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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Hungary
Index
Transylvania, an Ottoman vassal state, functioned for
many
years as an independent country. In 1542 Martinuzzi
revived the
1437 Union of Three Nations to govern the land, and the
Transylvanian nobles regularly met in their own Diet. In
1572 the
Diet created freedom of worship and equal political rights
for
members of Transylvania's four "established" religions:
Roman
Catholic, Lutheran, Unitarian, and Calvinist. The Eastern
Orthodox Romanian serfs were permitted to worship, but the
Orthodox Church was not recognized as an "established"
religion,
and the Romanians did not share political equality.
In 1591 the Habsburgs invaded Transylvania under George
Basta, who persecuted Protestants and expropriated estates
illegally until Istvan Bocskay, a former Habsburg
supporter,
mustered an army that expelled Basta's forces in 1604-05.
In 1606
Bocskay concluded the Peace of Vienna with the Habsburgs
and the
Peace of Zsitvatorok with the Turks. The treaties secured
his
position as prince of Transylvania, guaranteed rights for
Royal
Hungary's Protestants, broadened Transylvania's
independence, and
freed the emperor of his obligation to pay tribute to the
Ottomans. After Bocskay's death, the Ottomans compelled
the
Transylvanians to accept Gabor Bethlen as prince.
Transylvania
prospered under Bethlen's enlightened despotism. He
stimulated
agriculture, trade, and industry; sank new mines; sent
students
to Protestant universities abroad; and prohibited
landlords from
barring children of serfs from an education.
Unfortunately, when
Bethlen died in 1629, the Transylvanian Diet abolished
most of
his reforms. After a short succession struggle, Gyorgy
Rakoczi I
(1648-60) became prince. Under Rakoczi, Transylvania
fought with
the Protestants in the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) and was
mentioned as a sovereign state in the Peace of Westphalia.
Transylvania's golden age ended after Gyorgy Rakoczi II
(1648-60)
launched an attack on Poland without the prior approval of
the
Ottomans or Transylvania's Diet. The campaign was a
disaster, and
the Turks used the opportunity to rout Rakoczi's army and
take
control of Transylvania.
Data as of September 1989
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