Bujdosné Pap Györgyi et al.: Mozgó frontvonalak. Háború és diplomácia a várháborúk időszakában 1552-1568 - Studia Agriensia 35. (Eger, 2017)

Virovecz Nándor: Kereszténység szolgálata vagy politikai árulás? Balassa Menyhért 1562. évi "pártváltása"

Nándor ViROVECz

In the Service of Christianity or a Political Betrayal?

Menyhárt Balassa s Switch of Allegiance in 1562 and the Northeastern Castle Sieges

As one of the main developments of the northeastern castle sieges at the turn of 1561/1562, Menyhárt Balassa switched his allegiance to King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor (Habsburg) Ferdinand I and launched a war against the elected king of Hungary, John Sigismund Zápolya. The nobleman had established links with the Viennese court right from the start of the Szapolyai family’s restoration of power ( 1556), nevertheless he managed to dominate the power struggles ofEastern Hungary by becoming a governor. In 1562 he launched an attack against John Sigismund, coordinating his move with the Viennese court. This was Ferdinands third attempt to unify Hungary under the Habsburg rule, in which the likes of Balassa had come to play a traditional role.

The paper presents the background of this switch of allegiance, describes the characteristics of the dual rule’s political culture and places all of this in context.

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