Századok – 2012

KÖZLEMÉNYEK AZ 1711. ÉVI SZATMÁRI BÉKE TÖRTÉNETÉRŐL - Gebei Sándor: „nekem egyedül reménségem az czár". Számíthatott-e II. Rákóczi Ferenc I. Péter orosz cár segítségére 1709-171l-ben? IV/823

852 GEBEI SÁNDOR „MY ONLY HOPE IS THE TSAR". COULD FERENC RÁKÓCZI II COUNT ON THE HELP OF TSAR PETER I IN 1709-1711? by Sándor Gebei (Summary) The aim of the author is to prove, with the help of contemporary documents, that prince Rákóczi, whether under the influence of Miklós Bercsényi or not, wrongly assessed the European weight of the Hungarian revolt, or rather the lack of it, and overrated the importance of the Hungarian case within the European political scene. He regarded himself and behaved as a sovereign ruler, although the European states, with the only exception of Russia, refused to acknowledge the „Rákóczi state" as a political partner. It was in the hope of winning militaiy and financial support from Russia that he left the country in February 1711, but he was bound to be seriously disappointed. On the other hand, by leaving Hungary with „his moral magnanimity and spiritual cleanness intact", he made a compromise between the king and the country easier. Although it is true that, after a protracted inner struggle, Sándor Károlyi broke with both Rákóczi and Bercsényi, he remained faithful to the idea of confederation. The „pacification" of the country (Pacificatio Szatmáriensis) was, on the last account, creditable to the two Hungarian generals, Sándor Károlyi and János Pálffy. The revolt did not end with defeat, and their compromise was ratified by the diet which ended in 1715.