Barna Attila: Lőcsei Fehér Asszony. Legenda és valóság - Győri Tanulmányok Füzetek. Tudományos Közlemények 16/2014 (Győr, 2014)

Lőcse’s White Lady and her lawsuit of high treason (Summary)

Lőcse's White w o m an an d her lawsuit of high treason

lished by newspaper in 1710. Evidences regarding the intimate affair of Andrássy and the woman accused with several adulterous affairs can be proven from several sources of legend writers and scholars.

Regarding the situation of Lőcse under attack, contemporaries and later researchers had different opinions. Some write about Lőcse's weakened state, collapsed houses and a starving town, in which every field strives for help. Others write about a greatly strengthened, trained army of great number and a loyal town which got tired of being of war for so many years and which leadership does not have faith in the victory of fighting for freedom. In spite of Julianna Géczi's later statements, we have to accept the report of the attacking army's leader, lieutenant-general Georg Löffelholz, in which he states that: "colonel Trautson took over the command, opened the gate and made it possible to walk into the city with all my troops".

Even if Julianna Géczy contributed to the capitulation of the town, she was not the one who decided on the surrender. The town was weak and had continuous negotiations on capitulating during the three-month attack. Among others, on 9th February 1710, they made a capitulation condition of 19 points, which was worded with the knowledge of Andrássy, captain of the town, who also carried out a dual policy. He organized and strengthened the fights in the town, however, he himself continuously negotiated, moreover, he informed Löffelholz on smaller military actions (arrival of emergency food and ammunition, the letter of Bercsényi and even on ciphers).

It is very likely that — as he mentioned it more times — the White Lady mediated messages and letters between the protectors and the attacking troops' leaders through her contacts. Hence, Lőcse became the territory of the emperor through negotiations but the real actors stayed in the background.

Her lawsuit of capital high treason and her execution

After entering into the Treaty of Szatmár (1711), "when fire and water negotiated", the Court of Vienna found it important with regards to protect its state of great power to restore the peace in the Hungarian Kingdom. Vienna succeeded in it, the majority of the gentries and the middle nobility accepted the given situation and we find those members of the middle nobility who had leading positions in the revolution fulfilling national and county authority positions again. The peace deal and the discounts offered to Hungarians were successful: in March 1712, Charles III could cross the country's borders; he arrived in Bratislava for the coronation ceremony. This was disturbed by the- 89 -