turkish empire. On the death of Mahommed
Kuprili (Oct. 11, 1661) his son Fazil Ahmed succeeded him as grand vizier, and pursued his
father's policy with equal genius and determination. In 1663 he invaded royal Hungary with
the intention of uniting all the Magyars against the emperor, but, the Magyars steadily
refusing to attend any diet summoned under Turkish influence, his plan fell through, and
his only notable military success was the capture of the fortress of Érsekújvár
(Neuhausel). In the following year, thanks to the generalship and heroism of Miklós
Zrínyi the younger, Kuprili was still less successful. Zrínyi captured fortress after
fortress, and interrupted the Turkish communications by destroying the famous bridge of
Eszék (Esseg), while Montecuculi defeated the grand vizier at the battle of St Gothard
(Aug. 1, 1664). Yet, despite these reverses Kuprili's superior diplomacy enabled him, at
the peace of Vasvár (Aug. 10, 1664) to obtain terms which should only have been conceded
to a conqueror. The fortress of Érsekújvár and surrounding territory were now ceded to
the Turks, with the result that royal Hungary was not only still further diminished, but
its northern practically separated from its southern portion. On the other hand the treaty
of Vasvár gave Hungary a respite from regular Turkish invasions for twenty years, though
the border raiding continued uninterruptedly.
<< 17: The Sixteenth Century || 19: Habsburg Repression >>
