The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1985 (12. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)

1985-04-01 / 4. szám

“With God, for Country and Liberty!"

PRINCE FERENC RÁKÓCZI II

This month of April, 1985, marks the 250th anniversary of the death of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, one of Hungary’s, as well as Transylvania’s, greatest “freedom fighters”, whose life story has yet to be written and published in English and whose heroic struggle to free his people from Austrian rule and to eventually merge them with the other peoples of the Carpathian Basin into a federation allied with the nations of Western Europe, is epical.

Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, the son of Ferenc Rákóczi I and Ilona Zrínyi, the daughter of Count Peter Zrínyi, the Ban of Croatia, was born at Borsi, in Zemplen County, on March 27, 1676. He was a descendant of a noble Magyar family devoted to the liberation of Hungary from Habsburgian domination and the unification of the peoples of East Central Europe within the framework of a federation based upon democratic principles of political, economic, social, and religious freedom. Upon the death in exile of his father on July 8,1676, at Makovics, who was involved in the “Wesselényi Conspiracy” with Palatine Ferenc Wesselényi, Archbishop of Esztergom György Leppay, Peter Zrínyi, Chief Justice Ferenc Nadasdy, Ferenc Frangepan, and István Thököly, Prince Rákóczi II was raised, together with his sister Juliana, by his widowed mother in an environment seething with militant Magyar patriotism. By the time his mother married Imre Thököly, the “Kuruc King”, in 1682, young Ferenc was thoroughly indoctrinated with the concept of “Freedom for Hungary” and filled with anti-Habsburg fervor. The marriage of his mother with Imre Thököly sealed his fate, in fact. For it put him on the road towards his destiny.

When Rakoczi’s step-father, with Turkish support and French funds, spearheaded a general uprising against the House of Habsburg which failed after many successes, Imre Thököly eventually found refuge in Constantinople and, finally, in the small village of Bythinia in Nikodemia (Asia Minor). Ilona, the indomitable mother of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, remained behind to organize and lead the immortal defense of April, 1985

(1676 - 1735)-by-Paul Pulitzer

Munkács. When the “Heroine of Munkács” was forced to surrender her bastion in 1688, young Ferenc was hostaged to Vienna, where he was placed under the strict custodianship of Cardinal Leopold Kollonich (1631-1707), a Croatian who hated the Magyars with a passion. Although confined in the Jesuit College at Neuhaus and subjected to academic “brainwashing”, in spite of his almost total “Germanization” he never lost his deep sense of being a Magyar or his love for his native land. His torment did not end until he managed to escape the clutches of Cardinal Kollonich.

When his sister Juliana married Ferdinand d’Aspremont-Linden, Count of Reckheim, a Belgian nobleman in the service of Austria, one of the first things the newlyweds did was to arrange a marriage between Ferenc and Chalotte Amelia of Hesse-Rheinfels (1694) and then escape to Hungary where, with the support of the Magnates, Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II soon became the “Ruling Prince of the Magyar Nation” and began planning for the military liberation of Hungary. His strategy was to take advantage of Austria’s preoccupation with a volatile political situation that finally wound up as the War of the Spanish Succession. Just before this “World War” erupted, he sent an emissary to King Louis XIV of France with an appeal for military and financial assistance to open up a “Second Front” against Austria. But, when his messenger sold him out to the Austrian authorities, Rákóczi was immediately arrested, sentenced to death, and imprisoned at Wiener Neustadt to await execution. With the help of his wife and an Austrian officer sympathetic towards the Hungarian cause, however, he escaped confinement and fled to Poland. Two years later, in 1703, he süpped back into Hungary and assumed command of the “Kuruc Rebelhon”.

The “Kuruc” struggle to free Hungary from Austrian rule was remarkable in that it fell apart on the very brink of success because of circumstances beyond Rakoczi’s control. To begin with, the Magyar gentry were afraid to support him, and money was in short supply. Then, the Anglo-Austrian victory at

Blenheim made it impossible for King Louis XIV of France to come to his ád, and the Black Plague wiped out about 20% of Hungary’s population. Moreover, on June 13, 1704, while Rákóczi was absent, a “Kuruc” army of about 7,000 men was routed by Emperor Leopold I at the Battle of Nagyszombat and its cowardly commanding officer was glad to surrender. In fact, this traitor was awarded ownership of Rakoczi’s estates for his deed. Denouncing the surrender and not recognizing its validity, Rákóczi reorganized the battered remanants of his little army and continue to harass the Austrian forces of occupation with guerilla warfare. When the Transylvanians appealed to him for help in their battle for independence, he responded without hesitation.

On July 6, 1704, Rákóczi was elected Prince of Transylvania. A year later, he was appointed “Dux”, or “Leader”, of a Hungarian Confederation. Unfortunately, however, his efforts to secure an understanding with the Vatican on behalf of his Calvinist followers met with failure; his ceaseless negotiations with the implacable Austrian Emperor proved a waste of time; and his appeals to King Louis XIV of France Czar Peter I of Russia fell on deaf ears. Consequently, he had nothing left to fight with when his “Kuruc” troops got clobbered in a series of engagements and he was left with no recourse but to go into exüe. After a twoyear stay in Poland, he went to Paris at the invitation of King Louis XIV and, four years later, he was hired by Sultan Ahmed III of Turkey to help organize, train, and lead an army against Austria. The deal was that, if the Austrians were defeated and chased out of East Central Europe, Hungary would be free. Rákóczi jumped at the chance. But, by the time he arrived in Turkey, he learned to his utter dismay that the Sultan had already signed a Treaty of Peace with the Austrian Emperor. The Sultan then “suggested” that it would be a very good idea for Rákóczi to settle down in Rodesto (1719) and there he remained until his death on April 8, 1735. It was not until 1906 that his remains were returned to Hungary and reburied with great pomp and ceremony in the town of Kassa*

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