'Ferenc (Francis) II Rákóczi' (
Borsi,
March 27,
1676 -
Rodosto,
Ottoman Empire,
April 8,
1735) was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the
Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince (''fejedelem'') of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also
Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the
Order of the Golden Fleece. Today he is considered a national hero in Hungary.
His full title was:
'''Franciscus II.' Dei Gratia Sacri Romani Imperii & Transylvaniae princeps 'Rakoczi'. Particum Regni Hungariae Dominus & Siculorum Comes, Regni Hungariae Pro Libertate Confoederatorum Statuum necnon Munkacsiensis & Makoviczensis Dux, Perpetuus Comes de Saros; Dominus in Patak, Tokaj, Regécz, Ecsed, Somlyó, Lednicze, Szerencs, Onod.''
His name is historically also spelled 'Rákóczy', in
Hungarian: ''II. Rákóczi Ferenc'', in
Slovak: ''František II. Rákoci ''.
Childhood
He was one of the richest landlords in the
Kingdom of Hungary and was the count (''comes perpetuus'') of the ''Comitatus Sarossiensis'' (in Hungarian ''
Sáros'') from 1694 on. He was the third of three children born to
Francis I Rákóczi, elected ruling prince of Transylvania, and
Ilona Zrínyi, who was the daughter of
Péter Zrínyi,
Ban of
Croatia, and niece of the poet
Miklós Zrínyi. His
grandfather and
great-grandfather, both called George, were Princes of
Transylvania. He had a brother, George, who died as a baby before Francis was born, and a sister,
Julianna, who was four years older than Francis. His father died when Francis II was four months old.
Upon Francis I's death, Ilona Zrínyi requested guardianship of her children; however, the advisors of
Emperor Leopold I insisted that he retain guardianship of both Francis and his sister, especially as Francis I had willed this before death. Despite further difficulties, Ilona Zrínyi was able to raise her children, while the Emperor retained legal guardianship. The family lived in the
castle of Munkács (today ''Mukacheve'', in
Ukraine),
Sárospatak and
Regéc until 1680, when Francis’s paternal grandmother,
Sophia Báthory, died. Then, they moved permanently into the castle of Munkács. Rákóczi retained strong affection for this place throughout his life. Aside from his mother, Rákóczi's key educators were
György Kőrössy,
castellan to the family, and János Badinyi.
End of the Thököly Uprising
Ilona Zrínyi’s second husband,
Imre Thököly took little interest in Rákóczi's education, as he was by then heavily involved in politics. However, the failure of the Turks to capture the Habsburg capital in the
Battle of Vienna in
1683 frustrated Thököly's plans to become King of
Upper Hungary. When the Turks began to grow suspicious of his intentions, Thököly proposed sending the young Rákóczi to
Constantinople as a guarantee of his goodwill. But Rákóczi’s mother opposed this plan, not wishing to be separated from her son.
In
1686 Antonio Caraffa besieged their residence, the castle of Munkács. Ilona Zrínyi successfully led the defence of the castle for three years, but capitulated in
1689. The two Rákóczi children fell again under the guardianship of
Leopold I, and moved to
Vienna with their mother. They regained their possessions, but could not leave the city without the Emperor's permission.
At the age of 17, the Emperor emancipated Rákóczi from his mother, thereby allowing him to own property. His sister Julianna had interceded for him after marrying a powerful Austrian, General Aspremont. Rákóczi lived with the Aspremonts until his marriage in September 1694, to 15-year-old Princess Amelia, daughter of the Duke of Hessen-Theinfeld and a descendant of Saint
Elizabeth of Hungary. The couple moved to the Rákóczi castle at Sárospatak, where Rákóczi began to manage his properties.
The
Treaty of Karlowitz on
January 26,
1699, forced
Thököly and Ilona Zrínyi into exile. Rákóczi remained in
Vienna under the Emperor’s supervision. Relying on the prevalent anti-Habsburg sentiment, remnants of Thököly’s peasant army started a new uprising in the
Hegyalja region of Northeastern present-day Hungary, which was part of the property of the Rákóczi family. They captured the castles of
Tokaj,
Sárospatak and
Sátoraljaújhely, and asked Rákóczi to become their leader, but he was not eager to head what appeared to be a minor peasant rebellion. He quickly returned to Vienna, where he tried his best to clear his name.
Rákóczi then befriended
Count Miklós Bercsényi, whose property at
Ungvár (today ''Ужгород (Uzhhorod)'', in
Ukraine), lay next to his own. Bercsényi was a highly educated man, the third richest man in the kingdom (after Rákóczi and
Simon Forgách), and was related to most of the Hungarian aristocracy.
The Rákóczi Uprising
Gyula Benczúr (1844-1920): Capture of Francis II. Rákóczi in Nagysáros Castle (1869)
As the
House of Habsburg was on the verge of dying out,
France was looking for allies in its fight against Austrian hegemony. Consequently, they established contact with Rákóczi and promised support if he took up the cause of Hungarian independence. An Austrian spy seized this correspondence and brought it to the attention of the Emperor. As a direct result of this, Rákóczi was arrested on
April 18,
1700, and imprisoned in the fortress of
Wiener Neustadt (south of Vienna). It became obvious during the preliminary hearings that, just as in the case of his grandfather
Péter Zrínyi, the only possible sentence for Francis was death. With the aid of his pregnant wife Amelia and the prison commander, Rákóczi managed to escape and flee to
Poland. Here he met with Bercsényi again, and together they resumed contact with the French court.
Three years later, the
War of the Spanish Succession caused a large part of the Austrian forces in the Kingdom of Hungary to temporarily leave the country. Taking advantage of the situation,
Kuruc forces began a new uprising in Munkács, and Rákóczi was asked to head it. He decided to invest his energies in a war of national liberation, and accepted the request. On
June 15,
1703, another group of about 3000 armed men headed by
Tamás Esze joined him near the Polish city of Lawoczne. Bercsényi also arrived, with French funds and 600 Polish mercenaries.
Most of the Hungarian nobility did not support Rákóczi’s uprising, because they considered it to be no more than a
jacquerie, a peasant rebellion. Rákóczi’s famous call to the nobility of
Szabolcs county seemed to be in vain. He did manage to convince the
Hajdús (emancipated peasant warriors) to join his forces, so his forces controlled most of
Kingdom of Hungary to the east and north of the
Danube by late September
1703. He continued by conquering
Transdanubia soon after.
Since the Austrians had to fight Rákóczi on several fronts, they felt obliged to enter negotiations with him. However, the victory of Austrian and British forces against a combined French-Bavarian army in the
Battle of Blenheim on
August 13,
1704, provided an advantage not only in the War of the Spanish Succession, but also prevented the union of Rákóczi’s forces with their French-Bavarian allies.
This placed Rákóczi into a difficult military and financial situation. French support gradually diminished, and a larger army was needed to occupy the already-won land. Meanwhile, supplying the current army with arms and food was beyond his means. He tried to solve this problem by creating a new copper-based coinage, which was not easily accepted in Hungary as people were used to silver coins. Nevertheless, Rákóczi managed to maintain his military advantage for a while – but after
1706, his army was forced into retreat.
A meeting of the Hungarian
Diet (consisting of 6 bishops, 36 aristocrats and about 1000 representatives of the lower nobility of 25 counties), held near
Szécsény (
Nógrád county) in September 1705, elected Rákóczi to be the "fejedelem"- (ruling)
prince - of the Confederated Estates of the Kingdom of Hungary, to be assisted by a 24-member
Senate. Rákóczi and the Senate were assigned joint responsibility for the conduct of foreign affairs, including peace talks.
Encouraged by
England and the
Netherlands, peace talks started again on
October 27,
1705 between the Hungarians and the Emperor. Both sides varied their strategy according to the military situation. One stumbling block was the sovereignty over
Transylvania – neither side was prepared to give it up. Rákóczi’s proposed treaty with the French was stalled, so he became convinced that only a declaration of independence would make it acceptable for various powers to negotiate with him. In 1706, his wife (whom he had not seen in 5 years, along with their sons József and György) and his sister were both sent as peace ambassadors, but Rákóczi rejected their efforts on behalf of the Emperor.
In 1707 during the
Great Northern War he was one of the candidates to the throne of
Rzeczpospolita, supported by
Elżbieta Sieniawska.
On Rákóczi’s recommendation, and with Bercsényi’s support, another meeting of the Diet held at Ónod (
Borsod county) declared the deposition of the
House of Habsburg from the Hungarian throne on
June 13,
1707. But neither this act, nor the copper currency issued to avoid monetary inflation, were successful.
Louis XIV refused to enter into treaties with Prince Rákóczi, leaving the Hungarians without allies. There remained the possibility of an alliance with
Imperial Russia, but this did not materialize either.
At the
Battle of Trenčín (Hungarian ''Trencsén'', German ''Trentschin'', Latin ''Trentsinium'',
Comitatus Trentsiniensis, today in
Slovakia), on
August 3,
1708 Rákóczi’s horse stumbled, and he fell to the ground, which knocked him unconscious. The
Kuruc forces thought him dead and fled. This defeat was fatal for the uprising. Numerous Kuruc leaders transferred their allegiance to the Emperor, hoping for clemency. Rákóczi’s forces became restricted to the area around Munkács and
Szabolcs county. Not trusting the word of János Pálffy, who was the Emperor’s envoy charged with negotiations with the rebels, the Prince left the Kingdom of Hungary for
Poland on
February 21,
1711.
The Peace Agreement
In Rákóczi’s absence,
Sándor Károlyi was named Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian forces, and quickly negotiated a peace agreement with János Pálffy. Under its provisions, 12,000 rebels laid down their arms, handed over their flags and took an oath of allegiance to the Emperor on
May 1,
1711 in the fields outside
Majtény, in
Szatmár county.
The
Peace of Szatmár did not treat Rákóczi particularly badly. He was assured clemency if he took an oath of allegiance to the Emperor, as well as freedom to move to Poland if he wanted to leave the Kingdom of Hungary. He did not accept these conditions, doubting the honesty of the Habsburg court, and he did not even recognize the legality of the Peace Treaty, as it had been signed after the death of the Emperor
Joseph I on
April 17,
1711, which terminated the plenipotential authority of János Pálffy.
Exile
Rákóczi was offered the Polish Crown twice, supported by Tsar
Peter I of Russia. He turned the offers down, though, and remained in Poland until
1712, where he was the honoured guest of the Polish aristocracy. For a while he lived in
Danzig (now
Gdańsk, in
Poland) under the pseudonym of ''Count of Sáros''.
He left Danzig on
November 16,
1712, and went to England, where
Queen Anne, pressured by the Habsburgs, refused to receive him. Rákóczi then crossed the Channel to
France, landing in
Dieppe on
January 13,
1713. On
April 27 he handed a memorandum to
Louis XIV reminding him of his past services to France and asking him not to forget Hungary during the coming peace negotiations for the
War of the Spanish Succession. But neither the
Treaty of Utrecht in
1713 nor the
Treaty of Rastatt in
1714 made any mention of Hungary or Rákóczi. No provisions were even made to allow Rákóczi’s two sons, who were kept under surveillance in Vienna, to rejoin their father.
Prince Rákóczi, although not recognized officially by France, was much in favour in the French court. But after the death of
Louis XIV on
September 1,
1715, he decided to accept the invitation of
the Ottoman Empire (still at war with the Habsburgs) to move there. He left France in September
1717, with an entourage of 40 people. and landed at
Gallipoli on
October 10,
1717. He was received with honours, but his desire to head up a separate Christian army to help in the fight against the Habsburgs was not under serious consideration.
The memorial house of Francis II Rákóczi in
Košice (the replica of his house in the Turkish exile in
Rodostó)
The
Ottoman Empire signed the Peace
Treaty of Passarowitz with Austria on
July 21,
1718. Among its provisions was the refusal of the Turks to extradite the exiled Hungarians. Two years later, the Austrian envoy requested that the exiles be turned over, but the
Sultan refused as a matter of honour. Rákóczi and his entourage were settled in the town of
Tekirdağ (Rodostó in
Hungarian), relatively distant from the
Ottoman capital, and a large Hungarian colony grew up around this town on the
Sea of Marmara. Bercsényi, Count Simon Forgách, Count Antal Esterházy, Count Mihály Csáky, Miklós Sibrik, Zsigmond Zay, the two Pápays, and Colonel Ádám Jávorka were among many who settled there, sharing the sentiment of the writer
Kelemen Mikes, who said, “I had no special reason to leave my country, except that I greatly loved the Prince.”
Rákóczi lived in the Turkish town of
Rodosto for 22 years. He adopted a set routine: rising early, attending daily Mass, writing and reading in the mornings, and carpentry in the afternoons; visited occasionally by his son, György Rákóczi. Further military troubles in
1733 in Poland awakened his hopes of a possible return to Hungary, but they were not fulfilled. He died on
April 8,
1735.
Rákóczi’s testament, dated
October 27,
1732, left something to all his family members as well as to his fellow exiles. He left separate letters to be sent to the Sultan and to
France’s Ambassador to Constantinople, asking them not to forget about his fellow exiles. His internal organs were buried in the Greek church of
Rodosto, while his heart was sent to France. After obtaining the permission of the Turkish authorities, Rákóczi’s body was taken by his faithful chamberlain Kelemen Mikes to
Constantinople on
July 6,
1735 for burial in Saint-Benoît (then Jesuit) French church in Galata, where he was buried, according to his last wishes, next to his mother
Ilona Zrínyi.
His remains were moved on
October 29,
1906 to the
St. Elisabeth Cathedral in
Kassa (now
Košice in
Slovakia), where he is buried with his mother Ilona Zrínyi and his son. (Katalin Mária Kincses „Without Special Ceremony: The Cult of Rákóczi - Bringing Home the Prince's Mortal Remains”
[1])
Timeline
★ Early life
★
★
March 27,
1676 – Rákóczi is born.
★
★
January 26,
1699 –
Treaty of Karlowitz forces
Emmeric Thököly and
Ilona Zrínyi into exile.
★
★
February 11,
1701 – Negotiations begin with
Louis XIV concerning the Hungarian struggle for independence.
★
★ February,
1701 – Correspondence is seized by an Austrian spy. Rákóczi is jailed, but escapes being sentenced to death.
★ The War of Independence
★
★
June 15,
1703 – Rákóczi meets Tamás Esze and his army on the Hungarian border.
★
★
September 26,
1703 – Large portions of Hungary are under Rákóczi's control.
★
★
August 13,
1704 – The Habsburgs (with British help) defeat the combined French-Bavarian army, thus depriving Rákóczi of an important ally.
★
★
September 20,
1705 – The Diet of
Szécsény proclaims Rákóczi as the ruling Prince and establishes a governing structure for the country.
★
★
May 15,
1705 – Death of
Emperor Leopold I, accession of
Joseph I to the throne.
★
★
October 27,
1705 – Peace negotiations begin.
★
★
June 13,
1707 – The Diet of
Ónod deposes the
House of Habsburg from the Hungarian throne.
★ End of the war, Peace Treaty
★
★
August 3,
1708 –
Kuruc defeated at the Battle of
Trentsinium (
Trencsén)).
★
★
January 22,
1710 – Battle of
Romhány, one of the last battles of the war (a Kuruc loss, or a draw).
★
★
February 21,
1711 – Rákóczi goes into exile.
★
★
May 1,
1711 – Hungarian forces surrender near
Szatmár.
★ Exile
★
★
January 13,
1713 – Rákóczi arrives in
Dieppe,
France.
★
★
October 10,
1717 – Rákóczi arrives in
Turkey.
★
★
April 8,
1735 – Dies in
Rodosto.
Memory
Rákóczi has become a Hungarian national hero whose memory still lives on. Most Hungarians associate his last name with him alone, not other members of the same family.
Memorials
His equestrian statue with the famous motto "Cum Deo Pro Patria et Libertate" written on its red marble base was erected in front of the
Hungarian Parliament Building on
Lajos Kossuth Square in 1937. The memorial is the work of
János Pásztor. In the 1950's the first two words ("Cum Deo" ie. ''With the Help of God'') were deleted because of ideological reasons but they were rewritten in 1989.
When the great 'Millennium Monument' on
Heroes' Square was purged from the statues of the
Habsburg kings of Hungary after 1945 the best sculptor of the period,
Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl made a new statue of Rákóczi instead of
King Lipót II. It was erected in 1953 together with a relief on the base depicting the meeting of Rákóczy and
Tamás Esze.
Places and institutions
Many Hungarian cities have commemorated Rákóczi by naming streets and squares after him.
One of the most prominent roads in
Budapest is 'Rákóczi út' ("Rákóczi road"), forming the boundary between Districts VII and VIII. The street was named after him on 28 October 1906 when his remains were brought back to Hungary from
Turkey and a long funeral march went along the street to the
Eastern Railway Station. 'Rákóczi tér' ("Rákóczi square"), in District VIII, was also named after him in 1874.
In Hungary two villages bear the name of Rákóczi.
Rákóczifalva in
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County was established in 1883 on the former estate of Rákóczi were the Prince had a hunting lodge. The neighbouring
Rákócziújfalu became an independent village in 1950 (before that it was part of Rákóczifalva).
The village of
Zavadka, today in
Ukraine next to the
Veretski Pass (Hungarian: ''Vereckei-hágó'') where Rákóczi arrived at Hungary in the beginning of the uprising in 1703 and where he said goodbye to his followers in 1711 going into exile was renamed 'Rákócziszállás' in 1889. The neighbouring village of Podpolóc (today
Pidpolozzya) where Rákóczi spent a night in 1703 was renamed that year 'Vezérszállás'. After 1918 the two villages got back their former names.
The 'Mount Bovcar' (today
Vovcharskiy Vrh in present-day
Ukraine and the neighbouring 'Bovcar Spring' was named by the local
Rusyn people after Rákóczi who drank from the spring on
18 February 1711. Bovcar means "the Tsar was here" in
Rusyn language.
The library of
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in
Miskolc (II. Rákóczi Ferenc Megyei Könyvtár) has also been named after him.
Banknotes
Rákóczi’s portrait can be found on Hungarian banknotes. Before it had been withdrawn from circulation, it was on the 50-forint note. Since then it has been transferred to the 500-
forint note.
===The
Rákóczi March===
A well-known patriotic tune of the 18-19th century (composer unknown), is also named after Rákóczi, as it was reputed to be his favourite, although actually it was composed only in the 1730s.
Hector Berlioz orchestrated the piece, and it was also used by
Franz Liszt as the basis of his
Hungarian Rhapsody No.15. The Rákóczy March remains a popular piece of Hungarian state and military celebrations.
See also
★
Executioner’s Bastion
★
Rákóczi’s sculpture in Košice
External links
★
His life
★
A detailed timeline of his rebellion
★
His picture on the Hungarian 500 forint banknote
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