Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-07-01 / 7. szám
THE NON-MAGYARS OF HUNGARY AND RAKOCZTS REVOLT — by -DR. R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN =----------The kurucz insurrection of Ferenc Rákóczi II, which extended from June 1703 to April 1711, is remarkable when viewed from any of several different perspectives. For the first time in Hungarian history, the traditional constitutional struggle was linked with an ongoing popular one. A Catholic prince was fighting for the rights of his Protestant countrymen — at a time when the eighteenth century Enlightenment had yet to take hold on Europe. But an aspect which is not commonly considered is the significance of Rákóczi’s revolt among the non-Magyar peoples of Hungary. In the following article, the author wishes to evaluate this impact, and also cite the respective roles of these nationalities in the kurucz war. The land collectively known as Upper Hungary was indispensible to the kurucz cause. This included all the counties of present-day Slovakia. Although Upper Hungary did not enjoy the same “corporate status” as did Transylvania, the land had retained a sense of individuality and a Slovak character throughout the centuries. In earlier times, Hungarian kings were crowned by the Slovak archbishop of Nitra, and Slovaks and Magyars fought shoulder to shoulder against Mongols, Turks, and other invaders. After the fall of Bohemia during the Thirty Years War, many Czech Hussites tied Habsburg persecution to Slovakia, where they enjoyed the religious tolerance which characterized Hungary generally. Upper Hungary was strategically important to the rebel princes of Transylvania, both for its mountain passes and its reserves of mineral wealth. In 1621, two distinguished Habsburg commanders were killed in battle at Ersekeujvar (Nove Zamky) fighting against Prince Gabor Bethlen. Bethlen's victory opened the way to the mining towns of the central highlands, and made it possible for him to attain a favorable peace. But initially the nobility of Upper Hungary — with the noteworthy exception of Matyas Polereczky — balked at Miklós Bercsenyi’s attempts to actively recruit them in 1703. The Slovak and Carpatho- Rusyn highlanders were, by contrast, already in a state of revolt against Imperial commissioners at the time when Rákóczi assumed the leadership of the insurrection. Eventually, the revolt reached a national scale. The city of Kassa (known as Kaschau among its German element and Kosice among the Slovaks) was liberated when its German and Slovak burghers threw open the gates to the approaching kurucz. This event inspired Count Simon Forgach, the last outstanding Habsburg loyalist, in Upper Hungary, to change sides. Forgach himself undertook a diplomatic initiative in regard to the South Slav border region. Rákóczi regarded it as essential to bring the Croats and Serbs — crack soldiers of the Turkish wars — over to the kurucz side. The failure of the Forgach mission may be attributed to several factors. Croatia already enjoyed a legal status as a kingdom, and the reigning Habsburg was not only king of Hungary but king of Croatia as well. The Serbs — originally refugees from the Ottoman Empire — had been granted land on military tenure by the Habsburgs. Finally, Serbs and Croats alike had been trained to reserve their entire loyalty to the Imperial military establishment of this frontier zone. It must nonetheless be pointed out that the Hungarians made an effort to come to terms. The role of the Romanians in the kurucz war was, by contrast, significant and even at times underrated. Magyars, Szekelys, and Saxons in Transylvania enjoyed legal equality; the Romanians did not. The Romanian Orthodox Church was barely tolerated and never officially recognized. The Romanians consequently rallied enthusiastically to a cause promising the emancipation of the serfs and religious liberty. A significant turning-point in kurucz military fortunes took place in Transylvania in July 1703, when the mountain band of the legendary Romanian outlaw Pintea the Brave captured several forts. Although the kurucz rebels scored a number of victories in Transdanubia, they were unable to exploit them further owing to lack of troops. Their greatest successes —continued next page 22 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW JULY 1987
