grand vizier in Walachia in 1595, when the Magyar army penetrated
as far as Giurgevo), but very bitter as between the emperor and Transylvania, the principality being finally subdued by the imperial general, George Basta, in August 1604. A reign of terror ensued, during which the unfortunate principality was well-nigh ruined. Basta was authorized to Germanize and Cathohcize without delay, and he began by dividing the property of niost of the nobles among his officers, appropriating the 110117S share himself. In royal Hungary the same object was aimed at by innumerable indictments against the richer landowners, indictments supported by false title-deeds and carried through by forged or purchased judgments of the courts. At last the estates of even the most devoted adherents of the Habsburgs were not safe, and some of them. like the wealthy Istvan Illeshazy (1 S40-'I6QQ), had to fiy abroad to save their heads. Fortunately a peculiarly shameless attempt to blackmail Stephen Bocskay, a rich and Stephen powerful Transylvanian nobleman, converted a long-B0cskay suffering friend of the emperor into a national deliverer. Bocskay (q v), a quiet but resolute man, having once made up his mind to rebel, never paused till he had established satisfactory relations between the Austrian court and the Hungarians. The two great achievements of his brief reign (he was elected prince of Transylvania on the 5th of April I6Q5, and died on the 29th of December 1606) were the peace of Vienna (June 23, 1606) and the truce of Zsitvatorok (November 1606). By the peace of Vienna, Bocskay obtained religious liberty and political autonomy, the restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all unrighteous judgments and a complete retrospective amnesty for all the Magyars in royal Hungary, besides his own recognition as independent sovereign prince of an enlarged' Transylvania. This treaty is remarkable as being the first constitutional compact between the ruling dynasty and the Hungarian nation Almost equally important was the twenty years' truce of Zsitvatorok, negotiated by Bocskay between the emperor and the sultan, which established for the first time a working equilibrium between the three parts of Hungary, with a distinct political preponderance in favour of Transylvania. Of the 5163 sq. m. of Hungarian territory, Transylvania now possessed 2082, Turkish Hungary 1859, and royal Hungary only 1222. l'he emperor, on the other hand, was freed from the humiliating annual tribute to the Porte on payment of a war indemnity of £400 000 The position of royal Hungary was still further improved when the popular and patriotic Archduke Matthias was elected king of Hungary on the 16th of November 1608 He had previously confirmed the treaty of /ienna, and the day after his election he appointed Illeshazy, now reinstated in all his possessions and dignities, palatine of Hungary' In Transylvania, meantime, Gabriel Bathory had been elected (Nov II, 1608) in place of the decrepit Sigismund Rakoczy, Bocskay's immediate successor.
For more than fifty years alter the peace of ienna the principality of Transylvania continued to be the bulwark of the liberties of the Magyars It owed its ascendancy in the first place to the abilities of the two rinces who ruled it from 1615 to 1648. The first and most famous of these rulers was Gabriel Bethlen (q 'v), who reigned from 1613 to 1620, perpetually thwarted all the efiorts of the emperor to oppress or circumvent his Hungaiian sub]ects, and wen some reputation abroad by adroitly pretending to champion the Protestant cause. Three times he waged war on the emperor. twice he was proclaimed king of Hungary, ind by the peace of Niltolsburg (Dec 31, 1621) he obtained for the Protestants a confirmation of the treaty of enn.1, and for himself seven additional counties in northern Hungary besides other substantial advantages. Bethlen's successor, George I Rakoczy, was equally successful. His principal achievement was the peace of Linz (Sept. 16, 1645), the last political triumph of Hungarian Protestantism, whereby the emperor was forced to confirm once more the oft-broken articles of the peace of Vienna,
1 The counties of Szatmar, Ugocsa and Bereg and the fortress of Toka] were formallx ceded to him
2 He as the first Protestant palatme
to iestore nearly a hundred chuiches to the sects and to acknowledge the sway of Rakoczy over the north Hungarian counties. Gabriel Bethlen and George I. Rakoczy also d1d much for education and civilization generally, and their era has justly been called the golden era of Transylvania. They lavished money on the embellishment of their capital, Gyulafehérvar, which became a sort of Protestant Mecca, whither scholars and divines of every anti-Roman denomination fiocked to bask in the favour of princes who were as l'beral as they weie pious. Yet both Bethlen and Rakoczy owed far more to favourable circumstances than to their own cunning. Their reigns synchronized with the Thirty Years' W ar, during which the emperors Were never in a position seriously to withstand the attacks of the malcontent Magyars, the vast majority of whom were still Protestants, who naturally looked upon the Transylvanian princes as their protectors and joined them in thousands whenever they raided Moravia or Lower Austria, or threatened to advance upon Vienna. In all these risings no battle of importance was fought. Generally speaking, the Transylvanians had only to appear, to have their demands promptly complied with; for these marauders had to be bought off because the emperor had more pressing business elsewhere. Yet their military efficiency must have been small, for their allies the Swedes invariably allude to them as wild and ragged semi-barbarians.
reverses, Kupi 1l1's superior diplomacy enablcd him, at the peace of 'asvar (Aug 10, 1664) to obtain tcrms which shpuld only have been conceded to a conqueror. The fortress of Ersekujvar and surrounding territory were now ceded to the Turks, with the result that royal Hungary was not only still further diminished, but its northern practically separated from its southern portion. On the other hand the treaty of Vasvar gave Hungary a respite from regular Turkish invasions for twenty years, though the border ral ling continued uninterruptedly.em;"> Another fortunate accident which favoured the hegemony of T Transylvania was the temporary collapse of Hungary's most formidable adversary, the Turk. From the peace of Zsitvatorok (1606) to the ninth year of the reign of Luigi George Rakoczy II, who succeeded his father in 1648, the Turkish empire, misruled by a series of incompetent sultans and distracted by internal dissensions, was unable to intervene in Hungarian politics. But in the autumn of 1656 a great statesman, Mahommed Kuprili (qw), obtained the supreme control of affairs at Constantinople, and all Europe instantly felt the pressure of the Turk once more. It was George Rakoczy II. (q.v.) who gave the new grand vizier a pretext for interference. Against the advice of all his counsellors, and without the knowledge of the estates, Rakoczy in 165, , plunged into the tioubled sea of Polish p htxcs, in the hope of winning the Polish throne, and not only failed miserably but overwhelmed Transylvania in his own ruin. Ixuprili, who had forbidden the Polish enterprise, at occupied Transylvania, and, in the course of the next hve years, no fewer than four princes, three of whom died violent deaths, were forced to accept the kaftan and kalpag of investiture in the camp of the grand vizier. When, at the end of 1661, a stable administration was set up with Michael Apaffy (1661-1690) as prince, Transylvania had descended to the rank of a feudatory of the Turkish empire On the death of Mahommed Kuprili (Oct. 11, 1661) his son Fazil Ahmed succeeded him as grand vizier, and pursued his father's policy with equal genius and determination. In 1663 he invaded royal Hungary, with the intention of uniting all the Magyars against the emperor, but, the Magyars steadily refusing to attend any diet summoned under Turkish influence, his plan fell through, and his only notable military success was the capture of the fortress of Ersekujvar (Neuhausel). In the following year, thanks to the generalship and heroism of Miklos Zrinyi the younger (q.'v.), Kuprili was still less successful. Zrinyi captured fortress after fortress, and interrupted the Turkish €;";?é'f" communications by destroying the famous bridge of
Of far more political importance than these fluctuating wars of