"A nation that does not know its past does not understand its present, and cannot create its future!"
Europe needs Hungary... which has never let itself be defeated.
From the study trip in Italy to the family estate
Sixteen-year-old Rákóczi, who arrived in Vienna from Prague, was found at his sister's house to have almost completely forgotten the language of his ancestors. Julianna persuaded Ferenc to stop his unnecessary studies and focus more on himself and the family's affairs. The meeting of the brothers - that it took place without his permission and knowledge - upset Lipót Kollonich , who was still the archbishop of Kalocsa at the time. He told Rákóczi that in the future he would no longer be forgiving of his actions, and that he should not prepare for anything that he did not know about and that he did not allow. It turned out that the young Rákóczi had been thinking about marriage, and that his chosen bride-to-be, with whom he exchanged tickets, was Princess Magdolna However, it also turned out that the young man had a relationship Ádám Batthyány's wife, the beautiful Eleonóra Strattmann . Kollonich removed Rákóczi from Vienna and his sister's environment by sending him on a study trip to Italy.
The first experiences were in Venice, where art patron Rákóczi revived his interest in the arts. After Venice, he traveled to Florence and spent four months in the city of monuments. After that, he visited the northern cities of Italy: Genoa, Turin, Milan, Bologna, Modena, Rimini, but also visited Loreto, the holy place of pilgrims. He spent the winter in Rome. The young Hungarian prince was received by the Pope, XII. Nice too.
From Rome, he visited the southern cities in the spring, where, among other things, he visited the holy places and monuments of Naples. He climbed to the crater of Mount Vesuvius, where he almost had an accident. When he returned to Rome, the news of the death of his betrothed, Princess Magdolna, awaited him. Changing his itinerary, he galloped to Vienna on horseback, sometimes risking his life. After the tragic events, it was a significant turning point in his life, when in 1694, at the age of eighteen, Emperor Lipót declared him of legal age. However, the real turning point came when, at the persuasion of his sister, he went to visit his estates.
In his childhood memories - despite the Kuruc wars - the image of prosperous villages and cultivated lands remained. Zsófia Báthori, Ilona Zrínyi and Imre Thököly were competent owners of the estates. Economic life worked thanks to their careful management. However, what he saw now, the misery, the destruction, the uncultivated lands, the starving serfs, was depressing and frightening for him. He proved helpless and fled back to Vienna. At the same time, the thought that he had to do something didn't let him rest, it couldn't stay like this. During his visit, however, he met many followers of Ilona Zrínyi and Imre Thököly, who saw in the young Rákóczi the future of the estates, the country, and their own prosperity. They were very disappointed when the young man dressed in German clothes behaved like a stranger on his own property. Regardless of this, on June 3, 1694, the county nobility appointed Rákóczi to the position of High Sheriff of Sáros County.
II. Marriage of Ferenc Rákóczi
Ferenc Rákóczi returned to Vienna, he was no longer the person who was concerned with fun, a carefree life, and avoiding responsibility. He's grown up! On the advice of his confidants and well-wishers, he was strongly preoccupied with the idea of marriage. Even in the 17th century, the custom was still known, according to which a man looking for a wife chose his future wife based on a painted portrait. Sarolt Amália won the favor of Rákóczi (Perhaps they were also unaware that both families - the Rheinfels and the Rákóczi - were descendants of St. Elizabeth
The marriage was also advocated by the Elector Archbishop of Mainz, who was a member of the body appointing the German-Roman Emperor together with the Electors. (Originally there were seven members of the powerful body, from 1692 there were nine. The archbishop of Mainz was also the chancellor of the empire.) The archbishop was a relative of Rákóczi's future wife, so the Hungarian (Transylvanian) princely successor found a wife befitting his rank. On September 25, 1694, Rákóczi was accompanied by his brother-in-law to Cologne to watch the house fire. Sarolt Amália swore eternal loyalty to each other in Cologne Cathedral . The secretly concluded marriage provoked the indignation of the Viennese court, which was not the first confrontation with the Viennese court for the son of Ilona Zrínyi. The newlyweds spent the winter of 1694 on the estate in northern Hungary. However, the honeymoon was filled with many arguments and a lifestyle unworthy of their rank. The young husband turned away from religion and spent his days in endless fun. These short transgressions can also be seen as a period of finding a way, since it was then that the German student developed into the Hungarian lord who took on the national problems.
The Rákóczi family - including Julianka and her husband, Count Aspremont - visited Patak, Szerencs, Tállya, Ónod, Nagysáros, Regéc, Zboró (Makovica), Kistapolcsány, as if assessing the condition of their estates. The castles, castles, wine cellars and villages that once satisfied almost all needs were in a neglected and dilapidated state at this time.
Fixing the Rákóczi estates
The family settled in Sáros, but neither the condition of the buildings, nor the cultivation of the land, nor their profitability, provided the necessary conditions for the life of a duke.
Rákóczi once again faced the Viennese court. The imperial soldiers stationed on his estates constantly tormented the serfs and did not comply with the lordship's decrees that had been made earlier. The greatest tension was caused by the transport and provision of soldiers. In exchange for this, the serfs would have been paid, which the officers of the court were not willing to do. It turned out that in the northeastern parts, the imperial officials and mercenaries put an even greater burden on the local nobility and peasants, harassing them even more than in other parts of the country. They occupied the castles and the better houses. Rákóczi, for example, if he visited his own property in Sárospatak, it would be good if he got a room in the castle where he spent the most beautiful time of his childhood.
The largest landowner in the country took it upon himself to put his estate in order, which required a lot of work, determination, and courage, but his will was ultimately successful. He surveyed the situation of his estates from the Vág valley through Késmárk and Eperjes to Szerencs and Ónodig, and from Munkács through Ecsed to Várad. If necessary, he asserted his property rights against the local resisting nobles, but especially against the court. Documents also testify that Rákóczi was a strong-handed, rationally thinking, well-organized lord. Among other things, he brought engineers and architects from Vienna, who carried out his plans exactly. Mátyás Hagona , he explored the profitability of the estates and introduced precise administration in all parts of the estate. He created the financial resources from serf services, trade, majorság farming, and industrial work (iron hammering, wood processing, brewing). Unfortunately, the Turkish invasion decimated the population of this region as well, and it was difficult to find sufficient and good labor.
There would have been a particularly great need for competent, hard-working hands to cultivate the vineyards. Rákóczi accurately measured the state of his vineyards, because he knew that the most profitable source of money was hidden in the wine trade. First of all, he advocated the re-harvesting of the vineyards of Tokaj, Tállya and Tarcal. Records confirm that at the end of the 17th century, the vines that once produced a rich harvest began to die on Előhegy in Tarcal. There was no one to cultivate it. Among the vineyards left fallow, the Rákóczi estates were the only exception, on which the carefully cultivated rows of grapes resulted in a rich wine harvest.
Rákóczi continued to be troubled by the imperialists' lack of restraint. Dozens of letters address his indignation, which he sent to Vienna to report the military's violent behavior. But he had to be careful, because he knew very well that the court's spy network was watching his every move, and they were just waiting for the opportunity to make him suspicious, to sue him, to remove him from his possessions.
The Hegyaljai kuruc uprising
The Rákóczi couple had a son in 1696, who was named
György Lajos Lipót Hard times have come in almost all regions of the country, especially in the northeastern parts. For Rákóczi, the year 1697 was a period of fear and anguish, since during the summer a riot broke out at the fair in Sátoraljaújhely, which was not without precedent. the neighboring county of Bereg, organizations had already taken place before, to suppress which the emperors prepared with serious forces. At the head of the organization were Tamás Esze , a salt merchant serf from Tarpa, Albert Kiss and Ferenc Tokaji , both of whom were former lieutenants of Thököly, as well as Márton Kabai and the Végardá judge György Szalontai.
The Hegyalja uprising began on June 30, 1697, when Thököly's supporters occupied the castles of Tokaj and Patak. Rákóczi, who was hunting Rakamazon, found out about the uprising. He wanted to stay away from the events. First he went to Szendrő Castle, where the imperial captain did not allow him to enter. The family hastily continued westward, and in a few days they arrived in Vienna, touching Selmecbánya and Kistapolcsány, together with their sick son. In the courtyard, Rákóczi reported on the details of the Hegyalja uprising. This was a big disappointment for the insurgents living on his property, as they secretly expected Ferenc Rákóczi to lead them. The young Rákóczi's decision was all the more incomprehensible to them, because Imre Thököly and Ilona Zrínyi once again assumed an active political role. The War Council took the threat of an uprising seriously, and immediately sent three cavalry and one infantry regiment, as well as five thousand iron men from the Vág, towards Hegyalja. The well-equipped and trained imperial troops won several victories, which Rákóczi already learned about in Vienna. The emperors won a decisive victory at Harangod, then recaptured Tokaj, Sárospatak and many other settlements. of one of the leaders of the Hegyalja uprising, Gáspár Bajusz, a Kuruc army of six hundred men broke out of the enemy ring and settled in the vicinity of Timisoara. They did not back down, they prepared for further battles. Ferenc Tokaji at the head of another army found refuge in Gömör. Six years later, in 1703, these Kuruc troops would join the war of independence led by Rákóczi.
Rákóczi did not leave Hegyalja out of fear, but rather wanted to prevent it from being exterminated from his possessions, so that he would be branded a traitorous Hungarian nobleman.
However, Rákóczi was hurt and concerned by the fall of the uprising, the fate of his possessions, his escape from the uprising, and the leniency of the Habsburgs who oppressed the Hungarians. When the noise of the battle died down, Rákóczi visited his estates again. What he saw was depressing. Destruction everywhere, the neglected condition of the farmlands that had been brought to order with difficulty, and the sight of devastated, uninhabited villages opened before his eyes. Although the uprising failed, it was a good school for both the people of the Highlands and Rákóczi. Because they could experience that there is no worse, no more ruthless opponent of the Hungarian people than the Habsburgs. Neither the nobles, nor the townspeople, nor the serfs could be safe and calm from the constant harassment of the court. Rákóczi now felt – which was brilliant from the point of view of political, moral and national consciousness – that this was the opportunity he would never return. Lipót had already fallen out of favor, and the curucs who did not give up their fight still did not give up hope that the successor of the Rákóczi princes of glorious memory would lead them. He felt the trust that flowed towards him from the people of his estates, and now he was determined not to disappoint his people.
The organization
The peace of Karlóc concluded in 1699 was a significant event.
After a century and a half of subjugation, the Turks were expelled from the territory of Hungary. However, with this, the Habsburgs' power, military power, and political influence were strengthened throughout Europe, since their military forces, which had been tied up in the southern ends until now, were freed. However, the unity and peace of the Kingdom of Hungary was not restored. In fact, the fact that Transylvania was governed from Vienna further increased the division of the country. At the end of the 17th century, most of the people in Hungary lived in a war atmosphere.
The biggest dissatisfaction was caused by the imperial tax collectors, who abused their power especially on the Rákóczi estates. They collected the tax three times, they took one of Rákóczi's pubs in Munkács and his house elsewhere. Liberation from the Turks had no effect, and the Habsburg yoke placed an even greater burden on the shoulders of the Hungarians, especially in the north-eastern region of the country.
The signatures on the paper of the peace treaty in Karlóc had not yet dried, Austria was embroiled in another war on a European scale. The patient died II. King Charles of Spain, with whose death both France and Austria claimed the Spanish throne. Let's add that both great powers did it rightly.
Ferenc Rákóczi met with Count Miklós Bercsényi of the neighboring Ung county in Eperjesen in this tense situation affecting the whole of Europe. The two patriotic counts quickly formed a close friendship with each other, and this friendship lasted until the end of their lives. The nobility of the area soon joined the alliance of the two lords. Discussions were held, which turned into political organization. The most active owners - István Szirmay, Pál Okolicsányi, Gáspár Sándor, Ádám Vay - later became the leaders of the Kuruc armies. The nobles were almost exclusively people insulted by the court, who took up arms for their families, their estates and their country. However, they also knew that an ally was needed against Vienna, because the weakened country would not be able to defeat the great imperial power. This ally was found in the French king XIV. It was found in Lajos. They tried to keep in touch with Paris with a reliable courier.
When Ferenc Rákóczi and Miklós Bercsényi visited Vienna in the summer of 1700, they met Baron Francois Joseph Longue , who was considered suitable for entrusting them with secret documents and letters. He took the letters with Longue to Paris, from where he brought the answer. The Belgian-born imperial captain had already gained Rákóczi's trust. The unsuspecting Hungarian lord did not assume that the "courier" performed his services with the knowledge of the Viennese court. (Longueval later received a high rank, money, and a barony for his espionage. Rákóczi was accused of the treason trial discovered in this way, and then imprisoned.)
The state of war, the French-Habsburg antagonism, favored the cause of the Hungarians, since Vienna could pay less and less attention to the Kuruc organization, which was dissatisfied with the law. The Rákóczi family was overjoyed, as their son József was born on August 17, 1701. The little newcomer partly made up for the loss caused by the death of the firstborn György at the age of four. The newborn was left in Vienna, and the couple traveled to their estates in the highlands. Meanwhile, Longueval, who delivered the secret correspondence to Vienna, brought the news from the Sun King so that Rákóczi would not have high hopes for French help. It can only matter as much as it serves French interests, i.e. as much as the imperial forces the Kurucs will tie up in the war of succession. The emperor learned the news earlier than Rákóczi and Bercsényi themselves.
Arrest, Vienna prison
Rákóczi and his wife stayed in Nagysáros in the spring of 1701. They did not know that in the meantime Longueval's journey to Paris led to Vienna again for the first time. The courier was interrogated in the imperial office, and only then was he allowed to continue to the French king. The Viennese court was not idle. On April 17, 1701, at two in the morning, imperial soldiers attacked the Rákóczi family. The young husband was dragged from the bedroom of the Nagysáros castle in the middle of the night. First, they were transported to Eperjes, where Rákóczi's followers had already gathered early in the morning. They wanted to free him, but he did not allow this, because he trusted in his innocence and the power of law.
The prisoner Rákóczi's six-horse carriage was followed by a strong military escort, which traveled on the route Kassa-Miskolc-Buda-Győr towards Bécsújhely.
Between Győr and Abda, an event worthy of an anecdote was recorded from the march. The local and surrounding peasants were just holding a fair, and when they found out who was being transported in the carriage, they saluted Rákóczi with their hats off. The soldiers standing at the bridgehead presented the prince with a carp caught at the time. Rákóczi rewarded the guards and threw the carp back into the river, saying: "Go, enjoy your freedom. If only Providence would be as kind to me as I am to you, and give me back my freedom!”
The procession arrived at Bécsújhely Castle on May 29, 1701. The Hungarian lord was locked in the same cell as his grandfather, Péter Zrínyi , who was taken to the deathbed three decades earlier. During the interrogations, Rákóczi learned that his confidant, Longueval, was the traitor. Knowing the implacability of the Viennese court, its antipathy towards the Zrínians and the Rákóczians, he had no doubt that his fate was death. Many times the good-faith, pure-hearted lord will be faced with being betrayed, abusing his trust and love.
Bercsényi and some of his companions, who were also involved in the organization, fled to Poland. Ádám Vay, Gáspár Sándor and István Szirmay were not so lucky, they also fell into the hands of the court. Rákóczi was also followed to prison by
Ádám Berzeviczy And Amália Sarolt had already traveled to Vienna with the aim of helping to free her husband from there. Over time , it became clear that the Hungarian lord could not count on mercy, that his life could only be saved by escaping. It was luck in the misfortune that the commander of the castle in Bécsujhely, Gottfried Lehmann, was of Prussian origin. This was important because there were political and power conflicts between the Prussians and the Austrians. Amália Sarolt used her family and personal connections to convince the castle commander of Ferenc Rákóczi's innocence, which was confirmed by her frequent conversations with Rákóczi in Lehmann. The Hungarian aristocrat writes in his Confessions: "Lehmann ... had a longer conversation with me and began to search for the cause of my misfortune, proving his sympathy with richly flowing words. … He did not express in a single word his condolences and his conviction that the hour of deliverance would soon strike.”
Lehmann's helpfulness was already manifested in the fact that Rákóczi, who had been deprived of reading and writing in his cramped cell until then, was placed in a larger room, where he could read and was given paper and writing instruments. In the summer of 1701, Rákóczi was confronted with the pre-prepared 79-point indictment and personally with the traitor Longeu, who in his testimony contradicted the claims of the accused Hungarian nobleman. Rákóczi already saw clearly that his fate was death and the confiscation of his possessions. Now there really is only one option left, escape. Meanwhile, on August 8, 1701, the family's third child, György Rákóczi, was born in Vienna. Despite the fact that Amália Sarolt requested the help of the Viennese, Parisian and other courts in her husband's case, everywhere she found nothing but rejection and deaf ears.
Escape from Bécsujhely
The escape was carefully planned. Several people took part in this, starting with Sarolt Amália, who got to her husband dressed as a peasant woman. Lehman had the cell key. In addition to the castle commander, his younger brother, Jakab Lehmann , as well as Colonel Kertzl and Frigyes Wolf , who, by the way, was an adviser to Emperor Leopold, helped in the escape. Sarolt Amália entered the castle on October 30, and then she was able to discuss the escape with her husband in detail. The original plan was to transport Rákóczi to Graz "by order of the Emperor". If they got over this obstacle, his journey would take him from there to Venice and then to France. However, this was a risky and difficult idea to implement. The nearly half-year captivity ended on November 7, 1701. Each detail of the pre-arranged plan turned out to be different. Rákóczi had to improvise on several occasions, which he did very well. First, he put on a dragoon outfit. Then he draped a bag containing cloaks over his shoulder, deceiving the guards. As soon as he got out, he had to find out. The junior ensign Lehmann was already waiting for him there, with whom he set off to the house of a widow from Bécsujhely, where a horse had been taken the day before, which would have helped him escape.
The plan nearly failed because Rákóczi, who did not know the city and was alone at the time, got lost.
Instead of the city gate, he headed in the wrong direction towards the castle. Meanwhile, he pretended to be drunk, hoping that he would not be arrested for that. Fortunately, he met Jakab Lehmann again, who steered him in the right direction. Finally, still pretending to be drunk, he made it out of town. already waiting for him in the game park , and putting the sick Rákóczi in the car, they headed for the Highlands on the shores of Lake Fertő.
Unfortunately, due to the rainy weather, they got into a swampy area, the horses could not go any further. They almost lost me there, and they were only able to wriggle out of the swamp the next day. They finally arrived in Somorja, an area inhabited by Hungarians. By the evening they had already visited Cseklész. Here the childhood memory may have come to mind, when the tent collapsed on them in Thököly's camp. Imperial light cavalry were staying at Cseklés, and he had to be careful again not to be recognized. In the following days, they passed through Bajmóc and Poprád and finally arrived in Podolin, where they were able to rest. From there, with local help, they headed towards Poland, as they could not go to the Rákóczi estate, it was already dangerous.
Consequences of running away
There was enormous outrage in Vienna over the escape, which resulted in cruel revenge. At first there were rumors that Rákóczi had been secretly executed, even the news that he had been released. Lehmann did not report the disappearance until November 8, in order to buy time for the fugitive. Two days later, an arrest warrant and a blood price (10,000 gold if delivered alive, 6,000 gold if delivered dead) were set on Rákóczi's head. The court avenged the escape in blood. Gottfried Lehmann was captured, who confessed after long tortures, then he was beheaded and quartered in a shameful way in the Middle Ages. All this happened on December 24, 1701. (The carnage was not without precedent, think of the cruelty of the Eperjes executioner.)
The members of the Rákóczi family were detained in Vienna. Lieutenant Kertzl was sentenced to six years in prison, while the traitor Longueval received a high reward. The court did not deny the news of Rákóczi's death, thereby expressing Vienna's desire that the Hungarian aspirations were definitely crushed. The policies of Lipót I further deepened the already bad Habsburg-Hungarian relationship. The continuous increase in tax burdens, the curtailment of the rights of the nobles, the violent persecution of Protestants, the crushing of the Hegyalja uprising, and the forcing of the Hungarian nobility to emigrate led to the outbreak of the Rákóczi War of Independence.
Rákóczi was wanted everywhere in Hungary and Transylvania, and a regular manhunt was launched against him.
Meanwhile, on November 24, 1701, Rákóczi and Bercsényi were able to embrace each other in the dining room of the Lazarist monastery in Warsaw. After a lot of suffering, running and hiding, they were finally able to get to safety. This is where the conversations and organizations began, which then led to the eight-year war of independence in 1703 .
Brezán proclamation
As a result of the organization in Poland, a Kuruc delegation arrived at Rákóczi on March 15, 1703 in Brezán (now located in the territory of Ukraine). He was asked to lead the anti-Habsburg uprising because there was great discontent in the country. Rákóczi didn't hesitate anymore. Together with Bercsényi, they formulated the historically significant Brezan proclamation issued on May 6, 1703.
"...we exhort, compel, and ask all true Hungarians of all ranks to be patriots, that just as God has already stirred up and united the hearts of some for the country: so everyone, in addition to their own sweet country and nation, freedom, who is impossibly powerful against God and our law, harasses, imposes portions, and taxes , take up arms against the empire that destroys our noble freedom, despises our true old laws, our rights,
seizes and consumes our goods, tramples on our honor, takes away our salt and bread, and rules over our lives and is cruel..."
Author: Ferenc Bánhegyi
(Header image: public map)
The parts of the series published so far can be read here: 1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 6., 7., 8., 9., 10., 11., 12., 13., 14., 15., 16., 17., 18., 19., 20., 21., 22., 23., 24,, 25., 26., 27., 28., 29/1.,29/2., 30., 31., 32., 33., 34., 35., 36., 37., 38., 39., 40., 41., 42., 43., 44., 45., 46., 47., 48., 49., 50., 51.
