Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-07-01 / 7. szám
FRATERNITY 3 STEPHEN BOCSKAY AND THE PEACE OF VIENNA By Alexander Daróczy The Reformation in Hungary made such rapid progress in a single generation that by the end of the century the papal legate reported that there were no more than three hundred Romanist priests in Hungary together with Transylvania and Croatia. Since the overwhelming majority of the Croatian population was Roman Catholic, at least half of the three hundred priests served this relatively small area. This figure is an additional evidence of the fact that at the end of the 16th century all but 30,000 of Hungary’s population was Protestant. Leaving aside the well known reasons for the rapid progress of Protestantism, we will merely indicate that under the first two Hapsburg kings, Ferdinand I and especially Maximilian I (who was of pronounced Protestant leanings), Protestants were subjected to only minor persecutions. This condition changed radically during the reign of Rudolph I. The new king was brought up by the papacy’s most bigoted tools — the Jesuits — at the Royal Court of Spain. Rudolph not only witnessed, but approved, the extreme cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition, engineered by the Jesuits. In addition, he was a man of loose morals, superstitious and morose, in whom the symptoms of mental disease were recognized early. Shortly after ascending the throne he secluded himself in his Prague palace where he spent his time with alchemy, astrology and watch repairing. He left administrative matters with his untrustworthy ministers. Only two problems of national importance interested him. One was the expulsion of the Turks from Hungary which was later to be united with Transylvania. The other was the extermination of the “heretical” Protestants from the liberated country and making all Hungary Mary’s land. The first goal was praiseworthy, and in order to attain it he made a pact with Sigismund Báthory, the Roman Catholic prince of Transylvania, whose wife, Mary Christina, was a Hapsburg archduchess. At first the Turkish campaign brought forth phenomenal victories. Generals George Borbély and Stephen Bocskay, with their Transylvanian troops, succeeded in driving the Turks not only out of the Banat, but out of Wallachia as well, as far as the lower Danube". (Captain John Smtih, founder of the Jamestown Colony in 1607, who served in Transylvania for two years, also took part in this campaign. In recognition of his services he was raised to the Magyar nobility by Prince Sigismund.) Unfortunately, the tide of war changed, the early optimistic hopes were dashed, and the prolonged warfare caused great misery, destruction and want in Hungary as well as Transylvania. It became apparent that Rudolph lacked the power to expel the Turks. He did not trust the Hungarians and his German mercenaries could only demonstrate their bravery when pillaging the defenseless population. Finances were also in a poor state. Money was misappropriated by unfaithful stewards before it reached its intended place.
