Magyar Egyház, 2010 (89. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2010-10-01 / 4. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

19. oldal

(lisowczycy) in Upper Hungary. Although he had conquered most of Royal Hungary, Bethlen was not averse to a peace, nor to a preliminary suspension of hostilities, and negotiations were opened at the conquered towns of Posonium (Bratislava), Kassa (Kosice) and Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica, Neosolium). Initially, they led to nothing because Bethlen insisted on including the Czechs in the peace, but finally a truce was concluded in January 1620 under which Bethlen received 13 counties in the east of Royal Hungary. On 20 August 1620 the estates elected him King of Hungary at the Diet in Neosolium (Banská Bystrica, Besztercebánya) with the consent of the Ottomans, but Bethlen refused to accept the crown because he wanted to reconcile with the Habsburgs and reunite Hungary. However, the war with the Habsburgs resumed in Royal Hungary and Lower Austria in September.

The defeat of the Czech rebels by Ferdinand II’s troops at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620 (to which Bethlen had sent 3,000 troops which arrived too late) gave a new turn to Bethlen’s insurrection against the Habsburgs. Ferdinand II took a fearful revenge upon the Protestant nobility in Bohemia and reconquered Royal Hungary (Pressburg reconquered in May 1621, central part of the country with the mining towns in June 1621). Because the Protestant nobles had not received the confiscated property of the Catholics on Bethlen's territory and thus rescinded their support for Bethlen, and because Bethlen was not directly supported by the Ottomans, Bethlen started peace negotiations. As a result, the Treaty of Nikolsburg was concluded on December 31, 1621, under which Bethlen renounced the royal title on condition that Ferdinand confirmed the 1606 Peace of Vienna (which had granted full liberty of worship to the Hungarian Protestants) and engaged to summon a general diet within six months). The treaty granted full liberty of worship to the Protestants of Hungarian Transylvania and agreed on the summoning of a general diet within six months. In addition, Bethlen secured the (purely formal) title of “Imperial Prince“ (of Hungarian Transylvania), seven counties around the Upper Tisza River (in presentday Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania), the fortresses of Tokaj, Munkács, and Ecsed, and a duchy in Silesia.

Subsequently Bethlen twice (1623-1624 and 1626) launched further campaigns against Ferdinand to the territory of Hungarian Highlands present-day Slovakia, this time as a direct ally of the anti-Habsburg Protestant powers. The first war was concluded by the 1624 Peace of Vienna, the second by the 1626 Peace of Pressburg- both confirmed the 1621 Peace of Nikolsburg. After the second of these campaigns, Bethlen attempted a rapprochement with the court of Vienna on the basis of an alliance against the Turks and his own marriage with an archduchess of Austria, but Ferdinand rejected his overtures. Bethlen was obliged to renounce his anti-Turkish projects, which had always remained a goal of his. Accordingly, on his return from Vienna he wedded Catherine of Brandenburg, the daughter of the elector of Brandenburg, and still more closely allied himself with the Protestant powers, including his brother-in-law Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who, he hoped, would aid him in obtaining the Polish crown. Bethlen died on November 15, 1629 before he could accomplish any of his great designs to unite Transylvania and Hungary, having previously secured the election of his wife Catherine as princess. His first wife, Zsuzsanna Károlyi, died in 1622.

Gabriel Bethlen was one of the most striking and original personages of his century. A zealous Calvinist who boasted he had read the Bible twenty-five times, he was not a bigot and had helped the Jesuit György Káldy to translate and print his version

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of the Scriptures. He was in communication all his life with the leading contemporary statesmen, so that his correspondence is one of the most interesting and important of historical documents. He also composed hymns.

Ki volt Bethlen Gábor?

Bethlen Gábor (Marosillye, 1580. november 15. - Gyulafehérvár, 1629. november 15.) erdélyi fejedelem (1613- 1629), I. Gábor néven megválasztott magyar király (1620-1621), a 17. századi magyar történelem egyik legjelentősebb személyisége volt. Nevéhez Erdély felvirágoztatása és aranykora fűződik. A sokoldalú és mélyen vallásos fejedelem 16 évi uralkodása alatt fő célja a Magyar Királyság egységének helyreállítása, a Habsburg és Török Birodalom közé ékelődött Erdély megerősödésének és fennmaradásának biztosítása, valamint a vallás szabadságának megőrzése volt. Több ízben bekapcsolódott az Európában folyó harmincéves háborúba. A sikerei nyomán megkötött békék orvosolták a rendi és vallási sérelmeket, biztosították a vallás szabad gyakorlását a királyi Magyarország lakosai számára is.

„Előre két lépés, meg vissza három, - Kettő kelet, kettő nyugat felé: - Az ördögökkel kellett cimboráim, - Látszatból néha,mindíg Istenért!” - fogalmazta meg Az álorcás magyar című versében halálának háromszázadik évfordulójára Reményik Sándor. Bethlen Gábor hitéhez és egyházához ragaszkodó buzgó református volt. Gyulafehérvári udvarát politikai és művelődési központtá fejlesztette, ugyanitt 1622-ben református főiskolát is alapított. Támogatta a magyar diákok külföldi tanulmányait, főleg a polgári fejlődés élén járó Hollandiában és Angliában. 1629-ben rendeletben biztosítja a prédikátorok és azok leszármazottjai számára közös nemesi levéllel a nemesi rangot. A más felekezethez tartozókat is becsülte és segítette. Ő állta az első katolikus Bibliát fordító Káldi György költségeit, és román nyelvre is az ő jóvoltából készülhetett el az első bibliafordítás.