Századok – 2012

KÖZLEMÉNYEK AZ 1711. ÉVI SZATMÁRI BÉKE TÖRTÉNETÉRŐL - Kovács Ágnes: Károlyi Sándor és Pálffy János a szatmári megegyezésért IV/853

KÁROLYI SÁNDOR ÉS PÁLFFY JÁNOS A SZATMÁRI MEGEGYEZÉSÉRT 865 SÁNDOR KÁROLYI AND JÁNOS PÁLFFY FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF SZATMÁR by Ágnes Kovács (Summary) The present study aims at enlighting the background of the cooperation between the two key figures of the settlement of Szatmár, which ended the Rákóczi revolt, namely baron Sándor Károlyi, plenipotentiary of prince Rákóczi, and count János Pálffy, commander-in-chief of the imperial troops in Hungary. In the author's view, the major cause of their cooperation was that both of them were highly committed to the idea of preserving the privileges and institutions of the Hungarian nobility. Although between 1703 and 1710 their views diverged as to the means with which to force the remedy of the grievances inflicted upon the nation by the government (armed revolt vs negotiations), in the last months of the revolt, in consequence of the catastrophic military and economic situation of the Rákóczi state, its diminishing popular support, and of the unfavourable turn in the international political situation, Károlyi's point of view came ever closer to that of Pálffy. It was in the spring of 1711 that Károlyi came to the conclusion that the official recognition of an independent principality of Transylvania, which constituted the biggest obstacle in the way of an agreement, had no place in the world of political reality. In the settlement, which granted general amnesty, was completed after protracted negotiations, and an important role in its birth was played, alongside Károlyi and Pálffy, by their numerous supporters on both sides, and, before all, by the future Charles III and those influential politicians and military leaders at Vienna who, keeping the interests of the Habsburg Monarchy before their eyes, aimed at a political compromise and thwarted the efforts of the so-called war party, the members of which demanded retaliation against Hungary.