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Sanet - Cd.a Divided Hungary
Sanet - Cd.a Divided Hungary
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Preface ........................................................................................................ ix
1
The research programme was hosted by the Department of Medieval Early
Modern History at the Etvs Lornd University of Budapest. We gratefully thank
the support of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA, no. 81948) in
financing this book project. We would also like to express our gratitude to
Professor gnes R. Vrkonyi, who guided this research programme with wisdom
and discreetness.
2
The so-called Partium (Partium Regni Hungariae, Partes adnexae) comprised the
northern and eastern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, which became connected to
the Principality of Transylvania after its formation, without being a formal part of
it. The territory originally (in 1570) consisted of the counties Bihar, Zarnd,
x Preface
4
In referring to place names in historical Hungary, there is no good solution that
equally satisfies all researchers of the Carpathian Basin. Since each country
(Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria)
which shares parts of the Kingdom of Hungary have their own historical traditions
in the use of place names, while English-language publications vary in usage and
concur only in a very few names (like the use of the German name Pressburg for
Bratislava/Pozsony), we have decided to stick to the Hungarian tradition and
mention the present version of place names in parentheses.
xii Preface
The editors
ZONE OF CONFLICTZONE OF EXCHANGE:
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON EARLY
MODERN HUNGARY IN DIPLOMATIC
AND INFORMATION NETWORKS
SZYMON BRZEZISKI
The history of Hungary in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has been
for a long time regarded as a series of catastrophes. The Kingdom of Hun-
gary broke up under Ottoman expansion and for over one-hundred-and-
fifty years became an area of HabsburgOttoman military and diplomatic
rivalry. The whole Carpathian Basin was perceived therefore as a battle-
field and the whole period was traditionally described as a Turkish age.
There are of course some valid reasons behind this view: no doubt the ge-
opolitical contest decisively shaped the countrys place in early modern
Europe. The scope and consequences of this shaping were much discussed
in historiography and involved such fundamental questions as the histori-
cal backwardness of the region or the long-term influence of this period
on the regions history. For a long time, from the perspective of Hungarian
historiography, the main question raised involved the permanent struggles
against the Ottomans and Habsburgs and attempts to overcome the parti-
tion of the country.
This volume wishes to make a contribution to this period in a different
way. Its aim is to highlight the history of exchanges in early modern Hun-
gary on the field of diplomacy and contemporary international relations,
usually viewed through the perspective of conflicts. A closely related topic
is the question of information flow in contemporary politics, which gained
substantial scholarly attention in the last decades. Both of these perspec-
tives give adequate insight into the more active role of actors who shaped
the international standing of Hungary and Transylvania. Thus we hope to
add some new aspects to the Western and Eastern dimension of Hungarian
2 Zone of ConflictZone of Exchange
1
Several recent works on early modern Hungary and Transylvania in context of
HabsburgOttoman conflicts and state-building processes: G. Plffy, The Kingdom
of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy in the Sixteenth Century, trans. by T. J.
DeKornfeld and H. D. DeKornfeld (Boulder, CO. 2009); The European Tributary
States of the Ottoman Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed. by G.
Krmn and L. Kunevi (Leiden 2013); Europe and the Ottoman World: Ex-
changes and Conflicts, ed. by G. Krmn and R. G. Pun (Istanbul 2013); Frieden
und Konfliktmanagement in interkulturellen Rumen. Osmanisches Reich und
Habsburgermonarchie in der Frhen Neuzeit, ed. by A. Strohmeyer and N.
Spannenberger (Stuttgart 2013); Osmanischer Orient und Ostmitteleuropa, ed. by
R. Born and A. Puth (Stuttgart 2014); . R. Vrkonyi, Europica varietas,
Hungarica varietas, 15261762. Selected Studies, trans. by . Plmai et al. (Buda-
pest 2000). On achievements of Hungarian Ottoman studies, see D. Gza and P.
Fodor, Hungarian Studies in Ottoman History, in The Ottomans and the Bal-
kans: A Discussion of Historiography, ed. by F. Adanir and S. Faroqhi (Leiden
2002), 305350.
2
H. Schilling, Konfessionalisierung und Staatsinteressen. Internationale Bezie-
hungen 15591660 (Paderborn 2007) (Handbuch der Geschichte der Internationa-
len Beziehungen, 2); J. Watkins, Toward a New Diplomatic History of Medieval
and Early Modern Europe, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 38, 1
(2008), 114; K. Urbach, Diplomatic History since the Cultural Turn, The
Historical Journal 46, 4 (2003), 991997; Geschichte der Politik. Alte und neue
Wege, ed. by H.-Ch. Kraus and T. Nicklas (Munich 2007); Diplomacy and Early
Modern Culture, ed. by R. Adams and R. Cox (Basingstoke 2011); Internationale
Beziehungen in der Frhen Neuzeit. Anstze und Perspektiven, ed. by H. Kugeler
et al. (Hamburg 2006); Diplomatisches Zeremoniell in Europa und im Mittleren
Osten in der Frhen Neuzeit, ed. by R. Kauz et al. (Vienna 2009); Wahrneh-
mungen des Fremden. Differenzerfahrungen von Diplomaten im 16. und 17.
Jahrhundert, ed. by A. Strohmeyer and M. Rohrschneider (Mnster 2007).
Szymon Brzeziski 3
also in wide-ranging approaches.3 Still, these approaches are not yet char-
acteristic for most of the historiography on Central and Eastern Europe,
and just recently have started to be more widely applied in studies on early
modern Hungary.4 Thus there has emerged a reasonable need to present
such research to the international audience and so to better an understand-
ing of the very complex historical matter.
The chronology present in the title requires perhaps little explanation.
Both dates indicate the significant events connected to the Ottoman con-
quest and its end, and, therefore, to the beginning and conclusion of a spe-
cific political situation in the Carpathian Basin. The starting point is the
capture of the Hungarian capital, Buda, by Sleyman I in 1541a date
commonly considered the beginning of the triple division of the country.
The closing point was set in 1699, the year of the Treaty of Karlowitz
(Sremski Karlovci), ending the wars between the Holy League and the Ot-
toman Empire which led to the retrieval of most of historical Hungary.
The period under consideration is then that of Ottoman rule in Hungary
and of its geopolitical consequences, including the creation and existence
of the Principality of Transylvania.
Hungarys history in the early modern era can only be understood
within a European historical contextstates Pter Tusor in his chapter in
this volume. This opinion is shared by other authors as well. A feature of
the research presented here is that it is based on archival materials from
across Europe. Thanks to that wider perspective, the concrete phenomena
3
Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Europe, ed. by R. Muchembled and W.
Monter, vols. 14 (New York 2007); Kultureller Austausch. Bilanz und Perspek-
tiven der Frhneuzeitforschung, ed. by M. North (Cologne 2009); Cultural Trans-
lation in Early Modern Europe, ed. by P. Burke and R. Po-chia Hsia (Cambridge
2007); Well-Connected Domains. Towards an Entangled Ottoman History, ed. by
P. F. Firges et al. (Leiden 2014); H. Droste, Diplomacy as a Means of Cultural
Transfer in Early Modern Times, Scandinavian Journal of History 31, 2 (2006),
144150.
4
For some references, cf. I. Fazekas, Die Frhneuzeitforschung in Ungarn. Ein
Forschungsbericht, in Geteilt Vereinigt. Beitrge zur Geschichte des Knig-
reichs Ungarn in der Frhneuzeit (16.-18. Jahrhundert), ed. by K. Csaplr-
Degovics and I. Fazekas (Berlin 2011), 1564. Cf. also the volumes: Trkenkriege
und Adelskultur in Ostmitteleuropa vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, ed. by R.
Born and S. Jagodzinski (Ostfildern 2014); Identits s kultra a trk hdoltsg
korban [Identity and culture in the age of the Turkish conquest], ed. by P. cs
and J. Szkely (Budapest 2012); research by Pter Erdsi: P. Erdsi and J. B.
Szab, Ceremonies Marking the Transfer of Power in the Principality of Transyl-
vania in East European Context, Majestas 11 (2003), 111160; and Plffy, The
Kingdom of Hungary.
4 Zone of ConflictZone of Exchange
5
Informciramls a magyar s trk vgvri rendszerben [Information flow in
the Hungarian and Turkish border fortress systems], ed. by T. Petercsk and M.
Berecz (Eger 1999); Informciramls a kora jkorban [Information flow in the
early modern age], ed. by L. Z. Karvalits and K. Kis (Budapest 2004). For interna-
tional research, cf. News in Early Modern Europe: Currents and Connections,
vols. 12, ed. by S. F. Davies and P. Fletcher (Leiden 2014); News and Politics in
Early Modern Europe (15001800), ed. by W. Koopmans (Leuven 2005); G.
goston, Information, Ideology, and Limits of Imperial Policy: Ottoman Grand
Strategy in the Context of Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry, in The Early Modern Ot-
tomans. Remapping the Empire, ed. by V. H. Aksan and D. Goffman (New York
2007), 75103.
6
N. G. Etnyi, Hadszntr s nyilvnossg. A magyarorszgi trk hbork hrei a
17. szzadi nmet jsgokban [Theatre of war and publicity. News of Turkish wars
in Hungary in 17th-century German newspapers] (Budapest 2003); Portr s imzs.
Politikai propaganda s reprezentci a kora jkorban [Portrait and image. Politi-
cal propaganda and representation in the early modern age], ed. by N. G. Etnyi
and I. Horn (Budapest 2008). See also the chapters in vol. 3: The Making and Uses
of the Image of Hungary and Transylvania.
7
Cf. her monograph: D. Kerekes, Diplomatk s kmek Konstantinpolyban [Dip-
lomats and spies in Constantinople] (Budapest 2010).
8
Cf. HungarianOttoman Military and Diplomatic Relations in the Age of Sley-
man the Magnificent, ed. by G. Dvid and P. Fodor (Budapest 1994); The Otto-
mans, Hungarians and Habsburgs in Central Europe: The Military Confines in the
Era of Ottoman Conquest, ed. by G. Dvid and P. Fodor (Leiden 2000); Ein Raum
im Wandel. Die osmanisch-habsburgische Grenzregion vom 16. bis zum 18.
Szymon Brzeziski 5
12
Cf. D. Riches, Introduction, in Protestant Cosmopolitanism and Diplomatic
Culture: BrandenburgSwedish Relations in the Seventeenth Century (Leiden
2013), 18.
13
Cf. E. Pujeau, Laffaire Rincone-Fregoso (1541) rvlatrice des tensions de
lpoque. Ou attentat la frontire, Studies and Materials of Medieval History 29
(2011), 3957.
14
Cf. also T. Krstic, Of Translation and Empire: Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Im-
perial Interpreters as Renaissance Go-Betweens, in The Ottoman World, ed. by C.
Woodhead (New York 2012), 130142; G. Krmn, Translation at the Seven-
teenth-Century Transylvanian Embassy in Constantinople, in Osmanischer Orient
und Ostmitteleuropa, 253280; P. cs, Tarjumans Mahmud and Murad: Austrian
and Hungarian Renegades as Sultans Interpreters, in Europa un die Trken in der
Renaissance, ed. by B. Guthmller and W. Khlmann (Tbingen 2000), 307316.
Szymon Brzeziski 7
15
Your Humble Servant: Agents in Early Modern Europe, ed. by M. Keblusek et
al. (Hilversum 2006); Double Agents: Cultural and Political Brokerage in Early
Modern Europe, ed. by M. Keblusek and B. V. Noldus (Leiden 2011); Emissaries
in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Mediation, Transmission, Traffic, 1550
1700, ed. by B. Charry and G. Shahani (Farnham 2009).
16
For another example, cf. I. Hiller, Palatinus Nikolaus Esterhzy. Die ungarische
Rolle in der Habsburger-Diplomatie 1625 bis 1645 (Cologne 1992).
I.
MEGAN K. WILLIAMS
1
Correspondance politique de Guillaume Pellicier, ed. by A. Tausserat-Radel
(Paris 1899), 1:338, 345353, 366370, 440, 573 [hereafter: CGP], partially ex-
tracted in Ngociations de la France dans le Levant ou correspondances, m-
moires, et actes diplomatiques des ambassadeurs de France en Constantinople
I: Ngociations sous Franois Ier, ed. by E. Charrire (Paris 1848), 1:493510;
Mmoires de Mess. Martin du Bellay, ed. by R. du Bellay (Paris 1569), 9:273v
276r [hereafter: MMB]; J. Zeller, La diplomatie franaise vers le milieu du XVIe
sicle daprs la correspondance de Guillaume Pellicier ambassadeur de
Franois Ier a Venise (15391542) (Paris 1881), chs. 68. Milan governor Marquis
del Vastos 7 July account: Calendar of Letters, Dispatches, and State Papers re-
lating to negotiations between England and Spain, ed. by P. de Gayangos (London
1877), 6.1:169 [hereafter: Sp.Cal.]. Emperors disclaimers: Sp.Cal. 6.1: n. 171
172; Correspondenz des Kaisers Karl V, ed. by K. Brandi (Leipzig 1845), 2:315;
Correspondencia de Carlos V con el Marqus del Vasto, ed. by Duke of Alba,
Boletn de la Real Academia de la Historia 88 (1926), 85; Avis sur la rponse a
faire de la part de lempereur une gentilhomme franaise [Milan, Aug./Sept.
12 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
France had invoked the assassinations to launch one of the sixteenth centu-
rys most ruinously expensive, and ultimately inconclusive, wars.
The diplomats assassinations rapidly became a Renaissance cause c-
lbre. The affair was fiercely disputed in historical treatments of Charles
Vs reign, and dominated nearly all juristic treatments of diplomatic im-
munity for the next century and a half. Indeed, the Rincn-Fregoso affair
was frequently the sole modern illustration of violated diplomatic im-
munity in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century treatises on diplomacy,
tucked between classical exempla cribbed from Thucydides or Cicero. It
was so often rehearsed in such texts that Garrett Mattingly, in his 1955
Renaissance Diplomacy, labelled it historys most famous violation of
diplomatic immunity in transit.2 Despite its notoriety the affair has re-
mained largely a footnote, typically presented as yet another incident of
ValoisHabsburg rivalry suitable for slotting into familiar narratives of the
emergence and consolidation of the Western European state, residential
diplomacy and international law. Yet an examination of the ways in which
the affair has been used and transmitted suggests a much more complex
story reaching from Blois to Buda, Valladolid to Vilnius, or Como to Con-
stantinople.
Contemporary reactions to the Rincn-Fregoso affair suggest that its
important legal and political ramifications cannot be fully understood
without their broader context. Twentieth-century historians writing on the
affair often lacked access to the full and extensive range of sources it had
produced. More important for our modern understanding of the affair,
however, is that its broader HungarianOttoman context had largely dis-
appeared far earlier, in the course of the affairs transmission between
1541 and 1699. This essay first examines immediate reactions to the dip-
lomats assassinations. It suggests that the affairs sixteenth-century signif-
icance lay in its challenge to universalising constructs in contemporary
discourse, constructs such as diplomatic immunity in transit under the law
of nations and in the service of the Christian Commonwealthto which
latter the HungarianOttoman conflict was central. In subsequent treat-
ments of the affair, however, this essay argues that key early modern his-
torical and juridical texts shifted their focus from the universal issue of vi-
olated diplomatic immunity in transit to the domestic issue of the diplo-
***
The 1541 assassination was only the most dramatic and final of a 20-year
series of imperial attempts to silence Antonio Rincn, considered by con-
temporaries as one of the most active and adroit diplomats of his era, and
certainly one of those most inimical to the Casa dAustria.3 Sources agree
that Rincn was born in the Castilian wool-trading entrept of Medina del
Campo, though they differ as to the reason he entered French service
around 1522. According to the older literature, Rincn served in the Span-
ish armies in Italy prior to taking part in the 15201521 Comuneros upris-
ing, whereupon he, like a number of other comuneros, fled to France.
While several of Rincns relatives were indeed punished in 1522 for their
roles in the revolt, the story which Austrian historian Gerhard Rill teased
from the archives tells a more complicated tale.4 These sources suggest
that in autumn 1521 Rincn was not in Castile but organising soldiers and
transporting artillery in Hungary as a secret agent of Charless brother
Ferdinand and sister-in-law Anna. If true, this explains his familiarity with
Hungarian magnates such as John Szapolyai, then governor of Transylva-
nia, or Buda castellan Jnos Bornemissza, during his subsequent eastern
embassies in French service. At some point in spring 1522, his salary
grossly in arrears (though most Habsburg servants suffered arrears in
1522), and perhaps disgruntled at having been denied a desired military
command in Charless Italian summer campaign, Rincn left Habsburg
service. Soon thereafter, as Rincn confided to a former colleague, French
3
J. Zeller, Quae primae fuerint legationes a Francisco I in Orientem missae (Paris
1881); I. Ursu, La Politique orientale de Franois Ier (Paris 1908); V.-L. Bourilly,
La premire ambassade dAntonio Rincon en Orient (15221523), Revue
dhistoire moderne et contemporaine 2 (19001901), 2344; id., Antonio Rincon
et la politique orientale de Franois Ier (15221541), Revue historique 113 (1913),
6483, 268308; M. Holban, Autour de la prmiere ambassade dAntonio Rincon
en Orient et de sa mission auprs du voyvode de Transylvanie Jean Zpolya
(15221523), Revue roumaine dhistoire 23, 2 (1984), 101116.
4
G. Rill, Frst u. Hof in sterreich. Von den habsburgischen Teilungsvertrgen
bis zur Schlacht von Mohcs (1521/22 bis 1526), vol. 1, Auenpolitik und
Diplomatie (Vienna 1993), 1319. Motive: J. G. de Sepulveda, Rebus gestis Caro-
lus V, in Opere (Madrid 1780), 2:157158. Rincn claimed to have received per-
mission to enter French service in June 1522: Sp.Cal. 2: n. 437; A. Rodriguez-
Villa, El emperador Carlos V y su corte segn las cartas de don Martin de Salinas
(15221539) (Madrid 1905), 44; G. Rill, Frst und Hof, 1:1516.
14 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
agents at Venice persuaded him to enter French service in return for a gen-
erous annual pension of 500 scudi.5 By autumn 1522, Rincn had reap-
peared in Buda and Vilnius in the service of Charless rival Francis, his
reports a bizarre patois of Spanish, Italian and Latin.6 The Habsburg
brothers only learned of Rincns transferred loyalties in March 1523; tak-
ing the betrayal personally, they subsequently pursued him with a mortal
hatred. Rincns former colleagues labelled him traitor: the corpulent
Castilian was ex angelo factum diabolum in the words of the castellan of
Buda, or diabolicus proditor in those of Ferdinands Hungarian ambas-
sador, who called for his capture.7 Rincn escaped to become one of the
central authors of Franciss eastern anti-Habsburg politics, as historians
Jean Zeller, Ion Ursu, or Victor-Louis Bourrilly have detailed. Without his
diplomacy throughout the 1520s and 30s, it is unlikely that an anti-
Habsburg alliance between Hungarian royal claimant John I Szapolyai and
Francis would have been signed in 1528, nor a political and commercial
alliance between Francis and the Ottoman sultan in 1535.
This FrancoOttoman alliance wavered in 1538, as the sultan learned of
the June 1538 entente between Francis and the emperor at Aigues-Mortes
(Nice) which left Charles free to turn his full might against Ottomans. The
repercussions of the Nice treaty compounded those of the February 1538
rapprochement between Charless brother Ferdinand and Ferdinands
Hungarian rival Szapolyai at Vrad (Oradea). When Rincn returned to
Constantinople in spring 1538, therefore, he found himself compelled to
5
Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv (Vienna) [hereafter: HHStA], Grosse Korres-
pondenz [hereafter: GK], 25a, f. 155rv. Rincns finances: Catalogue des actes de
Franois Ier (Paris 18871908), ad indices. Benefice for brother Francesco (d.
1552) after Rincns March 1539 request: A. Petit, Franois de Rincon, abb de
Bnvent 15401552, et ses tentatives de rforme, Bulletin de la Socit ar-
chologique et historique du Limousin 60 (1910), 258280.
6
HHStA GK 25a, f. 155rv; Acta Tomiciana, ed. by S. Grski et al. (Pozna 1857)
[hereafter: AT], 6:n. 170171; Rincn to [Bonnivet], Venice, 14 Apr. 1523,
Archives Nationales de France, J964 n. 20 (Magyar Nemzeti Levltr Orszgos
Levltra [National Archives of Hungary], Budapest, Mikrofilmtr, microfilm
X5196/F6); V.-L. Bourrilly, Premire ambassade; M. Holban, Autour.
7
Cesar mortali odio Ip[sa]m p[er]seq[ue]bat: Transylvanian voivode Szapoly-
ai to de Burgo: HHStA GK 25a, f. 61r. Ferdinand described Rincn as factus a fi-
delitate nostra alienus et profugus [1528]: HHStA, Staatsabteilungen, Polen
[hereafter: Polonica] I/1, f. 37r. Dolebitis de illo homine ex Angelo factum diabo-
lum: GK 25a, f. 46r; ibid., 67r, 69v, 89ar, 90r; miror q[ue] ex fideli sit fact[us]
ta[m] mal[us], De[us] p[er]dat eu[m]: GK 25b, f. 8r; cf. AT 6: n. 216.
Megan K. Williams 15
8
Charrire, Ngociations, 1:384488; Ursu, Politique orientale, 106124; V.-L.
Bourrilly, Antonio Rincon.
9
aski was ordered to Constantinople on 8 July 1540, but illness (and marshalling
gifts) delayed him: Urkunden und Actenstcke zur Geschichte der Verhltnisse
zwischen sterreich, Ungern, und der Pforte im 16. und 17. Jahrhunderte, ed. A.
v. Gvay (Vienna 1842) [hereafter: Gvay, Urkunden], 3.2:74, 8799. The Hun-
garian embassy, led by Chancellor Istvn Werbczy, was sent on 24 Aug. to obtain
the sultans approval of the Duke of Orleans as king should Szapolyais son die
young, thus maintaining Hungary in alliance with both France and the Porte.
Rincn distributed rich gifts to secure favor in French and Hungarian undertakings:
Charrire, Ngociations, 474475, 478; CGP, 1:183; HHStA Staatenabteilung, T-
rkei [hereafter: Turcica], Karton 5, Konv. 1, f. 139142.
10
askis relation: HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 2, f. 75117 (Gvay, Ur-
kunden 3.2, 164; AT 14:107128). Rincns: Charrire, Ngociations, 462; CGP,
1:207; HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 2, f. 3v; Rincn to the Constable, 20 Sept.
1539, in Lettres et mmoirs destat des roys, princes ambassadeurs et autres Min-
istres sous les Rgnes de Franois Ier, Henri II et Franois II (), ed. G. Ribier
(Paris 1666), 1:473. aski initially hoped that Rincn, who bore his letters to Ven-
ice, might intercede for his release: HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 1, f. 137r
(Gvay, Urkunden 3.2, 101).
16 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
nished Rincn with an escort of three hundred men-at-arms and fifty ar-
quebusiers, led by the Genoese exile and condottiero Cesare Fregoso
(15021541).11
By 5 March 1541, Rincn had returned safely to the French court at
Blois. He found Francis livid at the emperors perceived failure to honour
earlier assurances regarding the disposition of the duchy of Milan, and ea-
ger to entertain renewed military actions. Consequently Rincn, having ar-
ranged an eastern ally in the coming war, was feted as the hero of the hour
and granted additional honours and incomes before being dispatched back
to Constantinople with new instructions.12 Accompanying him was, once
again, Cesare Fregoso, now carrying French credentials for Venice.
On his return, Rincn stopped at his seigneurie near Lyon to take care
of long-neglected private affairs, giving the imperialists in northern Italy
time to prepare his capture. Arriving at Turin, Rincn was attacked by a
painful rheum. Since he had spent longer in Lyon than intended, and to
minimise the discomforts of riding, Rincn and Fregoso decided to travel
by the shorter, rather than the safer, route to Veniceby boat along the
Po. Although they claimed the protection of the 1538 Nice treaty, neither
Fregoso nor Rincn departed without misgivings. So that the diplomats
could travel incognito, Rincn confided his papers and wife to his col-
league the Piedmontese governor, Martin du Bellay, and took elaborate
precautions to conceal his route. Rincns suspicions were justified; from
their crossing into Italy, the pair were closely tailed by imperial spies.13
11
G. Brunelli, Fregoso (Campofregoso) Cesare, in Dizionario Biografico degli
Italiani 50 (Treccani 1998). Precautions: Zeller, Diplomatie, 244; Ursu, Politique
orientale, 122123. Cf. Charrire, Ngociations, 1:462467; Alba, Corre-
spondencia, 82, 107; CGP, 143; Ribier, Lettres, 1:523; Gvay, Urkunden 3.2,
116, cf. 102, 113, 118; III. Pl Ppa s Farnese Sndor Bibornok Magyarorszgra
vonatkoz diplomcziai levlezse [Diplomatic correspondence of Pope Paul III
and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese on Hungary], ed. by L. vry (Budapest 1879),
n. 111. Imperial ambassador at Venice allegedly sent ships to seize Rincn at sea:
Correspondance politique de MM. de Castillon et de Marillac, ed. by J. Kaulek
(Paris 1883), 271 [hereafter: CPM], and informed del Vasto: HHStA, Turcica, Kar-
ton 5, Konv. 2, f. 3r, cf. f. 7r8r, 42v (Gvay, Urkunden 3.2, 133).
12
Zeller, Diplomatie, 246247; Ursu, Politique orientale, 128130; CPM, 277. His
star rose as that of Montmorency, who promoted imperial politics, fell: R. J.
Knecht, Renaissance Warrior and Patron (Cambridge 1996), 385391.
13
CGP 1:345. Precautions: P. Giovio, Pauli Iovii novocomensis episcopi nucerini
historiarum sui temporis libri XLV (Romae 1558) [hereafter: Giovio, Historiarum],
40:476. Giovio blamed Rincn for insisting on the Po route; du Bellay (who met
the diplomats on 2 July) Fregoso, nestimant le Marquis de Guast homme qui eust
voulu faire vne telle acte, que de faire assasiner les ambassadeurs dvn tel Prince
Megan K. Williams 17
treschrestien que le Roy: MMB 9:274r. Their papers, sent separately, reached
Venice safely.
14
CGP, 1: 345353, 440, 573; Giovio, Historiarum, xl:476; MMB 9:273v274r.
15
Sp.Cal. 6.1: n. 171.
16
MMB 9: 275r; CGP 1:354; Sp.Cal. 6.1: n. 169.
17
George of Austria (15051557), natural son of Maximilian I. Noble prisoners
released in October, George several months later, at papal insistence: Sp.Cal. 6.1:
n. 197; CGP, 365, 415.
18
CGP, 1: 352, 355, 364366, 402, 414415; Rstem-pasha to aski (in V. Maggi
to Francis), Belgrade, 18 Aug. 1541: CPM, n. 362363. Cf. van des Rinkhon
gefenkhnuss waiss man Jm leger auch: N. von Salm and S. von Herberstein to
Ferdinand, 4/16 Sept. 1541: HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 3, f. 33v.
19
Giovio, Historiarum, xl:242.
18 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
this shameful and most bitter case [] has disturbed not only all Italy but
all of Christendom; and there is no one who doesnt mourn the crime
committed against two great and much-loved servants of His Majesty, and
[its] betrayal of all justice and lawnot only the jus gentium but also di-
vine and human law.24
The jus gentium, or law of nations, to which Pellicier and Paul III re-
ferred, was in early sixteenth-century usage that universal law which gov-
20
HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 3, f. 31r. French reaction: icelluy Grant Sei-
gneur avoit licenti le seigneur Laski, qui est bien au contraire de la promesse que
avoit est faicte par cy davant: CGP 1:445446.
21
aski fell ill on 15 July: Gvay, Urkunden, 3.2:65; Sleyman to Ferdinand, c. 26
Aug., 1221 Sept. 1541: HHStA Turcica, Karton 5 ,Konv. 3, f. 4v, 4344; aski to
Bavarian Dukes, 23 Sept. 1541: Correspondenzen und Aktenstcke zur Geschichte
des Verhltnisses der Herzge Wilhelm und Ludwig von Bayern zu Knig Johann
von Ungarn, ed. by K.-A. Muffat (Munich 1857), 525; aski to Ferdinand, 23 and
28 Sept. 1541: HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 3, f. 48r, 53r. Death: ibid., f. 63
64; Giovio, Historiarum, xl:242243. Fear of poisoning by border-pashas averse to
peace: askis remarks on Ferdinands instructions, Gvay, Urkunden 3.2, 70.
22
Du Bellay: jus gentium bound [Venice] to ask for reparation of so gross an in-
sult as that offered to the two ambassadors of France; the senators, concerned to
maintain relations with both sultan and emperor, responded, [h]ad Rincn been
taken by the Emperors order no truce would have been broken on his account, for
he is an archtraitor and a bandit: Sp.Cal. 6.1: n.171; cf. HHStA Turcica, Karton 5,
Konv. 2, f. 71r. Cf. CGP, 1:345376; Charrire, Ngociations, 1:5017,516; MMB,
9:273v276r.
23
Il papa fa dimonstracion desserne molto scandalisato: CGP 1:364365, cf.
355, 368; CPM, 326; Sp.Cal. 6.1: n. 171.
24
CGP, 1:356.
Megan K. Williams 19
25
Digest, 50.7.18 [17], cf. ibid., 48.6.7.
26
For more on this aspect, see M. K. Williams, Dangerous Diplomacy and De-
pendable Kin: Transformations in Central European Statecraft, 15261540 (PhD
diss., Columbia University, 2009).
27
E.g.: J. Hankins, Renaissance Crusaders: Humanist Crusade Literature in the
Age of Mehmed II, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 49 (1995), 111207; M. Meserve,
Empires of Islam in Renaissance Historical Thought (Cambridge, MA 2008); N.
Bisaha, Creating East and West: Renaissance Humanists and the Ottoman Turks
(Philadelphia 2004).
28
Garrett Mattinglys 1938 remark remains relevant today: G. Mattingly, An Ear-
ly Non-Aggression Pact, Journal of Modern History 10, 1 (1938), 23.
20 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
lary, were accused of placing private passions above the salus publica.
The assassination of Rincn and Fregoso, the French claimed, was thus a
clear violation of this tenet.
On 8 August 1541, the French ambassador at the imperial court pre-
sented a formal complaint to the imperial chancellor: the diplomats assas-
sination was so exorbitantly evil, so contrary to reason, he claimed, that
it violated the law of the society of men and demanded vindication.29 He
proposed that del Vasto, whose men had killed the ambassadors, be drawn
and quartered.
As the war-clouds gathered in the spring of 1542, the French chancellor
and three colleagues were sent to the Imperial Diet to engage support
against the emperor. They framed Rincns mission as one to persuade
[the Sultan] not to attack Germany, and his assassination as violation of
the 1538 FrancoImperial rapprochement.30 That the ambassadors had
been chopped up and that imperialists now threatened the same to
Rincns successor and secretary, the French admiral told English col-
leagues in April 1542, betokened the emperor's incredible wickedness
and evil will, and were injuries which a prince of courage [] must de-
sire to revenge with the sword. The French ambassador to England par-
ticularly pressed the incident, which he represented as an act perpetrated
and committed against the public faith and the immunity common to all
ambassadors, to shore up deteriorating relations with Henry VIII, or at
least to gain Henrys neutrality in the coming conflict.31 Francis had been
29
Correspondenz des Kaisers, 2:325. Cf. CGP 1:432; Regesten und Briefe des
Cardinals Gasparo Contarini, ed. E. Dittrich (Braunsberg 1881), 215216; L.
Pastor, Geschichte der Ppste seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters (Freiburg i. Br.
1928), 5:455457; J. de Vandenesse, Journal des voyages de Charles-Quint de
1514 a 1551, in Collection des voyages des souverains des Pays-Bas, ed. by M.
Gachard (Brussels 1874), 10:193.
30
Ribier, Lettres, 1:568569. Cf. Letters and Papers, foreign and domestic of the
reign of Henry VIII, preserved in the Public Record Office, the British Museum,
and elsewhere, ed. by J. Gairdner et al., 2nd ed. (London 18721882) [hereafter:
LP], 17:n. 125.
31
Francis ordered his ambassador in England to obtain Henrys response to the
ambush, describing Rincn as dpesch en Levant pour empescher de tout son
pouvoir que le Turc ne feist descent en la chrestient et moyenner quelque longue
tresve en attendant que ladite chrestient feust unye. Henry found it fort estrange
quon eust si mal exploict, but ne saurait bonnement aviser quelle rparation
ceste injure mritoit [] sur le faict dudit Rincon qui est Espaignol naturel et qui a
est serviteur du roy Jehan le Vayvode et lequel il ne sait si pour avoir fortfaict il
seroit sorty dEspaigne, ny en quelle manire il avoit prins congi de lempereur
son souverain. Tant y a quil savoit bien que depuis deux ou troys ans ledit sei-
Megan K. Williams 21
bent on war before Rincns interception, but the event provided him with
a conspicuous casus belli. His June 1542 declaration of war charged the
emperor with having caused two of Our ministers [] to be most treach-
erously and unmercifully murdered, without excuse or satisfaction; it was
an injury so great, so detestable and so strange to those who bear the title
and quality of prince that it cannot be in any way forgiven, suffered or en-
dured, since it was highly repugnant to all divine or human rights, and
against the ancient custom of kings and princes, potentates or republics,
since the beginning of the World to Our present days that ambassadors
enjoy immunity.32
Francis was not the only prince to use the assassinations as casus
bellithough it is less-often remarked, his ally Sleyman did so as well.33
As with Francis, Sleymans intended audience was crucial to the ways in
which he invoked the incident. In letters to Ferdinand in September 1541,
Sleyman warned Ferdinand to release the ambassador who was coming
to our Sublime Porte, on behalf of the Emperor of France, whom your
brother King Charles has seized and arrested [] unless you wish to cause
the ruin of your own land.34 Rincns mistreatment at imperial hands
provided a rationale for Sleymans 1541 campaign which corresponded
with tradition and precedent: the Hungarian campaigns of 1526 and 1536
had both been justified to Christian audiences as retaliation for the abuse
of Ottoman envoysBehm chiaus in 1520, and Venetian princeling Lu-
dovico Gritti in 1534.35 aski reported to Ferdinand that as late as Novem-
gneur empereur avoit propos grosse rescompense ceulx qui le luy livreroient,
par o il estimoit quil avoit conceu grande indignation contre luy. Francis re-
sponse: de tous les endroictz de la chrestient o ceste nouvelle est parvenue, elle
a est trouve tant orde, tant salle et deshonneste quil nest possible de plus,
rompant la voye de toute seuret et amity entre les princes et faisant ouverture de
trs pernitieuse et dangereuse consequence: CPM, 322326, 331, 338341. Cf.
LP 16: n. 1121, 1225, 1390; LP 17: n. 232, 532.ii.
32
Sp.Cal. 6.2: n. 28; CPM, n. 426.
33
Historiographical reticence with regard to Sleymans usage may be attributed
to both the predominance of Austrian army-officer and scholar Paul Witteks
1930s identification of an ideology of holy war (gaza) as the driving force be-
hind Ottoman history, and, in diplomatic history, to the occidental norm often
used to characterise Ottoman and other non-Western diplomacy as unilateral and
aberrantthough few European polities could have met this standard in the 16th
century.
34
Sleyman to Ferdinand, 12/21 Sept. 1541: HHStA Turcica, Karton 5, Konv. 3, f.
36r, 37r, 41r, 4344.
35
Sleyman, Rhoads Murphey has argued, astutely justified his European cam-
paigns as reasonable responses to irrational provocations: Sleyman I and the
22 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
deeds and bad offices with the Turk, as well as in Italy [] to the great in-
jury and loss of the universal Christian Commonwealth, are known to eve-
ryone. So criminal were their acts, that in any case they must have been
considered as out of the truce, since they had passed secretly and in hostile
***
39
Charles to Paul III, 28 Aug. 1542: Sp.Cal. 6.2: n. 54.
40
M. K. Williams, Dangerous Diplomacy and Dependable Kin.
24 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
41
MMB 9:274v.
42
MMB, Preface de lauteur. The Mmoires saw five editions by 1600, but
largely restricted to France.
43
M. Zimmerman, Paolo Giovio: The Historian and the Crisis of Sixteenth-
Century Italy (Princeton 1995), 172; R. L. Kagan, Clio and the Crown: The Poli-
tics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain (Baltimore 2009), 73.
44
Giovio, Historiarum, xl:476.
45
Ibid., xl:477.
Megan K. Williams 25
But in this case the ambassador was a Spaniard, vassal of the one against
whom he was sent, and [one] who could justly fear that he had sent the
Turks and their navy against [his lands], and [Rincn was] a man who, dis-
regarding the laws of Castile, had utterly denatured himself and absented
himself from his homeland and gone to serve a foreign king, without hav-
ing permission from his sovereign as the said laws required.49
46
P. Bizarus, Senatus populique Genuensis rerum domi forisque gestarum histori-
ae atque annales (Antwerp 1579), xxi:511; P. Parutas Historia vinetiana divise in
due parte [1599] (Venice 1645), xi:523 ignored their natal status.
47
A. Gentili, De legationibus libri tres (Hannover 1594), 2.11 (101). Cf. ibid., 2.3
(67), 2.5.
48
G. J. de Quesada, El Antijovio (Bogot 1952), cap. 47. On Quesada: J. Friede, El
adelantado don Gonzalo Jimnez de Quesada (Bogot 1979).
49
De Quesada, El Antijovio, cap. 47.
26 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
The diplomats assassinations had thus not only not violated the jus
gentium, but had prevented many Christian deaths and deterred future re-
bellion. [O]nly the French and their adherents, he concluded, considered
the assassinations contrary to law, while all others are compelled by jus-
tice and reason to hold them quite honourable and good.50
Military auditor-general Baltasar de Ayala (15481584) drew a similar
conclusion in his 1582 De jure et officiis bellicis, written during the Dutch
Revolt. Scion of a long line of royal servants, Ayala dedicated his work to
defending Spanish majesty from treasonous rebels.51 In a monarchy, he as-
serted, all good and wise subjects were bound to obey and defend the
prince who, as pater patriae, lawfully enjoyed supreme power; rebellion
was tantamount to heresy, for those faithless in earthly affairs must also be
spiritually so. Thus rebels were enemies of all mankind: neither
citizens [nor] subjects, who with wicked intent and traitorous design are
among the enemy [], receive any protection from the law of nations, not
even if they are clothed with the functions of ambassadors [] for they are
rebels and they can not by any means whatever free themselves from the
jurisdiction and power of their sovereign, which bind his subjects all the
world over.52
This principle justified killing Rincn and Fregoso, without their deaths
violating the jus gentium (though, he added, their execution was done
without the emperors orders).53 Framed as treason, the affair was Ayalas
sole contemporary illustration of violated diplomatic immunity in transit;
his other examples, invoking Roman treason legislation, were exclusively
classical.
Spanish diplomat Juan Antonio de Vera y Zigas 1620 El Enbaxador,
the eras most popular treatise on diplomacy, also framed the affair in
terms of treason. In his dialogue, de Vera (15831658) gave two contem-
porary examples of violated diplomatic immunity in transit, both involving
diplomats integral to early sixteenth-century OttomanHungarian diplo-
macy: aski and Rincn-Fregoso. Like Quesada and Ayala, de Vera ar-
gued that Rincns murder had not violated the jus gentium since he was
a Spaniard, and a native of Medina del Campo, a rebel and traitor who
50
Ibid.
51
J. Westlake, in B. de Ayala, De jure et officiis bellicis et disciplina militari libri
III (1582), ed. by J. Westlake (Washington, DC 1910), I:iii. Cf. ibid., Dedicato-
ria, [iv].
52
B. de Ayala, De jure, 1.9, 45; cf. ibid., 1.2, 1223; 1.6, 7.
53
Ibid.
Megan K. Williams 27
had lost no opportunity to act against his prince. Indeed, Rincn had
committed lse-majest, the crime of infringing sovereign majesty, by re-
belling against his law, king and country [] to unite the Turk with the
king of France against the Emperor Charles V his natural lord, and conse-
quently against all of Christendom.54
In commenting on the Rincn-Fregoso affair, de Vera referred exten-
sively to French jurist Jean Bodins 1576 assessment, also a source for lat-
er commentators such as Hugo Grotius in the Netherlands or Richard
Zouche in England.55 Although de Veras long invective [] against
Jean Bodin was cut from the best-selling 1635 French edition of his
work, Le parfait ambassadeur, his critique was not unmerited: Bodins as-
sessment was contradictory. Its contradictions draw attention to the com-
monplacing method by which many early modern diplomatic treatises
were composed. Commonplacing was a quintessentially humanist method
of intertextual imitation and appropriation which reached its apogee in the
late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Late Renaissance writers
came to rely heavily on notebooks into which they copied potentially use-
ful examples arranged under topical headings, which they then mined in
their argumentation. Without caution, the same example, entered under
multiple headings, might be applied in multiple argumentsand Bodin, as
Ann Blair has shown, was a notoriously sloppy commonplacer.56 Thus
while Bodin claimed immunity for Rincn and Fregoso in Book 1, Chap-
ter 8 of his Six livres de la rpublique on the grounds that as diplomats
they were inviolable, he denied them immunity in his disquisition on citi-
zenship in Chapter 6.57 There, Bodin used Rincn and Fregoso to argue
that even ambassadors were not immune from sovereign jurisdiction:
Now if the foreigner, against the will or without the consent of his own
prince, submits himself to the power of another prince, and is received by
that prince as a subject, his own prince still retains full power over him,
and authority to seize him as his fugitive servant, even should he come as
an ambassador sent by his new prince.58
54
J. A. de Vera y Ziga, El Enbaxador (Seville 1620), I:60v62v.
55
Ibid., I:61rv. Id., Le parfait ambassadeur, trans. by N. Lancelot (Paris 1635),
1.133.
56
A. Blair, The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton
1997), 6575.
57
J. Bodin, Six livres de la rpublique ([Paris] 1577), 1.8:186; id., De republica
libri sex, 2nd rev. ed. (Frankfurt 1591), 5.6:967.
58
Bodin, De republica, 1.6, 100101; id., Six livres, 1:6, 102.
28 Re-Orienting a Renaissance Diplomatic Cause Clbre
***
59
Blair, Theater, 74.
60
H. Grotius, De iure belli ac pacis libri tres, 5th ed. (1646), 2.18, 5, n. 1:445
(incorrectly citing Bizzarri).
61
Bodin, Six Livres (1577), I:8.
Megan K. Williams 29
PL CS
Death in Persia
A recent discovery in the British National Archives uncovered a tattered,
rare English translation of a German secretarys travelogue depicting a
Transylvanian-Hungarians diplomatic embassy to Persia on behalf of
Habsburg Emperor Rudolph II in 1603 was recently discovered in the Brit-
ish National Archives.1 This chapter examines how the curious 1603 em-
bassy came about, and its consequences for diplomatic contacts within Eu-
rope and between Europe and Persia.
On 27 May 1603, distinguished foreign guests arrived in Astrakhan, a
port on the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. They were the ambassadors
of Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary. The travellers
were seeking to reach the south-western shore of the Caspian Sea. They
were heading to the court of Abbas I (15871627), the Persian Shah,2 to
hand him a letter by the Habsburg ruler. In his letter, Rudolph expressed
his amity towards the shah, assuring him that he was determined to con-
tinue the war against their mutual enemy, the Ottoman Empire; thus, Per-
sia could still count on the alliance of Christians.
After negotiations between the shah and the Habsburgs, the emperor
decided to send an embassy to Persia. The delegation was led by a 38-
1
Account of the journey via Moscow to Persia of Stephen Kakasch von
Zalonkemeny, ambassador of the emperor Rudolf II, by George Tectander, a mem-
ber of his staff, who took charge of the embassy after Kakaschs death at Lanzan in
Armenia on October 25th 1603. The National Archives, Kew, State Papers, 9/206/3
(special thanks for Istvn Monok for the copy of the manuscript).
2
S. R. Canby, Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran (London 2009); D. Blow, Shah
Abbas, the Ruthless King Who Became an Iranian Legend (London 2009); R. M.
Savory, Abbs (I), in Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, available at http://
www.iranica.com/articles/abbas-i, accessed on 4 July 2013.
32 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
3
Kakass official rank in the diplomatic sources of the Persian embassy is Kaiser-
licher Gesandter/Legat. The only monograph on Istvn Kakas is in Hungarian: E.
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn [Istvn Kakas of Zalnkemny] (Budapest
1905), repr. ed., Budapest 2005, available at http://mek.oszk.hu/05600/05652/html/
index.htm, accessed 5 July 2013.
4
Iter Persicum, ou description du voyage en Perse, enterpris en 1602 par tienne
Kakasch de Zalonkemeny, envoy comme ambassadeur par lempereur Rodolphe
II, la cour du grand-duc de Moscovie et celle de Chh Abbas, roi de Perse rela-
tion rdige en allemand et prsente lempereur par Georges Tectander von der
Jabel, trans. and ed. by Ch.-H.-A. Schefer (Paris 1877).
5
Ibid., 4041.
6
Ibid., 42.
Pl cs 33
The mission was still a success. Although several others died of the in-
fection, the strong physique of the 21-year-old German secretary overcame
the sickness. He met the shah who received him and Emperor Rudolphs
letter with great ceremony in the old seat of the Safavid Empire, Tabriz.
Shah Abbas I was extremely satisfied with the Christian rulers message
and expressed his hope that Rudolphs words would be followed by ac-
tions. The shah chose this town as a venue deliberately: for Persians, Ta-
briz, lost and regained several times, symbolised the struggle against the
Ottomans for a century.7
A long return journey of many vicissitudes awaited Georg Tectander,
but he managed to get back to Prague and report to the emperor. He used
his ambassadors diary, his own memories, the instructions received from
his master Istvn Kakas, and other official documents of the delegation to
compile a German booklet, entitled Iter Persicum (fig. 1).
The first edition of the work was published in Leipzig in 1608 without
the authors permission, in a pirated edition. The later editions in 1609 and
1610, illustrated with engravings, were made with Tectanders permis-
sion.8 Subsequently, the books memory faded until it was rediscovered
centuries later by German and French orientalists.9 The travelogue was
then translated and published in Russian (Moscow 1896). German histori-
ans likewise rediscovered it (Reichenberg 1889; Prague 1908), since it was
the first Persian travelogue in German. Hungarian cultural history also
owes a great deal to the young Saxon diplomat, as it is through his book
7
Shah Abbas recaptured Tabriz from the Ottomans only one month before: Blow,
Shah Abbas, 7677.
8
[G. Tectander], Iter Persicum, Kurtze, doch auszfhrliche vnd warhafftige
beschreibung der Persianischen Reisz: Welche auff der Rm. Kay: May: aller
gnedig. Befelch, im Jahr Christi 1602. Von dem Edlen vnd Gestrengen Herren
STEPHANO KAKASCH VON ZALONKEMENY vornehmen Siebenbrgischen vom
Adel, angefangen: Vnd als derselbig vnterwegen zu Lantzen in Medier Land todtes
verschieden: von seinem Reisz beferten GEORGIO TECDANDRO von der Jabel
vollends continuiret vnd verrichtet worden Beyneben fleissigen verzeichniss aller
gedenckwrdigen sachen, welche jhnen, so wol vnter wegen, in Polen, Littaw,
Reussen, Moscaw, Tartarey, Cassaner vnd Astarcaner Land, vnd auff dem
Caspischen Meer: Alsz auch in Persien, vnd Armenien, auch andern Provintzen
Asiae vnd Evropae hin vnd wieder begegnet vnd zugestanden: Wie solcks durch
obgemelten Herrn GEORGEN TECTANDER von der Jabel, zu seiner nach Prag
widerkunfft auffs Pappier gebracht, vnnd hchstgedachter jhrer Keys. May. Anno
1605. den 8. Ianuarij. vnterthenigst ist vbergeben worden (Altenburg in Meissen
1609).
9
F. Adelung, bersicht der Reisenden in Russland bis 1700, deren Berichte
bekannt sind, vol. 2 (Saint Petersburg 1846), 127136; Schefer, ed., Iter Persicum.
34 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
that the world became acquainted with the details of Istvn Kakass Per-
sian embassy.10
There must have been other Hungarians who made their way to Persia
earlier,11 but Kakas was the first Hungarian traveller in Persia of whom au-
10
The first complete Hungarian translation by Gy. Mary was published in Magyar
utazsi irodalom 1518. szzad [Hungarian travel literature in the 15th18th centu-
ries], ed. by S. I. Kovcs and I. Monok (Budapest 1990), 313359. The first Per-
sian translation was published in 1972 in Tehran.
11
On the anti-Ottoman alliance and envoys sent by Matthias Corvinus in 1472
1473 to Uzun Hassan (Aq Qoyunlu Turkoman ruler of western Iran) see L. Tardy,
Rgi magyar kvetjrsok Keleten [Ancient Hungarian embassies to the Orient]
Pl cs 35
thentic, precise and detailed sources survived. Iter Persicum clearly de-
scribes the official programme and aims of the 1603 Persian delegation.
Still, the question arises: Did this extremely difficult journey with such a
tragic ending make sense, what were the political stakes, and did it pro-
duce diplomatic results? In order to answer these questions, we must first
examine the figure of the Hungarian ambassador, Istvn Kakas, and ex-
plore his interests, relationships and political views.
(Budapest 1983), 3562; A. Simon, Crusading between the Adriatic and the Black
Sea: Hungary, Venice and the Ottoman Empire after the Fall of Negroponte, Ra-
dovi. Zavod za hrvatsku povijest 42 (2010), 195230.
12
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn.
13
Schefer, ed., Iter Persicum, xivxv.
14
Cf. M. Balzs, Ferenc Dvid. Ungarlndische Antitrinitarier IV. Bibliotheca
Dissidentium. Rpertoire des non-conformistes religieux des seizime et
dixseptime sicles dit par Andr Sguenny (Tome 26. Bibliotheca Biographica
Aureliana 222) (Baden-Baden and Bouxwiller 2008).
15
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 4.
16
On his planned but never presented Latin oratio addressed to Shah Abbas I, see:
Tectander, Iter Persicum (1609), 147180.
36 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
ua17 where he received his doctorate. Kakas was proud to tell people that
he was the only real master of law in Transylvania, and what is more, he
achieved this result at the best and most liberal university of contemporary
Europe. His high legal qualifications earned him the position of assessor in
the principal court of Transylvania from 1589, then in 1590 he was named
a high-ranking judge. In 1593, he also worked as the princes secretary. He
was raised in the Unitarian religionmore and more popular among Hun-
garians in Transylvania18but later converted to Catholicism under the in-
fluence of Viennese Jesuits, although it was rather unpopular in Transyl-
vania, he remained faithful all his life to this religion, keeping and preserv-
ing his links with Jesuits.19 This did not prevent him from choosing his
first wife from the prominent Unitarian family of the renowned bishop,
Ferenc Dvid. However, his second wife, Zsuzsanna Rmer, was an ardent
Catholic, and real Tyrolese ladya maid of honour in the court of prin-
cess Maria Christierna of Austria, prince Sigismund Bthorys wifewho
turned Kakas even more towards German culture.20 A 1601 full-figure
portrait of Istvn Kakas (Fig. 2) and his Austrian wife was recently un-
earthed in Italy, in an art shop in Milan.21
17
The University of Padua played a special role in the intellectual training and de-
velopment of the Transylvanian elite in the 16th century: P. cs, Spirito e intel-
letto: rapporti franco-ungheresi nel 500, in La circulation des hommes, des oeu-
vres et des ides entre la France, lItalie et la Hongrie : XVeXVIIe sicles, ed. by
A. Di Francesco and A. Ch. Fiorato (Naples 2004), 137147.
18
M. Balzs, Early Transylvanian Antitrinitrianism 15671571. From Servet to
Palaeologus, trans. by Gy. Novk (Bibliotheca Dissidentium. Scripta et Studia 7)
(Baden-Baden 1996).
19
K. Jak, Erdlyi knyveshzak I. Az els kolozsvri egyetemi knyvtr trtnete
s llomnynak rekonstrukcija 15791604 [Transylvanian bookstores I. History
and reconstruction of the first academic library in Kolozsvr 15791604] (Adattr
XVIXVIII. szzadi szellemi mozgalmaink trtnethez 16/1) (Szeged 1991), 51;
Cf. A. Molnr, Lehetetlen kldets? Jezsuitk Erdlyben s Fels-Magyarorszgon
a 1617. szzadban [Mission impossible? Jesuits in Transylvania and Upper Hun-
gary in the 16th17th century] (Budapest 2009).
20
K. Benda, Erdly vgzetes asszonya: Bthory Zsigmondn Habsburg Mria
Krisztierna [Transylvanias fatal woman: Maria Christierna of Austria, Prince Si-
gismund Bthorys wife] (Budapest 1986); T. Kruppa, Bthory Zsigmond vlsa.
Adalkok egy fejedelmi frigy anatmijhoz [The divorce of Sigismund Bthory.
Contributions to the anatomy of a princely marriage], in A Bthoriak kora. A
Bthoriak s Eurpa [The age of the Bthorys. The Bthorys and Europe], ed by
L. Dm and A. Ulrich (Nyrbtor 2008), 106112.
21
E. Buzsi, Kakas Istvn s felesge portri: Adalk a 1617. szzadi portr-
mecenatra trtnethez [Istvn Kakas and his wifes portraits: contribute to the
history of the portrait patronage in the 16th17th centuries], in Stlusok, mvek, mes-
Pl cs 37
Fig. 2. Tyrolean painter (beginning of the 17th century), The portrait of Istvn Ka-
kas of Zalnkemny, 1601, oil on canvas, 200 x 127.5 cm, Budapest, Hungarian
National Gallery, 2008.4 M
22
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 72, image 20; Tardy, Rgi magyar kvet-
jrsok, image 13.
23
Buzsi, Kakas Istvn s felesge portri, 32.
24
A. Kovcs, Ks renesznsz ptszet Erdlyben 15411720 [Late renaissance
architecture in Transylvania, 15411720] (Budapest and Kolozsvr 2003), 157
164.
25
G. Vrkonyi, Angol bkekzvetts s a lengyeltrk trgyalsok a tizent
ves hbor idszakban (15931598) [English peace mediation and the Polish
Turkish negotiations during the Fifteen Years War, 15931598], Aetas 18, 2
(2003), 4462 (http://www.aetas.hu/2003_2/2003-2-07.htm#P602_143898, ac-
cessed on 12 July 2013).
26
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 122.
Pl cs 39
27
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, fondo mss. Ottoboniani Latini 2421/II, 626
636. Cf. Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 118126.
28
Tardy, Rgi magyar kvetjrsok, 8193. On the irrationally expensive and usu-
ally futile Persian embassies see P. Fodor, The Impact of the Sixteenth-Century
OttomanPersian Wars on Ottoman Policy in Central Europe, in Irano-Turkic
Cultural Contacts in the 11th17th Centuries, ed. by . Jeremis (Piliscsaba [2002]
2003), 4151.
29
M. Bernardini and A. Vanzan, Italy iv. Travel Accounts, in Encyclopaedia
Iranica, Online Edition, available at http://www.iranica.com/articles/italy-iv-
travel-accounts-2, accessed on 4 July 2013.
30
Hence the confrontation between Ottomans and Safavids, following the rise of
the latter dynasty, was not as much of the Sunni Ottomans against the new Shii
state in Iran, but rather it was an Ottoman reaction to the political ambitions of the
Safavids who nurtured expansionist designs with regard to Anatolia. A. Allouche,
The Origins and Development of the OttomanSafavid Conflict 906962 /1500
1555 (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen 91) (Berlin 1983), 147.
40 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
tribes living in Anatolia, Azerbaijan and the western parts of Iran), formed
the Safavid dynasty.31 (The name Grand Sophi, given to the shah in the
Christian world, does not refer to the wisdom of the shah nor to the mysti-
cal Sufi order but is a distorted version of the name of the dynastys
founder, Shaykh Safi al-Din.32) Europeans tried to interpret the Shiite
teachings on the saving of mankind in a Christian spirit. The reports of Eu-
ropean ambassadors gave an account of the eschatological expectations of
the Qizilbash movement connected to the last and twelfth imam, said to be
hiding, and tried to harmonise it with the Christian apocalypse. Since the
Qizilbash Sufi Order considered the leaders of the movementthe Safavid
shahsas the spiritual representatives of the Saviour (Mahdi, identified
with the twelfth hiding imam by the Shiites) returning together with Je-
sus at the end of time,33 Christians could easily recognise the Persian
shah as a world emperor creating the unity of faith. According to the gen-
eral belief at the time, the Shiite Persian shah was willing to convert to
Christianity. The element of truth in this belief is that some Safavid rulers
seemed to be more tolerant towards Christians and Jews than towards
Sunnite Ottoman Muslims whom they persecuted cruelly.34 This persecu-
tion was an answer to the massacre of 40,000 members of the Qizilbash
order committed on the orders of the Ottoman emperor in 1511. The
bloody battle of Chaldiran in 1514 between the Ottoman emperor and the
31
H. R. Roemer, The Safavid Period, in The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 6:
The Timurid and Safavid Periods, ed. by P. Jackson and (the late) L. Lockhart
(Cambridge 1986), 204214; A. J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian
Empire (London 2006), 1325; L. Lockhart, European Contacts with Persia
13501736, in The Cambridge History of Iran, 6:373411.
32
Safi al-Din Ishaq (12521334) founded the Safavid dervish order in Ardabil. B.
S. Amoretti, Religion in the Timurid and Safavid Periods, in The Cambridge
History of Iran, 6:636; G. Le Strange, Don Juan of Persia. A Shiah Catholic
15601604 (Oxford 2005), 107; Canby, Shah Abbas, 116118.
33
R. M. Savory, The Safavid Administrative System, in The Cambridge History
of Iran, 6:368; H. Nasr, Religion in Safavid Persia, Iranian Studies 7 (1974),
271286; K. Kehl-Bodrogi, Die Kzlba /Aleviten. Untersuchungen ber eine eso-
terische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Anatolien (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen 126)
(Berlin 1988); K. Babayan, The Safavid Synthesis: From Qizilbash Islam to
Imamite Shiism, Iranian Studies 27 (1994), 135161; B. Sudr, Alevik
Trkorszgban [Alevis in Turkey], in Eladsok a mai iszlm vilgrl, ed. by
L. Tske (Piliscsaba 2007), 169177; Colin P. Mitchell, The Practice of Politics in
Safavid Iran: Power, Religion and Rhetoric (London 2009), 1967.
34
In fact, the Persian Shahs constantly urged and often forced the conversion of
the Jews and Christians to the Shiite Islam. R. J. Abisaab, Converting Persia: Reli-
gion and Power in the Safavid Empire (London 2004), 5388.
Pl cs 41
Persian shahthe Grand Turk and the Grand Sophi, eternally inhibit-
ed peace between the two Islamic empires.35 Everything indicates that the
conflict of the two Islamic realms was originally a question of power and
geopolitics, and was only later filled with religious content.
OttomanPersian wars broke out regularly and the news spread even to
remote Hungary. The Hungarian poet Sebestyn Tindi wrote a history in
verse in 1546 to describe the bloody battle between the Ottoman Emperor
Sleyman I and the Persian Shah Tahmasp I (15141576), named in Hun-
garian Kazulbasha (=Qizilbash), and enriching it with legendary ele-
ments.36 The Hungarian poem clearly voiced Hungarian political expecta-
tions linked to the Persians.37 In the sixteenth century, battles between
Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire mostly took place in and around
Hungary.38 However, the Ottomans expansion had spatial limits. There
are several reasons why the Ottoman Turks could not go west beyond
Hungary. Besides the Christian alliance and the bravery of Hungarian sol-
diers, and supply-line/logistical challenges, the Ottomans were in a diffi-
cult position because they fought constant wars at their eastern borders
with their enemies, the Safavid rulers.
In the bloody OttomanPersian battles of the sixteenth century, neither
party could overcome the other, and for a long time, both empires seemed
equally strong. This state of affairs started to change at the time of the be-
ginning of the Fifteen Years War in Europe, when Abbas I took the
throne in Persia. Abbas grew up in the most tormented years of the Sa-
favid Empire. His uncle, Shah Ismail II (15761577) executed all the
members of his family, with the exception of Abbass half blind father,
considered inept to rule, Shah Muhammad Khudabandeh (15771587),
who followed Shah Ismail II on the throne. Prince Abbas became the
governor of the province of Khorasan at the age of seven. During his fa-
thers ten-year reign, the Ottomans occupied significant Safavid territories:
the Caucasus, Kurdistan, Luristan and in 1585, Tabriz. In 1587, the
Qizilbash tribes, considered the most important powers in the empire,
made the shah resign and elected his son Abbas. His main objective was
35
Allouche, The Origins, 100145.
36
S. Tindi, Szulimn csszr Kazul basval viadaljrl (1546) [The battle of
Sultan Sleyman and Kazulbasha], in Krnika, ed. by I. Sugr, intro. by F. Szakly
(Budapest 1984), 413425.
37
I. Sznt, Safavid Art and Hungary: The Esterhzy Appliqu in Context
(Piliscsaba 2010), 2628.
38
It could be argued that this is chiefly true of the later 16th century; and North Af-
rica was also a bloody frontier.
42 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
39
Canby, Shah Abbas, 1619; Blow, Shah Abbas, the Ruthless King, 1564; Sa-
vory, Abbs (I).
40
In 16031604, the shah forced the entire population of the Caucasian Armenian
city Julfa to relocate into the inside territory of the empire. The Armenians estab-
lished New Julfa near Isfahan in 1606. The Armenian citizens of the Safavid Em-
pire played a significant role in the silk trade. S. Babaie et al., Slaves of the Shah:
New Elites of Safavid Iran (London 2004).
41
Roemer, The Safavid Period, 262278.
42
Oil on canvas, 367 x 527 cm, Venice, Doges Palace, Sala delle Quattro Porte.
Canby, Shah Abbas, 26, Fig. 8; M. Casari, Italy ii. Diplomatic and Commercial
Relations, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, online edition, available at http://www. iran-
icaonline.org/articles/italy-ii-diplomatic-and-commercial-relations-2, accessed on
4 July 2013; G. Rota, Safavid Persia and Its Diplomatic Relations with Venice,
in Iran and the World in the Safavid Age, ed. by W. Floor and E. Herzig (Lon-
donNew York 2012), 149160; cf. the recent exposition in Venice: I doni di Shah
Abbas il grande alla Serenissima. Relazioni diplomatiche tra la Repubblica di Ve-
nezia e la Persia Safavide, curated by E. G. Mangilli, Venice, Palazzo Ducale, 28
Sept. 201312 Jan. 2014.
Pl cs 43
Fig. 3. Carlo and Gabriele Caliari, The doge of Venice receiving the ambassadors
of Shah Abbas I, oil on canvas, 367 x 527 cm, Venice, Doges Palace, Sa-
la delle Quattro Porte
43
T. Minadoi, Historia della guerra fra Turchi et Persiani (Rome 1587); cf. Roe-
mer, The Safavid Period, 207.
44 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
Fig. 4. Dominicus Custos, Portrait of Shah Abbas I from the Atrium heroicum
Caesarum (Augsburg 1602), engraving on paper, 18 x 11.6 cm
44
D. Custos, Portrait of Shah Abbas from the Atrium heroicum Caesarum (Augs-
burg 1602), engraving on paper, 18 x 11.6 cm; Canby, Shah Abbas, 257258 (cat.
no. 125).
Pl cs 45
45
L. Jardine and J. Brotton, Global Interests: Renaissance Art between East and
West (London 2000), 2526.
46
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 159161.
47
F. Babinger, Sherleiana (Berlin 1932); E. D. Ross, Sir Anthony Sherley and His
Persian Adventure (London 1933); Canby, Shah Abbas, 5659 (cat. no. 1518).
46 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
Fig. 5. Anthony Van Dyck, Robert Sherley in Rome (1622), pen and brown ink on
paper, 19.9 x 15.7 cm, British Museum, ME 1957, 1214.207.62 r.
48
Lockhart, European Contacts with Persia, 383; R. P. Matthee, The Politics of
Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver 16001730 (Cambridge 1999), 3132; S.
Troebst, Sweden, Russia and the Safavid Empire: A Mercantile Perspective, in
Iran and the World in the Safavid Age, 253258.
49
Ross, Sir Anthony Sherley, passim; E. G. Hernn, The Holy See, the Spanish
Monarchy and the Safavid Persia in the Sixteenth Century. Some aspects of the In-
volvements of the Society of Jesus, in Iran and the World in the Safavid Age,
181206.
Pl cs 47
50
Canby, Shah Abbas, 56.
51
Schefer, ed., Iter Persicum, xxiii; Le Strange, Don Juan of Persia, 7; Veress,
Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 126128; Matthee, The Politics, 79.
52
Tectander, Iter Persicum (1609), 76.
53
Newman, Safavid Iran, 61; Canby, Shah Abbas, 57.
54
Veress, Zalnkemnyi Kakas Istvn, 4656.
48 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
was a significant commercial route to the Black Sea from the North Sea
through Poland, Transylvania and the Romanian principalities. It was via
this route that Kakas arrived in England andlateran English delega-
tion reached Transylvania. The Englishmen wanted this route to remain
secure even in times of war. Of course, they wanted to mask this basically
economic interest as a Christian mission, willingly taking on the role of
the defender of the small Christian states threatened by the Ottomans.
They always played on two boards, on one with Islam, on the other with
Christianity.55
As Lord Palmerstons famous saying goes, England does not have
eternal allies, nor perpetual enemies, only eternal and perpetual inter-
estsand constantly sought out reliable partners such as Istvn Kakas.
The seriousness of the English interests, the English linksconnected to
the 1603 Persian embassy led by Istvn Kakas is attested to by the recent
discovery of the (virtually) contemporaneous English translation of Georg
Tectanders Iter Persicum (fig. 6). The work never made it to print but this
somewhat tattered old copy survived in the collection of the British Na-
tional Archives; a copy has recently been bought by the Hungarian Na-
tional Szchnyi Library.56 The manuscript (apart from a comment on the
Sherley brothers: fol. 171[19]r) is a faithful English translation of
Tectanders German book.57
We know that the 1603 Persian mission was launched because Anthony
Sherley practically forced Emperor Rudolph to order it and the emperor
finally agreed. The often-cited motto of Christian unity was worth that
much for him. After all, he was the richest ruler in Europe. In reality, the
Prague court was a little bit fed up with the Englishmen and the Persians
and especially with the fact that England often profited off the Christian
war achievements against the Ottomans. Rudolph was well aware that
while one English company (the Muscovy Company) armed the shah, their
other company of merchants (the Levant Company) did business with
Constantinople.58
55
Vrkonyi, Angol bkekzvetts.
56
See fn. 1
57
At the beginning of the manuscript, six pages are missing or partially torn. The
translation does not contain Kakass above-mentioned Latin oratio (see fn. 16).
58
Matthee, The Politics, 7884.
Pl cs 49
Fig. 6. The description of the meeting of Istvn Kakas and Robert Sherley in Persia
in the English translation of Iter Persicum by Georg Tectander, The National
Archives, Kew, State Papers, 9/206/3
This reservation towards the English may have been one of the reasons
that the Habsburg emperor did not pay much attention to the shahs mes-
sage, brought to him by his ambassadors from Persia, and considered end-
ing the war as soon as possible instead of continuing it. Nevertheless, the
shah made a very definite and rather spectacular gesture to the Habsburgs.
Abbas I demonstrated his relentless hatred towards the Ottomans in a pe-
culiar way. At the official audience organised in Tabriz for the delegation
led by Georg Tectander, he ordered two swords and had an Ottoman pris-
oner led in. He seized one of the swords and beheaded the prisoner with
one single cut. Georg Tectander could hardly suppress his nausea: he was
afraid of being the next victim. But the shah gave him relief with a friend-
ly smile and later on handed him the other sword, thus encouraging Ru-
dolph to do the same with every Ottoman.59
The Habsburg court did not wholly trust the shah60 and the English in
his service very much. The HabsburgSafavid alliance never came up after
59
Tectander, Iter Persicum (1609), 9091; Sznt, Safavid Art, 42, 59.
60
The OttomanHabsburg treaty of Sitva Torok of 1606 and the warning [] that
the European powers secretly wished to see the mutual destruction of the Ottoman
and Safavid states must have convinced the Safavid ruler once and for all that he
50 In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
the Peace of Zsitvatorok that ended the Long War between the Habsburgs
and the Ottomans. Rudolph II probably had no idea of the great opportuni-
ty he had. Shah Abbas I launched a sweeping attack against the Ottomans
a few months later. He celebrated decisive victories over the Ottomans in
Azerbaijan, the main area of the Safavids, as well as in the whole of Cau-
casia,61 and later expanded the borders of his empire to Baghdad. Through
his conquest of the Caspian provinces, he was able to control the silk-
production areas.62 In the east, he overthrew the power of the Uzbeg khan,
while in the southwith the help of the Englishhe chased the Portu-
guese from the Strait of Hormuz (1622).63 He thus put an end to the Portu-
guese monopoly of Eastern trade and freed the way for the ships of Eng-
lish merchants that transported arms for the shah in exchange for silk.
Naturally, all this served the interests of the East India Company, Eng-
lands more and more significant new trade company founded in 1591. For
many, the question may arise: If Emperor Rudolph had indeed accepted
the shahs sword, might Hungary have been liberated from Ottoman occu-
pation more than eighty years earlier? This hardly would have been the
case. The reason that this could not have happened in 1603 was not due to
the Persians or the diplomats, but the rivalry of European powers and
many other historical factors. The events of the Long Turkish War have
shown that the military force of Shah Abbas I far exceeded the forces of
the Habsburg emperor. The alliance with the Safavid dynasty against the
Ottomans remained a symbolic political gesture.
could expect little more than empty rhetoric from the West. Matthee, The Politics,
79; Sznt, Safavid Art, 59.
61
C. Imber, The Battle of Sufiyan 1605: The Symptom of Ottoman Military De-
cline?, in Iran and the World in the Safavid Age, 91102.
62
There was no real commercial war between the Ottomans and the Safavids be-
cause the Ottoman silk industry was heavily dependent on the Persian raw silks.
Sznt, Safavid Art, 46; L. K. Steinmann, Shah Abbas and the Royal Silk Trade
15991629, Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies) 14 (1987), 68
74; I. B. McCabe, The Shahs Silk for Europes Silver: The Eurasian Trade of the
Julfa Armenians in Safavid Iran and India (15301750) (Philadelphia 1999).
63
Blow, Shah Abbas, 113130; Canby, Shah Abbas, 41 (cat. no. 4).
TRANSIMPERIAL MEDIATORS OF CULTURE:
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY HABSBURG
INTERPRETERS IN CONSTANTINOPLE
DRA KEREKES
Introduction
The traditional Muslim worldview and a belief in the absolute nature of
royal power determined the Ottoman Empires relationship with Europe.1
The Threshold of Blissa term used by the Ottoman court to denote
Constantinoplewas not only a flowery figure of speech, but also an indi-
cation of how the Sultans administration viewed the rest of the world.
Convinced of the superiority of Islams power and of the Islamic home-
land, the Ottoman court regarded it as natural that Constantinople should
be the centre of the known world, a place sought out by all those who de-
sired peace with the Ottoman Empire.2 In the fifteenth and sixteenth centu-
ries, such attitudes were still rooted in the political reality. As time passed,
however, traditional values and world geopolitics underwent significant
changes, due to technological advances and new geographical discoveries.
As a result, from the seventeenth century onwards, Constantinople was
less and less capable of fulfilling the role of the Threshold of Bliss.
King Ferdinand I faced a still powerful Ottoman Empire. Famous for
his progressive thinking, Ferdinand recognised the importance of negotiat-
ing with the Ottomans. Soon after his election as king of Hungary in 1526,
1
See also P. Fodor, State and Society, Crisis and Reform in the Fifteenth
Seventeenth Century Ottoman Mirror for Princes, Acta Orientalia Academiae
Scientiarum Hungaricae 40, 23 (1986), 217240; id., Az Oszmn Birodalom
szletse [The birth of the Ottoman Empire], in Tanulmnyok Szakly Ferenc em-
lkre, ed. by P. Fodor et al. (Budapest 2002), 159175; D. Kerekes, Tradi-
cionlis birodalommodern birodalom. Az Oszmn Birodalom a 17. szzad els
felben [Traditional empiremodern empire. The Ottoman Empire in the first
half of the 17th century], Aetas 23, 4 (2008), 140158.
2
For more details, see M. Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Balti-
more 1955), 141168.
52 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
3
T. Grygorieva, Symbols and Perceptions of Diplomatic Ceremony: Ambassa-
dors of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth in Istanbul, in Kommunikation
durch symbolische Akte. Religise Heterogenitt und politische Herrschaft in
Polen-Litauen, ed. by Y. Kleinmann (Stuttgart 2010), 110125.
4
M. L. Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (New York
1992), 4; D. Koodziejczyk, Semiotics of Behavior in Early Modern Diplomacy:
Polish Embassies in Istanbul and Bahesaray, Journal of Early Modern History 7,
34 (2003), 245256.
5
E. N. Rothman, Interpreting Dragomans: Boundaries and Crossings in the Early
Modern Mediterranean, Corporative Studies in Society and History 51, 4 (2009),
773.
6
P. Brummett, Visions of the Mediterranean: A Classification, Journal of Medi-
eval and Early Modern Studies 37, 1 (2007), 45.
54 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
7
See Enfants de langue et Drogmans. Dil olanlar ve tercmanlar, ed. by F. Hit-
zel (Istanbul 1995); G. goston, Az oszmn s az eurpai diplomcia a kl-
csnssg fel vezet ton [The path of Ottoman and European diplomacy to-
wards reciprocity], in Hd a szzadok felett. Tanulmnyok Katus Lszl 70. szle-
tsnapjra, ed. by P. Hank and M. Nagy (Pcs 1997), 8399.
8
Leopold became an interpreter apprentice (Sprachknabe) on 31 Jan. 1684
(sterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv [hereafter: StA
HHStA] Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 164, Konv. 5, f. 168v), and Christoph
did so on 10 Feb. 1686 (StA HHStA Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 164,
Konv. 5, f. 168v169r).
Dra Kerekes 55
and could only practice their craft with the official permission (berat) of
the Ottoman court.9 For this reason, we might regard them as transim-
perial subjects exercising a major role in relations between the Sultan and
the European powers (including the Habsburg ruler).
9
goston, Az oszmn s az eurpai diplomcia, 94.
10
I. Bernays, Die Diplomatie um 1500, Historische Zeitschrift 138 (1928), 15.
11
G. Plffy, A 16. szzad trtnete [History of the 16th century] (Budapest 2000),
9.
12
Letter from Johann Rudolf Schmid, imperial envoy, to the emperor in Vienna,
dated Constantinople, 24 Jan. 1642. StA HHStA Staatenabteilungen Trkei I.
Karton 116, Konv. 1, f. 1417, 29. duppl.; extract from letter of Johann Rudolf
56 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
forces in the east, the Ottoman political leadership must have been aware
that it could not afford a war in the western arena. Still, it did everything to
persuade the Habsburgs of the strength of its forces or to give an impres-
sion of their strength. Under such circumstances, it was potentially benefi-
cial for the Habsburgs to employ an experienced interpreter who saw
through the threats and who could give a realistic appraisal of the situation
and reveal the true message behind the flowery figures of speech that were
characteristic of Islam.
there was no training for diplomats, the victim was unaware that green, the
colour of the Prophet, was not to be worn by heathens.
The interpreters assisted the envoys not only in choosing the right
clothing, but also in navigating the complex system of Ottoman symbols,
which was so important during negotiations. Obviously, they could not
prevent every single faux pas. On 17 August 1616, Count Hermann Czer-
nin von Chudenic, the Habsburg envoy extraordinary, rode into Constanti-
nople bearing a brilliant white flag with an image of Christ crucified on
one side and a two-headed eagle on the other. We might consider this as-
sertion of his own religionand that of his emperorto have been a cou-
rageous act worthy of our respect, given that he was entering the capital
city of the worlds most powerful Muslim empire. Still, we know that
Czernin had considerable experience of Ottoman affairs (this was why he
had been appointed to head the legation), and so his action seems to have
been a deliberate diplomatic provocation.16 The reaction of the Ottoman
court was quick in coming: the highest official accompanying Czernin was
sentenced to death, while the envoy himself was imprisoned (albeit he was
soon released) and Christian inhabitants of the city were subjected to mul-
tiple attacks.17 (One should add that through his actions Czernin won great
respect for himself; he was re-dispatched to Constantinople as envoy ex-
traordinary in 1644.)
16
G. Wagner, sterreich und die Osmanen im Dreiigjhrigen Krieg. Hermann
Graf Czernins Grobotschaft nach Konstantinopel 1644/45, in Beitrge zur
Neueren Geschichte. Festschrift fr Hans Sturmberger zum 70. Geburtstag (Linz
1984), 325392.
17
Ibid., 343.
58 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
18
Ch. Turetschek, Die Trkenpolitik Ferdinands I. von 1529 bis 1532 (Vienna
1968), 18.
Dra Kerekes 59
19
StA HHStA Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 149, Konv. 1, f. 5r, 127r, etc.
20
StA HHStA Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 147, Konv. 2, f. 132v133r;
for more on the Oriental Trade Company, see D. Kerekes, A Keleti Kereskedelmi
Trsasg szerepe a konstantinpolyi (titkos) levelezsben [The role of the Oriental
Trade Company in (secret) correspondence in Constantinople], in Redite ad cor.
Tanulmnyok Sahin-Tth Pter emlkre, ed. by T. Oborni and L. Krsz (Budapest
2008), 291301.
60 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
21
The secret correspondents were representatives contracted by the Habsburg
court who provided Vienna with information on Ottoman activities in return for
money or other benefits. For more on this, see D. Kerekes, Was the 16th17th-
Century Habsburg Secret Correspondence a Secret Service? (forthcoming).
22
StA HHStA Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 162, Konv. 1, f. 97r.
23
Rothman, Interpreting Dragomans, 788.
24
StA HHStA Handschriftensammlung R 132 (Bhm 1020). Dispacci di Con-
stantinopoli 16881698 [hereafter: Bhm 1020], Band IX, f. 75 (Mar. 1692).
Dra Kerekes 61
the mufti of Buda in 1686.25 The mufti, having become aware that Otto-
man forces would struggle to retain control of Buda, had sent the letter
throughout the empire, calling on men to take up arms on behalf of Islam.
In 1692, the same interpreter cited a passage from Psalms when writing
about how the French and the Hungarian military leader Emmerich
Thkly (Prince of Transylvania) was conducting himself at the Porte (22
September25 October 1690): He who knows everything did what the
Psalm says: Convertatur dolor eorum in capita eorum et in vertices eorum
iniquitates eorum descendent.26 Their knowledge of classical Latin is ev-
idenced by their ability to quote from and reference the works of classical
Roman and Greek authors and by their use of Latin sayings and proverbs.
For instance, a document dating from 1684 reads as follows: With a sigh
the Sultan said (as did the Romans with Vare, Vare reddi mihi legiones
meas) that the grand vizier had lost in the first year the best and most care-
fully selected people that he had.27 The various sayings, phrases and quo-
tations were a part of their everyday lives even though they could not al-
ways remember them correctly, because in almost all cases the texts in-
cluded such phrases as per fas et nefas28 and ad quid agendum29 or homo
proponit Deus disponit30 and si vis pacem para bellum.31 In a letter written
in 1691, the interpreter reported on the worsening relationship between the
grand vizier, Fazil Mustafa, and the French envoy and Emmerich Thkly.
Fazil was said to have been so sad that he could do nothing but breathe
and sleep, because ex tristitia[m] dormiebat.32
The court in Vienna valued greatly the interpreters explanations of his-
torical events, geographical terms, Islamic law and Ottoman concepts. In
1688, the interpreter Giorgio Cleronome sent a long letter to the Habsburg
court with information on Belgrade and the castles and fortresses in its en-
virons; he wrote that he had once visited Belgrade with Luca Lelio, consul
to the Oriental Trade Company, that he had visited again with the perma-
25
sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Handschriften-, Autographen- und Nach-
lasssammlung [hereafter: NB-HAN], Cod. 6036, f. 605 (12 and 23 Aug. 1686).
26
Bhm 1020, Band IX, f. 42 (18 Feb. 1692). This should be: Convertetur dolor
eius in caput eius et in verticem ipsius iniquitas eius descendet (The evil he de-
signed for me will fall on him like an arrow).
27
NB-HAN Cod. 6034, f. 181 (28 Oct. and 23 Nov. 1684).
28
For instance, Esztergomi Fszkesegyhzi Knyvtr [Esztergom Archdiocesan
Library, hereafter: EFK], Ms. II. 303, f. 428v (27 Apr. and 5 May 1695).
29
For example, Bhm 1020, Band XIV, f. 63 (11 Mar. 1697); f. 173 (29 Oct.
1697).
30
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 458r (15 Dec. 1695).
31
Bhm 1020, Band XIV, f. 195 (24 Dec. 1697); Band XV, f. 5 (30 Jan. 1698).
32
Bhm 1020, Band VIII, f. 145 (22 Oct. and 16 Nov. 1691).
62 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
nent envoy Simon Reniger von Reningen in 1664, and that he was on
friendly terms with erban Cantacuzeno (Cantacuzino) and his brothers
Michai and Constantin. Judging by the contents of the letter, Cleronome
was clearly familiar with the Belgrade area and appreciated the strategic
importance of the castle. He also seems to have understood that in order to
retain the castle it was necessary to occupy and strengthen the border for-
tresses in the area. He knew that it would be worth establishing larger mu-
nitions stores in Eszk (Osijek), and he understood that after the occupa-
tion of Belgrade, Habsburg forces would have to march on Ptervrad (Pe-
trovaradin) from where it would be easier for them to advance into
Transylvania. His experiences as an interpreter for the Oriental Trade
Company had demonstrated to him Belgrades advantageous location for
commerce; it lay on the major trade routes and was even visited by mer-
chants from as far away as Isfahan. Cleronome could even describe in de-
tail how the Bosnians had become Muslims. He warned that Belgrade had
to be taken and held by Habsburg forces before a conquest of the territo-
ries of the Bosnian pasha might be considered. His Majesty would find it
easier than the Venetians to occupy this Kingdom of Croatia, for they
speak one language and anyway constitute a part of the Kingdom of Hun-
gary,33 wrote Cleronome, proving to us that he also knew the history of
the region.34 By making such accounts and descriptions, the interpreters
sought not only to aid analysis in Vienna but also to demonstrate to their
employer the extent of their knowledge (and thus the value of their ser-
vices).35
Evidently, we do not always need to look for such long and profound
lines of thought. Examining the transcultural role of the interpreters, we
may attribute the same importance to the notes and explanations (often in
brackets) which they placed after words and expressions that were unfa-
miliar or unknown to the Europeans. Such words often related to the struc-
ture and organisation of the Ottoman Empire, to its officials, the various
taxes, its military forces and so forth. Examples include kapici basi (a
33
NB-HAN Cod. 6038, f. 10591060 (Feb. 1688).
34
For the full letter, see NB-HAN Cod. 6038, f. 10331120.
35
The interpreters received an average starting salary of 100 florins per annum
(StA FHKA HKA RA Fasz. 187/B, f. 666r, 669r (21 Jan. 1662). In contrast, the
secret correspondents received as much as 1,000 florins (P. Meienberger, Johann
Rudolf Schmid zum Schwarzenhorn als kaiserlicher Resident in Konstantinopel in
den Jahren 16291643. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der diplomatischen
Beziehungen zwischen sterreich und der Trkei in der ersten Hlfte des 17.
Jahrhunderts (Bern 1973), 86).
Dra Kerekes 63
We even find instances where the writer describes terms used, not in the
Ottoman Empire, but in other territories ruled by the Sultan. For instance,
in 1696, when Tsar Peter I occupied Azov, the interpreter informed Vien-
na that in the following year the Russian ruler would doubtless advance
against z, because
z is a stronghold and the key to the Black Sea and towards the Dnieper,
because there are two crucial places whence the Cossacks can attack, one
of which was Azov on the Don estuary and the other is the said z, close
to the Dnieper.42
The main difference between the Habsburg and Ottoman courts lay in
the religious divide. For this very reason, it was particularly important for
the interpreters to be familiar with both religions (with their own Christian
denomination and with Islam). In this area too, they played a mediating
role. An example of their knowledge of religious law is a document pro-
duced in 1684, which states that the Sultans armies were on the march
because they wanted to please their Prophet who had commanded them in
36
NB-HAN Cod. 6034, f. 171 (18 Oct. 1684).
37
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 391v (25 May 1694).
38
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 392r (25 May 1694).
39
Bhm 1020, Band XIV, f. 7778 (15 Apr. 1697).
40
NB-HAN Cod. 6034, f. 157 (18 Oct. 1684).
41
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 397r (9 Aug. 1694). The other meaning of the word sharif is
also holy, but used as an adjective in the names of mosques and of certain
months, as well as to denote the Flag of the Prophet (as-Sinjaqu sh sharif).
42
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 486v (20 Oct. 1696).
64 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
the text of the Quran to keep on fighting against the enemies of the Mus-
lim faith until they beg for peace.43 The writer was clearly familiar with
the Quran, which does indeed state the following: And if they incline to
peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah.44 In 1695, mention is
made of the emirs, whereby the explanation is given that they are the only
ones entitled to wear a green turban, which means that they are the direct
descendants of their false Prophet.45
Vienna was doubtless also interested in explanations of everyday cus-
toms, foods and drinks. All of these were familiar to the interpreters, as
natives and inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire. But the interpreters were
also familiar with Christian customs, foods, beverages and so forth. They
were thus able to compare and contrast the two. In 1688, the author of a
document was writing of the major military campaigns and of those who
had been wounded, when he noted that Turkish soldiers were only admit-
ted to a hospital after an injury. For this reason, large hospitals were not
really necessary in the Sultans army because the soldiers were eating nu-
tritious food and would not fall illunlike the Habsburg troops.46 An in-
sight into the internal life of the Ottoman court is given in a passage dating
from 1694, which tells how the kizlar aga (dr s-sde agasi, the guard of
the harem) wanted to interfere more deeply in the affairs of state, but
thankfullythis could not happen and, indeed, even the kizlar aga could
stay in his post. The aga was lucky, the correspondent wrote, that they did
not do what had been done on previous occasions when a kizlar aga had
wanted to interfere in the affairs of the state without a leader, without
and without experience.47
43
NB-HAN Cod. 6034, f. 104 (2 Aug. 1684).
44
Quran 8:61. Sahih International translation, brackets in orig.
45
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 448v (5 Oct. 1695).
46
See E. Arnyi, Fertz betegsgek 16001650 [Infectious diseases, 16001650]
(Budapest 1911); T. T. Gyry, Adatok a morbus hungaricus trtnethez [Infor-
mation on the story of morbus hungaricus], Szzadok 34, 6 (1900), 534547.
47
EFK Ms. II. 303, f. 389r (10 May 1694).
Dra Kerekes 65
48
V. Weiss von Starkenfels, Die kaiserlich-knigliche orientalische Akademie zu
Wien, ihre Grndung, Fortbildung und gegenwrtige Einrichtung (Vienna 1839), 3.
49
See Czernins instructions (points 25 and 26) in J. von Hammer-Purgstall,
Khlesls, des Cardinals, Directors des geheimen Cabinetes Kaiser Mathias, Leben.
Mit der Sammlung von Khlesls Briefen und anderen Urkunden (Vienna 1850),
3:404.
50
Wagner, sterreich und die Osmanen, 336.
51
StA Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv, Hofkammerarchiv, Hoffinanz Ungarn
[hereafter: FHKA HKA HFU], Rote Nummer [hereafter: R. Nr.], 339, 1691. III, f.
105v (10 Jan. 1691).
52
Meienberger, Johann Rudolf Schmid, 95.
66 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
53
NB-HAN Cod. 8717, f. 101r.
54
Meienberger, Johann Rudolf Schmid, 95.
55
NB-HAN Cod. 8717, f. 103v.
56
StA FHKA HKA Hoffinanz [hereafter: HF], Protokollband 943. Exp. Jan.
1681, f. 11r; for more on the colleges and on Podest, see D. Kerekes, Az els
Keleti Nyelvek Kollgiuma BcsbenA csszri tolmcsok kpzse a 17. szzad
vgn [The first College of Oriental Languages in ViennaThe training of im-
perial interpreters at the end of the 17th century], in sterreichischungarische
Beziehungen auf dem Gebiet des Hochschulwesens. Osztrkmagyar felsoktatsi
kapcsolatok, ed. by Zs. Lengyel et al. (Szkesfehrvr and Budapest 2010), 93
107.
57
For more about them, see D. Kerekes, Csszri tolmcsok a magyarorszgi
visszafoglal hbork idejn [Imperial interpreters at the time of the reconquest
of Hungary], Szzadok 139, 5 (2005), 327368.
Dra Kerekes 67
Summary
Interpreters in the Ottoman Empire assisted visiting European diplomats
and those who stayed for longer periods. Throughout the period they acted
as mediators between the Muslim and Christian worlds, between Asia and
Europe, and between the Ottomans and the European rulers and peoples.
The envoys gave the interpreters numerous tasks requiring a relation-
ship of trust. Even so, as most of the interpreters were Ottoman subjects,
their loyalty was often questionable. To counter this problem, the Europe-
an countries launched their own training courses for interpreters, whereby
they initially trained loyal youths in Constantinople. Later on, apprentice
interpreters were first schooled in their own countries. Those who proved
suited to the task were then sent to Istanbul.
The interpreters had more than mere language skills. Living between
two different worlds, they were skilled in mediating between cultures and
imparted to the Europeans much knowledge about the east. Their letters
and reports are ethno-linguistic curiosities that not only provided Europe
with knowledge of Islamic religion, law, culture and cuisine, but also
compared and contrasted religious and cultural customs. Further, the inter-
58
StA FHKA HKA HF Protokollband 967, Exp. 7 Sept. 1686, f. 516v.
59
StA FHKA HKA HFU R. Nr. 310, 1686. IXX, f. 62rv (22 Apr. 1686).
60
StA FHKA HKA HFU R. Nr. 356, 1693. VI, f. 717v (22 June 1693).
68 Transimperial Mediators of Culture
61
D. Kerekes, Hd Kelet s Nyugat kztt. A kvetsgek s a tolmcsok szerepe a
keleti kultra eurpai kzvettsben [Bridge between east and west. The role of
the embassies and interpreters in the mediation of oriental culture in Europe]
(forthcoming).
62
StA KA HKR Protokollband 360, Reg. 27, Mar. 1680, f. 108r.
63
V. G. Lodi, Limmortalita del cavalier Marc Antonio Mamuca della Torre conte
del Sac. Rom. Imp. consigliere attuale di guerra di Sua M. Ces. descritta e
consecrata alla Sac. Ces. e Real Maesta di Leopoldo I. Augustissimo Imperatore
de Romani (Vienna 1701), F3.
THE DIPLOMACY AND INFORMATION
GATHERING OF THE PRINCIPALITY
OF TRANSYLVANIA (16001650)
GBOR KRMN
In the first half of the 1650s, the diplomatic contacts between the Princi-
pality of Transylvania and the Kingdom of Sweden were maintained in a
rather peculiar manner. In 16511652, a member of the Swedish State
Council, Baron Bengt Skytte (16141683), came to the principality. In
spite of the fact that he did not bring a letter of credence, various members
of the princely family were ready to enter into long and elaborate discus-
sions with him about Transylvanian foreign policy. They also mapped out
with him the opportunities of renewing co-operation between the two
countries, which, based on their common Protestant and anti-Habsburg
agenda, had taken place during the last phase of the Thirty Years War. In
his turn, Prince George Rkczi II (16481660, with interruptions) sent an
envoy to Stockholm in 1655. Constantin Schaums task was more complex
than just to visit King Charles X Gustavus (16541660): he was going to
continue his journey to the other Protestant powers of Western and North-
ern Europe to inform them about the princes interest in a renewed confes-
sional alliance. This is all the more surprising as George Rkczi II was
far from being a religious zealot; it is, in fact, Skyttes and Schaums con-
nection to the millenarist, radically Protestant circles around Jan Amos
Comenius that explains the clear confessional character of both missions.
Skytte came to Transylvania inspired by the visions about an upcoming
anti-Habsburg war distributed by the Moravian scholar, whereas Schaum
not only made a profound use of Comeniuss contacts in England, but also
discussed his instructions with the exiled bishop of the Bohemian Brethren
on his way to Sweden.1 Such interference into the foreign affairs of a
1
On Skyttes journey to Transylvania, see N. Runeby, Bengt Skytte, Comenius
och abdikationskrisen 1651 [Bengt Skytte, Comenius and the crisis of the abdica-
tion], Scandia 29 (1963), 360382; G. Krmn, Ksrlet a misztikus alap klpo-
litikra? Bengt Skytte tja a Rkcziakhoz 16511652 [An attempt for a foreign
70 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
country by outsider, non-state actors was, if not unseen, at least quite rare
in the 1650s; and what makes the case especially awkward is that the strict
confessional character of the missions does not seem to fit with the foreign
policy of George Rkczi II as it is currently understood.
Several earlier analysts of Schaums mission pointed out that it re-
mained without success as no military alliance on a confessional basis was
concluded between the prince of Transylvania and the rulers of the lands
visited.2 It was however quite likely that George Rkczi was not unhappy
with what Schaum brought back to him: information about the develop-
ments in the western part of Europe, and about the intentions of at least
some of the rulers there. Due to the specificities of the Transylvanian for-
eign policy administration, the princes sometimes had to rely on such unu-
sual measures to get first-hand information about the territories which
were potentially going to play an important part in the planning of their
policies. In the following, I will attempt to provide an overview of the
Transylvanian methods of foreign policy administration and information
gathering on the basis of the actual state of research, in which various
fields are only starting to be mapped. In this overview, I am going to con-
centrate on the most active period during the principalitys existence: the
half a century between the rule of Gabriel Bethlen (16131629) and
George Rkczi IIs first deposition in 1657.
Constantinople
The most important invention in the field of foreign policy in the early
modern period is traditionally found in the establishment of resident em-
policy on mystical grounds? The journey of Bengt Skytte to the Rkczis, 1651
1652], Aetas 23 (2008), 6582. On Schaums mission, see G. Krmn, Erdlyi kl-
politika a vesztfliai bke utn [Transylvanian foreign policy after the Peace of
Westphalia] (Budapest 2011), 354364; G. Murdock, Calvinism on the Frontier:
International Calvinism and the Reformed Church in Hungary and Transylvania
(Oxford 2000), 279280. Even if several recent studies have pointed out the role of
non-state actors in the formation of early modern international relations, this level
of interference is extraordinary in the mid-17th century. Cf. H. Schilling,
Konfessionalisierung und Staatsinteressen. Internationale Beziehungen 15591660
(Paderborn 2007) (Handbuch der Geschichte der Internationalen Beziehungen, 2),
100119; D. Riches, Protestant Cosmopolitanism and Diplomatic Culture: Bran-
denburg-Swedish Relations in the Seventeenth Century (Leiden 2013).
2
See for instance D. Angyal, Erdly politikai rintkezse Anglival [The politi-
cal contacts of Transylvania with England], Szzadok 34 (1900), 502503; Gy.
Kurucz, Die britische Diplomatie und Ungarn von 14. bis zum Ende des 18.
Jahrhunderts, Ungarn-Jahrbuch 24 (1998/1999), 55.
Gbor Krmn 71
3
See the classic work of G. Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (Baltimore 1955);
or, from the more recent titles, M. S. Anderson, The Rise of Modern Diplomacy
14501919 (London 1993), J. Black, A History of Diplomacy (London 2010), 43
84.
4
On the structure of the Transylvanian embassy in Constantinople, see V. Br,
Erdly kvetei a Portn [Transylvanian envoys at the Porte] (Kolozsvr 1921); G.
Mller, Die Trkenherrschaft in Siebenbrgen: Verfassungsrechtliches Verhltnis
Siebenbrgens zur Pforte 15411688 (Hermannstadt 1923), 7496; G. Krmn,
Sovereignty and Representation: Tributary States in the Seventeenth-Century
Diplomatic System of the Ottoman Empire, in The European Tributary States of
the Ottoman Empire in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed. by G. Krmn
and L. Kunevi (Leiden 2013), 155185.
72 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
5
Transylvanian resident envoys could usually hardly wait to leave the Ottoman
capital, see G. Krmn, tkozott Konstantinpoly: Trkkp Erdly 17. szzadi
portai kvetsgn [Damned Constantinople: The image of Turks at the 17th cen-
tury Transylvanian embassy at the Sublime Porte], in Portr s imzs. Politikai
propaganda s reprezentci a kora jkorban, ed. by N. G. Etnyi and I. Horn
(Budapest 2008), 2948. Nevertheless, some families even seem to have special-
ised themselves upon Ottoman issues, see K. Jak, A Szalnczyak (Egy fejezet az
erdlyi fejedelemsg keleti diplomcijnak trtnetbl) [The Szalnczys: A
chapter from the history of the eastern diplomacy of the Principality of Transylva-
nia], in Emlkknyv Imreh Istvn szletsnek nyolcvanadik vforduljra, ed. by
A. Kiss et al. (Kolozsvr 1999), 199210.
6
See the recent analyses of Bethlens Ottoman contacts: S. Papp, Bethlen Gbor,
a magyar kirlysg s a Porta [Gabriel Bethlen, the Hungarian royal title and the
Porte], Szzadok 145 (2011), 915974; id., Bethlen Gbor ismeretlen hadjrati
terve II. Ferdinnd s a katolikus Eurpa ellen [Gabriel Bethlens unknown plan
for a campaign against Ferdinand II and Catholic Europe], in Bethlen Gbor s
Eurpa, ed. by G. Krmn and K. Teszelszky (Budapest 2013), 103127; B.
Sudr, Iskender and Gbor Bethlen: The Pasha and the Prince, in Europe and the
Ottoman World: Exchanges and Conflicts, ed. by G. Krmn and R. G. Pun
(Istanbul 2013), 141169.
Gbor Krmn 73
bassy mostly relied on their regular source of information: the Ottoman in-
terpreters, the so-called dragomans.
As at any other diplomatic representative body in Constantinople, also
at the Transylvanian embassy, the function of these experts was not only
to provide linguistic mediation, but they also served as intermediaries in
political issues and sources of information from the court. During the first
half of the seventeenth century, the most important contact person for the
principalitys diplomats was Zlfikar Aga (before 15801659?), a Hungar-
ian renegade, who managed to maintain an unusually long career at the
Sublime Porte: he was the Portes expert not only for Transylvanian is-
sues, but also for most questions related to the north-eastern borders of the
empire for fifty years.7 The problem with the information received from
him and his colleagues was that they owed their loyalty to the Sublime
Porte, were paid by various powers and usually had their own political
agenda; thus, their reliability always remained questionable. Transylvanian
princes tried to overcome the problem of keeping secret their correspond-
ence with the Ottoman dignitaries, and of securing the translations au-
thenticity by training and employing interpreters of Transylvanian origin,
the so-called Turkish scribes. It was however only one of them, Jakab
Harsnyi Nagy (1615between 1679 and 1684) in the 1650s, who attempt-
ed to open the scope of his activities and mastermind an information net-
work larger than the one usually at the service of the Transylvanian em-
bassy.8
Finally yet importantly, we have to mention that Constantinople served
not only as a place for maintaining diplomatic contacts with the Sublime
7
G. Krmn, Translation at the Seventeenth-Century Transylvanian Embassy in
Constantinople, in Osmanischer Orient und Ostmitteleuropa, ed. by R. Born and
A. Puth (Stuttgart 2014), 253280; J. B. Szab and B. Sudr, Independens
fejedelem az Portn kvl: II. Rkczi Gyrgy oszmn kapcsolatai: Esettanulmny
az Erdlyi Fejedelemsg s az Oszmn Birodalom viszonynak trtnethez: 1.
rsz [Independent prince outside of the Porte: The Ottoman contacts of George
Rkczi II: Case study on the history of the contacts between the Principality of
Transylvania and the Ottoman Empire: Part 1], Szzadok 146 (2012), 10231024.
8
On the Turkish scribes in general, see Krmn, Translation. On Harsnyi: G.
Krmn, Egy kzp-eurpai odsszeia a 17. szzadban: Harsnyi Nagy Jakab
lete [A 17th-century Central European odyssey: The life of Jakab Harsnyi Nagy]
(Budapest 2013), 64103. Harsnyi managed to reach several Ottoman dignitaries
thanks to his excellent contacts with Mihnea, a Wallachian pretender at the Sub-
lime Porte, which was also a unique situation in the principalitys foreign policy,
see G. Krmn, The Networks of a Wallachian Pretender in Constantinople: The
Contacts of the Future Voivode Mihail Radu 16541657, in Europe and the Ot-
toman World, 119139.
74 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
Porte, but Transylvanian princes could also reach their western European
partners through their envoys placed there. In the 1620s, the English Sir
Thomas Roe, in the 1640s the French Jean De la Haye and in the 1650s
the English Thomas Bendyshe meant important contacts for the principali-
tys diplomats, but in this respect the key role was played by the Dutch
Cornelis Haga in the 1620s and 1630s: as an ambassador of high reputa-
tion, he could assist (or impede, after his hopes for an anti-Habsburg co-
operation with the princes seemed to vanish) the Transylvanian political
endeavours effectively.9
9
K. Benda, Diplomciai szervezet s diplomatk Erdlyben Bethlen Gbor kor-
ban [The institutions of diplomacy and diplomats in Transylvania in the age of
Gabriel Bethlen], Szzadok 125 (1981), 725730; Gy. Kurucz, Polish
Transylvanian Relations and English Diplomacy from the 16th to the mid-17th Cen-
tury, Ungarn-Jahrbuch 36 (2002/2003), 2528; A. Kellner, Strife for a Dream:
Sir Thomas Roes Case with Gabor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, Studia Uni-
versitatis Petru Maior: Series Historia 5 (2005), 4156; Krmn, Erdlyi klpoli-
tika, 360361; A. H. de Groot, Ottoman Empire and the Dutch Republic: A History
of the Earliest Diplomatic Relations 16101630 (Leiden and Istanbul 1978), 162
180; K. Teszelszky, Szenci Molnr Albert elvesztettnek hitt Igaz Valls portrja
(1606) avagy hollandflamandmagyar szellemi kapcsolatok a kora jkorban.
True Religion: A Lost Portrait by Albert Szenci Molnr (1606) or DutchFlemish
Hungarian Intellectual Relations in the Early Modern Period (Budapest 2014).
Generally on Constantinople as a diplomatic centre, see I. Hiller, Feind im
Frieden: Die Rolle des Osmanischen Reiches in der europischen Politik zur Zeit
des Westflischen Friedens, in Der Westflische Friede: Diplomatie, politische
Zsur, kulturelles Umfeld, Rezeptionsgeschichte, ed. by H. Duchhardt (Munich
1998), 393404.
Gbor Krmn 75
10
K. Jak, Aspects of the Hungarian Correspondence of Wallachian and Molda-
vian Voivodes in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, Colloquia. Journal of
Central European History 18 (2011), 196211; eadem, Budai Pter: Egy jszer
rtelmisgi plya elfutra a hanyatl erdlyi fejedelemsgben [Pter Budai: A
predecessor of a new type of the intellectuals career in the decaying Principality
of Transylvania], in Studii de istorie modern a Transilvaniei. Tanulmnyok Er-
dly jkori trtnelmrl: Omagiu profesorului / Magyari Andrs / emlkknyv,
ed. by J. Pl and E. Rsz-Fogarasi (Cluj-Napoca 2002), 132137; eadem, Magyar
secretariusok Moldva fejedelmi kancellrijban [Hungarian secretaries in the
princely chancelleries of Moldavia], in Emlkknyv Csetri Elek szletsnek nyolc-
vanadik vforduljra, ed. by J. Pl and G. Sipos (Kolozsvr 2004), 178194.
11
G. Krmn, Gyrgy Rkczi IIs Attempt to Establish a Local Power Base
among the Tributaries of the Ottoman Empire, 16531657, in Power and Influ-
ence in South-Eastern Europe 16th19th Century, ed. by M. Baramova et al. (Berlin
2013), 236243; Ion Srbu, Matei-vod Bsrabs auswrtige Beziehungen (Zur
Geschichte des europischen Orients) (Leipzig 1899), 5159. On the only embassy
(in 16291630) sent from Transylvania to Moscow in the period as a part of a larg-
er anti-Polish and anti-Catholic alliance plan, see B. F. Porshnev, Muscovy and
Sweden in the Thirty Years War (Cambridge 1995), 35, 7980; G. Krmn,
Gbor Bethlens Diplomats at the Protestant Courts of Europe, The Hungarian
Historical Review 2 (2013), 806808.
12
Srbu, Matei-vod Bsrabs auswrtige Beziehungen; Br, Erdly kvetei,
1821; K. Jak, Havasalflde s Moldva szerepe Erdly portai kapcsolataiban
[The role of Wallachia and Moldavia in Transylvanias contacts with the Porte], in
76 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
Poland-Lithuania
It is no surprise that the princes of Transylvania had no resident at the
court of their mighty northern neighbour since the laws of the Polish-
Lithuanian Commonwealth did not allow for this (the only exception in
practice being the papal nuncio).13 It is all the more significant, contrary to
the 1640s and 1650s when no sejm passed without a Transylvanian envoy,
that in the 1620s we find no trace of envoys sent to the regularly held as-
semblies of the twin countries estates. Although the animosity between
the Polish kings and the Transylvanian princes subsided for no more than
a few years in the 1650s, only to flare up again at the end of the decade, it
seems that by this time the legitimacy of the princes and their right to send
ambassadors was no longer questioned, unlike the period of Bethlens
rule.14
The information needs of the Transylvanian princes were supplied
through different channels. From the second half of the 1640s, there are
more and more data about the cordial contacts between the leading
Protestant circles in the Rzeczpospolita and the Transylvanian princes. The
most valuable political contact of the Rkczis was the Calvinist Lithuani-
an prince Janusz Radziwi (16121655): the regularly renewed contacts
assured a mighty promoter of the princely familys dreams concerning the
Polish royal crown. On the other hand, from the perspective of gathering
information, the Transylvanian elites contacts with the Socinian (antitrini-
tarian) group in Poland proved to be much more important. In the 1650s
Wadysaw Lubieniecki, a prominent member of this denomination, regu-
larly sent reports to George Rkczi II informing him about the most im-
portant developments in the Rzeczpospolita. Another small confessional
group, the Bohemian Brethren, also played an outstanding part of this in-
formation network: Comenius, after having left the Rkczi estates in
Hungary and returning to the Polish town of Leszno, continued to inform
his former employers about those political developments in the Polish-
Lithuanian Commonwealth which he considered the most important.
Schaum, after returning from his journey in 1656, also served as an intelli-
gence agent at the border town of Makovica, gathering information from
his co-religionists about the Rzeczpospolita.15
Vienna
It is perhaps the most surprising feature of the Transylvanian foreign poli-
cys structural characteristics that the princes did not have a resident envoy
at the court of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, who in their
quality as kings of Hungary were also neighbours of Transylvania. The
reason for this is not known: one could assume an Ottoman ban on their
tributaries having permanent representation at the court of their main ad-
versaries; however, this thesis is not supported by any direct data.16 An-
other possibility could be that the usually rather strained relationship be-
tween the king and the prince did not provide beneficial circumstances for
establishing a permanent embassy. It is also a question whether the Habs-
burg rulers, who were prone to maintain the fiction that Transylvania still
15
S. Gebei, Lengyel protestnsok I. s II. Rkczi Gyrgy szolglatban [Polish
Protestants in the service of George Rkczi I and II], in Szerencsnek elegyes
forgsa: II. Rkczi Gyrgy s kora, ed. by G. Krmn and A. P. Szab (Budapest
2009), 1323; Krmn, Erdlyi klpolitika, 348364; M. Blekastad, Comenius:
Versuch eines Umrisses von leben, Werk und Schicksal des Jan Amos Komensk
(Oslo and Prague 1969), 524549.
16
At one instance, we know that the kaimakam (the grand viziers deputy) re-
proached Gabriel Bethlen for having sent an envoy to Viennabut it is not clear
whether he was referring to problems related to the specific situation, or to a gen-
eral attitude of the Sublime Porte. Cf. P. Szab, Bethlen Gbor kvetjrsokkal
kapcsolatos filozfija s reprezentcija 1628 tjn [The philosophy of Gabriel
Bethlen concerning sending envoys and his representation around 1628], in Beth-
len Gbor s Eurpa, 183186.
78 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary and the princes only ruled there as
their representatives, would have welcomed a resident embassy, which in
any case could be seen as a symbol of sovereignty.17
It is nevertheless clear that apart from the extraordinary periods of wars
and peace negotiations, and following the successions of princes, the ex-
change of ad hoc envoys was also quite rare between the princes of Tran-
sylvania and the Holy Roman Emperors, and they also limited information
exchange to a minimum. The princes, mostly interested in Hungary from
among the various Habsburg lands, stayed instead in frequent contact with
the palatine, the most important representative of the kingdoms estates.
Apart from the short period of Palatine Pl Plffys mandate (16491653),
this did not imply a cordial relationship; in any case, Gabriel Bethlen, and
the succeeding princes from the Rkczi family had many confidants
among the estates of Hungary. The latter could also make use of their large
estates in territory of the kingdom and its administrative personnel. It was
their steward on the westernmost Rkczi estates of Hungary, Jns Med-
nynszky, who is documented to have visited Vienna regularly in the
1650s and provided his lords with detailed information from the court. He
was also the one who managed the princely familys contacts with their
supporters from the Catholic secular elite, the leading members of such
families as the Plffys, Ndasdys, or Zrnyiswhich was also a novelty
even compared to the 1640s, when Transylvanian princes found popularity
almost entirely among Protestants.18
17
The question needs further research. On the ever-changing status of Transylva-
nia towards the Kingdom of Hungary, see T. Oborni, Between Vienna and Con-
stantinople: Notes on the Legal Status of the Principality of Transylvania, in The
European Tributary States, 6789; G. Volkmer, Das Frstentum Siebenbrgen:
Aussenpolitik und vlkerrechtliche Stellung (Kronstadt and Heidelberg 2002).
18
K. Pter, A magyar romlsnak szzadban [In the century of Hungarian decay]
(Budapest 1975), 51103; A. Fundrkov, Egy kirlysgi politikus s az erdlyi
fejedelmi udvar a 17. szzad kzepn: Plffy Pl orszgbr s ndor erdlyi
kapcsolatai (16461653) [The contacts between a politician from the Kingdom of
Hungary and the princely court of Transylvania: The Transylvanian contacts of
Lord Chief Justice and Palatine Pl Plffy], Szzadok 142 (2008), 943966; L.
Nagy, Zrnyi s Erdly: A klt Zrnyi Mikls irodalmi s politikai kapcsolatai Er-
dllyel [Zrnyi and Transylvania: The literary and political contacts of the poet Mi-
kls Zrnyi with Transylvania] (Budapest 2003); G. Srkzi, lhrek s a valsg:
II. Rkczi Gyrgy lengyelorszgi hadjrata s Mednynszky Jns tevkenysge
Vitnydy Istvn leveleinek tkrben [Rumours and truth: The Polish campaign of
George Rkczi II and the activities of Jns Mednynszky as seen through the
correspondence of Istvn Vitnydy], in Szerencsnek elegyes forgsa, 325340;
Krmn, Erdlyi klpolitika, 201226, 269295.
Gbor Krmn 79
19
From the literature in languages of international circulation, see S. Szilgyi,
Gabriel Bethlen und die schwedische Diplomatie, Ungarische Revue 2 (1882),
457488; id., Georg Rkczy I. im 30 jhrigen Kriege, Ungarische Revue 3
(1883), 237260; id., Siebenbrgen und der Krieg im Nordosten, Ungarische
Revue 11 (1891), 442463; 12 (1892), 2444, 624643; M. Depner, Das
Frstentum Siebenbrgen im Kampf gegen Habsburg: Untersuchungen ber die
Politik Siebenbrgens whrend des Dreiigjhrigen Krieges (Stuttgart 1938); K.
Benda, Les relations diplomatiques entre la France et la Transylvanie, in Les
relations franco-autrichiennes sous Louis XIV: Sige de Vienne (1683): Colloque
propos du Tricentenaire du sige de Vienne 911 mars 1983, ed. by J. Brenger
(Saint Cyr 1983); J. Nouzille, Les relations entre la France et la Transylvanie
pendant la guerre de trente ans: La difficile recherche dune alliance de revers,
Revue Roumaine dHistoire 36 (1997), 173190; G. Krmn, The Hardship of
Being an Ottoman Tributary: Transylvania at the Peace Congress of Westphalia,
in Frieden und Konfliktmanagement in interkulturellen Rumen: Das Osmanische
Reich in Europa (16.18. Jahrhundert), ed. by N. Spannenberger and A.
Strohmeyer (Stuttgart 2013), 164183.
20
Krmn, Erdlyi klpolitika, 180181.
80 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
riod between the battle of White Mountain (1620) and the first years of
George Rkczi Is rule. Contrary to practices in this period, when most of
the princely envoys were foreigners, the renewed activities of the Transyl-
vanian princes from the mid-1640s were handled by noblemen of local
origin.21 Again, it was during the rule of George Rkczi II that the most
signs of systematic planning are found in the administration of foreign pol-
icy. On the one hand, the death of George Rkczi I and the succession of
the new prince were announced for the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire
through a specific envoyno other similar ceremonial embassy is known
from the principalitys seventeenth-century history. On the other hand, in
1655 Mednynszky took contact with the Swedish envoy in Vienna and in
the following years they continued to maintain a frequent correspondence,
informing each other about the political developments relevant for their
rulers. Such direct contact between diplomats of Transylvania and differ-
ent powers has only been known from Constantinople in the preceding
years.22 Both arrangements point towards a more elaborated system of for-
eign policy administration which maintains contacts to other powers with-
out agendas for imminent political co-operation.
The almost absolute lack of ad hoc envoys sent to countries beyond the
bordering ones between the early 1630s and the mid-1640s does not how-
ever mean that the princes would have been left without any information
concerning the developments in the western part of the continent. Apart
from the news from Constantinople, they could also rely on the corre-
spondence of their individual counsellors. The most important person from
this perspective was the professor of the Gyulafehrvr (Alba Iulia) acad-
emy, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld, who came to Transylvania upon the invi-
tation of Gabriel Bethlen in 1629 and had an important role in the political
as well as intellectual life of the principality until his death in 1655. His
surviving correspondence with members of the Rkczi family is full of
news from every part of Europe. During 16381639, he even took upon
himself to go to France in a diplomatic mission, combined with the more
academic task of searching for a replacement for his deceased colleague,
Johann Heinrich Alsted.23
21
On the diplomats, see Krmn, Gbor Bethlens Diplomats.
22
On Jnos Dniels mission, see Krmn, The Hardship, 175176. On the con-
nection with Kleihe, see G. Heckenast, Bcsi svd kvetjelentsek Magyaror-
szgrl, 16521662 [Swedish diplomatic reports from Vienna about Hungary],
Trtnelmi Szemle 26, 2 (1983), 205223.
23
N. Viskolcz, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld: Ein Professor als Vermittler zwischen
West und Ost an der siebenbrgischen Akademie in Weienburg, 16301655, in
Calvin und Reformiertentum in Ungarn und Siebenbrgen. Helvetisches
Gbor Krmn 81
Summary
There are two points I would like to highlight at the end of this short
summary. The first one concerns the developments in the structural part of
diplomacy in the forty years in question. Even if the principality had some
traditions of diplomatic contacts from the sixteenth century, these were cut
during the tumultuous years of the Long Turkish War and after; thus Ga-
briel Bethlen practically had to construct an entirely new network of di-
Bekenntnis, Ethnie und Politik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1918, ed. by M. Fata and
A. Schindling (Mnster 2010), 201214. The catalogue of the correspondence: N.
Viskolcz, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld (16051655) bibliogrfija. A Bisterfeld-
knyvtr [The bibliography of Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld. The Bisterfeld library]
(Budapest and Szeged 2003), 3070. His successor, the French-born Isaac Basire,
was not known for such a deep involvement in the principalitys political affairs;
however, some data suggests that he also maintained an international correspond-
ence, see Krmn, Egy kzp-eurpai odsszeia, 213214.
24
T. Kruppa I. Monok, Bornemisza Ferenc s Cseffei Lszl kvetjrsa az
eurpai udvarokban a pozsonyi bkekts utn (16271628) [The diplomatic mis-
sion of Ferenc Bornemisza and Lszl Cseffei at European courts after the Peace
of Pozsony], in Lymbus. Magyarsgtudomnyi Forrskzlemnyek 2009 (Budapest
2009), 714.
25
J. P. Vsrhelyi, Eszmei ramlatok s politika Szenci Molnr Albert letmvben
[Intellectual trends and politics in Albert Szenci Molnrs oeuvre] (Budapest
1985), 8488. See also her chapter in vol. 1 of this book (Albert Szenci Molnr
and the International Calvinist Network in the Early Seventeenth Century).
82 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
26
For an overview on Transylvanian foreign policy in the 16th century, see G. Bar-
ta, The First Period of the Principality of Transylvania (15261606), in History
of Transylvania, ed. by L. Makkai and A. Mcsy, vol. 1 (Boulder, CO 2001), 593
769; Volkmer, Das Frstentum Siebenbrgen, 62112.
27
K. Teszelszky, zenet az utaztskban: Diplomciai kapcsolatok Nmetalfld
s Magyarorszg kztt a Bocskai-felkels alatt [Message in the travel box: Dip-
lomatic contacts between the Netherlands and Hungary during the Bocskai insur-
rection], in Portr s imzs: Politikai propaganda s reprezentci a kora
jkorban, ed. by N. G. Etnyi and I. Horn (Budapest 2008), 127147; id., Bocskai
Istvn kvetnek iratai az eurpai politika tkrben [The documents of Stephen
Bocskais envoy in the mirror of European politics], in Sznlels s rejtzkds: A
kora jkori magyar politika szerepjtkai, ed. by N. G. Etnyi and I. Horn (Buda-
pest 2010), 143163; id., Szenci Molnr Albert.
28
Krmn, Gbor Bethlens diplomats; for more details on Zaklika, see G. K-
rmn, Klfldi diplomatk Bethlen Gbor szolglatban [Foreign diplomats in
the service of Gabriel Bethlen], in Bethlen Gbor s Eurpa, 145182. Cf. Benda,
Diplomciai szervezet.
Gbor Krmn 83
29
In the 1620s, Gabriel Bethlen sent several embassies to Venice, seeking on the
one hand alliance against the Habsburgs (with whom the Serenissima also had her
own conflicts), and on the other trade contacts. See L. vry, Bethlen Gbor
diplomciai sszekttetseirl. Tanulmny az Oklevltr Bethlen Gbor diplo-
mciai sszekttetseihez c. munkhoz [On the diplomatic contacts of Gabriel
Bethlen. Auxiliary study to the volume Collected documents for the diplomatic
contacts of Gabriel Bethlen] (Budapest 1888). From the 1630s, this line of Tran-
sylvanian foreign policy as good as disappeared.
30
Zs. Trcsnyi, Teleki Mihly (Erdly s a kurucmozgalom 1690-ig) [Mihly Tel-
eki. Transylvania and the Kuruc movement until 1690] (Budapest 1972). A charac-
teristic episode is the moment when Transylvanian counsellors discussed counter-
acting violent re-Catholicisation pressure in Habsburg Hungary in 1672. First the
plan to send a diplomat to the Protestant German rulers was dropped, later also the
initiative to write at least a letter to them. See Krmn, Egy kzp-eurpai
odsszeia, 190191.
84 The Diplomacy of the Principality of Transylvania
31
See the recent analyses about the electorates foreign policy: U. Kober, Eine
Karriere im Krieg: Graf Adam von Schwarzenberg und die kurbrandenburgische
Politik von 1619 bis 1641 (Berlin 2004); F. Mller, Kursachsen und der bhmische
Aufstand (Mnster 1997), 100116.
AN ITALIAN INFORMATION AGENT
IN THE HUNGARIAN THEATRE OF WAR:
LUIGI FERDINANDO MARSIGLI
BETWEEN VIENNA AND CONSTANTINOPLE
MNIKA F. MOLNR
1
The present study was prepared with the support of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences Bolyai Jnos research scholarship and the OTKA PD tender, no. 105020.
2
To this day, he is remembered mostly for his military achievements; a good ex-
ample of this is a recent volume of 16 studies published in Bologna, the greater
part of which are devoted to military history: La scienza delle Armi. Luigi Ferdi-
nando Marsili 16581730, ed. by Museo di P. Poggi (Bologna 2012).
3
The writer of the largest monograph on Marsigli deemed him unsuitable for dip-
lomatic work based on contemporary sources, who called him vehement, impa-
tient and unsubtle, i.e., he was better as a soldier and commander: J. Stoye,
Marsiglis Europe,16801730: The Life And Times of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli,
Soldier And Virtuoso (New Haven 1994), 29.
86 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
scripts, codices, maps, original documents and Roman Era remains. Mar-
sigli, as an intelligence agent, not only gathered information from all
quarters but, through knowledge acquired from his travels and activity as a
networker (intelligence capital), fared like a true entrepreneur on the con-
temporary European political scene.
At an international conference in Bologna in 2009,4 it was declared
some would say unpardonably destroying the legendthat the activities of
the graphoman Italian count should be placed in a different light: several
scholars suggested that the collector and disseminator of information was
a spy,5 or, if one prefers, a passionate intelligence agent, information col-
lector, systematiser and transmitter. It is at any rate true that Count Luigi
Ferdinando Marsigli had an extensive network of contacts not only in Ita-
ly, where he undertook intelligence services for the Venetian Republic and
the Papal State (to this day not adequately uncovered), but also at the
Viennese court, where he had been in the service of Leopold I (1640
1705) from 1682, carrying out important diplomatic missions besides his
military tasks. Later he was involved in the international scientific scene,
an active member of the republic of letters and a remarkably international
figure even by todays standards. His contacts were widespread not only in
the scientific world but also in the diplomatic, where, as we shall see,
through his experiences of HabsburgOttoman diplomacy, he played an
important role in the European transfer of culture.
Our fundamental source for the study of Marsiglis life and activities
was his own detailed autobiography.6 Marsigli, who loudly advocated his
principle of Nihil mihi, that is, nothing for me, crafted his message care-
fully, ensuring that posterity retained an image of his role in politics, the
significance of his person and the justification of his actions. This became
particularly important to him after 1703 when he was disgraced due to his
surrender of Castle Breisach on the Rhine and was forced to leave the
4
La politica, la scienza, le armi. Luigi Ferdinando Marsili e la costruzione della
frontiera dellImpero e dellEuropa, ed. by R. Gherardi (Bologna 2010).
5
In fact, this opinion had appeared earlier, cf. S. Bene, Acta Pacisbke a
muzulmnokkal. Luigi Ferdinando Marsili terve a karlcai bke iratainak ki-
adsra, Hadtrtnelmi Kzlemnyek 119, no. 2 (2006), 332, in Eng.: Acta Pacis
Peace with the Muslims: Luigi Ferdinando Marsiglis Plan for the Publication of
the Documents of the Karlowitz Peace Treaty, Camoenae Hungaricae 3 (2006),
113146.
6
L. F. Marsigli, Autobiografia di Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli messa in luce nel se-
condo centenario della morte di lui dal Comitato Marsiliano, ed. by E. Lovarini
(Bologna 1930).
Mnika F. Molnr 87
Italy
Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli came from a large though not particular-
ly wealthy aristocratic family and, like many of his Italian contemporaries,
he had several career opportunities before him: in the service of his city,
the Papal State (since his birthplace, Bologna, belonged to it), or some
other great Italian lord. Furthermore, he had the option of a career in the
church, in science, as well as the one Marsigli settled on, the chosen pro-
fession of several of his contemporaries and compatriots, foreign service,
chiefly Habsburg military service.9
Marsigli came across the Ottoman question in his youthful travels
across Italyhe claimed that the famed invincibility of the Ottomans had
fascinated him since early childhood10where he met all kinds of people
who had some sort of connection to the Ottomans. On a journey from
Rome to Naples, he met an English merchant who spent the greater por-
7
A. Gardi, Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli: come si organizza la propria memoria
storica, in La politica, la scienza, le armi, 237264; for the events at Breisach see
Stoye, Marsiglis Europe, 216252; M. Bussolari, Luigi Ferdinando Marsili e i
documenti sulla questione di Brisacco (thesis, University of Bologna, 19851986).
8
His manuscripts amount to 146 volumes (currently housed in the Bologna Uni-
versity Library Manuscript Collection as a separate series entitled Fondo Marsili
[hereafter: BUB FM]. L. Frati, Catalogo dei manoscritti di Marsigli conservati
nella Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna (Florence 1928). He preserved copies of
his own manuscripts in bound volumes, along with documents and letters he re-
ceived or collected during his lifetime.
9
E.g. Raimondo Montecuccoli, or the Bolognese Caprara familys sons.
10
From a very young age, I have enjoyed reading widely on the history of the
Turks, in which this nation was always portrayed as invincible. Thus was my de-
sire and will to get to know them born; L. F. Marsigli, Stato militare dellImpero
Ottomano, incremento e decremento del medesimo (The Hague and Amsterdam
1732), 3. For the Italian image of the Turks, cf. M. Soykut, Image of the Turk in
Italy: A History of the Other in Early Modern Europe, 14531683 (Berlin
2001).
88 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
tion of his time in Constantinople and Smyrna (now Izmir), and whom the
young Italian count, out of sheer curiosity, questioned extensively about
the Ottoman character. Then in Livorno he met the son of the then still liv-
ing Raimondo Montecuccoli (16091680).11
At this time, he formed his first scientific and political contacts, primar-
ily through his family connections. As his biographer, John Stoye, notes:
Significant events in his life, even at that time [his youthful years in Italy],
seem to have been meetings and conversations with men of letters who
were scientists and he was able to profit from one of the greatest civilising
merits of seventeenth-century Italy [] namely, the open character of in-
tellectual society.12
11
Gy. Herczeg, Lautobiografia di Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli e lUngheria, in
Venezia, Italia, Ungheria fra Arcadia e Illuminismo, ed. by B. Kpeczi and P.
Srkzy (Budapest 1982), 6583, at 66.
12
Stoye, Marsiglis Europe, 8.
13
Nel 77 con licenza di mio padre mi resi a Roma [] ebbi lonore di baciare il
piede della santit dInnocenzo XI, condottovi dellAmbaciador della mia patria, il
senator Pietro Melara, Herczeg, Lautobiografia, 4; M. G. Lippi, Vita di Papa
Innocenzo XI (Rome 1889).
14
For the Habsburg-friendly political line of the papal court, cf. G. Signorotto, Lo
Sqadrone volante. I cardinali liberi e la politica europea nella seconda met del
XVII secolo, in La Corte di Roma tra Cinque e Seicento teatro della politica
europea, ed. by G. Signorotto and M. A. Visceglia (Rome 1998), 93137.
15
Stoye, Marsiglis Europe, 54, 56, 66, 100. They reached an agreement, but at a
price: promising a piece of the territories recaptured from the Ottomans to the
popes nephew, Livio Odescalchi. The transaction was arranged by Marsigli, who
Mnika F. Molnr 89
Vienna
As is well known, during the reign of Emperor Leopold I (16401705),
Leopold and his cousin Louis XIV, the great European rivals of the age,
competed against each other relentlessly.17 At the same time, the struggle
of the Christian world against the ever-invading Ottomans continued. The
successful conclusion of the war on two fronts, against both the French
and the Ottomans, and the resulting consolidation of DanubianBalkan
lands recaptured from the Ottomans, turned the Habsburg Monarchy into a
real powerhouse.18 People of Italian descent occupied significant positions
in contemporary Europe, particularly in the Habsburg Empire, thanks to
their competence and openness, and since many of them did not find suit-
able positions at home. At the court of Leopold I, Italian was all but the of-
ficial language, since so many of his advisors were Italian. Leopold not
only spoke perfect Italian, but also repeatedly expressed his pleasure at
having the opportunity use it, since it always reminded him that he was
head of the (Holy) Roman Empire.19 Thus many people of Italian descent
lived at the emperors court; priests, monks, people of the church, histori-
ans and musicians.20 Italian military engineers had been arriving continu-
ously since the sixteenth century for the modernisation of the Hungarian
border fortress system, whilst both volunteers and imperial mercenaries,
sent reports to Rome from Srem, which were received by the banker Odescalchi,
alongside the title Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Cf. Manuscritti diversi
toccanti la seconda spedizione a Roma e maneggio per D. Livio Odescalchi con
scritture naturali e militari, vol. 4 (BUB FM Ms. 54).
16
P. Preto, I servizi segreti di Venezia. Spionaggio e controspionaggio ai tempi
della Serenissima (Milan [1994] 2004).
17
J. Duindam, Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europes Dynastic Rivals,
15501780 (Cambridge 2003); J. Brenger, An Attempted Rapprochement be-
tween France and the Emperor, in Louis XIV and Europe, ed. by R. Hatton (Lon-
don 1976), 133152; R. J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy,
15501700: An Interpretation (Oxford 1979).
18
J. Brenger, Lopold Ier (16401705), fondateur de la puissance austrichienne
(Paris 2004).
19
U. de Bin, Leopoldo I. Imperatore e la sua Corte nella letteratura italiana (Tri-
este 1910).
20
A. Wandruschka, sterreich und Italien im XVIII-ten Jahrhundert (Vienna
1963); J. M. Thiriet, Les Italiens Vienne sous le rgne de Lopold I (1655
1705), in La politica, la scienza, le armi, 3944.
90 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
21
It is worth mentioning Piccolomini and the Bolognese Caprara brothers, of
whom the youngest, Aeneas (16311701), achieved many military successes on
the battlefield in Hungary. F. Martelli, Generali italiani a Vienna tra scienza
nuova, empirismo e ideali assolutistici, in La politica, la scienza, le armi, 45100.
22
Montecuccoli was the author of numerous significant works on strategy and mil-
itary science. For the most recent literature on him cf. Raimondo Montecuccoli: te-
oria, pratica militare, politica e cultura nellEuropa des Seicento, ed. by A. Pini,
(Pavullo nel Frignano 2009); R. Gherardi and F. Martelli, La pace degli eserciti e
delleconomia: Montecuccoli e Marsili alla Corte di Vienna (Bologna 2009);
Raimondo Montecuccoli (16091680): Lettere, arte militare e scienze agli albori
dellEuropa moderna, Annuario (Accademia dUngheria in Roma, Istituto storico
Frakni) (20072008, 20082009), ed. by . Vgh, 411457.
23
P. Knya, Az eperjesi vrtrvnyszk, 1687 [The Preov Blood Tribunal, 1687]
(Eperjes and Budapest 1994).
24
L. Nagy, Rebellis barbrok s nagylelk hsk. Luigi Ferdinando Marsili
nzetei a Habsburg s az Oszmn Birodalomrl [Rebellious barbarians and gen-
erous heroes. Luigi Ferdinando Marsiglis views on the Habsburg and Ottoman
empires], Hadtrtnelmi Kzlemnyek 119, 2 (2006), 319; id., Hatrok, vndorok,
kmek. A magyarokrl s a romnokrl alkotott kp Luigi Ferdinando Marsili
rsaiban [Borders, wanderers, spies. The image of Hungarians and Romanians in
Luigi Ferdinando Marsiglis writings] (Budapest 2011), 213.
Mnika F. Molnr 91
25
I. Hiller, Titkos Levelezk Intzmnye [Institute of Secret Correspondents], in
R. Vrkonyi gnes emlkknyv szletsnek 70. vfordulja nnepre, ed. by P.
Tusor et al. (Budapest 1998), 204216; id., A Habsburg informtorhlzat
kiptse s mkdse az Oszmn Birodalomban [Construction and operation of a
Habsburg information network in the Ottoman Empire], in Informciramls a
magyar s trk vgvri rendszerben, ed. by T. Petercsk and M. Berecz (Eger
1999), 157169; D. Kerekes, Kmek Konstantinpolyban. A Habsburg infor-
mciszerzs szervezete s mkdse a magyarorszgi visszafoglal hbork
idejn (16831699) [Spies in Constantinople. The organisation and operation of
the Habsburg acquisition of information at the time of the wars of reoccupation in
Hungary, 16831699], Szzadok 141 (2007), 12171257.
26
G. goston, Birodalom s informci: Konstantinpoly, mint a korajkori
Eurpa informcis kzpontja [Empire and information: Constantinople, the hub
of information in the early modern period], in Az rtelem btorsga. Tanulmnyok
Perjs Gza emlkre, ed. by G. Hausner (Budapest 2005), 3160.
27
Ibid., 3536.
92 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
move around during his 11-month stay there. Civrani openly encouraged
and supported him (materially too) in his information gathering activities,
until he had the opportunity to know the ambassadors of other European
countries as well. Not long after his arrival, he got in touch with John
Finch, English ambassador to Constantinople, who had previously lived in
Italy for an extensive period. Finch helped Marsigli in his scientific, net-
working and intelligence activities and even provided him with some pro-
tection.28 Besides Finch, Marsigli also nurtured relationships with the fol-
lowing ambassadors: the Frenchman Gabriel Joseph de Lavergne, the Aus-
trian Johann Christoph von Kunitz and the Pole Samuel Proski. He
became acquainted with the Orthodox patriarch Iakovos, as well as the
Greek court interpreter Alexander Maurocordato,29 with whom he would
meet again several times during the HabsburgOttoman negotiations.
Since Marsigli was still very young at this time, the Ottomans perhaps did
not even suspect him, despite it being an open secret that the ambassadors
brought spies into the empire with them. He himself wrote of his first trip
to the Ottoman Empire:
Civrani provided him with an Italian interpreter, but he later found him-
self a reliable interpreter, Abraham Gabai, a Jew, from whom he learned a
little of the Ottoman-Turkish language31 and with whom he kept in touch
for twenty years.32 Through his Jewish contacts he also managed to whee-
28
S. Magnani, Il giovane Marsili tra scienza e politica: le lettere inedite da Cos-
tantinopoli, in La politica, la scienza, le armi, 224225.
29
N. Camariano, Alexandre Maurocordato, le Gran Dragoman. Son activit
diplomatique 16731709 (Thessaloniki 1970); A. Sturdza, LEurope Orientale et
le Role Historique des Maurocordato, 16601830 (Paris 1913).
30
Marsigli, Stato militare, Prologo, I.
31
He never mastered the language; he could not read Turkish and in all contact
with themwith the exception of a few basic communicational situationshe al-
ways relied on an interpreter.
32
stipendiando al mio servizio un Ebreo di nome Abram Gabai che trovai di tutta
fede, ed abilit per servirmi dinterprete; L. F. Marsigli, Lettera-prefazione al
catalogo dei manoscritti oriental, in Scritti inediti di Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli
Mnika F. Molnr 93
dle his way into Ottoman intellectual spheres that maintained relations
both with those Ottomans who were close to the sultan and Westerners. In
most cases Marsigli preferred to protect the identity of his sources, and no
doubt he had every reason to do so, but in his autobiography he mentions
by name Aga Hseyn, a tax collector in the capital, as well as two courti-
ers. Of the latter, one was the Venetian renegade Abdullah, who was en-
trusted with cutting Sultan Mehmed IVs nails and guarding his turbans,
and who took Marsigli into the sultans palace and the seraglio, naturally
with the exception of the harem. However, Marsigli did not only appear in
the higher echelons, he made acquaintances and talked with representa-
tives from all layers of society in the cosmopolitan city. He met Italian
prisoners, talked with fishermen on the Bosporus and Ottoman doctors, he
obtained information from a boatman in the service of the sultan on the
latest foreign policy of the Porte, from whom he learned that they were to
head west. Marsigli duly informed the Habsburg ambassador, who ignored
his information, upon which the young Italian count noted in disappoint-
ment and outrage that the monarch whose ambassadors are so unreliable is
certainly an unfortunate one.33 Of his scientist friends, he repeatedly men-
tioned the geographer Ebu Bekir,34 as well as the old Usseim Effendi,
whose nickname he also revealed: Millevirt (that is, polymath, homo
universalis). Otherwise known as Hseyn Hezarfen, he was a great help to
Marsigli in publicising the latest political and military situation of the Ot-
toman Empire, as well as briefing Marsigli on cultural issues and discuss-
ing science and literature with him.35 Hezarfen was amongst the first of the
raccolti e pubblicati nel II centenario della morte a cura del Comitato Marsiliano
(Bologna 1930), 176.
33
Marsigli, Autobiografia, 1924 (compatii la disgrazia del principe, di avere un
ministro che riposava su principii e notizie cos false).
34
Ebu Bekir bin Behrms most significant work (ed. by Dimaski) was the transla-
tion of Wilhelm and Joan Blaeus (father and son) work entitled Atlas Maior sive
cosmographia Blaviana qua solum salum Coelum accuratissime describuntur. The
Dutch ambassador Justinus Colyer made a gift of this grandiose map-of-the-world
series to Mehmed IV in 1668 during his sojourn in Edirne. The Ottoman geogra-
pher worked on the six-volume edition (also published as a nine-volume edition)
for ten years. Finally, besides translating, he delivered it to the sultan himself with
significant additions to the Islamic countries, primarily the areas occupied by the
Ottomans, under the title Nusretl-Islam ves srur fi tahriri Atlas Mayor. Marsig-
li was able to obtain this expensive map series during his second stint in Constan-
tinople (in 1691) at a great price from a renegade of Livorno, Mustafa, who was
head of the Imperial Mint.
35
Hezarfen Hseyn Efendi (16001678/79?). For more on his life, cf. H. H.
Efendi, Telhis l-beyan fi Kavanin-i Al-i Osman [Summary of declarations in the
94 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
laws of the House of Osman], ed. by Sevim Ilgrel (Ankara 1998), 48; H. Wurm,
Der Osmanische historiker Huseyn b. Cafer, genaut Hezarfen, und die Istanbuler
Gesellschaft in der zweiten Halfte des 17. Jahrhunderts (Freiburg 1971); M. F.
Molnr, Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli on the condition of the Turkish army in the
17th century, in Orientalista Nap 2000, ed. by . Birtalan and M. Yamaji (Buda-
pest 2001), 2735. Hezarfen Efendis work, entitled Telhis l-beyan fi Kavanin-i
Al-i Osmanwhich Marsigli also used in his major written work on the Otto-
mansis one of the most important Ottoman works on the organisational structure
of the Empire.
36
Ch. Schefer, Journal dAntoine Galland pendant son sjour lAmbassade de
France Costantinople (16721673), vol. 2 (Paris 1881); B. Lewis, I Musulmani
alla scoperta dellEuropa (Milano 1992), 159160.
37
L. F. Marsili, Ragguaglio della schiavit, ed. by B. Basile (Rome 1996).
38
Zlfikr Paann Viyana sefreti ve esreti (1099/11031688/1692). Cerde-i
takrrt-i Zlfikr efendi der kala-i Be [The legation and captivity of Zlfikar Pa-
sha in Vienna, 16881692. Memoirs of Zlfikar efendi in the fortress of Vienna],
ed. by M. Gler (Istanbul 2008).
39
sotto il finto carattere di segretario del re dInghliterra appresso il di lui ambas-
ciatore, Marsigli, Autobiografia, 131.
Mnika F. Molnr 95
40
Relazione del Marsigli a S. M. Cesarea dello stato della Corte Ottomana, della
sua milizia, detrattati fattisi sino a quel tempo intorno alla pace del 1691 (BUB
FM Ms. 55, cc. 228247). The fundamental data and conclusions of his later, ma-
jor work on the Ottomans can be found here.
41
Kerekes, Kmek Konstantinpolyban, 12271228.
42
L. Nagy, La frontiera, il buon governo a larmonia mondiale. L. F. Marsigli sul-
la frontiera della Transilvania, in La politica, la scienza, le armi, 189190.
43
Coke was the charg daffaires of the English Eastern Company. A. C. Wood,
A History of the Levant Company (Abingdon [1935, 1964] 2013), 252.
44
Coke from Constantinople, 7 June 1692. sterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-,
Hof- und Staatsarchiv [hereafter: StA HHStA] Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Kar-
ton 163, Konv. 1, f. 76r (sar gi chiarito collarrivo del sig.re Guariente della fal-
sit di quel rumore che lui et conte Marsigli fossero incarcerarti in una torre
profonda, mi maraviglio come si pu inventare sia spaccate bugie, senza il minimo
fondam[en]to).
96 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
At every meeting with both the Dutch and the English, I was at great pains
to show them every appropriate courtesy and conceal my hostility, for in-
stance, when they refused to inform me of any letters being sent, whilst I
45
Marsigli, Autobiografia, 161.
46
Stoye, Marsiglis Europe, 115.
47
Ho smenticato dirancora, doversi (96v) guardar Marsigli a non apparir alla
Porte Ottomana in figura di cesareo ministro, perche quando ci venisse scoperto
da Turchi, non solo essi triomfarebbero della sua qualificata presenza, il che si
pretende di scanzar in ogni modo dalla parte nostra, ma di pi questo potrebbe
recare a gli alleati nostri molti et inconvenienti sospetti. (StA HHStA
Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 161, Konv. 4). Thanks to Dra Kerekes for the
extract.
48
Stoye, Marsiglis Europe, 111.
Mnika F. Molnr 97
49
In ognIncontro tanto con Olandesi, che Inghlesi ho cercato ogni contrassegno
di vero rispetto verso loro evidente anche dir al mio privato essere. Ho dissimulati
tutti li torti mi facevano e massime nelli speditioni delle lettere senza avisarmi, e
prohibire me di mai farne senza loro saputa, e che obbedivo, perch le cause
urgenti alservitio dellAugustissimo Padrone mancavano. Li miei corrispondenti
mai venivano nella mia casa, perche conosciutimi sarebbero stati levati. StA
HHStA Staatskanzlei Trkei, Karton 160, f. 22.
50
Marsigli to the Emperor from Constantinople, 14 Apr. 1692: il francese sempre
con larco teso contro mi levatomi il comercio di lettere per opra dei stipendiati di
Cesare, come sentir dal Quarienti, da tanti solecitata la mia partenza di qui per
tante maniere si volse spaventarmi, perch non ritornassi pi qui, li Venetiani qui
sono di me gelosi, Ragusa scala per le lettere delFrancese et Venetiani,
Transylvani per chi vole et per me mai lettere, non posso permettere alli miei
corrispondenti di mai venire in mia casa, perche subbito sarebbero levati (StA
HHStA Staatenabteilungen Trkei I. Karton 163, Konv. 3, f. 36r).
51
For the operations of Dutch and English ambassadors in the East, cf. C. Hey-
wood, An Undiplomatic Anglo-Dutch Dispute at the Porte: The Quarrel at Edirne
between Coenraad Van Heemskerck and Lord Paget (1693), in Friends and Ri-
vals in the East: Studies in Anglo-Dutch Relations in the Levant from the Seven-
teenth to the Early Nineteenth Century, ed. by A. Hamilton et al. (Leiden 2000),
5994. In the first half of the 17th century, Habsburg and Dutch ambassadors were
at a disadvantage compared with their Venetian, French and English counterparts,
who had a lot of political experience, an extensive network of contacts and a well-
functioning intelligence network. Cf. Kerekes, Kmek Kontantinpolyban.
98 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
Moldavia, Wallachia
While commuting between Constantinople and Vienna, Marsigli travelled
through Wallachia several times. The princely court in Bucharest, with its
secretariesa whole chain of which took part in the transmission of dip-
lomatic correspondencewas also a hub of information exchange at the
time, since letters reached Vienna more quickly and securely from here
than via the ConstantinopleRagusaFiumeVenice route. Under
Prince Constantin Brancoveanu (16881714), Constantin Cantacuzino, the
exceptionally talented statesman and historian, ran the intelligence gather-
ing, distributing and forwarding operation. Information and correspon-
dence were disseminated not only to Vienna, but also to Constantinople,
whilst maintaining good relations with Transylvania. The Greek Cantacuz-
ino family in Constantinople had serious connections not only in the Medi-
terranean area but also in Transylvania. Furthermore, they were related to
three of the most important interpreters and spies from Vienna in the Ot-
toman Empire, amongst them the leader of the entire Viennese spy ring,
the previously-mentioned MarcAntonio Mamucca della Torre.53 Marsigli,
as secretary to the English ambassador, and as an imperial officer, had a
good relationship with Brancoveanu, the latter claiming that he would like
to be a subject of the emperor.54 Besides this, he gathered every possible
piece of intelligence from the court of the Wallachian voivode and carried
out the military engineering tasks entrusted to him.
Hungary, Transylvania
Since the fighting continued following the liberation of Buda from the Ot-
tomans in 1686,55 the interests of the Habsburg Empire and Hungary com-
52
Following the 1737 Russian publication, a further three editions appeared: in
Turkish (Ankara 1934), a facsimile edition with an introduction and an index (Graz
1972), as well as a Hungarian translation by the author, with her foreword, notes
and index (Budapest 2007).
53
Nagy, Hatrok, vndorok, kmek, 3335.
54
Relazione a Sacra Maest Cesarea di tutto il successo al Marsili nel primo vi-
aggio che fece a Constantinopoli, per i negoziati della pace del 1691 (BUB FM
Ms. 55, f. 139146).
55
For more on the battles following the Ottoman attack on Vienna (1683), cf. E.
Eickhoff, Venedig, Wien und die Osmanen. Umbruch in Sdosteuropa 16451700
Mnika F. Molnr 99
in which the Italian fire master, who had helped out during the siege of
Buda, recorded, under the title Il governo dellOngaria. Lanno 1701, how
Hungary could be governed in accordance with Habsburg interests.59 An-
other work of a different genre and nature can be classified alongside these
ambitious proposals: Luigi Ferdinando Marsiglis reports to the emperor
following the 1699 Karlowitz peace treaty,60 that is, the reports of the su-
pervisor of the demarcation of the border between the Ottoman and Habs-
burg empires.61 In these reports the Italian imperial officer, besides de-
scribing practical implementations for the new frontier and negotiations
with the Ottomansbased on tradition, but in the spirit of modernisa-
tionmakes several recommendations to the emperor regarding the ar-
rangements of the recaptured territories.62
59
Angelo Gabriele recommended the centralisation of the administration of the
country: the creation of a Court Council and Hungarian Council, the restriction of
the authority of the palatine, as well as political, economic and military reforms
(frequently transferred commanders, removing the right to aristocratic insurrec-
tion) and the complete reorganisation of the judicial system. He wanted to create a
powerful army, consisting of foreigners, to deal with uprisings. Cf. Tzes Gbor
emlkirata Magyarorszg kormnyzsrl [The memoirs of Gbor Tzes on the
governance of Hungary], Trtnelmi Tr, ser. 2, 1 (1900), 219263; A. Szntay,
Knyvtrosok s trtnetrk. Angelo Gabriele kormnyzati tervezettl II. Jzsef
reformjaiig [Librarians and historians. From Angelo Gabrieles draft proposal to
Joseph IIs reforms], Trtnelmi Szemle 38, 1 (1996), 4561.
60
It was signed by Emperor Leopold I, King of Hungary, and the Ottoman Sultan
Mustafa II on 26 Jan. 1699, to last for the ensuing 25 years. See M. F. Molnr,
Der Friede von Karlowitz und das Osmanische Reich, in Frieden und
Konfliktmanagement in interkulturellen Rumen. Das Osmanische Reich und die
Habsburgmonarchie in der Frhen Neuzeit, ed. by A. Strohmeyer and N.
Spannenberger (Stuttgart 2013), 197220.
61
Relazioni dei confini della Croazia, e della Transilvania a Sua Maest Cesarea
(16991701) (BUB FM Ms. 5960). Published: L. F. Marsili, Relazioni dei confini
della Croazia e della Transilvania a sua Maest Cesarea (16991701), vols. 12,
ed. by R. Gherardi (Modena 1986); For responses to these from the emperor and
the Hofkriegsrat in Vienna: Plenipotenza ed istruzione Cesarea per la
commissione dei confini con i rescritti pure Cesarei riportati nel stabilimento de
medesimi; Lettere del Consiglio di guerra ricevute nella divisone deConfini della
Schiavonia e Croazia (BUB FM Ms. 62).
62
M. F. Molnr, Modernizcis tervezetek Magyarorszgon a XVIIXVIII.
szzad forduljn. Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli grf reformjavaslatai [Moderni-
sation proposals in Hungary at the turn of the 18th century. Reform proposals of
Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli], in Tradci s modernizci a XVIIIXX.
szzadban, ed. by E. Bodnr and G. Demeter (Budapest 2008), 93102.
Mnika F. Molnr 101
63
For valuable literature on border demarcation, cf. R. Gherardi, Scienza e gov-
erno della frontiera: il problema dei confini balcanici e danubiani nella pace di
Carlowitz, Il pensiero politico 32, 3 (1999), 323351; M. F. Molnr, Karlofa
antlamasndan sonra Osmanl-Habsburg snr (16991701) [Ottoman-Habsburg
frontier after the treaty of Carlowitz], in Osmanl I. Siyaset, ed. by G. Eren (Ankara
1999), 472479; eadem, Il Triplice Confine. Delimitazione del confine veneto
turcoasburgico dopo il trattato di Carlowitz (1699), in I Turchi, gli Asburgo e
lAdriatico, ed. by G. Nmeth and A. Papo (Trieste 2007), 163171; eadem, L. F.
Marsili e gli ottomani. La frontiera asburgico-ottomana dopo la pace di Carlowitz,
in La politica, la scienza, le armi, 147172; S. Bene, Questions of the New Bal-
can Settlement after 1699: L. F. Marsili and Local Traditions, in ibid., 199216;
Nagy, La frontiera, il buon governo, 173198.
64
For detailed descriptions of his difficulties at the peace conference and the
Viennese court, cf. Marsigli, Autobiografia, 199208; and R. Gherardi, Potere e
costituzione a Vienna fra Sei e Settecento (Bologna 1980), 4957. For the Latin
text of Marsiglis appointment, cf. BUB FM Ms. 62.
65
M. F. Molnr, Trgyalsi technikk s hatalmi jtszmk. A Habsburg s az
Oszmn Birodalom kztti hatr meghzsa a karlcai bkt kveten [Negotia-
tion techniques and power plays. Drawing a border between the Habsburg and Ot-
toman empires following the peace treaty of Karlowitz], Szzadok 140, 6 (2006),
14751502.
102 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
66
Progetto per lesecuzione deConfini accordati fra ambi glImperi Cesareo ed
Ottomano neTrattati di Pace Carloviz Dato li 29. novembre 1699 (BUB FM Ms.
58).
67
Marsigli prepared a summary volume of the whole thing: Acta executionis pacis
(BUB FM Ms. 16), his aim in publishing it being to preserve the memory of this
glorious period for posterity. Cf. S. Bene, Acta Pacis.
68
Lettere Turche, con la traduzione, in Commissione deConfini, vol. 15 (BUB
FM Ms. 65).
69
D. A. Andrs, Trkpek a flhold rnykbl [Maps from the shadow of the
Crescent] (DVD, Budapest 2005).
70
an intellectual of encyclopaedic education and knowledge, a poet, scholar,
printer, historian, the unifier of the Croatian literary language, Bene, Questions
of the New Balcan Settlement, 199; cf. id., Illyria or What You Will: Luigi Fer-
dinando Marsigli and Pavao Ritter Vitezovis Mapping of the Borderlands Re-
captured from the Ottomans, in Whose Love of Which Country? Composite States,
National Histories and Patriotic Discourses in Early Modern East Central Europe,
ed. by B. Trencsnyi and M. Zszkaliczky (Leiden 2010), 351403.
Mnika F. Molnr 103
Ottoman Empire (in the territory of the Banat of Temesvr). The Transyl-
vanian delegation, sent in to help, had no written documents whatsoever
on the previous borders.71 Later, in order to clarify the situation, Marsigli
made a map, on which he attempted to indicate the changing borders of
the principality over time.72 He called upon another imperial military en-
gineer and mapmaker, also experienced in Transylvanian geopolitical is-
sues, Visconti Morandi, with whom he had worked previously. He also
used several interpreters, themselves conducting negotiations with the Ot-
tomans as commissioners of the border demarcation delegation, who
played a part in translating letters from the Ottoman side and in transacting
personal meetings between the two parties.73
Marsigli collected several volumes of material on Hungary and the
whole Carpathian Basin, partly recording his own experiences, partly
drawing on local sources.74 In fact, he had the opportunity to publish his
71
Finally, he managed to procure a report from Istvn Nalczy, who was a member
of the Transylvanian delegation sent out to help demarcate the border, which dis-
cussed the governance of Transylvania, its borders and the habits of its residents:
tanto sul governo e i confini, quanto su luso e costume degli abitanti (Marsili,
Relazioni dei confini, 400).
72
Mappa Geographica, limites, Transilvaniam inter et Banatus Temesvariensem,
qui, juxta Pacis Tabulas, priores antiqui esse debent, patuendas ostendens (BUB
FM Ms. 49, f. 34r).
73
Since Marsigli was never entirely satisfied with the young Luca[s Franz] Ja-
gelskys work, his later letters were all translated by another interpreter, Alvise
Wolde. Jagelsky learned the Eastern languages in the Viennese school of Johann
Baptist Podest, formerly an interpreter in Constantinople, and he had belonged to
a group of trainee interpreters to the War Council since 1693. Due to Woldes ex-
ceptional linguistic skills and his famous relative MarcAntonio Mamucca della
Torre, he joined the official service of the War Council and the emperor at the
same time as Michele Tallman.
74
Cf. E. Veress, A bolognai Marsigli iratok magyar vonatkozsai [Implications of
Marsiglis Bolognaise papers for Hungary] (Budapest 1906); but to name a few
examples: Notitie geografiche e genealogiche dellUngheria raccolte dal Generale
Co. Marsili (BUB FM Ms. 28); Descrittione naturale, civile e militare delle Misie,
Dacie e Illirico libri quattordici (BUB FM Ms. 108); Epitome della ribellione
dellUngheria con annesso il Prodromo del Protocollo demoderni confini Cesarei
Ottomanici (BUB FM Ms. 70, fasc.10); Primo Abozzo del compendio storico
dellUngaria per servire dintroduzione al trattato: Acta Executionis Pacis fatto
dal generale co(lonello) Marsili (BUB FM Ms. 117; published: L. F. Marsili, A
Magyar Kirlysg trtnetnek kivonata [An extract of the history of the Kingdom
of Hungary], trans. by L. Nagy (Mriabesny and Gdll 2009); La popolazione
di Transilvania composta di varie nationi, di diverse lingue, religioni, usi e vestiti
104 An Italian Information Agent in the Hungarian Theatre of War
Summary
Marsigli, as we have seen, had an extensive network of contacts, and he
used this personal network to gather and forward intelligence primarily on
the Ottomans, but also the entire Balkan region and Hungary. He was dif-
ferent from his Italian contemporaries, who were Habsburg mercenaries,
in that he always had the interests of Vienna in mind, though this only ap-
pears indirectly in his own memoirs, since his most important works in
this respect appeared after his ignominious departure from the Habsburg
army. From this perspective, naturally the Ottoman Empire is the enemy
of Christianity and the representative of diversity to him. Despite the fact
that he was deeply preoccupied with the possibility of the integration of
the virtually clichd rebellious Hungarians into the empire, Hungary as a
factor did not play an independent role in his thinking. This principle was
somewhat altered by his personal ties, especially the fact that he had much
more subtle cultural knowledge and a more multilateral information net-
work than his contemporaries, since he had wide-ranging experience of the
Ottomans and the entire Carpathian Basin. Though he did not belong to
the paid spy network of the Habsburgs operating within the Ottoman Em-
pire, as a professional soldier in the Habsburg army, and a secret, or offi-
cial, diplomat, he was able to address his letters, reports, notes and rec-
ommendations directly to the narrow circle of policy makers. His data was
collected with scholarly erudition and served the military and geopolitical
interests of the Habsburg Empire and the expansion efforts of the
Viennese court.
(BUB FM Ms. 15); Discorso intorno alla libreria famosa di Buda (BUB FM Ms.
85, fasc. F).
75
Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus, observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, hy-
drographicis, historicis, physicis perlustratus, vols. 16 (The Hague and Amster-
dam 1726). For the facsimile publication and translation of the first volume of the
work known as Duna-monogrfia [Danube monograph], cf. A. A. Dek, A Duna
flfedezse [The discovery of the Danube] (Budapest 2004).
76
Cf. Nagy, Hatrok, vndorok, kmek.
Mnika F. Molnr 105
In Marsiglis case it is clear that, beyond the rhetoric and imperial prop-
aganda, the policies of the Papal State, the Venetian Republic and the
Habsburg Empire were driven by a strong pragmatism. If we consider the
cultural aspects of his diplomatic activities, Marsigli was not unsuccessful
in his highly problematic relationship with the Ottomans: his intelligence
gathering trips were a success, even if his diplomatic missions were not
always so, due to the given political situation. His most important and
most difficult mandate was the demarcation of the border, and this was the
height of Count Marsiglis career and service to the Habsburgs. The Italian
expert enjoyed full imperial confidence and through this commission was
able to combine all his previous activities: gathering intelligence, diplo-
matic and political work and scientific data collection.
II.
TNDE LENGYEL
The study was completed in the framework of the VEGA 2/0063/12 project.
1
. S. Lauter, A Palatinus Regni Hungariae a 17. szzadban [Palatinus Regni
Hungariae in the 17th century], in Perleked vszzadok. Tanulmnyok Fr Lajos
trtnsz 60. szletsnapjra, ed. by I. Horn (Budapest 1993), 215216.
110 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
one of the most ancestral, his progenitors were endowed with exceptional
faculties and talents. At the beginning of their highly exceptional career,
they were established at Betlenfalva (Betlanovce) in Szepes County, and
in all but two centuries, from the 1420s to the first third of the seventeenth
century, they made their way from among the ten-spearmen nobility of
Szepes to full entry into the Hungarian aristocracywith a successful civil
and entrepreneurial digression. During their civil period, they were en-
gaged in long-distance trade, especially in highly profitable metal trade,
paving the way for mining and metallurgy. They advanced through Lcse
(Levoa) and Cracow to Augsburg, where they built a business relation-
ship and then family ties with the rich Fuggers. They invested some part of
the capital accumulated through trade into estates, becoming wealthy
landowners in Hungary by the mid-sixteenth century. They used their con-
nections, their kinships extending throughout Central Europe, and their
riches to achieve what no other family was capable of within the Hungari-
an aristocracy. In four generations, that is, within a century, they gave a
royal governor (Elek I) and two palatines (Gyrgy and Szaniszl III) to the
Hungarian state.2
Gyrgy Thurz reached the peak of his political career at the national
assembly held in Pressburg in December 1609. Just as other palatines in
the seventeenth century, he had a secure family background, wealth and
fortune, as well as authority in politics and warfare. The economic back-
ground for his career was established by Elek Thurz (14901543), lord
chief justice and later royal governor, who took care of the orphaned
Ferenc Thurz (Gyrgys father) and initiated a secure ecclesiastic career
for him. Ferenc was either six or 16 years old when he was granted by
Queen Mary of Hungaryobviously on recommendation by the powerful
Elekthe prebend of Balzs Paksy, bishop of Gyr, fallen in the battle of
Mohcs.3 But this was only the beginning: Elek succeeded in further en-
riching the family via his orphaned nephew as well, and Ferenc Thurz
kept moving up within the ecclesiastic hierarchy. Because of his excellent
2
For more details see G. Plffy, Rod Thurzovcov a jeho miesto v aristokracii
Uhorskho krovstva [The Thurz family in the aristocracy of the Kingdom of
Hungary], in Thurzovci a ich historick vznam, ed. by T. Lengyelov (Bratislava
2012), 11; M. Skladan, Hospodrsky vzostup Thurzovcov [The economic rise
of the Thurz], in Thurzovci, 2730.
3
At that time, the endowment was not managed to be taken into actual possession;
in respect to Ferenc Thurz (and his date of birth), as a most recent reference, see
L. Gecsnyi, Tajomn Thurzo. Frantiek Thurzo, predseda Uhorskej a Dvorskej
komory (15491563) [The mysterious Thurz. Ferenc Thurz, governor of the
Hungarian and Court Treasuries], in Thurzovci, 5574, here 57.
Tnde Lengyel 111
humanist erudition acquired in Italy, and his talent, he was first appointed
prefect of the Hungarian Treasury and then promoted to preside as the on-
ly person from Hungary in the Court Treasury of Vienna. Thereby the cen-
tral financial administration of the Habsburgs also fell under the Thurzs
influence, and Ferenc seized this opportunity to increase the wealth of his
family.
The year 1556 brought about major changes in the life of Ferenc
Thurz. As the family faced the danger of extinction and there was no oth-
er male of appropriate age who could be expected to have descendants, he
resigned from his ecclesiastic career and married Borbla Kosztka on 14
June 1556. Although Thurz obtained the rva (Orava) estate through his
wife, the main aim of the marriage failed to be accomplished. After the
early death of his young wife, Thurz, in his forties, married again on 26
June 1562; this time, Katalin, the 14-year-old daughter of the famous Mi-
kls Zrnyi, former ban of Croatia and captain of Szigetvr. This marriage
fulfilled its intention and resulted in five children: three daughters and two
sons, only the elder of whichGyrgyreached adulthood.4 He was six
years old when his father died, who bequeathed to him the fruits of the ac-
quired wealth of many years. His finances were managed by his mother
and her second husband, Imre Forgch, and also by his guardians. As it
frequently happened in similar cases, a feud broke out between Katalin
Zrnyi and the primary guardian, Szaniszl Thurz II, count of Szepes, af-
ter Katalin remarried. As a result, the estate was managed by the royal
treasury until Gyrgy Thurz came of age.5
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gyrgy Thurz did not go to uni-
versities abroad: he was educated by private tutors at home. Presumably
several people were involved in his education, but only one of them is
known by name: Kristf Ecchard, of Saxon origin, a master of liberal arts
and a physician, was the individual from whom Thurz received his
broadminded, intelligent, religious and Christian education, even compa-
rable to that of princes childrenat least in the judgment of the Eszter-
gom chapter.6 He recalled his stepfather, Imre Forgch, with good memo-
ries; their relationship was free from conflict. At the age of 17, Thurz
4
In respect to the genealogy, see Genealogiai feljegyzsek [Genealogy records],
Trtnelmi Tr (1884), 777782; H. Saktorov, Prspevok ku genealgii rodiny
Turzo [Addenda to the genealogy of the Thurz family], Biografick tdie 32
(2007), 175186.
5
M. Kubinyi, Thurz GyrgyTrtnelmi bevezets [Gyrgy ThurzA his-
torical introduction], in Bethlenfalvi grf Thurz Gyrgy levelei nejhez Czobor-
Szent-Mihlyi Czobor Erzsbethez, ed. by E. Zichy (Budapest 1876), v.
6
Ibid., i.
112 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
7
G. Plffy, A magyar nemessg bcsi integrcijnak sznterei a 1617.
szzadban [Scenes of the integration in Vienna of the Hungarian nobility in the
16th and 17th centuries], in Tanulmnyok Szakly Ferenc emlkre, ed. by P. Fodor
et al. (Budapest 2002), 321322; cf. id., Der Wiener Hof und die ungarischen
Stnde im 16. Jahrhundert, Mitteilungen des Instituts fr sterreichische
Geschichtsforschung 109, 34 (2001), 346381.
8
R. Marsina and M. Kuk, Urbre feudlnych panstiev I. [Urbariums of feudal
estates] (Bratislava 1959), 153231.
Tnde Lengyel 113
monarchs revenues from Hungary.9 Not only did Tokaj provide for the
wine consumption of the palatinal court, but also yielded relatively high
revenues from the wine trade. The palatine made a profit not only from his
own vineyards, but also from the ninths collected and from the tenths
leased from the bishop of Eger.
The market town of Nagybiccse in Trencsn County came to be the res-
idency of the rva-Biccse line of the Thurz family and the main seat of
the palatine. The early history of the Biccse demesne featured frequent
changes of ownership; it was only owned for a long time by the Nyitra
episcopate. Thus it is not a surprise that Ferenc Thurzas bishop of
Nyitra (Nitra) and head of the treasurytook notice of it and after pro-
longed negotiations purchased it together with the Hrics (Hriov) domain
in 1563. The complex was not large, consisting of only 21 villages inhab-
ited by approximately 500 families in the late sixteenth century. However,
the surroundings were picturesque, so Ferenc Thurz decided to build a
comfortable and safe home for his young wife and descendants.10 During
her marriage to her second husband, Imre Forgch, Katalin Zrnyi lived in
the Biccse castle, so the building ensured comfort and safety for the aristo-
cratic family. When Gyrgy Thurz entered into his inheritance including
the castle after his mothers death in 1585, he completed further recon-
struction. This was also important because he was married the same year.
His wife, Zsfia Forgch, his stepfathers niece, gave birth to a child as
early as the following year, and three more before her early death in 1590.
Gyrgy Thurz became a widower at the age of 23; a new mother had to
be found for her two surviving daughters. Erzsbet, daughter of Deputy
Palatine Imre Czobor was chosen, and they married in February 1592.
During these years, Thurz mainly focused on his estates, which were
rather neglected. As yet, his activities in public life only included the lord
lieutenants activities in rva County; he held this title from 1584 on. In
addition he acted as lord high steward (dapifer) and cup-bearer (pocilla-
tor) to Archduke Ernest. He held this only formal title for 11 years, until
the archdukes death. All this was precious little compared to Thurzs
ambitions. During the reign of King Rudolph (15761608), however, it
was quite difficult to establish himself in a political line. The royal resi-
9
Cf. G. Plffy, The Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy in the Six-
teenth Century, trans. by T. J. DeKornfeld and H. D. DeKornfeld (Boulder, CO.
2009), 129132.
10
For the domains of both branches of the Thurz family in more detail, see T.
Lengyelov, Hospodrske pomery na thurzovskch panstvch na prelome 16. a
17. storoia [The economic status of the Thurz estates at the turn of the 17th cen-
tury], in Thurzovci, 119134.
114 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
dence in Prague was far from the venue of Hungarian politics, and Hun-
garian aristocrats were hardly present in the court life there. And Rudolph
was actually more interested in sciences and arts than in filling high offic-
es in Hungary. Therefore Thurz made different attempts. He took part in
several battles as second lieutenant of the cavalry on the side of Mikls
Plffy in the Fifteen Years War or Long Turkish War (1591/931606), a
major military conflict which flared up in the last decade of the century.11
In 16021604, he also acquired a captain-generals post: the common
function of general of mining district borderlands and the Cisdanubian dis-
trict (supremus capitaneus confiniorum antemontanorum et partium regni
Hungariae Cisdanubianarum).12
His political career took a more spectacular turn only at the end of the
century: in 1598, he was promoted to Hungarian royal councillor and on
10 July 1599, at the age of 32, he was granted his first post of high dignity:
the Hungarian royal cup-bearership (pincernarum regalium magister). In
March 1604, he was appointed lord high steward (dapiferiorum regalium
magister) of the royal court. Extremely ambitious, Thurz fancied himself
even higher positions: he was desirous of a national high office rather than
just a nominal one. He did not conceal his aspirations as he himself em-
phasised many times that he was among the senior Hungarian councillors
and he had been serving King Rudolph for more than 20 years. While in
1599, when he was appointed royal cup-bearer, he came ninth on the eche-
lon of Hungarian high dignitaries, and as early as the middle of the follow-
ing year, he was promoted by reason of Mikls Plffys death. And in ear-
ly 1604, when Thurz was appointed lord high steward in the royal house-
hold, he reached the fifth highest place due to the deaths of Gyrgy Zrnyi
and Ferenc Ndasdy and the emigration of Istvn Illshzy. After receiv-
ing a counts title in 1606, he was third rank because some posts were va-
cant, but one year later he slipped one step back after they were filled in.
In 1609, during the time that Illshzy was palatine, when the post of the
lord chief justice was also occupied, he was fifth place again temporarily,
but only for a short time as he reached the long desired echelon and be-
came the first ranking dignitary as palatine.13
11
Kubinyi, Thurz Gyrgy, xiiixliii.
12
G. Plffy, Kerleti s vgvidki fkapitnyok s fkapitny-helyettesek Ma-
gyarorszgon a 1617. szzadban [District and borderland captain-generals and
deputy captain-generals in Hungary in the 16th and 17th centuries], Trtnelmi
Szemle 37, 2 (1997), 271.
13
Gza Plffy stated that the hierarchy of the secular elite in the Kingdom of Hun-
gary after 1526 was not as regulated as in the Kingdom of Bohemia, for instance.
Only the order of the first few national high dignitaries was indisputable: the pala-
Tnde Lengyel 115
tine (if the office was held), the lord chief justice, the Croatian-Slavonian ban and
the master of the treasury. High dignitaries of the Hungarian royal court became
formal upon the establishment of the common Habsburg court, although they had
some influence on internal policy; however, no ranking was specified in their case.
Before the mid-17th century, ranking could be decided by the aristocratic rank of
the person concerned (title of a count), then by the date of their nomination and
their age. For the careers of the Thurz, see Plffy, Rod Thurzovcov, 1519.
14
Plffy, Rod Thurzovcov, 1719.
15
Szerelmes Orsikm A Ndasdyak s Szegedi Krs Gspr levelezse [My
beloved Orsi Correspondence of the Ndasdys and Gspr Szegedi Krs], ed.
by T. Vida (Budapest 1988), 81.
116 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
family, he went on to settle in by not only ensuring comfort and safety but
by establishing a stately residence as well, to be able to receive aristocrats
managing state affairs as well as scholars, diplomats and politicians com-
ing from abroad according to their standing.
Construction works started in 1571, but four years afterwards, when the
castle became fit to live in, only Ferencs widow and his children moved
over from the uncomfortable and small castle of Zsolnalitva. Medieval ob-
jects, termed as mansions or fortalitiums by the sources, served as the seat
of the manorial steward of Biccse. Most of them were destroyed or dam-
aged by ill-famed robber baron Rafael Podmaniczky, but construction ma-
terials were reused for building the new manor house. The castle was de-
signed according to the model of a rectangular Italian-type castellum by
Johannes Kilian de Syroth from Milan. The master, who had worked at the
construction works of the Zsolnalitva castle as well, was accompanied by
a number of Italian stonemasons and stone carvers who were involved in
the construction works of the castle of Biccse. In honour of their work,
they received allotments in the demesne and they settled there as free-
men.16
Thurz placed a relatively great emphasis on aesthetics and artistic exe-
cution as well. When he was unable to attend the construction works per-
sonally, his wife Erzsbet Czobor supervised the masters according to her
husbands instructions: keep the stables beside the stream, my sweet-
heart; nothing should intercept the view of the town from the castle, it is
better not to build anything there.17 Of course, not only the view from the
castle was important; rather that approaching guests should be able to
marvel at the palatines residence.
When in 1585 Gyrgy Thurz continued the work completed as much
as ten years before, he envisioned a larger, more spacious building of
higher aesthetic standards. It was not a simple job as construction works
had to be performed on wet terrain. Finally, the castle failed to become an
architectural masterpiece, but it was made exceptional by lavish ornamen-
tation. In the inner courtyard with a gallery running around, walls on both
the ground floor and upstairs were decorated with painted bearings, tro-
phies and portraits, and the windows of the palace were surrounded by or-
naments, allegorical paintings, valiant knights and cornucopias. The parts
16
N. Urbanov and . Veasov, Thurzovsk katie v Byti [The Thurz castle
at Biccse], Pamiatky a mze 49, 1 (2000), 4044.
17
E. Zichy, Bethlenfalvi grf Thurz Gyrgy levelei nejhez Czobor-Szent-Mihlyi
Czobor Erzsbethez [Letters by Gyrgy Thurz, count Bethlenfalvi, to his wife
Erzsbet Czobor-Szent-Mihlyi Czobor], vol. 2 (Budapest 1876), n. 555, 1 Aug.
1610.
Tnde Lengyel 117
of the wall under the roofing were also adorned by painted animals, myth-
ical creatures, musical instruments, fruits and fictitious portraits. Without
doubt, residential premises inside were similarly or even more lavishly
decorated. The so-called nuptial palace was completed on the north-
western side of the courtyard in 1601. By tradition, it was erected by the
conscientious father for his seven daughters. There is no other example
within the country of a similar non-residential building intended for a spe-
cific purpose. On the other hand, the palace was likely to be built for self-
representation, as the castle did not include a sufficiently large hall to suit
Thurzs ambitions that were to be realised in the course of time. Thurzs
parsimony being quite well known, such a large-scale investment is un-
likely to have been effected only for the sake of a few wedding ceremo-
nies.18 Further reconstruction works were performed after 1605 when the
castle and its surroundings were attacked and raided by haiduks, inflicting
great losses.19
Building works were in progress not only within the castle area but in
the town as well, to enable the market town to accommodate an increased
number of guests. After the domain came into the ownership of the Thurz
family, life in the surrounding country became safer and more peaceful for
a couple of decades. Both the demesne and the town prospered, and the
number of inhabitants increased. The old Gothic church was unsuitable for
accommodating the congregation and it was in an impaired condition. In
1590, Gyrgy Thurz began its renovation. Only the tower of the old
church was preserved; the foundations, the nave and the sanctuary were
extended. A Renaissance belfry was built to the south-west of the church.
The urbanistic arrangement of the castle area, the absence of an external
wall of defence on the western and south-western sides and the topography
of the nuptial palace indicate that the garden was located there. Functions
included the cultivation of flowers, herbs and fruits, but it must have
served for repose and self-representation as well. The garden could pre-
sumably be classified as a Renaissance ornamental garden; unfortunately,
no drawings have survived. Its existence was only mentioned in urbariums
and letters, and also indicated by the gardeners and viticulturists func-
18
According to the 1627 inventory, the palace was also used as a storehouse; at
that time, nobody from the Thurz family lived at Biccse. Empty halls may have
been used for the same purpose in previous years as well. The inventory: Minister-
stvo vntra Slovenskej republiky, ttny archv Byta (thereafter: ABy), Oravsk
komposesort, A usp. f. 158, n. 5.
19
I. Rusina et al., Renesancia [The Renaissance] (Bratislava 2009), 694695.
118 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
tions. Near the garden there was a fishpond and a game preserve where
deer were bred.20
Interior furnishings in the apartments are described in detail by extant
inventories and conscriptions of property.21 Thurz made efforts to pro-
vide sometimes luxurious comfort to his family and guests, and himself.
This was also reflected in the correspondence with his wife, where the pal-
atine fulfilled quite a few wishes of his wife and he also favoured her with
a variety of surprise gifts. He mainly procured Ottoman goods, partly as
loot, but the letters also mention expensive fabrics, exotic fruits and food-
stuff purchased in Pressburg, Vienna, Cracow and Prague. Walls were
adorned with draperies depicting Biblical legends in series, such as the
stories of Judith, Abraham and Sisera. Painted and flowered upholsteries
made of leather, felt or taffeta were imported from Flanders or Italy. Walls
were ornamented by pictures and trophies or were covered with carpeting;
precious bedding canopies ensured privacy and warmth in bed.
The importance for Thurz of displaying the riches and wealth of the
Thurz family to the outside world is perfectly indicated by the weddings
of the Thurz damsels. The first and eldest daughter, Zsuzsanna, was mar-
ried to Istvn Pernyi in 1603. Four years later in 1607 she was followed
by Judith, taken as a wife by Andrs Jakusith. Borbla, the favourite of her
parents, was married to Kristf Erddy in 1612, followed by Ilona in 1614,
who entered into a marriage with Gspr Illshzy. The rest of the children
married after their fathers death. There were two weddings in 1618: Imre
with Krisztina Nyri, and Mria with Mihly Vizkelethy. Two years later
Katalin was married to Istvn Thkly, and the youngest, Anna, to Jnos
Szunyogh in 1622.22The magnitute is primarily reflected by the list of in-
vitees: everyone considered to be of importance in the country was invit-
ed, starting from the monarch and ranging from members of the aristocra-
cy and the prelates of the Catholic Church to magistrates of royal free bor-
oughs and to foreign representatives of sciences. At the more than
luxurious celebrations planned in minute detail, attendees were dazzled by
not only an abundance of food and drink and the dowry, but also by the
palatines private army in uniforms, watching over the safety of guests.
While the wedding ceremony of the first daughter, Zsuzsanna, cost a full
20
The 1625 urbarium makes mention of the libertine whose duty it was to breed
deer: Byta (13781978), ed. by J. Koi and S. Chur (Martin 1978), 58.
21
ABy, Oravsk komposesort, Acta varia.
22
S. Barabs, Genealgiai fljegyzsek [Genealogy records], Trtnelmi Tr
(1884), 777782; and authors own research.
Tnde Lengyel 119
one-year income of the rva demesne, the nuptials of Imre Thurz (al-
ready after his fathers death) exceeded its double.23
Although, unlike his father and son, Gyrgy Thurz did not study at
foreign universities, he was among the educated people of his age. He
came to be interested in books at an early age and he made purchases
when he could. The library of the castle extended to several rooms: the in-
ventory makes mention of bibliotheques in the bastion beside the lords
room and there were armoiresries full of books in the ladys bastion as
well. In 1610, professor Smuel Hammel from Kassa produced a library
catalogue of 465 volumes. The collection was further enriched by the pala-
tine, coming to possess 800 volumes towards the end of his life. His dele-
gates to Prague and Vienna were instructed to buy books as well, inter
alia, and some issues he received as a presentmany people expressed
their gratitude, by way of their own works, that Thurz had made it possi-
ble for them to complete their studies abroad.24
As most of the wealthy aristocrats of his age, Gyrgy Thurz was high-
ly concerned about the support of culture and education. Aristocrats fre-
quently founded schools with the purpose of educating their own children
there, and when their children left local schools they ceased to exist after a
couple of years. This was similar in Biccse as well. In the time of Gyrgy
Thurz, the school had a high reputation nationwide: dozens of students
acquired high standards of erudition here and many of them enriched their
knowledge abroad, supported by the palatine. The first rector, Mikls
Baticius, from Nagyfalu (Velin), happened to be engaged by Imre
Forgch before 1584.25 It was in 1590 that Valentinus Plateanus, native of
Oppeln in Silesia, arrived to the market town; he had a high reputation as
there was no other illustrious professor in the country who could surpass
his mastery. .26 I As evidenced by records in the Thurz archives, the pala-
tine made it possible for many young men to continue their studies, pri-
23
T. Lengyelov, Rodinn sviatky Thurzovcov [Family celebrations of the
Thurz], Zbornk Oravskho mzea 13 (1996), 3744.
24
H. Saktorov, Turzovsk kninice [The Thurz libraries] (Martin 2009), 43111.
25
There are no specific data known about Baticius, similarly to ensuing rectors. Cf.
J. Rezik and S. Matthaeides, Gymnaziolgia. Dejiny gymnzi na Slovensku [Sec-
ondary grammar school studies. The history of grammar schools in Slovakia] (Bra-
tislava 1971), 178 (fn. 193).
26
Several of the rectors are worth mentioning: Mrton Skultti, Mihly Crispini,
Jnos Hodikius, Gergely Lnyi, Zakaris Lnyi, lis Ladiver and Smuel Cha-
lupka. Ibid., 102105. In addition to them, there were many others involved in the
tuition of students coming from near and far.
120 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
marily at the University of Wittenberg.27 He had his own son, Imre, tu-
tored there too (15981621). To this end, he even contacted Saxon Elector
Prince John George I, main patron of the University of Wittenberg, and
sent him Tokay wines. When, supported by the prince, Imre was elected
rector of the university (chiefly as an expression of emblematic veneration
for his father), he regaled stakeholders with a sumptuous banquet.28 Imres
university studies turned out to be short as he was called back from the
university within hardly a year to take charge of domestic duties from his
father as his health had declined. During this relatively short period, sever-
al professors at Wittenberg expressed their reverence to Thurz, including
Leonard Hutter, Friedrich Baldwinus, Erasmus Schmidt and Johannes
Wankelius, making mention of his sons study results and the palatines
generosity in supporting the university. The letter of thanks by Doucanus
Anderson, professor at the University of Prague, is remarkable in this re-
spect; he was subsidised by Thurz through his agent in Prague, Georg
Henkel.
Two interesting facts arise in connection with the school: the seven
Thurz daughters did not benefit from it, their education was rather scanty.
Their reading and writing skills were relatively weak; the situation im-
proved after they were married.29 Thurzs own son did not attend the
school eithera private tutor named Hieronymus Spiegel was engaged for
him. He only met other students when he displayed his knowledge and
skills on examination sessions. Subsequent letters received from profes-
sors at Wittenberg also show that Imre was a very conscientious student.
During his studies in Germany, he spent days off by visiting churches and
other cultural institutions rather than by keeping company. At home, how-
ever, he also took part in theatrical performances by the students of the
school to entertain the court and town residents in return for bounteous
patronage. In the same manner, erudite students took an active part in
major ceremonies: for instance, they carried the cross at the head of the
funeral procession at the burial of the palatine and of Imre Thurz later on.
Gyrgy Thurz was one of the most active lay representatives of the
Lutheran confession. It is also owing to him to a large extent that the doc-
27
Correspondence published in: A Thurz csald s a wittenbergi egyetem [The
Thurz family and the University of Wittenberg], ed. by E. Domnyhzi et al.
(Szeged 1989).
28
Ibid., 271272; ABy Oravsk komposesortThurzovsk korepondencia
(hereafter: OK-TK), II-J/2.
29
T. Lengyel, Thurz Gyrgy csaldi konfliktusai [The family conflicts of
Gyrgy Thurz], in Nk s frfiak, avagy a nemek trtnete, ed. by M. Lczay
(Nyregyhza 2003), 234242.
Tnde Lengyel 121
uments of the Treaty of Vienna and the text of the 1608 decree favoured
Lutherans; he even initiated the formation of Lutheran church institutions
(superintendencies). In this far from simple undertaking, his greatest help
was Ills Lnyi, his court chaplain. After several assemblies for promo-
tion, the synod was convened at ilina on 28 March 1610. As newly elect-
ed palatine, Thurz marched into the town with a splendid procession, es-
corted by four trumpeters, 40 pikemen and 15 carriages. He took an active
part in the negotiations as well: things were arranged according to his sce-
nario. He conducted the elections as well, as a result of which three super-
intendents were elected.30 The palatine continued to participate in ecclesi-
astic efforts, carrying on widespread correspondence with illustrious fig-
ures at home and abroad. Theologians, students returning from universities
abroad or in transit were frequently and warmly welcomed at the court of
Biccse. Many people came to express their thanks for the palatine to open
the door to their studies. He corresponded with several theologians abroad,
but the dominant part of church-related correspondence consists of letters
by Lutheran pastors in Upper Hungary, mainly by Ills Lnyi and Jnos
Nozitius, pastors of Biccse; Pter Zabeller, pastor of Lcse; Jnos
Michalko, pastor of Eperjes (Preov); or Smuel Melik, pastor and super-
intendent of Breznbnya (Brezno).31
In order for Gyrgy Thurz to be able to accomplish his ambitions and
to attain the posts desired, he continuously built up his information net-
work to be informed about everything in due time, be they national, for-
eign, military, political, county-level, domanial or only family affairs. Un-
fortunately, no guest books survived: only sporadic notes in the corre-
spondence refer to guests or envoys visiting Biccse. Sadly, these
comments are mainly about guests who arrived in the absence of Thurz,
and it was Erzsbet Czobors duty to entertain them. The names most fre-
quently mentioned include Gyrgy Zrnyi, Mihly Czobor, Ferenc Rvay,
Pter Rvay, keeper of the crown, Zsigmond Forgch, Ferenc and Mikls
Dersffy, Pter Bakith and the Mihly Thelekessy of tragic fate.
Thurz spent quite a lot of time in Vienna and Pressburg, where he had
his own mansions. During the years when he held high dignitary posts of
the realm, he travelled very frequently. In 1607, for instance, he spent
some months in Prague and then prolonged periods officiating at Kassa,
Szatmr (Satu Mare), Komrom (Komrno) and Nagyszombat (Trnava).
In addition, whenever he could, he stayed at Biccse surrounded by his
family; the threads of his information network were also gathered there.
30
D. Vesel, Palatn grf Juraj Thurzo a ilinsk synoda [Palatine Gyrgy
Thurz and the synod of ilina], Zbornk Oravskho mzea 15 (1998), 4346.
31
ABy, OK-TK, II-L/3, II-M/21, II-M/24, II-N/27, II-Z/1.
122 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
32
Cf. M. Thurzo and R. Beu, Antropologick a paleopatologick analza
kostrovch pozostatkov prslunkov rodiny Juraja Thurzu [The anthropological
and paleopathological examination of the bone remains of Thurz family mem-
bers], in Thurzovci, 239245.
33
ABy, OK-TK II-T/11, 18, 21, 22; II-P/1519; II-C/1113.
34
Magyar Nemzeti Levltr Orszgos Levltra [Hungarian National Archives,
hereafter: MNL OL], E 196Archivum familiae Thurz, Acta publica, 19. d., fasc.
9396 (Bthory); 20. d., fasc. 100101 (Homonnay).
Tnde Lengyel 123
35
Correspondence: MNL OL, E 196Archivum familiae Thurz, Acta publica, 16
d., fasc. 72; cf. T. Oborni, Bthory Gbor megllapodsai a Magyar Kirlysggal
[Covenants of Gabriel Bthory with the Kingdom of Hungary], in Bthory Gbor
s kora, ed. by K. Papp, A. Jeney-Tth and A. Ullrich (Debrecen 2009), 116118.
36
MNL OL, E 196Archivum familiae Thurz, Acta publica, 18. d., fasc. 87.
37
ABy, OK-TK, IV-S/1.
124 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
38
ABy OK-TK, II-D/25, II-G/2, II-H/7, II-H/15, II-H/23, II-N/17, II-P/1, II-S/22,
II-/2.
39
Zichy, Bethlenfalvi, 2:10, n. 310.
40
MNL OL, E 196Archivum familiae Thurz, Acta publica, 11. d., fasc. 4449
(soldiers in border fortresses); 12. d., fasc. 5056 (Forgch); 14. d., fasc. 5763
(Dczy); 15. d., fasc. 6468 (Kohry, Magchy, Kollonich etc.).
41
Zs. Barbarics, Kziratos Neue Zeitung-gyjtemnyek a Habsburgok Kzp-
Eurpai tartomnyaiban [Neue Zeitung manuscript collections in Central
European provinces of the Habsburgs], Szzadok 138 (2004), 12571262; eadem,
Die Sammlungen handschriftlicher Zeitungen in Mittel- und Sdostmitteleuropa
in der Frhen Neuzeit, in Spolenost v zemch habsbursk monarchie a jej obraz
v pramenech (15261740), ed. by V. Bek and P. Krl (esk Budjovice 2006),
219244.
42
MNL OL, E 196Archivum familiae Thurz, Acta publica, 8. d., fasc. 28., 29.
Tnde Lengyel 125
also subscribed to the Zeitung for three more years, but subsequently this
type of intelligence may have become superfluous for him because he did
not spend too much at home, getting important current news through other
channels in the service of Gabriel Bethlen, prince of Transylvania.
Correspondence arriving in Biccse when Thurz was palatine clearly
shows the importance of this market town in those few years. The school
at Biccse, the professors who gave lessons and students starting their ca-
reers there, and the politicians, soldiers, pastors, merchants and travellers
who visited this market town, all passed on its repute. The palatinesand
obviously his fathersinvestments yielded the long-desired profits. The
family residence of the Thurzs, originally nothing different from other
villages hiding in the valley of the Vh River, prospered in every respect.
In two generations, the number of inhabitants tripled, the town developed
and grew in terms of economics. There was a boom in the handicrafts in-
dustry and trade, and hundreds of wine casks were stored in the wine cel-
lar of the castle. Guests brewed beer in the brewery on an on-going basis
for locals as well. The first negative impact on the subsequent develop-
ment of the market town was the palatines death. He died on Christmas in
1616, leaving his estates to his children and passing his notions on politics
and public life to his only son.
Imre Thurz was brought up and educated from early childhood to take
over and multiply the riches accumulated by his father and to proceed in
political life by following his track. In his youth he had of the grandest
perspectives of his era. He entered political life shortly after his fathers
death, but he deviated from the track outlined by his father in some as-
pects. First of all, he did not stay faithful to the Habsburgs but became a
confidant of Gabriel Bethlen. He was assigned important tasks for his
young age; his correspondence also demonstrates what an important role
he played in the late 1610s and the following decade. But he was not fa-
voured by fortune: he became seriously ill and died when he was still quite
young while taking part in the Nikolsburg negotiations on behalf of Beth-
len. This is how Biccse lost its attraction permanently, and some years lat-
er in 1627, when it came to be possessed by Mikls Esterhzy, its former
days of glory were only a memory. It ceased to be an aristocratic resi-
dence; the gorgeous furnishings and books were carried away, the school
closed down, industries declined to the level of only serving the needs of
locals and the sumptuous nuptial palace was turned into a storehouse. The
gardens became neglected, and there were no longer any animals kept in
the game reserve. The memories of magnificent celebrations and bustling
life were only cherished by the abandoned empty castle. Everything that
had raised Biccse for some years and turned it into a small capital, an edu-
126 The Chances for a Provincial Cultural Centre
NOMI VISKOLCZ
1
A considerable part of the studies discuss intelligence to and from the Ottoman
Empire: Informciramls a magyar s trk vgvri rendszerben [Information
flow in the Hungarian and Turkish border fortress systems], ed. by T. Petercsk
and M. Berecz (Eger 1999); Informciramls a kora jkorban [Information flow
in the early modern age], ed. by L. Z. Karvalits and K. Kis (Budapest 2004).
2
G. Vrkonyi, Gondolatok Wesselnyi Ferenc s II. Rkczi Gyrgy
kapcsolatrl [Reflections on the relationship of Ferenc Wesselnyi and George II
Rkczi], in Portr s imzs. Politikai propaganda s reprezentci a kora
jkorban, ed. by N. G. Etnyi and I. Horn (Budapest 2008), 159.
3
. R. Vrkonyi, A tjkoztats hatalma [Power of information], in In-
formciramls a magyar, 27.
128 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
4
Ibid., 24.
5
Recent special literature concerning Ndasdys policies: K. Toma, Grf
Ndasdy Ferenc orszgbr politikusi plyakpe (16551666) [The career path of
Lord Chief Justice Count Ferenc Ndasdy as a politician, 16551666] (PhD diss.,
Etvs Lornd University Budapest, 2005); P. Dominkovits and G. Plffy,
Kzdelem az orszgos s regionlis hatalomrt. A Ndasdy csald, a magyar
arisztokrcia s a Nyugat-Dunntl nemesi trsadalma a 1617. szzadban (1.
rsz) [Struggles for national and regional powers. The Ndasdy family, the Hun-
garian aristocracy and the society of the Western Transdanubian nobility in the
16th17th centuries (pt. 1)], Szzadok 144 (2010), 785788; K. Toma, Grf
Ndasdy III. Ferenc mecnsi mkdsnek trsadalmi, anyagi s szellemi httere
[The social, financial and intellectual background of patronage by Count Ferenc
Ndasdy III], Szzadok 144 (2010), 853872. As regards Ndasdys patronage, see
E. Buzsi, A 17. szzadi arisztokrata udvari kultra formi Ndasdy Ferenc me-
cenatrjnak pldjn [Forms of 17th-century aristocratic court culture, based on
the example of patronage by Ferenc Ndasdy], Szzadok 144 (2010), 849852.
Nomi Viskolcz 129
6
Toma, Grf Ndasdy III. Ferenc, 870.
7
A. Czobor, Orszgos Levltr fellltsnak terve 1701-ben s az orszg ira-
tainak korbbi megrzse [The plan to set up the National Archives in 1701 and
the previous custody of state documents], Levltri Kzlemnyek 3 (1925), 26.
8
Verzaichnus der bey dem kayl. Schlo vnd Herrschafft Pottendorff der Zeit
verhandenen dienstleithen, sterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Finanz- und Hofkam-
merarchiv [hereafter: StA FHKA], Hoffinanz sterreich [hereafter: HF], Rote
Nummer [hereafter: R. Nr.], 420, f. 457.
9
Petition by Johann Heinrich Prein to the administrator of Pottendorf (no place
and date indicated, in about Sept. 1670), StA FHKA HF, R. Nr. 420. f. 524.
10
Magyar Nemzeti Levltr Orszgos Levltra [Hungarian National Archives,
hereafter: MNL OL], E 185, Archivum Familiae Ndasdy, box 59, (52. cs.), f.
193194.
130 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
pellmeister) were also allowed to take a seat.11 The life of the secretaria
was governed by stringent regulations, as were Ndasdys officials in gen-
eral. They almost always included instructions by the count to produce
written receipts, dockets, inventories and accounts, be it about the horses
or employees salaries.12 Documents generated and received were filed
almost immediately into different compartments of the chest of drawers at
the Srvr archives, kept in strict regimented order; its register contains
records from 1669 as well.13 The most confidential daily correspondence
was locked up in Ndasdys own room. The count highly recommended
the observance of written administrative procedures as customary in his
household to his correspondence partners several times, for instance, call-
ing their attention to recording the dates of incoming and outgoing mail.14
11
Instructions by Ferenc Ndasdy to his chef, Andrs Lben, in Magyar udvari
rendtarts. Utastsok s rendeletek 16171708 [Hungarian court procedures. In-
structions and regulations, 16171708], ed. by A. Koltai (Budapest 2001), 195.
12
Instructions by Ferenc Ndasdy to his butler, Gyrgy Hamarla, Magyar udvari
rendtarts, 104107.
13
Protocollo seu Regestrum omnium Privilegiorum, ac Instrumentorum Literalium
Excellentissimi Domini Comitis Francisci de Nadasd, available: MNL OL E 185,
Jogbiztost iratok protokolluma [Protocol of legal guarantee documents], box 49,
t. 8. (Mf. 31989). The catalogue of the archives is an tremendously important doc-
ument of early modern Hungarian history. On the history of the Ndasdy archives,
cf. N. Viskolcz, A Ndasdy-levltr Ndasdy III. Ferenc (16231671) alatt s ki-
vgzst kveten [The Ndasdy archives in the era of Ferenc Ndasdy III and af-
ter his execution] (forthcoming).
14
Ferenc Ndasdy to Andrs Klobusiczky, Seibersdorf, 7 Mar. 1658, in D. B.
Mednynszky, Ndasdy s Wesselnyi levelezseibl a XVII. szzad kzepn
[From the correspondence of Ndasdy and Wesselnyi in the mid-17th century],
Trtnelmi Tr (1880), 233; letter by Ferenc Ndasdy to Istvn Zichy, in K. Toma,
Ndasdy Istvn eurpai tanulmnytja (16691670). A kavalierstour alkalmazsa
a magyar fri nevelsi gyakorlatban [Study tour of Istvn Ndasdy in Europe
(16691670). Kavalierstour as implemented in Hungarian aristocratic educational
practice], in Idvel palotk Magyar udvari kultra a 1617. szzadban, ed. by
N. G. Etnyi and I. Horn (Budapest 2005), 209.
Nomi Viskolcz 131
Vienna
When the Hungarian royal court was moved to Vienna in the sixteenth
century, Hungarian dignitaries ceased to attend the court directly and stay
there; most of their titles (e.g. marshal, master of the horse, lord high
steward, etc.) became vacant or were reduced to coronation only. Thus, the
aristocracy and even towns were compelled to employ Hungarian officials
living in the court to collect information or even to represent their interests
by reason of large distances, the foreign environment and language differ-
ences.17 Later on, however, such requests were directed not only to Hun-
garians living in Vienna: Austrian officials in lower or higher ranks fre-
quently visiting the court and admitted to inner circles proved to be apt at
gathering intelligence and doing minor favours. Data on the employment
of court agents or solicitors were on the increase in the seventeenth centu-
ry, including Istvn Sennyei (16271687), bishop of Veszprm, and Istvn
15
N. G. Etnyi, Hadszntr s nyilvnossg. A magyarorszgi trk hbork hrei
a 17. szzadi nmet jsgokban [Theatre of war and publicity. News of Turkish
wars in Hungary in 17th-century German newspapers] (Budapest 2003), 3637.
16
On the role of agents in the early modern age, see Double Agents: Cultural and
Political Brokerage in Early Modern Europe, ed. by M. Keblusek and B. V. Nol-
dus (Leiden 2011).
17
G. Plffy, The Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy in the Six-
teenth Century (Boulder, CO. 2009), 8081.
132 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
18
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 72. For the term agent and its synonym solici-
tator see T. Winkelbauer, Frst und Frstendiener. Gundaker von Liechtenstein,
ein sterreichischer Aristokrat des konfessionellen Zeitalters (Vienna 1999), 277.
19
A. Koltai, Egy magyar frend plyafutsa a csszri udvarban. Batthyny
dm (Bcs 16301659) [Career of a Hungarian peer in the imperial court. dm
Batthyny (Vienna, 16301659)], Korall 9 (2002), 7374.
20
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 6468.
21
Ferenc Ndasdy to Jns Mednynszky, Seibersdorf, 16 Nov. 1656, in Med-
nynszky, Ndasdy s Wesselnyi levelezseibl, 230. At that time, a farm bail-
iff of Csejte named Branyik visited Vienna on his assignment, from whom he
yearned for the good news.
22
K. Toma, Egy r szerzetes kzvett szerepe a bcsi udvarban. Donellan s
Ndasdy [Role of an Irish friar as an intermediary in the Imperial Court of Vien-
na. Donellanus and Ndasdy], in Portr s imzs, 163170.
Nomi Viskolcz 133
23
Ferenc Ndasdy to Jns Mednynszky, Seibersdorf, 1658, in Mednynszky,
Ndasdy s Wesselnyi levelezseibl, 232.
24
Hofkammer, arranging the assessment and seizure of the Ndasdy property,
obliged Erndl to produce a statement of accounts which he submitted in Mar. 1671,
supported by original documents; StA Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv [hereaf-
ter: AVA], FHKA Niedersterreichische Kammer [hereafter: NK], R. Nr. 402.,
Oktober, f. 171218. On the subject, cf. E. Buzsi, A 17. szzadi arisztokrata
udvari kultra formi Ndasdy Ferenc mecenatrjnak pldjn. Egy interdiszcip-
linris kutatcsoport bemutatkozsa [Forms of 17th-century aristocratic court cul-
ture, based on the example of patronage by Ferenc Ndasdy. Dbut of an interdis-
ciplinary research group], Szzadok 144 (2010), 849852; and www. barokkudvar.
hu, accessed on 6 Feb. 2014.
134 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
Antwerp
In addition to an agent in Vienna, Ndasdy had another one in Antwerp, a
prominent cultural and commercial centre in Europe. He contacted Johann
Mller around 1663; specific details are unknown, presumably they were
also bound by contract. In 1665, he made a payment of 70 thalers for Ml-
lers two years of service through two chief travelling companions to the
Netherlands, Georg Wibner and Petrus Binard.28 A total of nine letters
25
StA AVA FHKA NK R. Nr. 402. Oktober, f. 187189. Payment: ain Muth
Korn, Muth Waiz, 12 Emer Wein, vndt 4 Kloster Holz.
26
Statement of accounts for the period between 7 July and 1 Sept. 1670, cf. StA
AVA FHKA NK R. Nr 402 Oktober, f. 183185.
27
Toma, Grf Ndasdy III. Ferenc, 861.
28
Herrn Hanns Mller zu Andorff sollen Sie aus diesen Capital, die ihme auf 2
Jahr 70 taller bezalln vnd sich darber bescheinen lassen. B. Ivnyi, Grf
Ndasdy Ferencz utasitsa hollandi vsrlsai fell 1665-ben [Instructions by
Count Ferenc Ndasdy on his purchases in Holland in 1665], Magyar Gazdasg-
trtneti Szemle 5 (1898), 460.
Nomi Viskolcz 135
29
MNL OL E 185, Missiles, Ndasdy Ferenchez intzett levelek [Letters to Ferenc
Ndasdy] (Mf. 6926).
30
This is discussed in detail in my special study on Ndasdys printshops: N. Vis-
kolcz, A mecenatra sznterei a fri udvarban. Ndasdy Ferenc knyvtra [Areas
of patronage in the aristocratic court. The library of Ferenc Ndasdy] (Szeged
2013).
31
Draft letter in German to Johann Mller in Antwerp, Pottendorf, 23 Oct. 1666:
MNL OL E 185, Missiles, Ndasdy Ferenchez intzett levelek [Letters to Ferenc
Ndasdy] (Mf. 6926).
32
Johann Mller to Ferenc Ndasdy, Antwerp, 27 Sept. 1666, ibid.
33
Toma, Ndasdy Istvn, 213, fn. 66.
136 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
papers to the imperial court as well,34 and in the 1670s he supplied Prince
Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein with Dutch press publications.35
Rome
The Hungarian Catholic Church employed permanent agents in Rome to
acquire and forward information from 1607 onnearly exclusively Ital-
ians who had not found employment in the interior papal nomenclature but
could make a living as informers. They were assigned to manage two-way
information traffic: they reported on the life of the Papal Curia and en-
closed handwritten newspapers to their clients, including the archbishop of
Esztergom.36 Pter Tusor writes that the best informed layer of society was
the Hungarian prelacy in the seventeenth century because, while the aris-
tocracy could obtain information from Vienna or Venice at the very best,
Catholic leaders had their organised information network in Rome as well.
At the same time, they did not monopolise their intelligence but forwarded
it to the secular elite, in exchange for information on the territory under
Ottoman rule, for instance.37 At the same time, some Hungarian aristocrats
made efforts to gain direct rather than second-hand information. The
threads of Ndasdys information network reached the city in two different
ways, though it cannot obviously be likened to the level of the ecclesiastic
organisation and administrator system.38 On the one hand, the count culti-
vated good relations with the Roman nuncio, the prevailing papal envoy to
Vienna;39 for instance, Carlo Caraffa accepted his invitation and partici-
pated in the consecration of the church built for the Loretto Servites in
1659.40 On the other hand, he had his own agent in Rome from the early
34
Johann Mller novellisten in Andorff wegen der ao. 669 unterschiedlich
berschikhten novelln zum recompens fl. 50, in H. Haupt, Archivalien zur
Kulturgeschichte des Wiener Hofes. III. Teil: Kaiser Leopold I. Die Jahre 1661
1670, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien 81 (1985), 2925.
35
H. Haupt, Frst Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein 16111684. Erbe und
Bewahrer in schwerer Zeit (Vienna 2007), 194.
36
P. Tusor, A magyar egyhzi elit rmai hrforrsai a kora jkorban [Roman in-
formation sources of the Hungarian ecclesiastic elite], in Informciramls a
kora jkorban, 111115.
37
Ibid., 123.
38
For further connections of Ndasdy to Rome, cf. N. Viskolcz, Ndasdy Ferenc
s Rma [Ferenc Ndasdy and Rome], in vol. 1 of Eruditio, virtus et constantia.
Tanulmnyok a 70 ves Bitskey Istvn tiszteletre, ed. by M. Imre et al. (Debrecen
2011), 340349.
39
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 76, 78.
40
Ibid., 58.
Nomi Viskolcz 137
1660s on; although the person was not known by name, according to Kata-
lin Toma, he may have been a seminarian at the Collegium Germanicum-
Hungaricum, who assisted the count in having an ecclesiastic foundation
licensed by Rome.41 This seems to be confirmed by the fact that from 1667
he relied on information from Ferenc Ignc Pakay, whose studies in Vien-
na he had supported.42 From 1667, Pakay kept in contact with his patron as
a student at the Collegium Germanicum-Hungaricum43 in Rome. A letter
of his from Rome in 1669 testifies that he sent reports to the count on a
regular basis, for instance on the canonisation of saints or other Curia
news.44
Venice
In 1658, Ndasdy stated in a letter that he might receive the decision of the
republic regarding an affair at any minute, and that he would certainly pay
a visit to the Venetian envoy in Vienna who was also expected to arrive at
any time.45 This excerpt from the letter suggests that the count had a cordi-
al and personal relationship with the Venetian envoy to Vienna. Having
studied reports by Venetian envoys, Katalin Toma came to a similar con-
clusion: Ndasdy was followed with great attention in the city-state. Rela-
tions became particularly animated around 16581659 when the possibil-
ity of an alliance between George Rkczi II and Venice emerged and
Ndasdy acted as mediator in the course of the negotiations.46 Thus
Ndasdy smartly exploited the direct source of intelligence in Vienna, but
no data remains regarding him having kept his own agent in Venice. Per-
haps it was not even necessary as Ndasdy may also have profited from
41
Ibid., 56.
42
I. Fazekas, A bcsi Pazmaneum magyarorszgi hallgati 16231918 (1951)
[Hungarian students of the Pazmaneum in Vienna, 16231918 (1951)] (Budapest
2003), 334.
43
I. Bitskey, Hungaribl Rmba. A rmai Collegium Germanicum-Hungaricum
s a magyarorszgi barokk mvelds [From Hungaria to Rome. Collegium Ger-
manicum-Hungaricum in Rome and Baroque culture and education in Hungary]
(Budapest 1996), 254; cf. id., Il Collegio Germanico-Ungarico di Roma. Contribu-
to alla storia della cultura ungherese in et barocca (Rome 1996).
44
Ferenc Pakay to Ferenc Ndasdy, Rome, 4 May 1669, STA Haus-, Hof- und
Staatsarchiv, Ungarische Akten, Miscellanea 431 D, Konv. A, f. 6.
45
Ferenc Ndasdy to Jns Mednynszky, Seibersdorf, 7 Mar. 1658, in
Mednynszky, Ndasdy s Wesselnyi levelezseibl, 232.
46
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 7879.
138 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
Cologne
In case of Cologne, there is a small but important indication that the count
received information from there too. He instructed his men travelling to
the Netherlands in 1665 to remind the postmaster of Cologne to continue
correspondence at earlier standards (Herrn Postmaister zu Cln ermah-
nen, das er die Correspondenz mit vns eben, als wie von hero halte, auf
Wien anweise, vmb die ihme schuldige 50 taller sollen bezalt werden),50
by which he most certainly alluded to regular deliveries of press publica-
tions from Cologne. In 1669, he specially entrusted the postmaster of Co-
logne with managing correspondence during the study trip of his son
Istvn and made a thorough list of letters according to their dating which
were not received in the end by his son.51
47
S. Bene, A Zrnyi testvrek az Ismeretlenek Akadmijn (Velencei karnevl)
[The Zrnyi brothers at the Academy of the Unknown (Venice Carnival)],
Irodalomtrtneti Kzlemnyek 97 (1993), 650668.
48
H. Marczali, Bezerdj Zsigmond utazsi naplja [Travel diary of Zsigmond
Bezerdj], Trtnelmi Tr 6 (1883), 348358; Ferenc Ndasdy to Jnos Blintffy,
Venice, 7 Mar. 1665, in A. Komromy, Ndasdy Ferencz rmai zarndoklsa
[Pilgrimage of Ferencz Ndasdy to Rome], Trtnelmi Tr 22 (1899), 719720.
49
S. Bene, Hhrok tetruma (A Wesselnyi-mozgalom perei s a hazai recep-
ci kezdetei) [Theatre of executioners (Litigations of the Wesselnyi movement
and beginnings of domestic reception)], in Siralmas jajt rdeml jtk. Magyar
nyelv tudsts a Wesselnyi-mozgalomrl, ed. by E. Hargittay (Piliscsaba 1997),
39.
50
B. Ivnyi, Grf Ndasdy Ferencz utasitsa hollandi vsrlsai fell 1665-ben
[Instructions by Count Ferenc Ndasdy on his purchases in Holland in 1665],
Magyar Gazdasgtrtneti Szemle 5 (1898), 460.
51
Toma, Ndasdy Istvn, 196.
Nomi Viskolcz 139
52
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 121. No further data on Branogh were found by
the author.
53
Ferenc Ndasdy to Jns Mednynszky, Seibersdorf, 7 Mar. 1658, in Med-
nynszky, Ndasdy s Wesselnyi levelezseibl, 232; Toma, Grf Ndasdy
Ferenc, 119.
54
Ferenc Ndasdy to Jnos Blintffy, Csejte, 7 Aug. 1666, MNL OL E 185 Mis-
siles (6900. d.)
55
I. Kenyeres, A kirlyi posta a 16. szzadban Paar Pter pozsonyi postamester
szmadsai alapjn [The Royal Post in the 16th century based on the accounts of
Pter Paar, postmaster of Pressburg], in Informciramls a magyar, 109.
140 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
traordinary and express services were also available (with both perfor-
mance and price corresponding to the imperial rates).56 As regards
Ndasdys residences, from Vienna to Seibersdorf or Vienna to Potten-
dorf, it may have taken a day for Ndasdy to get the news, probably
through his own servants, rather than the imperial post. An example of the
speed of information flow is the news of a death in the family of Ferdi-
nand III, which took a bit more than two days to reach Ndasdy: Empress
Maria Leopoldine died in childbirth during the night of 7 August 1649; the
count was informed about it by his man named Rohonczy in a letter on 10
August, and he passed on the news to dm Batthyny on 11 August,
supplemented by new information on the manner of death.57
Not only Ndasdy but others also complained58 about adverse circum-
stances in the post service (negligence, tardiness or security). This could
be a reason why the count assisted the existing system if necessary, as
revealed in a letter of his from 1658.59 In 16581659, he deemed it ex-
tremely important to maintain seamless correspondence with the prince of
Transylvania. Jns Mednynszky, a chief person and diplomat of George
Rkczi II, proved to be an important link and intermediary in information
flow.60 The Mednynszky family lived in the castle of Beck (Beckov) on-
ly some kilometres away from Ndasdys castle at Csejte (achtice).61
Accordingly, the count had the security of correspondence overseen by
paid servants all along the route BeckCsejteKosztolny (Kostolany)
Gerencsr (Hrniarovce)PressburgBruck an der Leitha and by the post-
56
Ibid., 112113. To compare with the functioning of the post in the Holy Roman
Empire, cf. W. Behringer, Im Zeichen des Merkur. Reichspost und Kommunika-
tionsrevolution in der Frhen Neuzeit (Gttingen 2002).
57
Ferenc Ndasdy to dm Batthyny, Seibersdorf, 7 Aug. 1649, MNL OL P
1314, Nr. 32170.
58
L. Munks, A kirlyi magyar posta trtnete 15251715 [History of the Hungar-
ian Royal Post, 15251715] (Budapest 1911), 147149.
59
Ferenc Ndasdy to Jns Mednynszky, Seibersdorf, 7 Mar. 1658, in Med-
nynszky, Ndasdy s Wesselnyi levelezseibl, 230.
60
G. Srkzi, lhrek s valsg. II. Rkczi Gyrgy lengyelorszgi hadjrata s
Mednynszky Jns tevkenysge Vitnydi Istvn leveleinek tkrben [False ru-
mours and reality. The military expedition of George II Rkczi to Poland and ac-
tions by Jns Mednynszky as reflected in letters by Istvn Vitnydi], in
Szerencsnek elegyes forgsa. II. Rkczi Gyrgy s kora, ed. by G. Krmn
and A. Szab (Budapest 2009), 325340.
61
On Jns Mednynszky, see L. Flp, jabb kiegsztsek Mednynszky Jns
becki lakodalmi feljegyzshez [Recent addenda to the notes by Jns Med-
nynszky on the Beck wedding], Trsadalomtudomnyi Szemle 13 (2011), 131
137.
Nomi Viskolcz 141
master himself (Gspr Lauzer from 1657) in Pressburg.62 Letters were de-
livered by the ordinary mail service from Csejte to Bruck,63 and by the
counts own men from Bruck to Pottendorf; he was also aware that pedes-
trian messengers were replaced by horsemen for quickness and rapidity.
Security and precaution were highly recommended for the Hungarian
feudal diplomacy attempting to evade the tight hold of the Habsburgs and
the Ottomans. The fact that Ferenc Ndasdy did not manage to avoid traps
in spite of all his watchfulness is proven by his downfall: most of his cor-
respondence against the Habsburg rule fell into the monarchs handsit is
true though that it was not the fault of the post service.64
Information transmitted
The flow of information did not stop at Ndasdy: forwarding routes can be
clearly delineated. In the late 1650s, one of the most important goals was
to supply the prince of Transylvania, George Rkczi II, with news and
obviously to influence him. As indicated by Katalin Toma, Rkczis dip-
lomatic manoeuvresprimarily his inquiries towards the court of Vienna
and the Holy Roman Empirewere conveyed through Ferenc Ndasdy65
and frequently intermediated by Jns Mednynszky. In May 1656, news
came about the Polish situation, the alleged death of the Spanish king and
the return of Archduke Leopold William from Brussels to Vienna.
Ndasdy also enclosed a printed treatise written on the Hungarian nation
and the personality of the prince by an ignorant Pole.66 The count usual-
ly cross-checked information using several sources, striving for reliability
and credibility.67 On other occasions he comforted Rkczi that he should
not give credence to all the news he received:
62
Munks, A kirlyi magyar posta, 149150.
63
Ibid., 155.
64
For more details see Bene, Hhrok tetruma.
65
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 96.
66
Ferenc Ndasdy to George II Rkczi, Seibersdorf, 28 May 1656, in S. Szilgyi,
II. Rkczy Gyrgy fejedelem sszekttetse Ndasdy Ferenccel [Contacts be-
tween Prince George II Rkczi and Ferenc Ndasdy], Szzadok 8 (1874), 462.
67
az lengyel dolgokrl m, melyeket continultatvn hrom helyekrl vettem,
Kegyelmednek kldtem (as regards Polish issues, continued to be taken from
three sources and forwarded to your Excellency), Ferenc Ndasdy to George II
Rkczi, Seibersdorf, 28 June 1656, in Szilgyi, II. Rkczy Gyrgy, 463.
142 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
I lamented on them but now I already laugh at them; I am writing the very
truth to Your Highness: I could fill sheets of paper by the large number of
fake news on the preparations of Your Highness; nevertheless, the inven-
tors only got to a point where their words are not trusted in other matters,
either.68
Modern knowledge
The Hungarian political elite (aristocrats, prelates, townsmen) intending to
acquire information in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries subscribed
to printed and even handwritten European newspapers.72 In the case of
Ndasdy, the great amount of minute data provides evidence that he read
newspapers on a regular basis. However, since no such volumes survived
68
Ferenc Ndasdy to George II Rkczi, Seibersdorf, 22 Mar. 1656, in Szilgyi,
II. Rkczy Gyrgy, 460.
69
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 107.
70
Ferenc Ndasdy to Gyrgy Lippay, Seibersdorf, 6 Nov. 1653, MNL OL Prmsi
Levltr Archivum saeculare [hereafter: PL AS], Acta Radicalia X, Nr. 196, 1653,
f. 272.
71
Ferenc Ndasdy to Gyrgy Lippay, Seibersdorf, 30 Jan. 1655, MNL OL PL AS
Acta Radicalia X, Nr. 196, 1655, f. 162163. I am grateful to Katalin Toma for the
data.
72
17th-century Venetian avvisi are mentioned by Bene, A Zrnyi testvrek, 655;
N. G. Etnyi, Pzmny Pter s a korabeli publicisztika [Pter Pzmny and the
journalism of the age], in Pzmny Pter s kora, ed. by E. Hargittay (Piliscsaba
2001), 187; Etnyi, Hadszntr s nyilvnossg, 3162; Zs. Barbarics, Kziratos
Neue Zeitung-gyjtemnyek a Habsburgok kzp-eurpai tartomnyaiban [Col-
lections of Neue Zeitung manuscripts in Central European Habsburg provinces],
Szzadok 138 (2004), 12551273; eadem, A kziratos Neue Zeitungok jelentsge
I. Ferdinnd korban a Ndasdy-Zeitungok alapjn [Importance of Neue Zeitung-
en manuscripts in the age of Ferdinand I, based on the Ndasdy-Zeitungen corpus],
Trtnelmi Szemle 45, 12 (2003), 175199.
Nomi Viskolcz 143
73
N. Viskolcz, A mecenatra sznterei a fri udvarban. Ndasdy Ferenc knyv-
tra [Scenes of Baroque aristocratic patronage. The library of Ferenc Ndasdy]
(Szeged and Budapest 2013), 5657.
74
For digitised volumes see http://www.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/dda/urn/urn_
uba000200-uba000399/uba000236-uba000256/, accessed on 6 Feb. 2014;
G. Scholz Williams, Ways of Knowing in Early Modern Germany: Johann Praeto-
rius as a Witness to his Time (Aldershot 2006), 125128; Zs. Kovcs, Krnika
vagy trtnetri m? A Theatrum Europaeum bemutatsa (16331738) [Chroni-
cle or a historiographers work? Presenting Theatrum Europaeum (16331738)],
Fons 15 (2008), 201232.
75
Viskolcz, Ndasdy Ferenc s Rma, 345347.
76
N. Viskolcz, Magyar arisztokratk I. Lipt eskvjn 1666-ban. Egy metszet
Esterhzy Pl bcsi bevonulsrl [Hungarian aristocrats at the wedding ceremo-
ny of Leopold I in 1666. An engraving on the entry of Pl Esterhzy into Vienna],
in Ez vilg, mint egy kert Tanulmnyok Galavics Gza tiszteletre, ed. by O.
Bubryk (Budapest 2010), 130.
77
T. Karajan, Kaiser Leopold I. und Peter Lambeck (Vienna 1868), 23.
144 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
fifth parts were taken into inventory at the library of Mikls Pzmny
(16231662, captain-general of Veszprm).78
Diarium Europaeum was also a Frankfurt periodical. It was published
between 1659 and 1683 in 45 volumes and 50-thousand pages. Publisher,
typographer and bookseller Wilhelm Serlin published a part each six
months, supported on several occasions by another publisher, Johann Wil-
helm Ammon. The author, mostly hidden behind a pseudonym, was identi-
fied as Martin Meyer of Silesia who had already contributed to some of
the volumes of Theatrum Europaeum. He was not unfamiliar with Hungar-
ian history, either. In 1665, he wrote of the period of HungarianOttoman
wars between 1607 and 1664, under the title Ortelius redivius.79 The vol-
umes of Diarium are unadorned on the outside, are in a quarto format and
are animated by a couple of copperplate engravings. In terms of content,
they discuss the political event of the year concerned in a chronological
order, especially wars, peace treaties, events at major European court cen-
tres, disasters and sensations, delivered in two formats in general: news in
short, on the one hand, and documents (files, contracts, charters) much
more extensively, on the other hand.80 The 18 volumes owned by
Ndasdythe series was complete until the year 1669were also claimed
by Lambeck, but they were not granted to him. Two remarks seem appro-
priate here in respect to the two series: 1) both of them indicate how up to
date the count was regarding relatively recent European news; 2) it is par-
ticularly interesting in this respect that in the early 1670s neither of them
were owned completely by the imperial library struggling with a lack of
resources.
Conclusions
It has been repeatedly demonstrated by recent research on Ferenc
Ndasdy81 that he attempted to assimilate with the supra-national aristoc-
racy of the Habsburg Empire by following international models in terms of
patronage and lifestyle. No complex analyses of their intelligence systems
78
P. tvs, Pzmny Mikls grf knyvei [Books of Count Mikls Pzmny],
in Klaniczay-emlkknyv. Tanulmnyok Klaniczay Tibor emlkezetre, ed. by J.
Jankovics (Budapest 1994), 348.
79
Ortelius Redivivus et continuatus. Oder Der Ungarischen Kriegs-Emprungen
(Nuremberg 1665).
80
S. Schultheiss, Das Diarium Europaeum (16591683). Verleger und Autoren,
Aufbau und Inhalt, Archiv fr Geschichte des Buchwesens 48 (1997), 316326.
81
A research group studied the patronage activities of Ferenc Ndasdy in 2008
2012; for more details of their results see www.barokkudvar.hu.
Nomi Viskolcz 145
82
Die Diarien und Tagzettel des Kardinals Ernst Adalbert von Harrach (1598
1667), vol. 1, Kommentar und Register, ed. by K. Keller and A. Catalano (Vienna
2010), 4142.
83
Winkelbauer, Frst und Frstendiener, 267.
84
Toma, Grf Ndasdy Ferenc, 276277.
85
Ibid., 5253.
86
. R. Vrkonyi, A Wesselnyi szervezkeds trtnethez 16641671 [On the
history of the Wesselnyi conspiracy, 16641671], in Tanulmnyok Szakly Fe-
renc emlkre, ed. by P. Fodor et al. (Budapest 2002), 423460.
146 The Information System of Ferenc Ndasdy
POLITICS, DIPLOMACY
AND CONFESSIONAL NETWORKS
DYNASTIC POLITICS, DIPLOMACY
AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:
PTER PZMNYS 1616 APPOINTMENT
AS ARCHBISHOP OF ESZTERGOM
PTER TUSOR
I
Pter Pzmny (15701637) is such a cult figure in Hungarian historiog-
raphy that historians have often referred to the seventeenth century as
Pzmnys century. Born in Vrad (now Oradea, Romania) in 1570,
Pzmny studied in Kolozsvr (Cluj-Napoca), Cracow, Jarosaw and Vi-
enna. Having entered the Jesuit Order, he was ordained to the priesthood
in Rome and subsequently became an important figure in the re-
Catholicisation of Hungary. By 1616, he had established a reputation
through his statements to the Hungarian Diet, his writings and sermons,
and his efforts to convert notable Hungarian families to Catholicism.1
Pzmnys Felelet (Reply, 1603), Tz bizonysg (Ten certitudes, 1605) and
t szp levl (Five beautiful letters) are polemical masterpieces in the
Hungarian language. The publication in 1613 of his main work of apolo-
getics, Isteni Igazsgra vezet Kalauz (A guide to divine truth), was a
turning point in the intellectual struggle against Protestantism. The
Protestant writers struggled to make an effective response to this synthetic
work.2
1
Biographies of Pter Pzmny include: S. Sk, Pzmny. Az ember s az r
[Pzmny. The man and the writer] (Budapest 1939); M. ry and F. Szab,
Pzmny Pter (15701637), in Pzmny Pter. Vlogats mveibl [Pter
Pzmny. A selection of his works], ed. by M. ry, F. Szab and P. Vass (Buda-
pest 1983), 11107; I. Bitskey, Pzmny Pter (Budapest 1986).
2
Felelet Magyari Istvn srvri prdiktornak az orszg romlsa okairul rt
knyvre (1603) [Reply to the book by Istvn Magyari, preacher of Srvr, on the
causes of the countrys demise (1603)], ed. by E. Hargittay (Budapest 2000); Tz
bizonysg (1605): Jegyzetek a szvegkiadshoz [Ten certainties (1605): Notes on
the publication of the text], ed. by A. Ajkay (Budapest 2012); Egy tudakoz pr-
150 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
diktor nevvel ratott t levl [Five letters written with the name of an inquiring
preacher], ed. by I. Bitskey (Budapest 1984). On other works by Pzmny and for
works written about him, see J. Adonyi and I. Maczk, Pzmny Pter-bibliogrfia
15982004 [Pter Pzmny bibliography, 15982004] (Piliscsaba 2005); E. Har-
gittay and I. Maczk, Ptlsok a Pzmny bibliogrfihoz [Filling in the gaps in
the Pzmny bibliography], Acta Historiae Litterarum Hungaricarum (Acta Uni-
versitatis Szegediensis) 30 (2011), 160183.
3
See I. Szentptery, A blcsszettudomnyi kar trtnete 16351935 [The history
of the faculty of humanities, 16351935] (Budapest 1935); E. Artner and E. Her-
mann, A hittudomnyi kar trtnete 16351935 [The history of the faculty of the-
ology, 16351935] (Budapest 1938).
4
See my biographical sketches on the archbishops Imre Lsy (16371642), Gyr-
gy Lippay (16421666) and Gyrgy Szelepchny (16661685), in Esztergomi
rsekek (10012003) [Archbishops of Esztergom (1001 2003)], ed. by M. Beke
(Budapest 2003), 291296, 296303, 303310.
5
See B. V. Mihalik, A Szepesi Kamara szerepe az 16701674 kztt fels-
magyarorszgi rekatolizciban [The role of the Szepes Chamber in the re-
Catholicisation of Upper Hungary between 1670 and 1674], Fons 17 (2010), 255
320.
Pter Tusor 151
miliarise readers with the peculiar features and conditions of Catholic or-
ganisation in early modern Hungary.
First, however, we should briefly review the findings of historians on
the appointment of the Jesuit Pzmny as archbishop.6
II
Inasmuch as they have addressed the issue, earlier researchers have tended
to suggest that Pzmny was put forward as a candidate by Cardinal
Ferenc Forgch, who preceded him as archbishop of Esztergom (1607
1615).7 The sources, however, provide no evidence for this. Indeed,
Forgch, from the spring of 1615 (the beginning of the process that led to
Pzmnys leaving the Jesuit Order), seemed to avoid Pzmny, not once
appearing in public alongside his confessor and confidant.8 It is possible
that Forgch wished to avoid a conflict with the Society of Jesus, for
which he had recently established a college in Nagyszombat. Under the
Societys rules, members were prohibited from assuming priestly office,
and they even had to make a solemn pledge to avoid ecclesiastical digni-
taries. Accordingly, for a long time Jesuit leaders were strongly opposed to
6
Major works on this subject are: S. Timon, Purpura Pannonica sive vitae et res
gestae S.R.E. cardinalium qui aut in ditionibus Sacrae Coronae Hungaricae nati,
cum regibus sanguine coniuncti aut episcopatibus Hungaricis potiti fuerunt (Clau-
diopoli 1746), 239 (the 1st ed. was published in Nagyszombat in 1715); G. Pray,
Specimen hierarchiae Hungariae, vols. 12 (Posonii and Cassoviae 17761779),
1:184; V. Frankl [Frakni], Pzmny Pter s kora [Pter Pzmny and his age],
vols. 13 (Pest 18681872); and V. Frakni, Pzmny Pter 15701637 (Budapest
1886). Some more recent works are: L. Lukcs and F. Szab, Autour de la nomi-
nation de Pter Pzmny au sige primatial dEsztergom (16141616). Pzmny
est-il rest jsuite aprs sa nomination?, Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu 54
(1985), 77148; L. Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e Pzmny mint rsek? [Did
Pzmny remain a Jesuit as archbishop?], in Pzmny Pter emlkezete. Hallnak
350. vforduljra, ed. by L. Lukcs and F. Szab (Rome 1987), 197267.
7
Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:179180; and id., Pzmny Pter 15701637,
7175; Sk, Pzmny, 72; P. Srs, Forgch Ferencz a bboros [The cardinal
Ferenc Forgch], Szzadok 34, (1901), 577608, 691723, 774818; V. Frakni,
Magyarorszg egyhzi s politikai sszekttetsei a rmai Szentszkkel [Hungarys
ecclesiastical and political ties with the Holy See in Rome], vols. 13 (Budapest
19011903), 3:287.
8
According to Iacobus Ferdinandus Miller, Forgch advised Pzmny to leave the
Society of Jesus. There is no evidence to back up this unreferenced claim. Episto-
lae, quae haberi poterant Petri Pmny, vol. 1 (Budae 1822), 11 (in the
notes).
152 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
9
For more on the problems within the order, see Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e
Pzmny, 197; Lukcs and Szab, Autour de la nomination de Pzmny, 77.
10
Sk, Pzmny, 172174.
11
See Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:183; ry and Szab, Pzmny, 42;
Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e Pzmny, 206207; and Bitskey, Pzmny, 114.
12
Cf. Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e Pzmny, doc. nos. 6, 7 and 11 (with the notes);
Archivio Segreto Vaticano [hereafter: ASV], Segreteria di Stato [hereafter: Segr.
Stato], Principi, vol. 57, f. 325rv.
13
ASV Segr. Stato, Nunziatura di Portogallo [hereafter: Nunz. Port.], vol. 151, f.
146v147r; Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 945, f. 185r; Segr. Stato, Germania, vol.
27, f. 156v157r; ibid., vol. 443, f. 374r; Archivio Generalizio Sezione Storica
Chierici Regolari Somaschi, Roma, P-d 1053, f. 29r31v.
14
Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e Pzmny, doc. no. 24; cf. ibid., 217, and note 87;
ry and Szab, Pzmny, 44.
15
In the Hungarian hierarchy, there were four potential candidates for the post of
Primate of Hungary: Pl Almsy (bishop of Vc), Demeter Nprgy (bishop of Ka-
locsa), Jnos Pyber (bishop of Pcs) and Telegdy. Almsy and Nprgy would
have been ideal transitional candidates on account of their age. In 1637, following
Pter Tusor 153
ian ecclesiastical history, a Jesuit monk whose religious order was beset
by problems and who had been his predecessors confessing priest became
the head of the Hungarian hierarchy in little under a year and despite the
ecclesiastical and secular legal obstacles to his appointment.16 Pzmny
thus became the head of the countrys first political estate, the status ec-
clesiasticus. Aside from the palatine, he was now the highest dignitary in
the kingdom.17
Perhaps we should look for an unusual reason for this unmatched career
a common denominator in the Prague and papal courts for his appoint-
ment. Evidently, this could not have been Pzmnys theological works
and sermons in Hungarian, which even the Society of Jesus treated with
caution. (Barely a year after the publication of his main work, A guide,
in 1613, they had even tried to remove him from the country.)18 At the
same time, there is evidence that the name of the Hungarian Jesuit was
mentioned after the death of Forgch both by Placido de Mara, nuncio in
Prague, and by Melchior Klesl, the chief minister with full authority over
Habsburg policies during the reign of Matthias II (16081619).19 Klesl is
mentioned in passing in various texts, but Vilmos Frakni is the only au-
the death of Pzmny, Telegdy took steps to secure the post. On Bellarminos sup-
port, see Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:187188 and 619; id., Magyaror-
szg sszekttetsei a Szentszkkel, 3:289; Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e
Pzmny, 223, note 4; ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 945, f. 40r41r; Segr.
Stato, Germania, vol. 27, f. 39r40r; ibid., vol. 443, f. 333r.
16
Lukcs and Szab, Autour de la nomination de Pzmny; Lukcs, Jezsuita
maradt-e Pzmny; J. Svai, Pzmny s a szomaszkok. A szomaszkok genovai
levltrnak dokumentumai [Pzmny and the Somascans. Documents of the
Genoa Archive of the Somascans], Lymbus. Mveldstrtneti Tr 4 (1992), 123
141. For recent findings, see P. Tusor, Pzmny, a jezsuita rsek [Pzmny, the
Jesuit archbishop], in Jubileumi vknyv Pzmny Pter egyetemalaptsnak 375.
vfordulja tiszteletre, ed. by I. Maczk (Budapest, Esztergom and Piliscsaba
2010), 158163; id., A jezsuita Pzmny szomaszka szerzetessge. Mirt? [The
Jesuit Pzmny as a Somascan. Why?], in nnepi ktet Marth Mikls hetvenedik
szletsnapja tiszteletre, ed. by G. Sarbak and Gy. Fodor (Budapest 2013), 177
186; id., Ki lehetett Pzmny jezsuita feljelentje? [Who could have been
Pzmnys Jesuit denouncer?], in Pzmny nyomban. Tanulmnyok Hargittay
Emil tiszteletre, ed. by A. Ajkay and R. Bajki (Budapest 2013), 441448.
17
On feudalism in early modern Hungary, see I. M. Szijrt, A dita. A magyar
rendek s az orszggyls 17081792 [The Diet. The Hungarian estates and the
national Diet, 17081792] (Keszthely 2010), 2942.
18
B. Ivnyi, Pzmny kilpse a Jzus Trsasgbl [Pzmnys departure from the
Society of Jesus] (Krmend 1943), 13 (n. 2); ibid., 5; and Lukcs and Szab,
Autour de la nomination de Pzmny, 86, note 25.
19
Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e Pzmny, doc. no. 3.
154 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
III
Tridentine Catholicism began to make its influence felt in Hungary in the
first decades of the seventeenth century. Efforts to this effect had been
made in previous decades by Mikls Olh (Nicolaus Olahus, archbishop
of Esztergom, 15531568) and Gyrgy Draskovich (d. 1587), at the coun-
cil and then as bishop of Zagreb and bishop of Gyr (as the ordinary he
ordered the implementation of the council decrees); the Jesuits temporary
and then permanent settlement in Nagyszombat and in Znivralja (now
Kltor pod Znievom); the establishment of the Collegium Hungaricum in
Rome; in Transylvania, the foundation by Stephen Bthory of a Jesuit col-
lege in Kolozsvr with the support of Pope Gregory XIII (15721585);
and the visitation of bishop Boniface of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) to Ottoman
Hungary.21
The predominance of Protestants in the multi-denominational country
(in the late sixteenth century, there were 29 Protestant printing presses and
a single Catholic one), the religious policy of realism pursued by Ferdi-
nand I (15261564) and Maximilian I (15641576), the Long Turkish War
(Fifteen Years War, 15911606) and the lack of domestic resources
meant that it was hard to achieve progress. A turning point finally came in
the early seventeenth century. A hardening of religious barriers and the
armed seizure of churches by Rudolph II (known in Hungary as Rudolph
I) and the leaders of the residual medieval hierarchy (the High Church) in
20
Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:181.
21
I. Fazekas, Olh Mikls reformtrekvsei az esztergomi egyhzmegyben
15531568 kztt [The reform efforts of Mikls Olh in the Esztergom diocese
between 1553 and 1568], Trtnelmi Szemle 45, 12 (2003), 139153; M.
Grdonyi, Egy XVI. szzadi magyar jezsuita a katolikus restaurci
szolglatban: Sznt Istvn lete [A Hungarian Jesuit in the 16th century in the
service of Catholic restoration: The life of Istvn Sznt], Studia Wesprimiensia 2
(2000), 3241; A. Koltai, A gyri egyhzmegye 1579. vi szombathelyi zsinata
[The 1579 synod in Szombathely of the Gyr diocese], Magyar Egyhztrtneti
vzlatok 34 (1995), 4160; A. Molnr and D. Siptr, Egyetem volt-e a
Kolozsvri Bthory-egyetem [Was the Bthory university in Kolozsvr a
university?], Acta Historiae Litterarum Hungaricarum 30 (2011), 345363; I. Gy.
Tth, Raguzai Bonifc, a hdoltsg els ppai vizittora (15811582) [Boniface
of Ragusa, the first papal visitator to Ottoman Hungary (15811582)], Trtnelmi
Szemle 39, 34 (1997), 447472.
Pter Tusor 155
the royal free towns (liberae regiae civitates)22 of Upper Hungary led, in
1604, to the outbreak of a religious war that soon involved many secular
(political and individual) interests.23
As a result of the total victory of the Protestants, the first point in the
peace of Vienna concluding the war (1606) stipulated freedom of religion.
That is to say, the right to influence a persons choice of denomination
was removed from the central state authorities and placed in the hands of
the feudal estates. Subsequently, the Diet of 1608, which codified the
peace terms, almost completely destroyed the public law positions of the
Catholic episcopatepositions it had inherited from the medieval peri-
od.24 The victorious Protestant majority rejected the restitution to the
Catholic Church of around 350 properties that had been lost during the
war (abbeys, provosties, chapter and episcopal benefices); tithing issues
were made subject to secular jurisprudence (in disputed cases, this could
rule out the collection of a tithe); in areas with Protestant majorities, the
visitational rights of Catholic archdeacons and the associated money con-
tributions (cathedraticum) were transferred to the Protestant superinten-
dents and deacons; the prefectural office of diocesan bishops was called
into question; many bishops were removed from the royal council and the
Diet; it was proposed that the crucial post of court chancellor be given to a
secular individual.25
The overwhelming defeat suffered by the Catholics led to a change of
strategy. At the provincial synod in Nagyszombat in 1611, the emphasis
switched to building from the bottom up, or organic confessionalisation.
22
The imperial principle cuius regio eius et religio did not apply in Hungary.
These measures were based on the rights of royal patronage applying to the
churches of royal towns.
23
An analysis of whether or not the Bocskai war was a religious war has not yet
been published. Cf. G. Plffy, Gyztes szabadsgharc vagy egy sokfle sikert hoz
felkels? A magyar kirlysgi rendek s Bocskai Istvn mozgalma (16041608) [A
victorious war of liberation or an uprising with various successes? The estates of
Kingdom of Hungary and Istvn Bocskais movement] (Budapest 2009).
24
K. Pter, A vallsgy a bcsi bkben [The matter of religion in the Peace of
Vienna], in Frigy s bkessg legyen A bcsi s zsitvatoroki bke, ed. by
K. Papp and A. Jeney-Tth (Debrecen 2006), 171175; eadem, Az 1608. vi tr-
vny s a jobbgyok vallsszabadsga [The law of 1608 and the religious freedom
of the serfs], in Papok s nemesek. Magyar mveldstrtneti tanulmnyok a
reformcitl kezdd msfl vszzadbl (Budapest 1995), 129151 and 246
249.
25
Paragraphs 1, 6, 8 and 10 before the coronation and paragraph 5 after the coro-
nation. Corpus Iuris Hungarici, vol. 3 (16081657), ed. by D. Mrkus (Budapest
1900), 916 and 28.
156 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
IV
The significance of the diplomatic support received from the Holy See
should not be underestimated. The Catholics had lost the religious war of
16041606. In 1608, Matthias II had become king with the assistance of
the Protestant estates, thereby denying his elder brother Rudolph the
throne. The new ruler was forced to share power and authority with the
majority Protestant estates. Under the systemknown as estate dual-
isma palatine (palatinus regni) elected by the Diet from among four
magnates nominated by the king, took an active part in government as the
leader of the nobles.29 The post of palatine, which had been vacant for
26
C. Pterffy, Sacra concilia ecclesiae Romano-catholicae in regno Hungariae
celebrata, vols. 12 (Viennae and Posonii 1742), 190218. For a summary, see the
relevant chapters in the following mongraph: E. Hermann, A katolikus egyhz tr-
tnete Magyarorszgon 1914-ig [The history of the Catholic Church in Hungary
until 1914] (Munich 1973).
27
P. Tusor, Ellenreformcis haditerv 1606-bl [A Counter-Reformation plan of
attack], in Portr s imzs. Politikai propaganda s reprezentci a kora jkorban,
ed. by N. G. Etnyi and I. Horn (Budapest 2008), 7391.
28
P. Tusor, Az 1608. vi magyar trvnyek a rmai inkvizci eltt: II. Mtys
kikzstse [The Hungarian laws of 1608 before the Roman Inquisition: The ex-
communication of Matthias II], Aetas 15, 4 (2000), 89105.
29
Szijrt, A dita, 2942.
Pter Tusor 157
some decades (ever since the death of Tams Ndasdy in 1562), was held
by Istvn Illshzy from 1608 andafter his deathby Gyrgy Thurz
from 1609.30 Both men were Lutherans.
The head of the other constituent estate, the status ecclesiasticus, was
the archbishop of Esztergom, the countrys primate. The archbishop was
appointed by the king, but Hungarian common law required that his ap-
pointment be approved by the pope before he could practice the office in
full. As noted above, from 1607 the archbishops post was held by Ferenc
Forgch, who had been selected by Rudolph. Despite the loss of ground,
Forgch and his Hungarian bishops managed to exploit the opportunities
arising from the Protestants decision not to remove the ecclesiastical es-
tates entirely from the countrys common law system. Even so, the afore-
mentioned legal provisions, the ban on Jesuit ownership of property and
the abolition of the huge diocese of Eger represented grave losses in this
field.31
Thus in Hungary the status ecclesiasticus continued to be a Catholic
body andunlike in Bohemiaa constituent part of state power. Its pres-
ence had to be taken into account by Matthias, who had become king with
Protestant armed assistance. With its In Coena Domini, Rome punished
Matthias, and this proved to be a clear warning signal. In the subsequent
period, Matthias actively sought to prevent the removal of the titular bish-
ops from the royal council and to ensure that the county bishops would
remain as palatines at the head of the counties, the bastions of estate self-
governance. He also arranged for the main secular post below the palatine,
that of lord chief justice (iudex curiae regiae), be held by a Catholic
(Zsigmond Forgch) from 1609.32 Further, from 1613, he gave the Jesuits
de facto control over the incomes of the Turc provosty, which enabled
30
On the archontology of the Hungarian feudal leaders, see Z. Fallenbchl, Ma-
gyarorszg fmltsgai [Hungarys chief dignitaries] (Budapest 1988).
31
P. Srs, Forgch Ferencz; K. Ackermann, Forgch Ferenc bboros, eszter-
gomi rsek. letrajzi tanulmnyok az ellenreformci korhoz [Cardinal Ferenc
Forgch, Archbishop of Esztergom. Biographical studies on the age of the Coun-
ter-Reformation] (Budapest 1918); P. Tusor, Purpura Pannonica. Az esztergomi
bborosi szk kialakulsnak elzmnyei a 17. szzadban [Purpura Pannonica. The
background to the establishment of the cardinals seat at Esztergom in the 17th cen-
tury] (Collectanea Vaticana Hungariae [hereafter: CVH] I/3) (Budapest and Rome
2005), 59ff.
32
. Krolyi, Az ellenreformci kezdetei s Thurz Gyrgy ndorr vlasztsa
[The start of the Counter-Reformation and the election of Gyrgy Thurz as pala-
tine], Szzadok 53 (1919), 128 and 124163.
158 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
33
Srs, Forgch Ferencz, 807808; Ackermann, Forgch Ferenc, 5152; Bib-
lioteca Apostolica Vaticana [hereafter: BAV], Barberini Latini [hereafter: Barb.
Lat.], vol. 6920, f. 39rv, 62rv, 96rv.
34
BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6920, f. 39rv.
35
Gy. Szekf, Bethlen Gbor. Trtneti tanulmny [Gbor Bethlen. A historical
study], ed. by E. Pamlnyi (Budapest 1983).
36
For Matthias and his imperial policies, see V. Press, Matthias, Neue Deutsche
Biographie 16 (1990), 403405.
37
On the religious situation in the empire in the early 17th century, see Briefe und
Akten zur Geschichte des Dreiigjhrigen Krieges in den Zeiten des vorwaltenden
Einflusses der Wittelsbacher (15981618), vols. 112, ed. by Historischen
Kommission bei der kniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Munich 1870
1978); Briefe und Akten zur Geschichte des Dreiigjhrigen Krieges, Neue Folge.
Die Politik Maximilians I. von Bayern und seiner Verbndeten (16181651), vols.
110, ed. by Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften (Leipzig and Munich 19071998); Krieg und Politik 16181648.
Europische Probleme und Perspektiven, ed. by K. Repgen (Munich 1988); R. G.
Asch, The Thirty Years War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe 16181648
(New York 1997); Parker, The Thirty Years War; for a more general approach, see
Religion und Gewalt. Konflikte, Rituale, Deutungen (15001800), ed. by K. von
Greyerz and K. Siebenhner (Gttingen 2006).
Pter Tusor 159
38
Melchior Klesl was appointed bishop of Wiener Neustadt in 1588 and bishop of
Vienna in 1598. In 1616, he was elevated to the rank of cardinal. During the reign
of Matthias II, he became a leading figure in Habsburg politics, and from 1611 un-
til his fall in 1618 he headed the Secret Council. For a summary and appraisal of
his career, see J. Rainer, Klesl, Melchior, Neue Deutsche Biographie 12 (1979),
5ff.; H. Altmann, Klesl (Cleselius, Khlesl, Klesel), Melchior, Kardinal, Biogra-
phisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vol. 4 (1992), 4245; and more recently,
V. Press, Klesl, Melchior, in Theologische Realenzyklopdie, vols. 13, ed. by
G. Mller and H. Balz (Berlin 2006), 1:265267. A particularly valuable work is J.
Freiherr von Hammer Purgstall, Khlesls Leben. Mit der Sammlung von Khlesl
Briefen und anderen Urkunden, vols. 14 (Vienna 18471851); A.
Kerschbaumer, Kardinal Klesl (Vienna 18651 [and 19052]); F. Mtan, Regesten
zur Geschichte des Kardinals Melchior Klesl, Bischofs von Wien 15981630, in
Regesten zur Geschichte der Erzdizese Wien, vol. 2, Regesten zur Geschichte der
Bischfe und Erzbischfe Wiens, ed. by J. Kopallik (Vienna 1894), 160289.
39
On Klesls political attitudes, see J. Rainer, Kardinal Melchior Klesl (1552
1630). Vom Generalreformator zum Ausgleichspolitiker, Rmische
Quartalschrift fr Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 59 (1964),
1435 (a basic and valuable review); id., Der Process gegen Kardinale Klesl,
Rmische Historische Mitteilungen 5 (19611962), 35163; and also H.
Angemeier, Politik, Religion und Reich bei Kardinal Melchior Khlesl, Zeitschtift
der Savigny-Stiftung fr Rechtsgeschichte. Germanistische Abteilung 110 (1993),
249330. For an interesting account in Hungarian, see B. Hman and Gy. Szekf,
Magyar trtnet, vols. 15 (Budapest 19411943), 4:20 and 577 (Szekf).
40
For Klesls role in the Habsburg succession, see A. Koller, Papst, Kaiser und
Reich am Vorabend des Dreiigjhrigen Krieges (16121621). Die Sicherung der
160 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
V
The survival of the functional but fragile system of rule that had arisen by
the early 1610s was threatened by the absence of a successor to Matthias.
The same problem had cast a shadow over Rudolphs reign. According to
the dynastic principle, relatives from a side branch of the family were pos-
sible contenders for the throne. Matthias had two surviving younger broth-
ers: Albert, who reigned in the Netherlands, and Maximilian, archduke of
Austria, whoafter the death of Stephen (Istvn) Bthoryhad made an
unsuccessful bid for the Polish throne in 1587 and who had rejected elec-
tion as King of the Romans in 1607. The two brothers, however, were not
much younger than Matthias. Their possible candidacy was only really
considered in passing. The man with the strongest claim was Phillip III of
Spain (15981621). His paternal great-grandfather was Emperor Maximil-
ian I (15081519), but more importantly, having been born in 1578, he
was the only younger male member of the dynasty whose ancestors in-
cluded Maximilian II (his maternal grandfather). Accordingly, like Ru-
dolph and Matthias, Phillip was a direct heir of Maximilian II. Meanwhile,
Ferdinand, who was the same age as the Spanish king, was the son of
Charles II, Archduke of Austria (d. 1590), who had been the youngest son
of Ferdinand I and the younger brother of Maximilian II.41
Known for the intransigence of their religious (Catholic) views, all
these men represented a threat to the survival of Klesls system. For this
reason, the Protestants conspired to achieve the election of a non-Catholic
emperor. Klesl sought to guarantee the survival of his system by delaying
the accession of an uncompromising heir and by establishing favourable
conditions for the operation of the system. While this policy was effective
in the short term, it carried with it several dangers. The frail health of Mat-
thias II, who had been born two years after the Augsburg Settlement,
meant that the throne might become vacant at any time. The absence of a
designated successor with well-established positions would clearly have
favoured the Protestants, for under imperial law during an interregnum the
affairs of state were to be directed by the Elector of the Palatinate, who
was a Protestant. In Hungary too, affairs would have been run by the pala-
tine, who was also a Protestant. Meanwhile, a delay in the election of the
42
Altmann, Klesl, 4245; Rainer, Kardinal Melchior Klesl, 2729. Almost all
works on the Thirty Years War cover to some degree the issue of Habsburg suc-
cession. For an account of the candidacy of Maximilian, Prince of Bavaria, see H.
Altmann, Die Reichspolitik Maximilians I. von Bayern 16131618 (Briefe und Ak-
ten) (Munich and Vienna 1978), 159227.
162 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
princes (or more exactly by men in their circle).43 This, however, would
have rendered Ferdinands Hungarian and Bohemian succession meaning-
less.44 Klesls delaying tactics constituted a second problem area. In
Rome, there was a realisation as early as the autumn of 1615 that Klesl
was playing for time.45
Perhaps Klesls aim was to implement the same model of royal succes-
sion that had already proved successful at the time of Matthias IIs acces-
sion and was to function once again in 1625 when Ferdinand III (1637
1657) acceded to the throne.46 According to this model, the goal was to se-
cure the Hungarian crown and then the Bohemian crown and finally to be
elected as King of the Romanswhich would then lead to succession as
emperor. Election as king of Hungary may have seemed to be the most
advantageous and most reliable element in the process. Indeed, in the
shadow of the Ottoman threat, Ferdinands election may have appeared
more certain in Hungary. However, the assurances concerning religious
freedom demanded by the countrys powerful Protestant estates might
have served as precedents for the new rulers policies both in the Bohe-
mian lands and in relation to the empire. In view of the changing balance
of power, however, the inverse could not be ruled out either: Protestant
Hungarian statehood in Transylvania and the substantial fighting potential
of the Hungarian Protestant estates might have rendered the outcome of a
royal election in Hungary relatively uncertain.47
VI
In both instances, for archbishop, there was a great need for a professional
and reliable politician with organisational and rhetorical skills, a man who
could defend the interests of the estates during negotiations and at the na-
tional Diet and who was able to check the power of the countrys Lutheran
palatine, Gyrgy Thurz. The latter was clearly seeking to fully exploit the
opportunities raised by the royal election. Apart from the anti-Ottoman de-
fence system, the Habsburg authorities, who barely possessed an armed
force, had limited military opportunitiesfar fewer than half a century
43
His name was even suggested in the Hungarian royal election of 1618.
44
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 159, f. 57rv.
45
For more relevant data, see ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 159, passim
(Lettere del nunzio allimperatore del 1615 e 1616 in ciffra).
46
V. Frakni, A magyar kirlyvlasztsok trtnete [The history of the Hungarian
royal elections] (Mriabesny and Gdll 2005), 207212.
47
Cf. ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 367, f. 121r.
Pter Tusor 163
If it should happen (and may the benevolent God mercifully avert it) that,
owing to the weakness of the human existence, Your Majestys fragile life
comes to an end, then an interregnum will follow. If Your Highness fol-
lows in the footsteps of the predecessors of the blessed Austrian[Sic! rather
Habsburg or Holy Roman] emperor and comes to the realisation that he
should provide for his successor in Hungary while still alive and in fullness
of strength, then there is no one who would not see the extent to which it is
in the interest of the public and of the House of Austria that [] someone
should be appointed as archbishop, so as to prevent his prerogative being
harmed. For it is he who formulates his opinion as the first to do so; more-
over, he can easily bring the clerics and almost all the Catholics to ac-
ceptance of the same position. Holy Emperor, we could list various dan-
gers stemming from this, if we were to fail to provide for things in ad-
vance, but we would rather leave it to the wise judgement of Your
Highness than discuss these things in a lengthy manner.49
48
Klesl often mentioned the difficulties concerning the Hungarian, Bohemian and
imperial aspects. Purgstall, Khlesls Leben, 3: n. 647 (19 June 1616, to Paul V);
and n. 652 (3 July: Gutachten Cardinal Khlesls ob da Successionsgeschft mehr
im rmischen Reich oder in den Erblndern vornznehmen sei) and passim.
49
ASV Segr. Stato, Principi, vol. 57, f. 295r296v.
164 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
known that they too were aware of the gravity of the problem. In their
nine-point petition, this rather specific argument was mentioned, in addi-
tion to the rapid appointment of a primate. A specific candidate was not
mentioned, however, in the memorandum.
Klesl had no qualms about doing so. Clearly, his aim was that the new
primate should be willing to co-operate with him on the issue of royal suc-
cession. In view of the historical context, it would seem no exaggeration to
claim that Klesls priority was to ensure that the Hungarian royal succes-
sion took place in accordance with his wishes and that he needed Pzmny
as archbishop of Esztergom to achieve this goal and to encourage the new
ruler to continue along the beaten path. As such, Pzmny appears before
us as a key figure in Ferdinands succession as king of Hungary and as an
important guarantee of continuity in domestic and ecclesiastical policy in
Hungary. The real reason for his appointment as archbishop of Esztergom
can be found, under this scenario, in the interests of the Habsburg Court
and in the practical steps taken by Melchior Klesl, the then all-powerful
head of the Secret Council.
Klesl saw in no other Hungarian prelate or other cleric a better guaran-
tee for the realisation of his own plans concerning the issue of succession.
His chosen man was Pzmny, whose political career had begun in
1608, a year in which the Diet had conducted another royal election. At
that time, Pzmny had caused quite a stir when, as a Jesuit, he had sub-
mitted a theologians opinion that concurred with Matthiass interpretation
of religious freedom.50 It was he who had subsequently persuaded Primate
Forgch to accept Matthiass policy, despite Forgchs somewhat icy rela-
tions with the king and with Klesl. In the eyes of the latter, Pzmny had
many positive qualities, going beyond his role in the Diet, his religious po-
litical views, his ten years of experience at the primates court, his excep-
tional capabilities as an orator and writer and his popularity as a spiritual
pastor. Moreover Pzmny had been personally acquainted, ever since his
Graz years, with Archduke Ferdinand,51 and Klesl possibly hoped that the
two mens good relations might counterbalance his own poor relationship
50
For an analysis of the issue, see I. Bitskey, Pzmny Pter memoranduma a val-
lsszabadsgrl [Pter Pzmnys memorandum on religious freedom], Kereszt-
ny Sz 2 (2009), 14; and a rev. ver. with the opinion: Der ungarische Jesuit P-
ter Pzmny ber die Religionsfreiheit der Calvinisten und der Lutheraner, in
Calvin und Reformiertentum in Ungarn und Siebenbrgen. Helvetisches
Bekenntnis, Ethnie und Politik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1918, ed. by M. Fata and
A. Schindling (Mnster 2012), 453472.
51
See J. Kastner, Pzmny Pter grci vei [Pter Pzmnys years in Graz],
Katolikus Szemle 49, 12 (1935), 78.
Pter Tusor 165
with Ferdinand and with Archduke Maximilian, which had become even
worse in April 1616 with his elevation to the rank of cardinalwhich had
led to hefty disputes concerning precedence.52
Klesls appointment of Pzmny as archbishopwhich raised the latter
to one of the highest positions in the Hungarian feudal hierarchywas a
sure means (and the only means) to secure the continuity of his policy of
realism in denominational matters in one of the most important Habsburg
countries. This consideration offers a sufficient explanation for the intensi-
fication of Habsburg diplomatic efforts in Rome on behalf of Pzmny af-
ter Forgchs death. The aim was to remove the legal obstacles to the ap-
pointment of the Hungarian Jesuit Pzmny to the archbishops seat; Klesl
himself gave considerable attention to the details of the case. Even more
importantly, Klesl could then consider the new leader of the Hungarian es-
tates as his own creature and as a committed and reliable client (as the lat-
ter from the time of Forgchs death or, more precisely, from the time of
his being invited to Prague in December 1615).53 For his part, Pzmny
may have considered his consecrating bishop to be his primary patronat
least this is how we might portray their relationship within the frame of
patronage in the early modern era.54
Our reconstruction of events may be placed within a micro-political
analytical framework. Evidently, we are discussing a typical phenomenon
of the early modern period: the construction of a system of authority and a
network of clients overseen by a political actor with a significant but time-
limited concentration of power. In our case, this actorKleslwas both a
cardinal and the Habsburg chief minister.55 It may be seen as an internal
52
Koller, Papst, Kaiser und Reich, 112118.
53
In early 1616, he evidently already belonged to Klesls closest circle, but only
with respect to Hungarian domestic affairs. See Pzmny kezvel rt Klesl-
levlfogalmazvnyokat a ndorhoz s az orszgbrhoz (1616. janur 27. s
februr 3.) [Pzmnys handwritten Klesl draft letters to the palatine and the lord
chief justice], in Pzmny Pter bbornok, esztergomi rsek, Magyarorszg her-
cegprmsa sszegyjttt levelei. Petri cardinalis Pzmny ecclesiae Strigoniensis
archiepiscopi et Regni Hungariae primatis epistolae collectae, vols. 12, ed. by F.
Hanuy (Budapest 19101911), 1: appendices 13 and 14 [hereafter: Pzmny
levelei].
54
Cf. P. Tusor, A barokk ppasg (16001700) [The baroque papacy] (Budapest
2004), 80ff. and 117ff.
55
Cf. H. von Thiessen, Auenpolitik im Zeichen personaler Herrschaft. Die
rmisch-spanischen Beziehungen in mikropolitischer Perspektive, in Rmische
Mikropolitik unter Papst Paul V. Borghese (16051621) zwischen Spanien,
Neapel, Mailand und Genua, ed. by W. Reinhard (Tbingen 2004), 21178, 39
42ff.; see also J. Brenger, Pour une enqute europene: Le problme du ministe-
166 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
VII
The other actor with a say in the choice of archbishopthe papal court
basically related to Pzmny through his patron. It saw in Pzmny Klesls
preferred choice and a man whose active involvement in the delicate and
risky issue of succession might result in real progress. In this respect, it is
worth noting that in the mid-1610s, Habsburg succession became a priori-
ty of papal foreign policy.
In Rome, Melchior Klesls delaying tactics were considered harmful.
Indeed, according to some researchers, the Curia regarded him as the main
obstacle to the Holy Sees denominational aims in the empireaims that
had been formulated only at a theoretical level in several of their ele-
ments.60 Rome, however, avoided a confrontation with Klesl. Rather, until
late 1616 and early 1617, it took every opportunityfrom the smallest
58
Magyar Nemzeti Levltr Orszgos Levltra, Magyar Kancellriai Levltr,
Libri Regii (A 57), vol. 6, f. 779780; Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:621;
Litertor-politikusok levelei Jenei Ferenc gyjtsbl [The letters of writers-
politicians from the collection of Ferenc Jenei], ed. by J. Jankovics (Budapest and
Szeged 1981), n. 153.
59
Il signor cardinale Cleselio mand la settimana passata il padre Pasman al si-
gnor cardinale Dietrichstain facendoli sapere, che egli pensava di ritirare dai ne-
gozi et dal servizio di sua maest Cesarea, et intendeva dintrodurre esso Dietrichs-
tain, ma non si crede. Massimiliano et Ferdinando intendo, che finalla venuta del
conte dOgnate vogliono dissimulare con il cardinale Cleselio, ma che se dopo ha-
ver la cessione di Spagna non vedranno risoluzione in questo negozio della succe-
sisone, se li vogliono mostrare aperti inimici. Alessandro Vasoli internuncius to
Scipione Borghese, Prague, 29 Aug. 1616. ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol.
159, f. 183r; BAV Boncompagni [hereafter: Bonc.], vol. E 16, f. 36r37v;
Pzmny levelei, 1: n. 42, 44, 47, 48.
60
Koller, Papst, Kaiser und Reich, 109.
168 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
matter to his elevation to the rank of cardinalto win over his support.61
The background negotiations in the autumn of 1615 leading to Klesls
public appointment as cardinal on 11 April 161662 almost eerily coincide
with the drafting and publication of the dispensation letter enabling
Pzmnys appointment as archbishop of Esztergom.
It was within this framework that papal diplomacy urged continuous-
lysubordinating almost all other matters to this issue63for a resolution
of the succession issue, whereby its preferred candidate was Ferdinand.
Similarly to his predecessor (Clement VIII, 15921605) and to his succes-
sor (Urban VIII, 16231644), Paul V (16051621), who otherwise count-
ed as a supporter of Spain,64 did not wish to see a strengthening of Spanish
hegemony in Europe. Further, papal diplomacy considered the rule of Fer-
dinand in Styria to have been ideal in a religious sense: over a 20-year pe-
riod beginning in 1596, Styria, which had been almost completely Luther-
an, had been transformed into a majority Catholic land, thanks to Ferdi-
nands wise use of his power and to the assistance granted him by the
Jesuits and the Graz nunciature.65
The issue of Habsburg succession had long been at the focus of Habs-
burgpapal negotiations. Lodovico Ridolfi, Habsburg envoy in Rome, not-
ed in his report of 20 September 1614 the popes deep desire for a resolu-
61
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 162, f. 20r, 21rv, 77r; ibid., vol. 367, f. 2rv;
sterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Handschriften-
sammlung [hereafter: StA HHStA Handschriften], Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 369rv;
see also f. 341rv, 183rv; vol. 10, f. 46rv; ASV Segr. Stato, Germania, vol. 114K, f.
383rv; Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 367, f. 111r, 116r, 125r; ibid., vol. 159, f. 77r;
Segr. Stato, Vescovi, vol. 190, f. 346r; Segr. Stato, Nunz. Port., passim. Cf.
Hammer Purgstall, Khlesls Leben, 3: n. 534.
62
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 518rv. Cf. Hierarchia Ca-
tholica medii et recentioris aevi, vol. 4, ed. by P. Gauchat (Monasterii 1935), 13.
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 945, f. 61v62r; ibid., vol. 944, f. 56v57v; Segr.
Stato, Principi, vol. 191, f. 76r [cf. f. 31r]; Armarium XLV, vol. 15, f. 140rv. Cf.
Kerschbaumer, Kardinal Klesl, 218ff. On the appointment of crown-cardinals, see
von Thiessen, Auenpolitik im Zeichen personaler Herrschaft, 6373.
63
Cf. ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 944, f. 112rv; ibid., f. 155r157r. See es-
pecially: Serie II, vol. 159, passim; and Segr. Stato, Nunz. Port., vol. 151, passim.
64
Cf. G. Metzler, Die doppelte Peripherie. Neapel als rmische Kolonie und als
spanische Provinz, in Rmische Mikropolitik unter Papst Paul V., 179334.
65
Almost all works on the Thirty Years War and its roots cover in part the reign
of Ferdinand in Graz. On the character of Ferdinand, see M. Ferdinndy,
Pzmny az llamfrfi. Szletsnek ngyszzados vforduljra [Pzmny the
statesman. On the 400th anniversary of his birth], Katolikus Szemle 22 (1970), 201
217 and 315328 (cit. 132), 912.
Pter Tusor 169
tion of the issue. According to Paul V, the Spanish were not opposed to
Ferdinands receiving the hereditary lands. In case of a rebellion, the
Spanish troops stationed in northern Italy could be deployed.66 On 4 De-
cember 1614, the envoy wrote that the pope had welcomed Klesls ideas
for a solution to the issue of Hungarian and Bohemian succession, where-
by the first Imperial Diet could also include a vote for the King of the Ro-
mans, a position on the path leading to the imperial throne.67 In his report
of 17 January 1615, Ridolfi described these ideas in detail, and it seems
plausible that during the preceding days Pzmnywho was in Rome on
behalf of Cardinal Forgch to discuss problems in the Jesuit Orderhad
laid out a similar solution in his audience with the pope, which we know
took place in early 1615.
In mid-January 1615, in accordance with Klesls instructions, Ridolfi
emphasised at the Curia the importance of reaching a compromise with the
Protestants that would enable a joint stand to be taken against the Turks.
He noted that the Ottoman threat had grown since Bethlens decision to
surrender some castles to the Ottoman side. Ridolfi then asked the pope to
use his influence with the Catholic princes. In an audience with Cardinal
Borghese, Ridolfi underlined that under the umbrella of Matthiass anti-
Ottoman ecumenical stand, a compromise had to be reached with the
Protestants in the empire and that it was possible and imperative that the
issue of succession should be settled, otherwise the Catholic faith would
suffer severe losses. Meanwhile, Ridolfi reproached the Spanish envoy,
arguing that the Spanish king should support the Catholic faith and matters
of existential importance to the dynasty rather than waste resources on ex-
pensive wars in Savoy and in Flanders.68
This most interesting vision, which could not be sustained in a tactical
sense, drew strength from Gabriel Bethlens accession to the Transylvani-
an throne and the Ottoman threat to the castles of Vrad, Lippa (Lipova)
and Jen (Borosjen, Ineu).69 This threat served as a catalyst for the bridg-
66
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 30v31r; ASV Fondo Bor-
ghese, Serie II, vol. 371, f. 106rv ff.; vol. 162, f. 5r6r, 11r, 13r, 39r, 47r, 48r, 57r
(Sabbato si cominci il trattato della successione di Bohemia et di Ungheria, 25
Sept. 1614), 77r and passim.
67
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 12, f. 689rv; ibid., Staatsabteilung
Rom, Diplomatische Korrespondenz [hereafter: Rom, Dipl. Korresp.], Karton 49,
f. 5792 (Konv. Ridolfi).
68
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 177r178v and 199r200v;
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 367, f. 4r6v.
69
Biblioteca Angelica (Roma), Ms. 1234, f. 12rv; StA HHStA Rom, Dipl. Kor-
resp., Karton 49, f. 8889. The report, which caused outrage throughout Europe,
170 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
ing of religious differences between the estates and for the resolution of
the issue of succession in return for religious concessions.70 Progress in
this field was stifled, however, by the failure of the Generallandtag in
Linz, at which representatives of the Austrian, Bohemian and Hungarian
estates showed scant enthusiasm for offering up funds for a Habsburg
Ottoman conflict,71 and by an agreement signed in Nagyszombat with
Bethlens representatives on 6 May 1615. The final straw came with Vi-
ennas ratification, on 15 July 1615, of the Peace of Zsitvatorok.72
After the audience given to Pzmny in January 1615, papal diploma-
cyperhaps influenced by what Pzmny had saidbecame far more in-
volved in efforts in Hungary, the Bohemian lands and at the imperial level
to resolve the issue of Habsburg succession. Between February and April
1616, it strove hard to influence Klesl.73
proved to be only partially true. Lippa fell to the Ottomans completely in the sum-
mer of 1616.
70
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 12, f. 732735; ibid., f. 716rv and
717r718v; ibid., Rom, Dipl. Korresp., Karton 49, f. 5556. On Paul Vs eastern
policy and shifts in the focus of interest, see J. P. Niederkorn, Papst, Kaiser und
Reich whrend der letzten Regierungsjahre Kaiser Rudolfs II (16051612), in Die
Auenbeziehungen der rmischen Kurie, 83100, 84.
71
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 16r. At the time the Otto-
mans were weak, and so a military success was a possibility, but the estates feared
that a strong army would be exploited by the emperor. D. Angyal, Az 1615-i bc-
si trk bknek titkos pontjai [The secret points of the Viennese Turkish peace
of 1615], in Emlkknyv dr. grf Klebelsberg Kuno negyedszzados kulturpolitikai
mkdsnek emlkre. Szletsnek tvenedik vforduljn (Budapest 1925),
374375; Ferdinndy, Pzmny az llamfrfi, 12; cf. Press, Matthias, 404405;
for a detailed account, see B. Ila, Az 1614-i linzi egyetemes gyls [The Linz
universal Diet of 1614], A grf Klebelsberg Kuno Magyar Trtnetkutat Intzet
vknyve 4, ed. by . Krolyi and D. Angyal (Budapest 1934), 231253, 249253.
On the Austrian estates, see W. Schulze, Landesdefension und Staatsbildung.
Studien zum Kriegswesen des innersterreichischen Territorialstaates (1564
1619) (Graz 1973); Bndnispartner und Konkurrenten der Landesfrsten? Die
Stnde in der Habsburgermonarchie, ed. by G. Ammerer (Vienna and Munich
2007).
72
Cf. Angyal, Az 1615-i bcsi trk bknek titkos pontjai, 367382.
73
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 367, f. 16r and 4r6; cf. the notes for 31 Jan.
(f. 12r and 13r); ibid., f. 18r and 124r, 27r; cf. f. 33rv; ibid., f. 23r, 25r, 60r, 75r, 91r,
121r, 126r, 132r, 153r; Koller, Papst, Kaiser und Reich, 105106. In the sources, in
addition to the issue of imperial and Bohemian succession, attention is also given
to the issue of Hungarian succession. Later, it is only occasionally mentioned: Ha
dato non poca ammirazione, che il Cleselio si vaglia del nunzio di Spagna per le
cose, che vostra signoria scrive, ma comella dice, il medesimo nunzio molto ben
Pter Tusor 171
lo conosce. Manco male , che si quereli con lui della dilazione, che sinterpone
per lelezione del re de Romani, et che si procrastini la risoluzione nel particolare
di Bohemia et dUngheria. Borgheses secret note to the nuncio De Mara, Rome,
11 Apr. 1615. ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 367, f. 26r. See also 12 Dec.
1615 (f. 87r); 16 Jan. 1616 (f. 100rv).
74
Le istruzioni generali di Paolo V ai diplomatici pontifici 16051621, vols. 13,
ed. by Silvano Giordano O.C.D. (Tbingen 2003) (Instructiones Pontificum Ro-
manorum), 1025; ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 367, f. 153r (cf. f. 181r);
ibid., Serie I, vol. 945, f. 182v183r.
75
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 60rv.
76
Ibid., f. 453rv.
77
Ibid., f. 651rv.
172 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
78
Cf. Relazione di Germania fatta in tempo dellimperadore Ridolfo secondo di
Austria, nella quale si narrano le cose contenute nella seguente tavola. ASV
Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 828, f. 56r109v and 80v83v. The depth of infor-
mation on Hungary matches that of the reports concerning Lombardy, Tuscany and
Spain. BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6918 (De Maras reports in 1612 with appendices);
vol. 6919 (1613); 6920 (also 1613), in particular f. 9, 26, 75; and also ASV Fondo
Confalonieri, vol. 22, f. 53r68v. Cf. T. Kruppa, Erdly s a Szentszk a Bthoryak
korban. Okmnytr II (15951613) [Transylvania and the Holy See in the era of
the Bthorys. Documentary archive II (15951613)] (CVH I/5) (Budapest, Rome
and Szeged 2009), ad indicem. StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f.
112rv; Angyal, Az 1615-i bcsi trk bknek titkos pontjai, 373374; Ila, Az
1614-i linzi egyetemes gyls, 247; ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie III, vol 127.e, f.
79rv. Archivelor Nationale Romania, Directia Judeteana Cluj, Fond Familial Kor-
nis [National Archives of Romania, Cluj County Directorate, Archives of the Fam-
ily of Count Kornis de Gnczruszka], n. 654/a, f. 45; StA HHStA Handschrift-
en, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 5rv, 25rv, 107r, 151rv; Angyal, Az 1615-i bcsi trk
bknek titkos pontjai, 367382.
79
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 159 and Segr. Stato, Germania, vol. 114K
(especially concerning the negotiations in Nagyszombat and Vienna, and the ratifi-
cation of the latter in the autumn).
80
ASV Segr. Stato, Nunz. Port., vol. 151, f. 41 and passim.
81
ASV Segr. Stato, Germania, vol. 114K, f. 37rv; ibid., Nunz. Port., vol. 151, f.
25 , 29rv, 50v51r; Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 945, f. 166rv. Cf. ibid., vol. 947,
v
In 1616, the attention of the Holy See was still focussed on political
events in Hungary.85 At the Curia it was no secret that there were high ex-
pectations of Gyrgy Homonnai Drugeths action in Transylvania.86 In
early March 1616, the State Secretariat, which was in the process of ar-
ranging for Pzmnys transfer to the Somascan Fathers and clarifying
various claims made against his fellow monksexpressed the view that
the Prague courts support for Homonnai could be justified, for Bethlen
had not adhered to the peace of Nagyszombat either: for instance, he had
not conceded to the free practice of the Catholic religion.87 On 19 March,
the cardinal-nephew Scipione Borghese, who was in charge of the State
Secretariat, wrote not only of an inquiry into suspicions raised against
Pzmny but also of the anticipated consequences of Homonnais success-
es on that day.88
Such confidence89 was undermined by unfavourable news reports,90 and
by mid-summer there was substantial anxiety.91 It comes as no surprise,
therefore, to learn that after the failure of the Hungarian count there was
praise for the pacification of the Upper Hungarian estates, which served as
a political test prior to Pzmnys appointment as archbishop.92 But
even in the following spring, Paul V evaluated the willingness of Bethlen
to reach an agreement with Matthias II in light of the favourable develop-
ments in northern Italy.93 In late 1616 and early 1617, the new nuncio,
Visconti-Borromeo (and then, after Visconti-Borromeos death, the inter-
nuncio Alessandro Vasoli), showed a continuous and active interest in de-
velopments in Hungary and in actions taken by the palatine and by Beth-
len.94 At the centre of his interest were renewed negotiations in Nagy-
szombat and the death of the palatine Thurz.95 An indication of the active
85
BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6921, n. 17, 29, 39 and passim; Fondo Borghese, Serie I,
vol. 945, f. 17v and 183rv, passim.
86
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 66r67v. Cf. Frakni,
Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:620621; Angyal, Az 1615-i bcsi trk bknek titkos
pontjai, 371 and 375.
87
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 945, f. 36rv.
88
Ibid., f. 48r.
89
Ibid., f. 74v75r.
90
Cf. ibid., f. 102v103r and 109v110r.
91
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 945, f. 131r.
92
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 79rv.
93
StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 571rv.
94
BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6922, passim.
95
ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 947, f. 9rv, 65r, 100v101r (cf. f. 116r and
140r); BAV Barb. Lat., 6928 f. 70rv, 191r, 272r and passim; ASV Fondo Borghese,
Serie III, vol. 70a, f. 95rv.
174 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
nature of this interest is that the nuncio, who appears to have corresponded
continuously with the new archbishop of Esztergom,96 and the State Secre-
tariat were both firmly agreed that Pzmny should be Hungarys new
primate, even if this meant he would head a council that included
Protestants.97
Evidently, the papacy was still giving only limited attention to the re-
gions political developments. It wished to see Matthias IIs imperial suc-
cession, coupled with his election as Hungarian king. In 16151616 the
importance of this priority outweighed almost everything else. This is the
primary reason why Paul V could fulfil Klesls demand that Pzmny be
chosen as archbishop despite the internal and external problems of the So-
ciety of Jesus as well as the legal difficulties.98 At the Curia, the Hungari-
an Jesuit was seen as almost the only person who could bring progress to
the issue of Habsburg succession in Hungary.
VIII
In view of Pzmnys secondary links, he also counted as the creature of
Pope Paul V. This is not simply to say that the pope, in granting favours to
Pzmny, wished to influence Habsburg policies and underline the shared
interests and the excellent diplomatic relations, or that action was only
taken after Klesls repeated calls for such. The words of the pope, certo
anco amiamo il padre Pasman (certainly, we love Father Pzmny),
which were recorded by Jacomo Olivieri, Cardinal Franz Dietrichstiens
envoy in Rome, in his report on a personal audience held in early Novem-
ber 1616, were not conceived in the spirit of the general commandment to
love;99 rather, they should be regarded as a special term of the period iden-
tifying the new archbishop as a member of the papal clientele. Putting it
more simplyand refraining from use of terminology that may otherwise
facilitate an understanding of the social system of the early modern period
96
BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6923, n. 36.
97
BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6923, n. 9 and 29; ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 947,
f. 12v13r (and f. 13v14r); BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6923, n. 43.
98
I do not provide further details in this article. See Lukcs and Szab, Autour de
la nomination de Pzmny; Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e Pzmny; Svai,
Pzmny s a szomaszkok, 123141; Tusor, Pzmny, a jezsuita rsek, 158
163; id., A jezsuita Pzmny szomaszka szerzetessge, 177186; id., Ki lehetett
Pzmny jezsuita feljelentje?, 441448.
99
Rome, 12 Nov. 1616. Moravsk Zemsk Archiv, Rodin Archiv Dietrichtejn,
Korrespondence Kardinla Frantika Dietrichtejna [hereafter: MZA, Rod. Arch.
Dietrich., Korresp Frant. Dietrich.], karton 438, f. 170r171v.
Pter Tusor 175
and its ceremonial aspectswe might say that Pzmny enjoyed the more
or less full and unconditional confidence of the pope. It should be noted,
however, that the idea of appointing him as archbishop had also been
raised by the nuncio. Moreover Klesl himself wrote and stated during an
audience with the temporary imperial envoy that the appointment of
Pzmny had taken place to curry favour with Paul V, whereby Klesl re-
ferred to the brve of 21 April 1616which had finally enabled the Jesuit
Pzmny to become primate in Hungary by allowing him to become a
Somascan brother)100and to the Curias urgings in this area.101
Aside from the nuncio Placido de Maras positive reports,102 the basis
for such confidence in Pzmny seems simply to have been derived from
the impression made by the Hungarian Jesuit upon the pope during the
aforementioned private audience at the Quirinal Palace on 5 January 1615.
During that audience, Pzmny had spoken about the foundation of a col-
lege in Nagyszombat and about the religious and political situation in
Hungary.103 We also know, based on a record of the meeting drawn up by
the State Secretariat on 10 January 1615, that Pzmny had urged the Holy
See to give special attention to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones as
well as the issue of imperial succession.104 We do not know the full details
100
Cf. Lukcs and Szab, Autour de la nomination de Pzmny; Lukcs, Jez-
suita maradt-e Pzmny; Svai, Pzmny s a szomaszkok, 123141; Tusor,
Pzmny, a jezsuita rsek, 158163; id., A jezsuita Pzmny szomaszka szer-
zetessge, 177186; id., Ki lehetett Pzmny jezsuita feljelentje?, 441448.
101
Niccol Ridolfis report of 22 Oct. 1616. StA HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W
290, vol. 13, f. 490rv.
102
ASV Segr. Stato, Germania, vol. 114K, f. 365v and 376r377v; Segr. Stato,
Nunz. Port., vol. 151, f. 146v147r; Biblioteca Angelica, Ms. 1231, f. 295v296r;
Ms. 1234, f. 143v (cf. ASV, Segr. Stato, Nunz. Port. 151, f. 146v and 148v); Fondo
Borghese, Serie II, vol. 159, f. 69r and vol. 367, f. 80r; Lukcs, Jezsuita maradt-e
Pzmny, 206 and doc. nos. 3 and 4; Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:176
180184; id., Pzmny Pter, 7375; id., Magyarorszg sszekttetsei a
Szentszkkel, 3:288.
103
BAV Bonc., vol. E 15, f. 27r28v; ASV Arm. XLV, vol. 10, f. 87v88v; StA
HHStA Handschriften, Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 146r147v.
104
Nella dieta dUngheria, che secondo vostra signoria scrive, si far in Possonio
dopo quella dAustria, non si dubita, ch ella havr pensiero daiutar in quanto pu
le cose della religione, ma vuole nondimeno sua santit, che se le ricordi anco in
suo nome, come quella, che preme grandemente in questo negozio. Quel padre
Pasman Giesuita mandato qua dal signor cardinale di Strigonia stato espedito
nelle cose, che ha dimandate conforme al suo desiderio. Et havendo ricordato qu,
che sia bene dattendere alla successione di regni di Bohemia et dUngheria, et
allelezione del re de Romani, gli ha risposto sua santit, che ci s pensato da un
pezzo in qu, et hora ci si pensa pi, che mai, et cos piacesse a Dio, che ci
176 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
of what was said, despite the fact that on 11 January and at the behest of
Paul V, he submitted a written report on the situation. We can be sure,
however, that he argued in favour of Ferdinand,105 and that subsequently
Pzmny was regarded at the Curia as someone the Holy Sees diplomats
could trust to accomplish the most important matter for the whole of
Christendom106whether through his influence on Klesl or directly as
Primate of Hungary who was crucial to securing the Hungarian crown in
the election held by the estates in the course of the national Diet.
We do not know exactly what Pzmny said to and wrote down for Paul
V in January 1615, but it seems certain that in Rome, Pzmny, as pri-
mate, was considered as a guarantor, alongside Klesl, for Ferdinands suc-
cessful candidacy.
The Curias preference for Ferdinands prompt election as Hungarian
king does not only explain the concession given to Pzmny in the spring
of 1616 (his transferral to the Somascan Fathers) and the trust placed in
him despite the attacks and defamation against his person; they also facili-
tate an understanding of how it was possible that the papal confirmation
came so quickly (on 28 November and 19 December 1616).107 The same
factor also illuminates Paul Vs decision to exempt Pzmny from the ob-
ligation to renew his monastic oaths on joining the Somascan Fathers
which would have symbolised his complete break with the Society of Je-
sus.108 As we know from the report written by the agent Olivieri on 22 Oc-
tober 1616 to Franz Dietrichstein (who, as cardinal protector of Hungary
and the hereditary lands, was competent in the matter), the state secretary
Porfirio Feliciani had himself urged, on submission of the canonical in-
quiry report that served as the basis for the papal appointment procedure,
for a prompt resolution of the matter, arguing that His Imperial Highness
emphatically requests this, having regard to the Hungarian Diet, so that
Pzmny may also take part in it, for he may cast the first vote.109 Mean-
IX
The third element of support for Pzmnya natural if unelected support
basewas what we might call subject loyalty, in particular the bonds to a
dynasty that throughout his life he regarded as the main protector and
guarantor of his country and his faith. This loyalty was directed towards
Archduke Ferdinand, not least because of the long years Pzmny had
spent in Graz.111 On Pzmnys appointment as archbishop, Ferdinand ra-
ther tactlessly mentioned in his salutation that he remained committed to
the Society of Jesus. Subconsciously, he may have been warning the new
primate that despite the vicissitudes among the Jesuits he should not throw
aside his affiliation with the Society or with the dynasty that was its pa-
tron.112
Since the sources are rather fragmentary, we cannot reconstruct how,
during the first 18 months of his term as archbishop, Pzmny dealt on a
daily basis with the complex set of relationships and conditions that had
resulted in his appointment. In the increasingly bitter political struggle be-
tween the archdukes and Klesl, which was subject to constant papal medi-
ation, the archdukeswith the backing of Spanish diplomacybegan to
emerge victorious. In March 1617, Maximilian and Ferdinand came to an
agreement with an extraordinary Spanish envoy, Count Oate, who had
been dispatched for this purpose. In the agreement named after him (the
Oate treaty, or Pactum de Successione Regnorum Hungariae et Bohemi-
ae) that for many years remained unknown to both Klesl and others, Max-
imilian renounced the claim of the Spanish branch to the throne in favour
of Ferdinand and in return for compensation in Alsace and in northern Ita-
ly. In the subsequent period, Klesl increasingly lost control of events. In
June, Ferdinand acceded to the Bohemian throne; while in the autumn
preparations for a royal election were commenced in Hungary.
Seeking almost manically a further delay, Klesl attempted to prove to
Ferdinand the credibility of his politicising by citing a single argument. On
2 February 1618, in his usual verbose style but with considerable direct-
110
Cf. StA HHStA Turcica, Alter Bestand [Trkei I.], Karton 105, Konv. 23
(1616 XIXII), passim; BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6921, n. 65.
111
Kastner, Pzmny Pter grci vei, 78.
112
For the text, see Pzmny Pter levelezse [Pter Pzmnys correspondence],
ed. by V. Frankl [Frakni] (Budapest 1873); cited in Frakni, Pzmny Pter s
kora, 1:239240; id., Pzmny Pter, 8384.
178 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
ness, Klesl told Ferdinand that he had arranged for Pzmnys appoint-
ment as archbishop in order to secure the Habsburg succession and in par-
ticular Ferdinands accession to the throne. He noted that Pzmny had
served his master well, which in turn proved the correctness of the original
decision. While it is true that Klesl often employed the tactic of political
dissimulation, there is no reason, based on our earlier observations, to
doubt his sincerity in this instance.113 If there was some dissimulation on
his part, then we may see it in the fact that two days later, having lost his
patience, he agitatedly instructed the primate to refrain from any action
that might lead to a royal election at the Diet. He told the primate that he
should first consult with him.114
It is difficult to determine which was Pzmnys cleverest move? Was
it his ability to achieve, with a Protestant-dominated Diet and in the spirit
of the papal brve sent to him on 1 February 1618,115 the election of the
Catholic Ferdinand as Hungarian king and his coronation in Pressburg on
1 July?116 Or was it that he accomplished a Habsburg succession in Hunga-
113
Hammer Purgstall, Khlesls Leben, 4: n. 823. Cf. ibid., n. 824.
114
For Klesls letter to Pzmny of 4 Feb. 1618, see Pzmny Pter levelezse, n.
122. Cf. Pzmny levelei, 1: n. 88; Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:181, espe-
cially note 1; 312313 (especially note 4 and note 1) and 320322.
115
Published in Pzmny Pter levelezse, n. 120. Draft of the brve, with the sig-
nature of Cardinal Scipione Cobelluzzi: ASV Epistulae ad Principes [hereafter:
Epist. ad Princ.], vol. 34, f. 71r.
116
In the first half of 1618, the Curia paid close attention to the issue of Habsburg
succession, the Hungarian Diet and the royal election. See Scipione Borgheses
notes to Ascanio Gesualdo (convening, elections of king and palatine, Protestant
vs. Catholic struggles). ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 947, f. 179r180v, 181r,
186r (17 Mar.: Intendo per una di vostra signoria de 24 del passato il suo arrivo in
Vienna con buone nuove della salute di sua maest et che gli Vngheri congregati
che saranno dimanderanno per successione in quel regno la persona del re Ferdi-
nando, il che piaccia a Dio, che segua quanto prima), f. 193v, 196v, 197v198v,
201v, 203v, 205v206r, 208v209r, 215rv, 216v. The confidential instructions in-
clude many important data (concerning Protestant demands at the Diet, the election
of the palatine, the precedence and political struggle between Maximilian and
Klesl, etc.): ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 340, f. 27r, 29r, 32r, 33r, 37r, 62r.
The relevant documents from the nunciatura: BAV Mss. Chigiani, N. I. 5 (Registro
delle lettere, che si scrivono allillustrissimo singor cardinale Borghese ad altri di
Palazzo, et a signori cardinali capi di congregazioni nella nunziatura presso la
maest del re di Boemia dal principio dellanno [1618] sin per tutto il 1619). ASV
Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 68, f. 430r433v; ibid., Serie III, vol 127.e, f. 307r
309v. (The rulers announcement of 28 Mar.: ibid., f. 311rv.) Gesualdos reports
from the spring to the summer of 1618: ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie II, vol. 156,
passim, especially f. 98r; and Serie I, vol. 947, f. 219r; BAV Barb. Lat., vol. 6924,
Pter Tusor 179
ry without falling out with his patron and remaining a confidant of Klesl
until the latters fall? At the same time, the arrest and trial of Klesl did not,
even for a moment, undermine Pzmnys influence at the Viennese
court.117 Further, Pzmny may well have been the first and only person
who, after Klesls release from prison, immediately wrote him a letter,
thus revealing his own human qualities.118
X
It is hard to understand why Vilmos Frakni, who emphasised the im-
portance of archbishop Pzmnys role in the royal election in 16171618,
failed even to mention the link between this role and Pzmnys extraordi-
nary (csudlatos [wonderful] is the word used by the Prague agent of
Thurz, the palatine) appointment as archbishop in the preceding year.119
Other notable authors have written of Pzmnys outstanding role as pri-
mate in the administration of the royal election. However, they too have
ignored the link between his appointment as archbishop and this role.120
passim (on the coronation: f. 100r101v). See also StA HHStA Handschriften,
Ms. W 290, vol. 13, f. 748rv, 758rv, 788rv; ASV Epist. ad Princ., vol. 34, f. 311
312; ASV Fondo Borghese, Serie I, vol. 947, f. 220v221r; Serie II, vol. 432, f.
673v and 674r.
117
For example, in 1621, he was the first signatory of Ferdinands willthe
founding document of the Habsburg Empire. On the significance of this, see B.
Guitman, Szksgesnek tartotta-e Pzmny Pter Erdly nllsgt? [Did Pter
Pzmny consider Transylvanias independence necessary?], in Pzmny
nyomban, 177182, 178179.
118
Pzmny Pter levelezse, n. 243 and 286; P. Tusor, Pzmny s Klesl
levlvltsa 1626/1627 forduljn (Forrskzls a firenzei Magalotti-levltrbl)
[The exchange of letters between Pzmny and Klesl at the turn of 1627 (Source
documents from the Magalotti Archive in Florence)], in Magyarorszg s a rmai
Szentszk (Forrsok s tvlatok). Tanulmnyok Erd bboros tiszteletre, ed. by
P. Tusor (CVH I/8) (Budapest and Rome 2012), 119135.
119
This is particularly surprising in view of the importance of the source. Klesls
letter to Ferdinand of 2 Feb. 1618 was known to Frakni. It was this that led him to
conclude that Klesl was active in promoting the idea of Pzmnys appointment.
Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:181, note 1.
120
For the relevant documents, particularly Ferdinands letters to Pzmny, see
Pzmny Pter levelezse, 132ff., especially n. 102, 114, 118, 120 and 122.
Pzmny levelei, 122ff.; Frakni, Pzmny Pter s kora, 1:299377; id.,
Pzmny Pter, 99ff.; Zsilinszky, A magyar orszggylsek, 2:111ff.; . Timon,
Pzmny Pter a jog s igazsg vdelmben [Pter Pzmny in defence of the law
and justice] (Budapest 1921), 1416; for a summary with a brief reference to the
Oate treaty, see Frakni, A magyar kirlyvlasztsok, 189203; Hman and Sze-
180 Dynastic Politics, Diplomacy and the Catholic Church
Pter Pzmny was not only a decisive actor, as Gyula Szekf argued,
in the consolidation of the Habsburg dynasty in Hungary, which would last
for centuries; his own appointment was linked with this goal on the eve of
the Thirty Years War. Specifically, a solution to the issue of Habsburg
succession, which led to an exceptional interdependence of Habsburg and
papal policy, as well as the deficiencies in this solution, resulted in the
outbreak of the last major religious war in Europe.
An interesting facet of the story is that Ferdinand II, who benefited the
most from Pzmnys appointment as archbishop, owed the conception of
the plan (to promote Pzmny) to his main political opponent, Melchior
Klesl. The mark of Klesl and his unconventional political style are re-
vealed in almost all details of the story reconstructed in this chapter. Moti-
vated primarily by political interests, Klesl exerted an indelible effect on
the career of the Hungarian monk and on Hungarian history: it was he
who, in collaboration with Pope Paul V, placed Pzmny in a position
where he was able to become an understanding figure of Hungarian cul-
tural, political and ecclesiastical history. However, unlike posterity, he
never recognised the macro-political consequence of his exercise of power
and the chain of micro-political developments.
If we evaluate Pzmnys appointment as archbishop within this micro-
political framework and in terms of the patron-client system,121 we reach
the following surprising conclusion. In their support for Pzmny, both
Paul V and Melchior Klesl were motivated by their belief in Pzmnys
unconditional loyalty. In this process, Klesl was the initiator while the
pope took secondary place. In fact, however, it was the calculation of Paul
V that was realised: Pzmny not only resolved the issue of Habsburg suc-
cession in line with the expectations of the Curia, he also scored an un-
matched and lasting success in the religious field. In contrast, few of
Klesls expectations were fulfilled. This was not because of action taken
by Pzmny, who, in early 1618, was able to turn against his patron at the
decisive moment and without becoming disloyal to him. The main paradox
of the entire story was, however, that Ferdinand II, who had benefited the
most from Pzmnys appointment as primateplayed no role in that
promotion and that, owing to his close relationship with the Society of Je-
sus and the opposition of the Jesuits to his promotion, Pzmny, a native
of Vrad, would never have risen to the post of archbishop of Esztergom
without Klesls support.
The rise of Pzmny, moreover, was played out using the means of se-
cret diplomacy122 on the European stage (Theatrum Europaeum). This is a
further reminder that Hungarys history in the early modern era can only
be understood within a European historical context. This applies even to
such seemingly trifling facts as Pter Pzmnys appointment as archbish-
op of Esztergom. This macro-political event and its macro-political back-
ground can only be understood by studying the interwoven micro-political
threads of events in the early modern era. As the present study has shown,
they can only be understood through horizontal archival research at the
European level and by employing an appropriate methodological ap-
proach.123
122
Even the traditionally well-informed Florentine diplomacy was ignorant of the
imperial and papal negotiations; at least, no relevant data has been found in the re-
ports surveyed so far. Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Fondo Mediceo del Principato,
filza 3331 and 4367. I have not been able to study the reports of the Venetian en-
voys.
123
My research, conducted under the auspices of the Ecclesiastical History Re-
search Team of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Pzmny Pter Catholic
University, has been supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (project
no. NN 82 307) and by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
SHAPING PROTESTANT NETWORKS
IN HABSBURG TRANSYLVANIA:
THE BEGINNINGS (16861699)
BLINT KESER
1
In Siebenbrgen sind die Habsburger [] tatschlich an die Macht gekommen,
ohne jedoch eine katholische Mehrheit je zustande bringen zu knnen, R. J. W.
Evans, Die Grenzen der Konfessionalisierung. Die Folgen der Gegenreformation
fr die Habsburgerlnder, in Konfessionalisierung in Ostmitteleuropa. Wirkungen
des religisen Wandels im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert in Staat, Gesellschaft und
Kultur, ed. by J. Bahlcke and A. Strohmeyer (Stuttgart 1999), 395412, at 408.
Evans observes: Die ausgezeichnete allgemeine Geschichte Siebenbrgens [ed.
by B. Kpeczi, vols. 13 (Budapest 1986)] behandelt diese Fragen stiefmtterlich
(italics mine).
2
R. J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 15501700: An
Interpretation (Oxford 1979), 267.
184 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
fact that it includes a study on Transylvania. Its author, though not includ-
ing the period of the Habsburg accession to power, provides a thorough
and reliable overview of the previous era of the principalitythat is, the
developments during the century that began with the Reformation.3 The
present chapter aims to continue Murdocks research by examining wheth-
er Transylvanias multiconfessionalism survived during the emergence of
Habsburg rule between 1686 and 1699, and following its stabilisation. It is
a fascinating question, since the Viennese court at the time was dominated
by the spirit of the Counter-Reformation and the practice of conversion to
Catholicism at all costs.
3
G. Murdock, Multiconfessionalism in Transylvania, in A Companion to Multi-
confessionalism in the Early Modern World, ed. by T. M. Safley (Leiden 2011),
393416.
4
Brozer Pter feljegyzsei (16791684) [The notes of Pter Brozer, 16791684],
in Kolozsvri emlkrk, ed. by J. Blint and J. Pataki (Bucharest 1990), 217221,
at 219.
5
The term kuruc was initially used for the partisan fighters against the Habs-
burgs, but was subsequently extended to refer to the entire resistance movement,
and finally to the representatives of the Hungarian national cause in general. Ev-
ans, The Making, 140142, 264267, 271.
Blint Keser 185
6
From 1703, Thklys stepson Francis Rkczi II appears on the scene, becom-
ing the second kuruc leader.
7
Signed on 4 Dec. 1691. For the final Latin text and its German translation: R.
Kutschera, Landtag und Gubernium in Siebenbrgen: 16881869 (Cologne 1985),
327342. For an excellent analysis: Zs. Trcsnyi, Habsburg-politika s Habs-
burg-kormnyzat Erdlyben 16901740 [Habsburg politics and Habsburg govern-
ment in Transylvania, 16901740] (Budapest 1988), 199212.
8
Monumenta Comitalia Regni Transylvaniae, vol. 3, ed. by S. Szilgyi (Budapest
1877), 472. The act, which had an impact for more than two centuries, ignored the
Romanians Orthodox religion (see fn. 9).
9
In the National Assembly, the privileged orders were divided into three sections
(Hungarian, Szkely, and Saxon): natio Hungarica, Siculica et Saxonica. Repre-
sentation of the large number of Romanians did not become an issue for many
years. (The claim that they formed a fourth nation surfaced only a hundred years
later.) Although, in the 1690s, it was recognised that they should be taken into ac-
count, the only effective measure to be taken was the promotion/enforcement of
the union that led to the formation of the Uniate (later the Greek Catholic)
Church, which accepted the primacy of the pope.
186 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
10
He was later a court judge and Gubernium secretary, then was ennobled and
played an active part in the government until his death in 1736. Trcsnyi, Habs-
burg-politika, passim. In 1698, he sent his young son to the Paedagogium regium
in Halle: Zs. Font, Erdlyiek Halle s a radiklis pietizmus vonzsban [Transyl-
vanians under the influence of Halle and radical pietism] (Szeged 2001), 40, 137
138, 195. He was tirelessly involved in Calvinist affairs: G. Sipos, Az erdlyi
reformtus fkonzisztrium kialakulsa 16681713(1736) [The emergence of the
Transylvanian Reformed Consistory, 16681713(1736)] (Cluj 2000), 9293.
11
Sipos, Az erdlyi reformtus fkonzisztrium, 8384 and passim.
12
A series of letters addressed to his patron from abroad provide information on
Szilgyis studies and how he obtained his position: Peregrinuslevelek, 1711
Blint Keser 187
1750: klfldn tanul dikok levelei Teleki Sndornak [Letters from abroad,
17111750: Letters from students studying abroad to Sndor Teleki], ed. by
G. Hoffmann (Szeged 1980), 209241.
13
In a broader sense, the epithet kuruc indicates a chauvinistic or even national-
ist view of history, as opposed to the Vienna-friendly labanc and generally cos-
mopolitan world-view.
14
Evans probably attributes too much significance too soon to a Catholic political
group [] around certain aristocrats. Evans, The Making, 271.
188 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
15
Trcsnyi, Habsburg-politika, 250, 260, 312320. (He had an overview of the
economic governance of the whole of Transylvania, and an intellectual agility in
the assessment of detail is apparent in his correspondence on the subject; ibid.,
253.)
16
The court instructed the Commissio to that effect; ibid., 251, 257.
17
For a facsimile of its 2nd ed., from 1780, with a German translation, see the se-
ries Silber und Salz in Siebenbrgen, vol. 9, trans. and ed. by H. Schneider (Bo-
chum 2009).
18
Zs. Jak, Klesri Smuel tudomnyos levelezse (17091732) [The scientific
correspondence of Smuel Klesri, 17091732], ed. by Zs. Font (Kolozsvr
2012).
19
One of the chapters of Erdly trtnete [The history of Transylvania] provides a
depressing but balanced view of the situation: 2:889894.
Blint Keser 189
20
Diplomatarium Alvinczianum, ed. by S. Szilgyi, vols. 13 (Monumenta Hun-
gariae Historica. 1. Diplomataria, 1415) (Pest 18701887).
21
Mainly: Czegei Vass Gyrgy s Vass Lszl napli 16591739 [The diaries of
Gyrgy Czegei Vass and Lszl Vass, 16591739], ed. by Gy. Nagy (Monumenta
Hungariae Historica, II. Scriptores, 35) (Budapest 1896); fragments published in:
Bcsi utazsok [Travels in Vienna], ed. by M. S. Srdi (Budapest 2001), 2370.
22
These negotiations are well covered in German by F. von Zieglauer, Harteneck,
Graf der schsischen Nation, und die siebenbrgischen Parteikmpfe seiner Zeit:
16911703. Nach den Quellen des Archives der siebenb. Hofkanzlei und des schs.
National-Archives in Hermannstadt (Hermannstadt 1869), 20133.
23
On the accumulation of titles that was alien to Transylvanian tradition, see L.
Kvry, Erdly trtnelme [The history of Transylvania], vols. 16 (Kolozsvr
18601866; repr. ed.: Budapest 2011), 6:32.
190 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
24
Thawonat cynically recommended him to accept both positions. On his career as
a whole, see: V. Bir, Altorjai Grf Apor Istvn s kora [Count Istvn Apor and
his times] (Cluj 1935), in particular 6267.
25
The Lutheran pastor fled with his father from the Saxons of contemporary east-
ern Slovakia to Transylvania in 1674. He was not only a patron of his church, but
also an inspiration for its devotional literature. F. Teutsch, Geschichte der
evangelischen Kirche in Siebenbrgen, vols. 12 (Hermannstadt 19211922)
1:361366, 2:1215. M. Szab and S. Tonk, Erdlyiek egyetemjrsa a korai
jkorban: 15211700 [Foreign study tours among Transylvanians in the early
modern age, 15211700] (Szeged 1992), no. 1435.
26
This horrifying sequence of events continues to inspire novels to the present day.
For a restrained but detailed account, see Zieglauer, Harteneck, Graf der sch-
sischen Nation, 225470.
Blint Keser 191
27
Repertorium der nederlandse vertegenwoordiger,s residente in het Buitenland,
ed. by O. Schutte (The Hague 1976), 139. In his letter to the National Assembly,
dated 28 June 1704, Bethlen specifically states that it concerns a letter to the
Dutch envoy, who has been my friend for 14 years. This is a clear reference to
their co-operation on the Diploma Leopoldinum. See Bethlen Mikls levelei [The
letters of Mikls Bethlen], ed. by J. Jankovics, vols. 12 (Budapest 1987), 2:974.
28
. R. Vrkonyi, Amirl Bethlen Mikls nletrsa hallgat [What remains un-
told in the autobiography of Mikls Bethlen], Korunk (July 1997), available at
http://www. korunk.org/?q=node/8&ev=1997&honap=7&cikk=6099, accessed on
12 June 2014. He had drawn attention to this much earlier, as well as to Bethlens
partiality, which he eventually confessed in his letter to the emperor: Anglia et
Hollandia Ubi ett ego Ultra quam duos annos studui, altera nobis Transylvanis
Reformatis Mater et Patria est (Szeben 19? June 1704, in Bethlen Mikls levelei,
2:970).
29
I. Juhsz, Bethlen Mikls politikai pere [The political trial of Mikls Bethlen]
(Kolozsvr 1945). In its appendix, based on the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv
[hereafter: HHStA], he provides a summary in German of Viennas final stance on
the Columba Noe case.
192 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
30
Following many contemporary reproductions, it appeared in print as late as
18581860. We have used va V. Windischs annotated edition: Mikls Bethlen
nletrsa [Autobiography of Mikls Bethlen], vols. 12, ed. by . V. Windisch
and G. Tolnai (Budapest 1955). Some sections have been translated into several
languages, including the part quoted by Ferdinand von Zieglauer (Harteneck, Graf
der schsischen Nation, 120 and passim); in English: The Autobiography of Mi-
kls Bethlen, trans. by B. Adams (London et al. 2004).
31
Bethlen Mikls levelei. We find new documents beginning with the Columba
Noe case on pp. 963971 and pp. 12751287 of vol. 2.
32
This was true not only for Transylvanians, but also for traders who settled there
or lived there on a permanent basis.
33
An early and a late example: 25 Dec. 1690, the first day of Christmas we went
with the gentleman, Lord Gergely Bethlen [leader of the Transylvanian delegation]
to hear a sermon at the resident Dutch ministers seat. On 19 Apr. 1699, with the
prince [Mihly Apafi II, who at the time was considered a prince only by the Tran-
sylvanians] and with my younger brother Lszl Teleki we went to the seat of the
Dutch envoy for communion. In Czegei Vass Gyrgy s Vass Lszl napli 1659
1739; details in: Bcsi utazsok, 30, 42, 58 and passim (italics mine).
Blint Keser 193
saying that such contacts were not a matter of concern, if for no other rea-
son than the emperors main enemies at the time were not Protestant coun-
tries, but rather Louis XIV and France. Historiography has kept track of
the frequency of legal and illegal diplomatic relations at that time: the
English envoys, in particular, were active on the ViennaBelgrade
Istanbul line.34
Lacking a university of their own, it was always important for Transyl-
vanian Protestants to spend time at universities abroad. The long-held
opinion is that the change in Habsburg regime resulted in measures de-
signed to undermine, or at least to restrict, foreign study among Transyl-
vanian Protestants in countries with a similar religion. Research inspired
by Zsigmond Jak has already provided an overview of the early modern
age in the form of complete registers.35 They reveal that the last 15 years
of the seventeenth century were the real high point of Transylvanian study
at foreign universities, especially in the Netherlands. This might be seen as
a means of maintaining vital connections with Protestant Europe, as Tran-
sylvanian students often undertook or forwarded political orders.
Wealthier parents sometimes sent their children not primarily to study,
but to see the world. Previously a rare phenomenon, it was thus all the
more remarkable that the sons of two senior politicians during the late
Principality of Transylvania undertook a long and very well-organised trip
in the first decade of Habsburg rule.
Mihly Bethlen (the son of Mikls, 16731706) travelled westwards to
study in Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, in 1691, and then from 1692
to 1693 he attended the University of Franeker. His tour included England,
Sweden, Switzerland and Italy. He kept a detailed diary of his journey,36
which provides a rich description of Brandenburg and its provinces, as
well as the Berlin court. A letter written by his father to Johann Christoph
Beckmann, his professor in Frankfurt, has recently come to light. It is
unique in that, unlike other sources, it contains a reference to planning for
court service following this European tour. The letter to Beckmann, writ-
ten on 15 February 1694 in Kolozsvr, contains the following request:
34
D. Angyal, Geschichte der politischen Beziehungen Siebenbrgens zu England
(Budapest and Vienna 1905). Many others have since discussed the subject, for ex-
ample D. B. Horn, The British Diplomatic Service 16891789 (Oxford 1961). On
the Vienna-based activities and their often criminal methods see K. Mller, Das
kaiserliche Gesandsschaftswesen nach dem Westflischen Frieden, 16481740
(Bonn 1976).
35
Szab and Tonk, Erdlyiek egyetemjrsa.
36
Bethlen Mihly tinaplja 16911695 [Travelogue of Mihly Bethlen 1691
1695], ed. by J. Jankovics (Budapest 1981).
194 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
Please let me know what position, and what kind of recognition and sala-
ry a cubicularius or hofjunker might obtain at the Brandenburg court []
What help can you offer me to win such a favour from the prince-elector
on my sons behalf?37 Mikls Bethlens plans came to nothing. The letter,
however, is proof of one of his main political aims: to be in constant con-
tact with the Brandenburg court, which became the Protestant centre of the
empire at this time and whose diplomatic support Bethlen permanently en-
joyed during the Vienna negotiations. In his autobiography, Bethlen writes
of Nikolaus Bartholomeus Danckelmann, the ambassadorial envoy to Vi-
enna, with great warmth, calling him his supreme benefactor and friend.
He also refers to him as his main advisor at a decisive moment in Transyl-
vanias history: I acquainted him with the project for the Diploma.38
Two other Danckelmann brothers were involved with Transylvanian af-
fairs: Mihly Bethlen travelled from The Hague to England with the Lon-
don ambassador Thomas Ernst Danckelmann, having met and sought his
advice in both countries.39 Coming from a famous family, first minister
Christoph Eberhard Balthasar (16431722) is remembered in Transylvani-
an cultural history mainly for the establishment of two annual scholarships
for young men from Transylvania to the University of Frankfurt an der
Oder.40
The rich correspondence of Pl Teleki (16771731) during his studies
abroad (16951700) begins with a description of an audience with the
electorwho was to become Frederick I, king of Prussia, within half a
decade.41 They conversed in Latin and German, and the elector recalled
events in Transylvania. (It no doubt counted that Pl was the orphaned son
of Mihly Teleki, a politician recognised throughout Europe. His father
had masterminded the politics of the Principality of Transylvania before
losing his life as a major-general in the struggle against Thkly and the
37
Zs. Font, Bethlen Mikls levelei Brandenburgba [The letters of Mikls Beth-
len to Brandenburg], in Szolglatomat ajnlom: a 60 ves Jankovics Jzsefnek, ed.
by T. Cssztvay and J. Nyerges (Budapest 2009), 129137, at 137: facias mihi
hunc favorem, ut mihi perscribas, in Serenissima Aula Brandenburgica quonam lo-
co vel gradu ac stipendio solent tractari Cubiculari vel Hoffjunkeri, et quid mihi
svades de Filio meo in Serenissimam illam Aulam commendando, denique putasne
hanc gratiam a Serenissimo Electore nos habituros.
38
Bethlen Mikls nletrsa, 1:403.
39
Bethlen Mihly tinaplja, 85, 86, 88. In a letter dated Feb. 1694, Mikls Beth-
len refers to this encounter.
40
Bethlen Mikls levelei, 1:517, no. 359.
41
Teleki Pl klfldi tanulmnytja: levelek, szmadsok, iratok 16951700 [The
grand tour of Pl Teleki: Letters, accounts, documents, 16951700], ed. by Zs.
Font (Szeged 1989), passim.
Blint Keser 195
Ottomans in the critical year 1690. The young Pl Teleki intervened in ac-
quiring a biography of Mihly Teleki from Transylvania for professor Jo-
hann Christoph Beckmanns historical work in progress.) His teachers in
Transylvania repeatedly recommended him to make use of his acquaint-
ance with great princes. He was received by William III, king of England
and the Netherlands, and spent several weeks as a guest of the landgrave
of Hesse. We will not dwell here on his rich academic programme at Fran-
eker and Marburg. He did not stay away from political and diplomatic af-
fairs for long: before returning home he spent several months in Vienna in
the company of Transylvanian noblemen, some of them his relatives, ac-
companying them in their business and negotiations.42
The programme of foreign study followed by the children of two signif-
icant personalities during the Habsburg transition reflects the parents as-
pirations to provide at least one male child with the kind of education, lan-
guage skills and contacts that would enable them to find their place in the
new power relations and to take up high political positions. In the next
generation, Transylvanian noble families attempted to find positions for
their sons in longer court service in a similar fashion.43
The importance of a foreign academic tour was not, of course, related to
the maintenance of political relations but to the preservation of high stand-
ards in science and culture, and the advanced education of the intelligent-
sia. Fortunately, in terms of Transylvanian education, the main destina-
tions among those travelling abroad to study remained Dutch, Branden-
burg and Swiss universities, as well as English colleges, the centres of
modern thinking and erudition.44 Connections among the successful schol-
ars who remained at home indicate a similar direction: Smuel Klesri,
for example, corresponded predominantly with Swiss and British col-
leagues, published in their journals and was accepted as a member of the
learned societies of those countries.45 It was the scientist who ultimately
remained faithful to Vienna, who generally avoided Vienna.
42
Czegei Vass Gyrgy s Vass Lszl napli, passim.
43
In 1723, dm and Jzsef Teleki became pages in the Dresden court of Augus-
tus the Strong. Half a decade later, Istvn Wesselnyis similar efforts met with
failure. Font, Erdlyiek, 148151.
44
Historians still reiterate the old view that in the early 18th century the court pre-
vented foreign travel among Protestants, at most easing somewhat only during the
wars. On the density of a noblemans protgs, see: Peregrinuslevelek.
45
Smuel Klesri, s.v.
196 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
46
J. Knosi Tzsr and I. Uzoni Foszt, Unitario-ecclesiastica historia Transyl-
vanica, ed. by J. Kldos, intro. by M. Balzs, vols. 12 (Budapest 2002).
Blint Keser 197
Habsburg rule meant genuine liberation from this state of affairs. Sanc-
tioned by the emperor, the Diploma reconfirmed equality of rights for all
four established denominations so emphatically that it almost automatical-
ly brought to an end some of the earlier restrictive practices. Visitation
rights, for example, reverted to the Unitarian bishops.
2) The formerly flourishing high-quality Unitarian press was abolished
from the middle of the seventeenth century. Religious, scientific and liter-
ary output was restricted practically to manuscript form by excessive bu-
reaucratic procedures. When, in the summer of 1692, the Unitarians ap-
proached the relevant new government agency with a request to establish a
printing house, their application landed with the headquarters of the Re-
formed Gubernium. Forgetting past events, the reply was unashamed: the
Unitarians were told that they had no need to make such a request as they
had always enjoyed this right.47 Between 1693 and 1702, three printing
houses produced Unitarian publications, hymnbooks, prayer books and re-
ligious documents, as well as a remarkable work by Ferenc Petrityevity
Horvth, which is outstanding in terms of both theology and philosophy
and which was unprecedented in Central and Eastern Europe, being the
only vernacular rendition and summary of the new Socinian-Remonstrant
ideas then tolerated exclusively in the Netherlands.48 (The appearance of
such publications in Transylvania was soon brought to an end, as the
church-owned printing pressestablished at such great sacrifice and with
Polish co-operationwas confiscated in 1716.)49
This approach, and the new ways of reasoning and disputation that can
be observed, would have been unthinkable without regular personal dis-
cussions and exchanges with those in Western Europe; and without the in-
fluence of Western European intellectualism and, in particular, a thorough
knowledge of religious-philosophical literature, to which the Transylvani-
an Unitarian elite at least managed to have access. Censors and postal ob-
servers were established in Vienna and at many points along the road from
Western Europe. We know for certain that these bodies held up hundreds
of parcels of books addressed to the hereditary provinces, ranging from
Luthers catechisms to the writings of Bhme and the spiritualists. How-
47
This scandalous document is published, and its consequences summarised in a
well-documented manner, by Knosi Tzsr and Uzoni Foszt, Unitario-
ecclesiastica historia Transylvanica, 1: ch. 11.
48
F. Petrityevity Horvth, Apologia fratrum unitariorum, az az, az unitrius
atyafiak mencsgre rendeltetet irs [Apologia fratrum unitariorum, written
apology of the Unitarians] (Kolozsvr 1700).
49
For details, see Knosi Tzsr and Uzoni Foszt, Unitario-ecclesiastica historia
Transylvanica, 1: ch. 11.
198 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
ever, we are not aware of a single example of the seizure of the radical re-
ligious books that were being brought home at the time in great numbers
by Transylvanian Unitarians who had studied abroad.
3) The involvement of the Unitarian Church in the government led by
the Protestant princes came to an early end. (The lastsymbolic
testimony to its existence was the fact that the grand funeral of Prince Ste-
phen Bocskai included an oration by the Unitarian bishop.) Probably the
most painful humiliation that the Unitarians suffered in public life was the
fact that the agenda of the Diets usually referred to the heresy of Trinity
denial as a threat to the country. This was also abandoned as a matter of
course after 1690 (since the imperial power regarded Protestants and Lu-
therans as heretics as well). On rare occasions, Unitarians were able to ob-
tain government positions, even during the reign of the Protestant princ-
es.50 Although, during the reign of the Protestant princes of Transylvania,
it would have been unthinkable, in the 1690s at least two dozen officials
newly appointed to posts in the three or four most important government
offices were representatives of the Trinity-denying church.51 Seven or
eight played a significant role in the government for decades. One of them,
Mihly Simon Dsfalvi, wrote the memorandum Unitrius femberek a
kurucz vilgban (Unitarian leaders in the Kuruc world) in 1709. In it, he
lists those people who had temporarily refused to join Rkczis camp, re-
taining their Unitarian faith and their allegiance to the emperor despite all
their suffering: Smuel Br, Gergely Sndor, Istvn Maurer, Gbor
Gidfalvi and their three companions.52 A previously unimaginable parity
emerged, Unitarians from differing educational backgrounds found posi-
tions in various government offices, at many levels, and some far from
their families in the Viennese court.
It is fascinating to observe how the new opportunities were utilised by
the Hungarian and Szkely Unitarians. A valid response may emerge from
recently initiated targeted research, including materials from the archives
50
In general, Unitarians were not segregated for the whole of the 17th century.
Their craftsmen were esteemed, and in noble, and even aristocratic, families Re-
formed-Unitarian marriages were not uncommon. Bethlen Mikls levelei, 2:1104.
Bethlen quotes several examples from his family and among other aristocrats in his
letter from Vienna dated 16 Oct. 1714.
51
Their designation and appointment, as well as their careers in office, are well
documented in Trcsnyis quoted monograph.
52
J. Koncz, Adalkok dsfalvi Simon Mihly letrajzhoz [Contributions to the
biography of Mihly Simon], Keresztny Magvet 37 (1902), 191206, at 206,
available at epa.oszk.hu/02100/02190/00402/pdf/KM_1902_04_194.pdf, accessed
on 12 July 2013.
Blint Keser 199
53
Vienna, HHStA, Hofarchive Oberstlandmarschallamt, Abhandlungen, Kt. 665,
Nr. 1879.
54
Trcsnyi, Habsburg-politika, 135, 291.
55
Koncz, Adalkok. Trcsnyi considers the plan, which proposed a system of
protectionist customs, to be the first large-scale feudal politico-economic concept:
Trcsnyi, Habsburg-politika, 442.
56
Ibid., 422.
57
Gyula Szekf, however, speaks highly of them (B. Hman and Gy. Szekf,
Magyar trtnet [Hungarian history], vols. 16 (Budapest 19411943), 4:639, and
also under 1693 in the chronology. Unfortunately, Unitarian publications can be
cited that dwell exclusively on how Charles III permanently deprived Unitarians of
any official positions in government institutions.
200 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
58
Kutschera, Landtag und Gubernium, 234.
Blint Keser 201
Summary
From our point of view, the balance during the initial phase of the transi-
tion of power was important. Until the 1699 Karlowitz peace treaty, Vien-
na desperately needed Transylvania as a communications zone in the war
against its enemies, both external and internal (e.g. Emmerich Thkly).
The Catholic population was at that time scant.60 The imperial administra-
tion therefore had to put up with the Protestants. (Typically, this was stat-
ed most clearly by a soldier, General Caraffa, who was notorious for his
atrocities in the Spi, in a proposal to the emperor.)
59
In Transylvania, a group evacuated from the hereditary provinces were called
the Landler, and the name has sometimes rubbed off on others. The rich litera-
ture is evaluated by Evans, Die Grenzen der Konfessionalisierung, 399401. R.
Prtner, Counter-Reformation in the Provinces (PhD diss., Oxford University,
1998). E. Buchinger, Die Landler in Siebenbrgen: Vorgeschichte, Durchfh-
rung und Ergebnis einer Zwangsumsiedlung im 18. Jahrhundert (Munich 1980).
This fundamental book has been criticised and complemented by (among others) S.
Steiner (on the sufferings of the Carinthian Christina Pataki and her family until
the end of the 18th century); U. Kppers-Braun mentions similarly distressing de-
tails; both in Staatsmacht und Seelenheil: Gegenreformation und Geheimprotes-
tantismus in der Habsburgermonarchie, ed. by R. Leeb et al. (Vienna 2007), 202
212, 213229.
60
In the whole of Transylvania they formed a majority only in one Szkely seat,
Csk County.
202 Shaping Protestant Networks in Habsburg Transylvania
61
Murdock, Multiconfessionalism, 416 (italics mine).
62
E. Mlyusz, A trelmi rendelet [The Edict of Tolerance] (Budapest 1939; re-
print: Mriabesny 2006), 223. More recently: Kutschera, Landtag und Guberni-
um, 107: What would the original Edict of Tolerance have been, in the original,
uniform text? The answer: in den sterreichischen Erblnder ein grosser Erfolg;
fr die Protestanten, in Siebenbrgen eher ein Rckschritt.
CONTRIBUTORS
Dra Kerekes obtained her PhD from Etvs Lornd University, Buda-
pest in 2005. She published Diplomatk s kmek Konstantinpolyban
[Diplomats and spies in Constantinople] (Budapest 2010); and Mmoires
sur lEmpire ottoman par Pierre de Girardin, ambassadeur franais
Constantinople 16851689 (Paris and Szeged 2007).
204 Contributors
cus on book and library history and early modern courts in Hungary and
Central Europe.
John George I, Elector of Saxony, 90, 97, 100, 101, 129, 132, 135,
120 136, 143, 191
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold William, Archduke, 132,
202 141
Justinian, 19 Liechtenstein, Gundaker von, 145
Lippay Gyrgy, 142, 150
Kakas Istvn, 6, 3239, 45, 4749 Lsy Imre, 150
Kanizsai Orsolya, 115 Louis II, King of Hungary, 39, 55
Karl Eusebius, Prince of Louis XIV, King of France, 79, 89,
Liechtenstein, 136 191, 193
Kazulbasha, See Tahmasp I Lubieniecki, Wadysaw, 77
Kilian de Syroth, Johannes, 116 Lupu, Vasile, 75
Kindsberg, Johann Christoph von,
58, 59, 68 Machiavelli, Niccol, 99
Kinsky, Ulrich, 96, 101 Magchy Ferenc, 124
Kleihe, Dietrich, 80 Mamucca della Torre, Christoph, 54
Klesl (Khlesl), Melchior, 65, 153, Mamucca della Torre, Leopold, 54
159172, 174181 Mamucca della Torre,
Kohry Pter, 124 MarcAntonio, 54, 59, 68, 98,
Kollonich, Leopold, 99, 124 103
Kollonich, Siegfried, 124 Mara, Placido de, 153, 171, 172,
Komensk, Jan Amos, See 175, 176
Comenius, Jan Amos Margaret Theresa, Spanish Royal
Kosztka Borbla, 111 Princess, 143
Kosztka Mikls, 112 Maria Christierna of Austria, 36
Klesri Smuel, 188, 195 Maria Leopoldine, Empress, 140
Kunitz, Georg Christoph von, 59 Maria Theresia, 200
Kunitz, Johann Christoph von, 92, Marsigli, Luigi Ferdinando, 6, 60,
95 8588, 9098, 100105
Mary, Queen of Hungary, 110
Ladiver lis, 119 Matthias Corvinus, King of
Lambeck, Peter, 143, 144 Hungary, 34, 39
Lnyi Gergely, 119 Matthias I, Holy Roman Emperor,
Lnyi Ills, 121 King of Hungary as Matthias II,
Lnyi Zakaris, 119 65, 122, 123, 153, 156, 157, 159
aski, Hieronymus (Hieronim), 15, 162, 164, 173, 174
17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 26 Mattingly, Garrett, 12, 19
Lauzer Gspr, 141 Maurer Istvn, 198
Lavergne, Gabriel Joseph de, 92 Maurocordato, Alexander, 92, 94
Lben Andrs, 130 Maximilian I, Holy Roman
Lelio, Luca, 61 Emperor, 17, 154, 160
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II, Holy Roman
King of Hungary, 66, 68, 86, 89, Emperor, 160
A Divided Hungary in Europe Volume 2 211
Rabutin, Jean Louis, General, 190, Schmid, Johann Rudolf, 55, 56, 62,
191 65, 66
Radziwi, Janusz, 76 Schmidt, Erazmus, 120
Rkczi, family, 76 Sennyei Istvn, 131
Rkczi, Francis (Ferenc) II, Prince erban, Constantin, 74, 75
of Transylvania, 185, 187, 191 Serlin, Wilhelm, 144
Rkczi, George (Gyrgy) I, Prince Sherley, Anthony, 4547, 48
of Transylvania, 72, 77, 79, 80, Sherley, Robert, 32, 4547, 49
196 Sigismund I, King of Poland, 22
Rkczi, George (Gyrgy) II, Prince Sinzendorf, Joachim von, 65
of Transylvania, 69, 70, 73, 75 Sixtus V, Pope, 166
80, 83, 127, 137, 140142 Skultti Mrton, 119, 123
Rkosi Pter, 199 Skytte, Bengt, 69, 70
Rangoni, Costanza, 17 Spiegel, Hieronymus, 120
Reningen, Simon Reninger von, 62 tefan, Gheorghe, 75
Rvay Ferenc, 121 Stoye, John, 85, 87, 88, 96
Rvay Gbor, 112 Sleyman I, Ottoman Sultan, 3, 15,
Rvay Pter, 121 17, 18, 21, 41, 55, 56, 58, 96
Ridolfi, Lodovico, 168, 169, 175 Szalnczy, family, 72
Rill, Gerhard, 13 Szapolyai, John, King of Hungary,
Rincn, Antonio, 6, 1118, 2029 1315
Ritter Vitezovi, Pavao, 102 Szchy Tams, 115
Roe, Thomas, 74 Szegedi Krs Gspr, 115
Rohonczy, a servant of Ferenc Szekf Gyula, 180, 199
Ndasdy, 140 Szelepcsnyi (Szelepchny)
Rosenfeld, Leonhard Sutter von, Gyrgy, 129, 139, 150
132 Szenci Molnr Albert, 74, 81, 82
Rmer Zsuzsanna, 36 Szentkereszti Andrs, 186, 199
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Szilgyi Smuel, 186
King of Hungary as Rudolf I, 31, Szunyogh Jnos, 118
33, 44, 48, 50, 113, 114, 122,
154, 156, 158, 161 Tahmasp I, Persian Shah, 41
Rusdorf, Johann Joachim, 81 Tarczali Zsigmond, 186
Rstem-pasha, Grand Vizier, 17 Tectander, Georg, 3135, 45, 4749
Telegdy Mikls, 152
Sachs von Harteneck, Johannes, 190 Teleki Adam, 195
Safavid dynasty, 31, 40, 50 Teleki Jzsef, 195
Safi al-Din, Shaykh, 40 Teleki Lszl, 192
Safi II, Shah of Persia, 60 Teleki Mihly, 194
Salm, Nikolaus von, 17 Teleki Pl, 194
Sndor Gergely, 198, 199 Teleki Sndor, 187
Schaum, Constantin, 69, 70, 77 Thavonat, Ludwig, 187
Thelekessy Mihly, 121
A Divided Hungary in Europe Volume 2 213
Thkly Emmerich (Imre), Prince Vera y Ziga, Juan Antonio de, 26,
of Transylvania, 61, 96, 184, 27
185, 187, 201 Verancsics Antal (Antonius
Thkly Istvn, 118 Vrani/Werantius), 56, 58
Thucydides, 12 Veress Endre, 32, 35, 38, 39, 45, 47,
Thurz Anna, 112, 118 103
Thurz Borbla, 118 Veterani, Federico, 96
Thurz Elek, 110, 122 Visconti-Borromeo, Vitalio, 171,
Thurz Ferenc, 110, 111, 112, 113 173
Thurz Gyrgy, 7, 109117, 119 Vitelleschi, Muzio, 152
124, 126, 157, 158, 162 Vitnydy Istvn, 78
Thurz Ilona, 118 Vizkelethy Mihly, 118
Thurz Imre, 118120, 125, 126
Thurz Judith, 118 Wankelius, Johannes, 120
Thurz Katalin, 112, 118 Weichselberger, Sigismund, 57
Thurz Kristf, 122 Wesselnyi Ferenc, 127, 128, 138,
Thurz Mria, 118 145
Thurz Mikls, 122 Wesselnyi Istvn, 195
Thurz Szaniszl, 122 Wibner, Georg, 134
Thurz Szaniszl II, 111 William III, King of England, 195
Thurz Szaniszl III, 110 Wittek, Paul, 21
Thurz Zsuzsanna, 118 Wolphard, family, 38
Thurz, family, 110, 111, 113, 117,
119, 122, 124, 125 Zabanius, Johannes, 190
Tindi Sebestyn, 41 Zabeller Pter, 121
Toma Katalin, 132, 137 Zaklika, Zygmunt, 82
Tth Istvn Gyrgy, 5 Zapolya, John, See Szapolyai, John
Trauttmansdorff, Maximilian von, Zeller, Jean, 14
145 erotn, Karel, 123
Trcsnyi Zsolt, 198, 199 Zichy Istvn, 130, 132
Tusor Pter, 3, 136 Zouche, Richard, 27
Zrnyi (Zrinska) Ilona, 187
Urban VIII, Pope, 168 Zrnyi (Zrinska) Katalin, 111, 113
Ursu, Ion, 14 Zrnyi (Zrinski) Gyrgy, 114, 121
Usseim Effendi, See Hezarfen, Zrnyi (Zrinski) Mikls, 78, 111,
Hseyn 128, 138, 142
Zrnyi (Zrinski) Pter, 138
Van Dyck, Anthony, 46 Zrnyi (Zrinski), family, 78, 138
Vasoli, Alessandro, 167 Zlfikar Aga, 73
Vasto, Marquis del, 11, 12, 16, 17, Zlfikar Effendi, 94
20, 24