Revolutionary Coinage of the Malcontents under Prince Ferenc Rakoczi. Extracts for various web sources.
My new ˝ Taler, 1705 KB Kremnitz (Hungary) Mint
Ferenc (Francis) II Rákóczi (27 March 1676 - 8 April 1735), an Hungarian aristocrat, was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince (fejedelem) of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Today he is considered a national hero in Hungary. He was born in Borsi, Royal Hungary and died in Rodosto, Ottoman Empire.
As the House of Habsburg was on the verge of dying out in Spain, France was looking for allies in its fight against Austrian hegemony. Consequently, they established contact with Rákóczi and promised support if he took up the cause of Hungarian independence. An Austrian spy seized this correspondence and brought it to the attention of the Emperor. As a direct result of this, Rákóczi was arrested on 18 April 1700, and imprisoned in the fortress of Wiener Neustadt (south of Vienna). Leopold's rule of Hungary was marked by relentless repression. The country seethed in disquietude and when Leopold withdrew most of his troops from Hungary to use in the War of the Spanish Succession, rebellion broke out. The Malcontents were led by Ferenc Rakoczi, who at times had upwards of 100,000 men under his command. Although they were irregulars with no usable artillery and little financial support, they were able to cause Leopold's successor Joseph much consternation.
Most of the Hungarian nobility did not support Rákóczi's uprising, because they considered it to be no more than a jacquerie, a peasant rebellion. Rákóczi's famous call to the nobility of Szabolcs county seemed to be in vain. He did manage to convince the Hajdús (emancipated peasant warriors) to join his forces, so his forces controlled most of Kingdom of Hungary to the east and north of the Danube by late September 1703. He continued by conquering Transdanubia soon after. Since the Austrians had to fight Rákóczi on several fronts, they felt obliged to enter negotiations with him. However, the victory of Austrian and British forces against a combined French-Bavarian army in the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704, provided an advantage not only in the War of the Spanish Succession, but also prevented the union of Rákóczi's forces with their French-Bavarian allies.
At the Battle of Tren#269;ín (Hungarian Trencsen, German Trentschin, Latin Trentsinium, Comitatus Trentsiniensis, today in Slovakia), on 3 August 1708 Rákóczi's horse stumbled, and he fell to the ground, which knocked him unconscious. The Kuruc forces thought him dead and fled. This defeat was fatal for the uprising. Numerous Kuruc leaders transferred their allegiance to the Emperor, hoping for clemency. Rákóczi's forces became restricted to the area around Munkács and Szabolcs county. Not trusting the word of János Pálffy, who was the Emperor's envoy charged with negotiations with the rebels, the Prince left the Kingdom of Hungary for Poland on 21 February 1711.
The Ottoman Empire signed the Peace Treaty of Passarowitz with Austria on 21 July 1718. Among its provisions was the refusal of the Turks to extradite the exiled Hungarians. Two years later, the Austrian envoy requested that the exiles be turned over, but the Sultan refused as a matter of honour. Rákóczi and his entourage were settled in the town of Tekirda#287; (Rodostó in Hungarian), relatively distant from the Ottoman capital, and a large Hungarian colony grew up around this town on the Sea of Marmara. Bercsenyi, Count Simon Forgách, Count Antal Esterházy, Count Mihály Csáky, Miklós Sibrik, Zsigmond Zay, the two Pápays, and Colonel Ádám Jávorka were among many who settled there, sharing the sentiment of the writer Kelemen Mikes, who said, "I had no special reason to leave my country, except that I greatly loved the Prince."
Rákóczi was 59 years old when he died on 8 April 1735.
Posted 12/02/2009 10:21 pm
