Agria 43. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2007)
Gebei Sándor: Egy hibás politikai döntés nyomában: II. Rákóczi György és a lengyel korona (1656–1657)
suited to describing the dire straits in which the countries found themselves. The potop refers to the situation, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was caught totally unawares by its enemies: Sweden and Brandenburg from the north, Russia and their allies and one-time Polish dependents, the Zaporozsjei Had (the Ukrainian Cossacks), who took great swathes of the once massive territories of the Jagellonian Polish-Lithuanian state The Polish made representations to all of the powers involved in the war, their first such initiative taking them to Vienna and Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia, Romania). They chose Vienna because John Casimir saw in Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (1637-1657), a Catholic ruler, who would return his crown, and save his Catholic country. Gyulafehérvár was chosen because the Prince of Transylvania, George Rákóczi II, had already helped the Poles militarily in 1653, and there was the hope that in 1656 he would repeat this gesture. It was for the Piast crown, however, that Rákóczi was prepared to offer a helping hand. What was left of the ambitious George Rákóczi IPs army was imprisoned right down to the last man. Despite having to come to terms with the effects of poor political decisions and inadequate military leadership, he subsequently proved that he had not learnt by his mistakes. In the second half of 1657, instead of doing enough to satisfy the Turkish Porte's demands, by abdicating his princely title in the interests of saving the country, he provoked what was to be a show of "retribution" on the Principality of Transylvania. He lost his army, left a defenceless country at the mercy of the revengeful Tatars and Turks, who in 1658—1659 turned a Transylvania, which had enjoyed a golden era between 1619 and 1657, into "dust and ashes". At a clash in Szászfenes (Floresti, Romania) George Rákóczi II was mortally wounded. His death on June 7 th 1660 marked the end of a policy that had been based on a poor decision taken at the end of 1656. Although the Principality of Transylvania, contrary to popular belief, did not break down in 1660, its foreign and domestic activities did end there once and for all. 575
