History of Slovakia: Part of Historic Hungary II - Modern Times (1526 - 1918)
1526 - 1541: Turkish campaigns to central Hungary and the Civil War
1541 - 1711: Turkish occupation of central Hungary (1541-1686/1699) and anti-Habsburg uprisings in Slovakia (1604-1711)
1541 - 1547
1552 - 1568
1568 -1593 : The oLong Peace? period
1593 - 1608 : The 15-years War (or Long War, 1593-1604) and the Stephen Bocskay Uprising (1604 -1606)
1608 - 1619 : A peaceful period
1619 - 1626 :The Gabor_Bethlen (Gabriel Betlen) Uprising
1626 - 1642 : Prelude to the George Rákóczi Uprising
1644 - 1645 : The George Rákóczi (Juraj Rákoci) Uprising
1646 - 1662
1663 - 1664 : The War with the Turks
1664 - 1678 : The Wesselenyi Conspiracy, the 1st kuruc campaign and the Kuruc guerilla war)
1678 - 1687: The Imre Thököly (Imrich Tököli) Uprising (1678-1687/1688) and the Turkish War (1683-1699) till 1687
1688 - 1703
1703 - 1711: Francis II Rákóczi (František II Rákoci) Uprising = The Kuruc War
1712 - 1714
Turkish campaigns to central Hungary and the Civil War (1526-1541)
1526 (August): Hungarian troops are totally defeated by the Turks (i.e. the Ottoman Empire) in the Battle of Mohács and king Louis II dies. One day later (on August 30), queen Maria (Louis II’s wife) and the Court quickly flee from Buda to Bratislava. The whole Hungarian infantry (mostly students and poors from towns) is killed and Hungarian magnates themselves run away long before the end of the battle. The Turkish sultan will not be sure whether he really has won, because he cannot believe that Louis II could only send such a small army against the Turks (which was due to the rule of magnates in Historic Hungary).
1526 (September-October) 1st Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: The Turks temporarily occupy Buda, the capital of Historic Hungary, loot in present-day Hungary, reach the present-day southern Slovak border, but then leave Historic Hungary.
1526 (November): The supporters of John Zapolya elect and coronate him king of Historic Hungary at a diet in Székésfehérvár. He is coronated by the Slovak bishop of Nitra tefan Podmanický. John Zapolya was the richest Hungarian magnate, duke of Transylvania since 1511, he owned 30 castles all over Historic Hungary and huge properties also in Slovakia.
1526 (December 17): The supporters of Ferdinand of Habsburg elect him king of Hungary at a Diet in Bratislava (his coronation will take place one year later). The fact that Historic Hungary has 2 kings will trigger the Civil War (see below). Bratislava and western Slovakia is and will be the center of Ferdinand’s supporters in the Civil War.
1527 (February): Ferdinand appoints queen Maria (Louis II’s widow and Ferdinand’s sister) governor of Historic Hungary.
1527-1538: Civil War between Ferdinand and John Zapolya (and his allies - the Turks). Many of the fightings of the Civil War take place in Slovakia. At the beginning, Ferdinand of Habsburg only controls (or has allies in) western Slovakia and Croatia, while John Zapolya controls (or has allies in) the rest of Historic Hungary:
— 1527(spring): Ferdinand’s troops move from Austria to Historic Hungary. The main part of the army passes Komárno and occupies Buda (in August) and defeats the retreating Zapolya‘s troops near Tokaj, thus enabling Ferdinand’s coronation in November 1527 in Székésfehérvár . A smaller part of the army moves to the Slovak mining towns.
— 1527/1528(winter): John Zapolya‘s sends envoys to Istanbul to appeal to the Ottoman sultan Süleyman I for help. The sultan recognizes John Zapolya as king of Historic Hungary and becomes his ally, and John Zapolya becomes a vassal of the sultan. This agreement will be implemented in (see)1529 for the first time.
— 1528(beginning of the year): John Zapolya with his troops hired in Poland tries a counterattack in eastern Slovakia, but he is defeated by Ferdinand’s troops in March ne
— 1529 2nd Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Hungary: Süleyman I with an army of 200000 men attacks Historic Hungary to help John Zapolya in the Civil War (in May). The Turks occupy Buda (in August) and the central Carpathian Basin. John Zapolya pays homage to the sultan, thus actually accepting Turkish supremacy. Zapolya becomes the actual king of Historic Hungary again and, as at the beginning of the civil war, Ferdinand basically controls only western Slovakia and free royal towns. But after the Turks fail to conquer Vienna (in September-October), they leave Historic Hungary and Ferdinand must try to reconquer Buda again (see 1530).
— 1529(October): John Zapolya takes control of central Slovak mines.
— 1530(September) 3rd Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary (Slovakia): Turkish troops (with John Zapolya’s consent) directly invade southwestern Slovakia, which was a territory controlled by Ferdinand. They abduct some 40.000 persons and devastate the whole region (some 3000 villages are burned down).
— 1530(October-December): Troops of Ferdinand’s supporters fail to reconquer Buda, occupied by John Zapolya’s and Turkish soldiers.
— 1532 4th Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: The Turks, intending to conquer Vienna, are held up at the Köszeg (Güssing) castle, so that Ferdinand can gather a huge army near Vienna in the meantime. The Turks seeing this superior force change their mind – they only loot in western prrsent-day Hungary, Carinthia and Croatia, and leave Historic Hungary. At that time, Ferdinand’s allies are nobles in western and central Slovakia, as well as all mining and other royal towns.
— 1533: A truce is concluded between Ferdinand and John Zapolya at Istanbul. The sultan becomes entitled to approve mutual agreements between Ferdinand and John Zapolya. But military action between the 2 sides does not end completely and 10 other truces will follow till 1538 .
— 1536: John Zapolya occupies the town of Košice (till his death).
— 1538(February 24): A secret peace agreement putting an end to the Civil War is concluded between Ferdinand and John Zapolya at Oradea (see below).
1528-1848: Ferdinand founds the Hungarian chamber (the supreme financial, economic and administrative authority in Historic Hungary) in 1528. Its seat is at Bratislava (from 1531 on - until then at Buda). It reports to the Court Chamber in Vienna. It will cease to exist in 1848, when it will be replaced by new ministries (see also 1567).
1529(summer): Bratislava, expecting the Turks moving to Vienna to pass through the town, has several churches and houses deliberately demolished, so that the Turks cannot entrench themselves there, but the Turks only loot to the south of the town (present-day districts of Bratislava).
1529(August) – 1530(summer): Famine und plague in Buda and other regions of Historic Hungary.
1529(August-September): Central authorities of Historic Hungary flee from Buda to Bratislava.
1530: See 1527 – 1538
1530-1534: War between the towns Levoča (supporting Ferdinand I) and Kežmarok (supporting John Zapolya).
1532: See 1527 – 1538
1533: See 1527 – 1538
1536: See 1527 – 1538
1536 – 1784/1830/1848 : The Diet of Historic Hungary declares Bratislava the capital of Historic Hungary in 1536. Central authorities will be in the town till 1784, coronations will take place in the town till 1830 (see 1563), the Hungarian diet (see 1542) will hold its meetings in the town till 1848.
1538(February 24): A secret peace agreement putting an end to the Civil War (see 1527-1538) is concluded between Ferdinand and John Zapolya at Oradea. The agreement basically recognizes the status quo - both of them become kings of Historic Hungary and Historic Hungary is divided in two parts: Ferdinand receives western present-day Hungary, Slovakia (except for Košice and parts of eastern Slovakia) and Croatia, John Zapolya receives the rest, i.e. Transylvania, parts of eastern Slovakia and Ruthenia. In addition, the territories of John Zapolya are supposed to be annexed by Ferdinand after Zapolya’s death (but see 1540).
1540(July): John Zapolya dies. His son John Sigismund is born shortly before.
1540(September): John Zapolya’s supporters elect John Sigismund king of Historic Hungary, declare the peace of Oradea (under which Ferdinand is the king of whole Historic Hungary, see 1538) void and ask the Turks to do this too. The Turks will take advantage of this situation and invade Historic Hungary under the pretext of protecting Sigismund’s interest (see 1541).
Turkish occupation of central Hungary (1541-1686/1699) and anti-Habsburg uprisings in Slovakia (1604-1711)
The kings of Historic Hungary (almost always parallely the kings of Germany, Austria and Bohemia) were the Habsburg s : Ferdinand (1526-1564), Maximilian (1564-1576)), Rudolf I (1576-1608), Matthias II (1608-1619), Ferdinand II (1619-1637), Ferdinand III (1637-1657, 1647-1654 parallely Ferdinand IV), Leopold I (1657-1705), Joseph I (1705-1711).
1541 - 1547
1541 5th Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: The Turks, led by Süleyman I, permanently occupy Buda since August. Buda becomes the center of a new province of the Ottoman (i.e. Turkish) Empire situated in present-day central Hungary. former Historic Hungary breaks up in 3 parts (the territorial extensions described in the following are as of 1575) : (1) the so-called Royal Hungary [in present-day Slovakia (except for southern central Slovakia-see 1543, 1544, 1552, 1554, 1575, 1593, 1594, 1606, 1664) and a strip of westernmost Historic Hungary (largely German population in the north and western Croatia in the south) and a small part of northeastern present-day Hungary] which was a continuation of the previous Habsburg Historic Hungary, (2) Transylvania in present-day Romania, which became a Turkish vassal and later the base for all the anti-Habsburg uprisings in Slovakia after 1604
, and (3) a province of the Ottoman Empire on the remaining territory, i.e. basically present-day Hungary without the parts described above under (1). Present-day Ruthenia is mostly divided between Royal Hungary and Transylvania (but see e. g. 1547, 1621). The transfer of the central institutions of Hungarian state to Slovakia will increase ethnic Hungarian influence in Slovakia.1541 – 1820: Trnava is the seat of the Archbishopric of Esztergom. Esztergom will be conquered by the Turks in (see) 1543.
after 1541: The Turkish conquest of present-day Hungay causes changes in the ethnic structure of Slovakia in the 16th century. Many ethnic Hungarian nobles flee to Slovakia, because present-day Hungary is mostly Turkish territory. Higher ethnic Hungarian nobles settle outside the towns, and lower nobles in the towns, so that the previously largely ethnic Slovak lower gentry becomes Magyarized, partly through intermarriage. Many ethnic Hungarian burghers come to the towns Bratislava, Trnava, Košice, Prešov and Krupina. Ethnic Hungarian peasants seeking refuge from Turks shift the Magyar-Slovak ethnic frontier to the north. On the other hand, the migration of Hungarian nobles into Slovak towns helps to weaken the position of German patricians and improve that of Slovaks (see e. g. 1608). As for the Germans, they are still the leaders (administrators, judges etc. ) of towns, but in this century only in royal and mining towns. Their number decreases gradually. The number of Slovaks increases considerably. Most towns are excusively Slovak already (as opposed to previous centuries) and even in royal and mining towns the Slovaks make up a large proportion of the population. First Slovak (as opposed to German) guilds arise in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Largely or exclusively Slovak counties are Orava, Turiec, Liptov, Zvolen, Tekov, Hont, Novohrad, Gemer, Spiš, and Abov. A high percentage of other nationalities beside the Slovaks lives in in the Bratis
lava, Nitra, Trečn, ariš and Zempln counties. The so-called Wallachians (see 15th century) are already largely Slovaks (but also Ruthenians) in this century. The Wallachian “colonisation” reaches its historical peak in the 1540s and 1550s. They are especially important for the Orava region, where they found some 40 new settlements between 1530 and 1606. Several thousand Croats, Slovenians and some Serbs , whose lords or who themseves flee from the Turks in their own countries, settle in Slovakia in the 1520’s and especially in the 1530’s - 1570’s (the Croats). The Croats settle mainly i n some 50 villages in the devastated surroundings of Bratislava (today mostly parts of Bratislava), but they are relatively quickly assimilated by the Slovaks or the Hungarians, although a few Croats have survived till today. The Serbs settle mainly in the town of Komárno (see 17th century). Furthermore, first groups of German Anabaptists arrive in Slovakia since the late 1520s, but it is only in the 2nd half of the 16th century that several 100 families of these Anabaptists (later called habáni) from Moravia settle in 12 villages in western Slovakia (since 1545; see also 1548), but they are also assimilated in the 17th century (although later then the Croats). Finally, some Turks are in southern Slovakia, of course. See also 15th century. See also 17th century.1542 (?): Mikuláš Kostka, a robber-knight (see 1548) and the captain of Upper Hungary (see 1563), is sentenced to death and loss of properties by king Ferdinand. The reason was that Kostka had been a supporter of John Zapolya, so that Ferdinand had deprived him of all properties, but Kostka stayed at Zapolya’s Lietava Castle. In 1542, when the castle had a new owner after Zapolya‘s death (in 1540), Kostka had the executors beaten (one of them died).
1542(autumn): Ferdinand’s troops fail to reconquer Buda.
1542 - 1848: Bratislava is the meeting place of the Hungarian Diet (see also e. g. 1526, 1536, 1563). rarely, other towns are seat of the diet (e. g. Banská Bystrica in 1543-1544).
1542 (November): The Hungarian Diet in Bratislava decides on the creation of a governing council consisting of eight members.
1543 6th Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: The Turks conquer the town of Esztergom at Slovak border. The town will become a base for Turkish invasions in southern Slovakia. This is the first time the Ottoman Empire reaches present-day Slovakia.
1543 (November): The Hungarian Diet in Banská Bystrica decides that 75% of the taxes will be used for the defense against the Turks. In addition, the deputies ask the king to do something against the spreading of Protestantism in Historic Hungary.
1544: The Turkish governor of Buda conquers southern central Slovakia in the regions north of Esztergom.
1545: Anabaptists - see: After 1541
1545-1546: See 1573-1580
1547: After a truce in 1545, a 5-year peace between the Habsburgss (Ferdinand) and the Turks is signed at Edirne.
1547 - 1551: The Transylvanian border temporarily passes through the vertical middle of eastern Slovakia (see also 1621).
1547-1548: The Hungarian Diet in Trnava reorganizes the defense and allows the retainers to move to other places under certain conditions (see 1550).
1547: The territory of Historic Hungary is divided (at the Diet in Trnava?) for the purposes of defense into two Captaincies-General, one on each side of the Danube, see also 1563.
1548: The Hungarian Diet in Bratislava adopts strict regulations mainly against the Anabaptists and Calvinists, and royal commissars are sent to check which religions there are in the country. The result will be the establishment of special “religions” in some suspicious regions – see 1549, 1559, 1569. The persecution of the Anabaptists however largely stops in 1549. In addition the Diet discusses the robber-knights problem and adopts a law under which they are to be caught and executed even if they are nobles. The robber-knights were rich nobles (mostly in Slovakia), who since 1526 have been attacking the properties (towns and villages) of nobles supporting in 1526 a rival candidate for the Hungarian throne. See 1526, 1549, 1556. One paragraph of the law explicitely deals with the robber-knight Matej Bašo of Čoltov, who had conquered the Muráň Castle and had been loting in Spiš and Gemer. A punitive campaign against him, led by the count Mikuláš zo Salmu, conquers his castles in 1548 and 1549.
1548: Maria, the sister of emperor Ferdinand I, gives the central Slovak mining towns to Ferdinand I.
1549: The Confessio Pentapolitana, a special moderate Evangelical Lutheran religious form, is written by Leonhard Stöckel snd established in the Pentapolitana towns (see 1440-1445). The aim is to prevent (Catholic) accusations of heresy. The document is the oldest proof of Lutheran religion in Historic Hungary. See also 1548, 1559, 1569.
1549: The Slovak noble Rafael Podmanický, a robber-knight (see 1548), is sentenced to dead and loss of all properties. The brothers Ján and Rafael Podmanický had occupied several castles in the Váh basin.
1550: The Hungarian Diet in Bratislava restrains the possibility of retainers to move to other places.
1550-1571: Long negotatiations between the central Slovak mining towns and the Habsburg rulers (Ferdinand I, then Maximilian; see also 1548) concerning the Mining Code draft. The towns refuse to accept it, because it would cancel all their municipal freedoms and privileges, and increase the influence of the emperor. See 1571.
1552 - 1568
1552: 7th Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: After Habsburg troops have occupied the Transylvanian part of former Hsitoric Hungary (see 1541) in 1551, the Turks start an invasion to the region. As a result, the Turks conquer further territories in
southern central Slovakia – the regions around the towns of ahy, Ďarmoty, Szécsény (all near the lower Ipeľ River). The important battle at Plášťovce, the first big anti-Turkish battle in Slovakia, in which the Turks defeat Habsburg troops, takes place on August 10. This campaign basically initiates a long war between the Turks and the Habsburgs that will last (with short interruptions) till 1568.1554: The Turks from Szécsény conquer further territories
in southern central Slovakia – the regions around the towns of Fiľakovo and algovo. From the town of Fiľakovo, the Turks undertake looting raids to central Slovak mining towns and to the Spiš region in the north.1555: (Slovak) retainers are obliged to
work for free in the fortification of towns near the Turkish border (e. g. Esztergom, Levice, later Nitra, Nové Zámky, Krupina, Topoľčianky). The obligation will be made stricter in 1567.1556: 8th Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: The Turks, led by Süleyman I, conquer the fortress of Szigetvár (in today’s southern Hungary) and in the summer they reach southern Slovakia, but are stopped by Habsburg troops.
late 1550s-early 1560s: Fightings shift to Transylvania and the Tisza region, where the Turks support John Sigismund.
1556: The Hungarian Diet publicly condemns František Bubek, the hereditary leader of the Gemer county, because he has behaved like a robber-knight (see 1548) – he has been attacking his political adversaries, devastating their properties, stealing the bells from their churches and making from them counterfeited coins showing the pictures of both Ferdinand I and John Zapolya.
1559: The Confessio Heptapolitana (or Montana), a special moderate Evangelical Lutheran religious form, is established in the Heptapolitana towns (see 1453) according to the model of the Confessio Pentapolitana (1549). The aim was to prevent (Catholic) accusations of heresy. See also 1549, 1569.
1560: Gál (Havel) Husár, the first book-printer in Slovakia, prints his first book in Košice. See also 1480, 1577.
1562 (January 1): The first Jesuits come to Slovakia (and Historic Hungary). They had been invited by Mikuláš Oláh, the Archbihop of Trnava (see 1541-1820) in 1588 to stop the increasing Protestantism in Slovakia. They found a Jesuit school, but will have to leave in 1567 due to various problems. Jesuits will only come back to Slovakia in 1586, when they found a school in Kláštor pod Znievom.
1562(April): Anti-Turkish troops (10000 men including many soldiers from Slovak towns) led by Ján Balaša temporarily manage to push the Turks from Slovakia back to the south, but they are defeated when they try to reconquer the castle of Szécsény (near present-day Slovak border, see 1552). 2/3 of the soldiers die and 1000 nobles are abducted.
1562(August): An 8-year peace between the Habsburgs (Ferdinand) and the Turks is signed at Istanbul. It will be violated soon.
1563 - 1830: Bratislava is the coronation town for Hungarian kings and queens (by order of Ferdinand I), initially because the traditional coronation town Székésfehérvár became part of the Turkish empire. The first coronation is the coronation of king Maximilian of Habsburg (on September 9 1563) , the last one the coronation of Ferdinand V 11 kings and 8 queens will be crowned altogether in the towns’ St. Martin’s Cathedral. (see also 1536, 1542).
1563 (March – November): The Hungarian Diet in Bratislava decides that those nobles who have fled to from the Turks into free royal towns (in Slovakia) are supposed to pay the same municipal taxes as the remaining burghers and are allowed to buy houses and municipal property there. This will enable the penetration of nobles (especially ethnic Hungarian ones) into the administration of towns.
1563-1686: The anti-Turkish defense is reorganized. For this purpose, Slovakia forms a separate entity and is divided in 2 “captaincies”: The captaincy Cisdanubia and Mining Towns (in western and central Slovakia) and the captaincy Upper Hungary (in eastern Slovakia and a small part of northeastern present-day Hungary and a part of Ruthenia, see 1541). The capital of the former will be – depending on the military situation –Nitra (till 1568), urany (till11581), Levice (till 1589), Nové Zámky (till 1663) and Komárno (till 1686). The capital of the latter is Košice. A small part of southwestern Slovakia belongs to the captaincy Transdanubia based at Györ (see also 1567).
1564(May): A military conference takes place in Banská tiavnica by order of the king, at which a (successful) system for the defense of the central Slovak region against Turkish attacks is adopted.
1565 (February): Lazar Schwendi, the captain of Upper Hungary (see 1563-1686), conquers Tokaj after a ten-days besiege. Tokaj had been held by John Sigismund, the son of John Zápolya.
1566: 9th Turkish post-Mohacs campaign to Historic Hungary: The Turks, led by Süleyman I, want to conquer Vienna, but they are stopped at the Sziget castle (in present-day southern Hungary), where sultan Süleyman I dies. Süleyman’s death marks the beginning of a slow, but unstoppable decay of the Ottoman Empire.
1567-1848: The Spiš (Zips) chamber - since 1539 only a subsidiary of the Hungarian chamber - is split from the Hungarian chamber (see 1528) and becomes responsible for the territory of the captaincy Upper Hungary (see 1563). Its seat is at Košice. It reports to the Court Chamber in Vienna. It will cease to exist in 1848 together with the Hungarian chamber. This marks the de-facto partition of Hungary and Slovakia in different 2 parts: Upper Hungary (in eastern Slovakia and a small part of northeastern present-day Hungary and a part of Ruthenia, see 1541, 1563) and Lower Hungary (remaining territories, see 1541). Although the 2 chambers will exist till 1848, the terms Upper and Lower Hungary will change their meaning after the defeat of the Turks in the late 17th century - Upper Hungary will comprise whole present-day Slovakia and parts of northern present-day Hungary north of the Tisza River, and Lower Hungary the remaining territories.
1567 (April): The Calvinists of Historic Hungary split from the Lutherans at a synode in Debrecen and create a separate ecclesiastic organization. See also 1521, 1548.
1568(February 17): An 8-year peace agreement is concluded between the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire at Edirne. Under the agreement the Turks will not loot villages and abduct people in the frontier regions (but small military actions are not prohibited) and the Habsburg emperor will pay 30000 ducats each year to the Turks. The agreement also tries to establish the common border to prevent double tax payments of the population in the frontier regions, but this point will be violated often in the following years.
1567: The Hungarian Diet at Bratislava decides that (1)confiscated ecclesiastic properties are to be returned to their original owners, (2) a new list of all retaines is to be set up, and (3) the extent of obligatory work for free (by the retainers) in the fortification of towns near the Turkish border (see 1555) is doubled.
1568-1593 (the “Long Peace” period)
1560s and 1570s: Conflicts in the frontier regions (esp. in Slovakia) continue. The Turks continue to undertake looting raids in central and eastern Slovakia, especially in the mining towns.
1569: The Confessio Scepusiana, a special moderate Evangelical Lutheran religious form, is published by the Brotherhood of 24 Parish Priest in Spiš (see 1271) according to the model of the Confessio Heptapolitana (1559). The aim is to prevent (Catholic) accusations of heresy. See also 1548, 1549, 1559.
1571: The central Slovak mining towns accept the amended compromise draft of the ”New Mining Code” issued by the emperor Maximilian specifically for central Slovak mining towns in 1570. See 1550-1571. But quarrels concerning the code will continue for some 200 years. As a result, the mining law in Slovakia is unified for the first time (until then the towns have used the mining law of the towns Banská tiavnica and Kremnica). In 1723 – 1854 the code will be used in whole Historic Hungary. See also 1573.
1573 (February): The emperor Maximilian issues the Forest Code for the central Slovak mining towns and their properties in order to prevent waste of timber and ensure a sufficient amount of timber for these towns. The code is the first known code dealing specifically with forest management.
1573-1580 (October): Construction of a completely new town - the fortress (and today’s town) of Nové Zámky (Novum castrum). The fortress is specifically designed to resist Turkish attacks. An older anti-Turkish fortress (or rather a castle) bearing the same name had been established next to the town in 1545-1546 already.
1574: The Diet of Bratislava enables the nobles -despite heavy opposition by the towns- to do business and to trade freely.
1575: The Turks conquer further regions of central southe
rn Slovakia (the castles Modrý Kameň, Divn and omošová). This is their last permanent conquest in Slovakia (see 1543, 1544, 1552, 1554).1575: The 1568 peace agreement is prolonged by further 8 years in Istanbul.
1577: First permanent printing houses in Slovakia arise (in Banská Bystrica, Trnava and Bardejov).
1581: The first printed book in the Slovak language, Luther’s Cathechism, is printed in Bardejov.
1584: During one of their looting campaigns outside the Turkish territory i
n Slovakia, the Turks based at Fiľakovo devastate Dobšiná and abduct its inhabitants. See also 1586, 1590.1586: See 1562
1586 (December): During one of their looting campaigns outside the Turkish territory in Slovakia, the Turks based at Novohrad and Palánka penetrate up to Banská tiavnica and abduct some people from a suburb. See also 1584, 1590.
1587-1588: The Hungarian Diet in Bratislava adopts the Gregorian calendar (introduced by the Pope in 1582), prohibits to grant properties to foreigners, and introduces the measure system used in Buda to whole Historic Hungary (i. e. Slovakia; see also 1655). In reality however, some Slovak counties will use the old Iulian calender up to the early 17th century (1625). The territories under Turkish rule will use the old calender even longer and the Orthodox Church (in eastern Slovakia) uses it till today.
1588: The troops of Rudolf I of Habsburg, including many Slovaks, defeat the Turks in the important battle near Szikszó (in present-day Hungary near Slovak border).
late 1580s – 1593: A crisis in the Ottoman Empire in the late 1580s, caused by economic problems and the war with Persia (1578-1590), causes the Turks to increase the taxes, which, in early 1590s, leads to revolts of the retainers, who try to get rid of their servitude to the Ottoman empire. Soon the revolts turn into small frontier wars (especially in Croatia) and lead to the 15-years War (see below).
1590 (June)
: During one of their looting campaigns outside the Turkish territory in Slovakia, the Turks devastate Dolná Mičiná and abduct 140 persons. See also 1584, 1586, 1599.1590 (July): A big fire breaks out in Bratislava in consequence of an earthquake. 320 houses burn down.
1590 (November): The 1568 peace agreement is renewed in Istanbul.
1592(autumn): Negotiations with the Turks take place concerning a further prolongation of peace (see 1590 November) and the return of fortresses conquered by the Turks.
1592: See also below
1593 – 1608 (the 15-years War (or Long War, 1593-1604) and the Stephen Bocskay Uprising (1604-1606) )
1592 Prelude I to the war: The Habsburgs decide not to pay the 30000 ducats (see 1568), because the Turks have conquered the Bihac castle in Croatia and devastated the region.
1593(January) Prelude II to the war: Pasha Sinan becomes the new grand vizier at Istanbul after a military rebellion caused by the fact that after the end of a war with Persia in 1589, many of the soldiers became unemployed. This new vizier was one of the supporters of war in the Ottoman Empire
1593 (January 25): The Diet at Bratislava requests the emperor to send envoys abroad immediately in order to ask for help against the Turks.
1593(June) Prelude III to the war: The Turks are defeated near Sisak in Croatia and their pasha Hasan dies there. They take this as a pretext for a war.
1593(July): Sinan starts a campaign to Historic Hungary.
1593(October): The Turks conquer the towns of Veszprem and Palota (present-day Hungary).
1593(November): Habsburg troops defeat the Turkish governor of Buda, but fail to conquer Székésfehérvár. Parallely (November-December), in Slovakia, Ha
bsburg troops, incl. Slovak nobles, reconquer Fiľakovo, Divn, Modrý Kameň and some other castles in southern central Slovakia (see 1554, 1575).1594
: Habsburg troops reconquer other parts of southern central Slovakia near the lower Ipeľ River,thus freeing from Turkish invasions the central Slovak mining towns, but they fail to reconquer Esztergom and Hatvan. The Turkish grand vizier Sinan in turn conquers Györ and fails to conquer Komárno (in October).
1595(January): The Habsburgs (Rudolf I) enter into an alliance with the Transylvanian Prince Sigismund Bathory and with Princes of Moldavia and Walachia, thus completely changing the equilibrium of powers in the war.
1595 (September): Habsburg troops reconquer Esztergom (at Slovak border).
1596(January): The Diet at Bratislava adopts a law on a (unrepeated) military tax.
1596: In view of the desperate situation for the Turks, the Turkish sultan himself leads a campaign to Historic Hungary.
1596(October): The Habsburgs are defeated in a direct clash (the only one in this war) of the Habsburg and Turkish army near Mozökeresztes. 2 years of steering clear the Turks and lootings by the badly paid Habsburg hired soldiers will follow.
1598: Habsburg troops reconquer Györ, Tata, Papa and Veszprém (all in present-day Hungary). One of their leaders is Mikuláš Pálffy, the leader of the Bratislava county (d. 1600 in Bratislava).
1599: After they have failed to bring the Habsburgs to sign a peace with them, the Turks, together with the Tartars, devastate western and central Slovakia (R
ožňava, Fiľakovo, Rybnk, Čajkov, Hronský Beňadik . . . ) and abduct thousands of people.1602: Turkish troops reconquer Székésfehérvár , which was conquered by the Habsburgs in 1601.
17th century – 1711: The ethnic structure basically remains the same as in the previous century (see after 1541) with the following changes: The Turks leave southern Slovakia between 1593 – 1606, but they come again temporarily in 1663-1683. After 1683, these and other depopulated territories in Historic Hungary are populated by Slovaks (see also 1690). Some free royal towns become purely Slovak towns (without Germans) and Trnava, Banská Bystrica, Krupina and many other towns become predominantly Slovak towns. Guilds, crafts and mining activities are predominantly in Slovak (as opposed to German) hands, except for most royal and mining towns. Some Germans (professionals and clerks) come from Austrian mining regions, for the explicit purpose of saving the German nation in Slovak mining towns from extinction. They are however Slovakized after 2 or 3 generations. As for the Hungarians, the Magyarisation of Slovak gentry intensifies and Hungarians settle in towns in southwestern and southeastern Slovakia. National conflicts (already existing in the previous century) arise between the Germans, Hungarians and Slovaks in the towns: The Germans fear assimilation by the Slovaks, the Germans and the Slovaks are against Hunagrian nobles settling in the traditional German and Slovak towns (and not wanting to fulfill the duties of burghers), and the Slovaks and the Hungarians enter into alliances against the Germans in order to receive functions in the administration of towns. Ruthenians (previously in the mountains) settle in some towns in eastern Slovakia. Furthemore, the total population of Slovakia decreases in the late 17th and early 18th century (1663 – 1711), which is “finished” by the Plague Epidemic of 1710-1711. The last so-called “Wallachian” settlements arise in the 17th century (see after 1541, 1337). After the battle at the White Mountain (1620), several hundred Czech Protestant families fleeing from the present-day Czech Republic settle in western Slovakia (they are assimilated gradually) and some further German Anabaptists (called habáni) come from Moravia (see after 1541). Around 1690, a new wave of Serbs (see after 1541) comes to Slovakia, more exactly to Bratislava and (once more) to Komárno. Serbian suburb colonies arise in both towns (see c. 1690), but they will be gradually assimilated. A relatively high amount of Jews starts to settle in western Slovakia (from Moravia) and in northeastern Slovakia (from Galicia) in the late 17th century.
1603: The Slovak Vavrinec Benedikt z Nedožier (Laurentio Benedictino Nudozierino), a professor of the Prague University, publishes the first systematic g
rammar of the Czech language in the world – the Grammaticae Bohemicae, . . . , Libri Duo. The grammar also contains a description of the differences between the Czech and the Slovak language and an appeal to the Slovaks to heed their own language more.1604-1606: The anti-Habsburg uprising of Stephen Bocskay (
tefan Bočkaj) helps the Turks to reconquer some of their lost territories (e. g. in 1604 Pest, which was conquered by the Habsburgs in 1602; in 1605 Esztergom, which was conquered by the Habsburgs in 1595):— after 1596 Prelude I to the uprising: The Habsburgs, financially exhausted by the 15-years war, increase taxes and confiscate properties of Protestant nobles in Historic Hungary. The most important confiscation was that of the property of the Protestant magnate Stephen Ilesházy in Slovakia, who was charged with having offended the emperor (trial 1601-1603) and has to flee to Poland to escape the death penalty in 1603 (later he will come back and become an important personality of the Bocskay uprising).
— 1604(beginning of) Prelude II: Many actions against the Protestants in the free royal towns, e. g. the Protestants of the town of Košice are deprived of the Košice cathedral by captain (see 1563) Belgiojoso and the cathedral is given to the Catholics . The resulting protests are accepted by archprince Matthias of Habsburg (king’s brother), but are ignored by the emperor Rudolf I himself, who even takes advantage of the war chaos and renews old laws against the Protestants at the Diet in Bratislava (on May 1, despite of opposite requirements of the Diet).
— after 1603 Prelude III: Since Transylvania is temporarily annexed by the Habsburg Historic Hungary in 1597-1598 and in 1602-1604 (abdications of Prince Sigismund Báthory), but the nobles there continue to be allies of the Turks, there are revolts against the Habsburgs there. One of the revolts, led by M. Sékely in 1603, is defeated by the Habsburgs and the nobles flee to territories of the Turks and await a suitable opportunity to regain Transylvania with the help of the Turks. This opportunity arises when they persuade Stephen Bocskay - a Transylvanian magnate, former adviser to Sigismund Báthory and former ally of the Habsburgs – to help them (see 1604-September).
— 1604(September): The leader of the Habsburg troops in Transylvania, H. D. Dampierre, gets a compromising letter revealing that Stephen Bocskay participates in the preparation of an anti-Habsburg revolt. The captain of Košice (see 1563), Jakub Barbiano Belgiojoso, gets the order to attack and confiscate Bocskay’s properties.
— 1604(October 16): In Košice, rep
— 1604(October): Bocskay starts a campaign against the Habsburgs and defeats Belgiojoso near Diószeg, who then – refused by the town of Košice (see 1604 –beginning of the year) - retreats to the Spiš castle and the rests of his troops loots in northern Slovakia. Bocskay’s troops occupy Košice (declared Bockay’s main base on November 11) and gradually all of eastern Slovakia. Many Slovak towns voluntarily support the uprising.
— 1604 (November 11): Bocskay refuses a coronation by the Turkish grand vizier, that would make him the king of Historic Hungary.
— 1604
(November 17): A part of Bocskay’s troops is defeated near Ožďany by George Basta, but Basta does not conquer Bocskay’s capital Košice (December 3) and retreats to the town of Prešov for the coming winter.— 1604(November 20): Bocskay concludes an alliance with the Turks, who recognize him as the Prince of Transylvania and king of Historic Hungary.
— 1604(December): Bocskay, supported by the Turks and Slovak nobles, conquers towns and fortresses in southern central Slovakia (i.e. at the border of Historic Hungary with the Turks
), e. g. Fiľakovo, Krupina, and Ďarmoty.— 1605(April-October): Bocskay conquers almost whole Slovakia, except for Bratislava, and his troops undertake looting raids in Austria and Moravia (May-June). In the west they are stopped by troops of Moravian estates and by Habsburg troops.
— 1605(November): Slovak and Hungarian nobles participating in the Bocskay uprising start peace negotiations with the Hapsburgs, because Bocskay’s troops loot in the country and because they fear that their allies, the Turks, could want to keep the conquered towns and fortresses, so that gradually Bocskay himself agrees to a peace, because he fears that the nobles could reach an agreement with the Habsburg without him.
— 1606(June 23): The uprising ends with the Peace of Vienna (after a truce in February) , under which Bocskay receives the throne of Transylvania (and 3 neighboring counties to be returned, however, to Historic Hungary after his death) and Hungarian nobles their previous political and religious privileges. However, the peace is supposed to become effective only when a peace with the Turks is concluded (see 1606-November). King Rudolf I himself does not agree to the agreement.
— 1606(after June): Rebellions of the poor participants of the Bocskay Uprising.
1606(November): A 20-year peace agreement signed near Hurbanovo between archprince Matthias of Habsburg and the Turks + Stephen Bocskay puts an end to the 15-years war (and the Bocskay Uprising). Under the agreement, southern Slovakia – except for the region above Esztergom – ceases to be direct part of the Ottoman Empire (see 1593, 1594), lootings in border regions are prohibited and the Habsburgs have to pay one times 200000 thalers to the Turks. King Rudolf I himself does not agree to the agreement, which will be used by his brother Matthias, who – supported by troops of Hungarian (Slovak), Austrian and Moravian nobles - will force Rudolf to give up the Hungarian and Austrian (but not the Czech) throne in 1608.
1606(December): Bocskay dies in Košice.
1607 (January): Representatives of the estates of Upper Hungary (i. e. basically eastern Slovakia) swear to be loyal to the king Rudolf I.
1607 (March): The Hungarian Diet, at its meeting in Košice, protests against the fact that Rudolf I does not accept the 1606 peace agreement.
1607: The Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (Evanjelické lýceum), a kind of protestant grammar school and in the 19th century also a kind of university, is founded in Bratislava.
1608 - 1619 (a peaceful period)
1608 (July): The miners of Banská tiavnica rebel, because their wages are not paid to them.
1608(September – December): The Hungarian Diet at Bratislava ratifies the previous peace agreements with the Turks and Bocskay, elects Matthias king of Hungary (in November; coronation on November 19), manages to reach guarantees of religious freedom for everybody, i.e. also for the retainers (compare with 1606-June 23), and adopts the first law (amended in 1609) guaranteeing the linguistic equality in (free royal) towns under which all three main country languages (Slovak, Magyar and German) should have the same rights. Furthermore, it is decided that the royal crown of Historic Hungary will be placed in Bratislava. In addition, the Diet is divided in 2 chambers (“tables”): the Upper chamber for the magnates and the prelates , and the Lower chamber for the yeomen, lower clergy und representatives of privileged towns. Other laws increasing the power of the magnates are adopted too. The religious freedom will actually cease soon, because the counter-reformation process in Historic Hungary will be successful in the following years (see 1611, 1616, 1621, 1626), with the exception of the period of the Bethlen Uprising.
1608 (August): Another rebellion of the miners of Banská tiavnica (see 1608 July), because they are paid in coins having a decreasing value and their wages are low.
1609 (December): The Diet at Bratislava amends the law on nationalities of 1608, and elects the Slovak Juraj Turzo (see also 1494-1495) the new palatine. Juraj Turzo was the last Protestant holding this important function and strong supporter of ethnic Slovaks and of Protestants.
1610: A Protestant (Lutheran) synod of Protestants from Lower Hungary
(i.e. western and central Slovakia, see 1563) is held in Žilina, which creates an independent ecclesiastic organization of the Protestants. The same will happen for Upper Hungary (i.e. eastern Slovakia, see 1563) in Spišské Podhradie in 1614. most of the new ecclesiastic districts are led by Slovaks. This acts are further steps to the perception of Slovakia (i.e. Upper and Lower Hungary at that time) as a separate unit within the Hungarian Kingdom.1611: A Catholic synode is held in Trnava and adopts measures for a strong counter-reformation (supported by the Habsburgs, some important magnates and the Jesuits). The synode is organized by the Slov
ak František Forgáč (Forgách), the archbishop of Esztergom (since 1607) and an important proponent of counter-reformation.1614
: Elizabeth_Bathory (Alžbeta Bátoriová), the “bloody lady of Čachtice”, dies. This countess of the Čachtice castle, together with her 4 “assistants”, is said to have tortured and killed a lot of young women in her castle (20 - 2000 victims depending on the source). Since 1610, she has been interned and supervised at her castle. She will become the topic of many Slovak myths and books. Three of their assistants were executed in 1611.1616: The Slovak Jesuit Peter Pázma
ň (Pazmány) is appointed the archbishop of the Esztergom archbishopric (with seat in Trnava) after the death of František Forgáč (see 1611). This marks the beginning of a definitive counter-reformation in Hungary. He personally will manage to persuade 50 rich noble families and lots of the remaining gentry to convert to the Catholicism in the 1st half of the 17th century. See also 1623.1615(July): The peace with the Turks of November 1606 is prolonged by 20 years in Vienna. Another prolongation takes place in 1618.
1615: See below
1616: See below
1618: See 1615 July
1618 (March 4): The Diet at Bratislava elects King Matthias’ cousin Ferdinand the new king (coronated on July 1).
1618 (June): The Slovak physician and historian in Vienna and Prague Ján Jessenius (Jesenský), sent to the Diet of Bratislava by the Czech estates to get the support of the Diet, is arrested in Bratislava (temporarily). He will participate in negotiations with Gabriel Bethlen in Bratislava and Banská Bystrica and will be executed together with 26 Czech lords in Prague on June 21 1621.
1619 - 1626 (the Gabor_Bethlen
(Gabriel Betlen) Uprising)1615 Prelude I to the uprising: After months of fightings between the Habsburgs and Gabriel Bethlen (a Turkish ally, and the Prince of Transylvania since 1613 when his predecessor was killed because he wanted to cooperate with the Habsburgs) in Transylvania, Bethlen is recognized by the Habsburgs as the Prince of Transylvania (in the town of Trnava) and Bethlen promises in secret that he will help the Habsburgs against the Turks. But both sides will violate the agreement soon – the Habsburgs prolong the peace with the Turks (see 1615(July)) and enter into an alliance with George Druget (the captain (see 1563) of Upper Hungary) against Bethlen and Bethlen takes advantage of the Czech anti-Habsburg rebellion of 1618 to attack the Habsburgs in 1619.
1616 Prelude II to the uprising: First Bethlen’s attack of eastern Slovakia.
1619 (May): The Diet at Bratislava convened by the king Ferdinand refuses to provide the king with military support against Czech estates.
1619 (September 7): After Bethlen’s occupation of Košice (see below), Bethlen’s men torture to death the Jesuits (
i. e. Catholics) tefan Pongrác (a priest and leader of the Jesuit mission in the town), Melichar Grodecki, and the canon Marek Križin, after they had refused to save their lives by converting to Protestantism. They will be canonized by the Pope in 1995.1619-1621:1st Bethlen’s campaign to Slovakia:
— 1619: Bethlen invades eastern Slovakia (in August) and occupies Košice (in September; the troops are led by George Rákóczi, see 1644), where the Protestant estates declare him “head”of Historic Hungary and protector of the Protestants (on September 21). His troops then quickly move to and occupy central and western Slovakia (having to fight only at Nitra and Komárno), until they conquer Bratislava (on October 14), where the Hungarian palatine hands over the Hungarian crown (see 1608) to Bethlen at the Bratislava castle. Then, Bethlen’s troops joins with the troops of Czech and Moravian estates (led by J. M. Thurno) and they fail to conquer Vienna (in November) – Bethlen is forced to leave Austria because he is attacked by Habsburg troops (George Druget and Polish mercenaries) in eastern Slovakia. But Bethlen manages to keep most of Slovakia and even temporarily conquers to town of Sopron in present-day Hungary.
— 1619: The Turks, Bethlen’s allies, take advantage of the Bethlen uprising and loot in southern central Slovakia.
— 1619/1620: The Diet at Bratislava, a town occupied by Bethlen, declares religious freedom for everybody (in November 1619) and offers the title of king of Hungary to Bethlen (on January 8 1620) who refuses to accept it (because he sees that he has no sufficient support with the Turks and Hungarian nobles) and only becomes the Prince (governor) of Historic Hungary (January 1620).
— 1620(January 15): The Protestant estates of Historic Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Austria enter into an alliance in Bratislava.
— 1620(January? – August): A truce between the Habsburgs and Bethlen, because the Habsburgs want to concentrate on the Czech rebellion (Thirty Years' War). Under this agreement, Bethlen receives 13 counties of Historic Hungary (mostly in present-day Slovakia).
— 1620(August): Bethlen (with a Turkish consent) is elected king of Historic Hungary by the Diet at Banská Bystrica, but he refuses a coronation, because he fears the international consequences of such an act. After this diet, many nobles will gradually leave the side of Bethlen, because they do not receive the confiscated property of the Catholics. Also after third diet, a new truce is concluded with the Habsburgs.
— 1620(September): Bethlen fails to attack Austria – he is stopped at Hainburg , and loses the town of Trnava.
— 1620(October): The Habsburgs fail to reconquer Bratislava.
— 1620(October): Hungarian Protestant troops are sent to help the Czech estates in the Battle of the White Mountain, but they arrive only after the battle (November 11). Further Protestants cease to be Bethlen’s supporters after the battle of White Mountain.
— 1621(January 1): Bethlen convenes a Diet to Trnava. The deputies require negotiations with the Habsburgs.
— 1621(1st half): The Habsburgs, having defeated the Czechs at the Battle of White Mountain, start to be successful in fighting against Bethlen (e. g. Bratislava and Nitra reconquered in May, parts of central Slovakia conquered in June).
— 1621(2nd half): The Habsburgs are defeated near Jalná in central Slovakia (in July) and Bethlen’s troops moving to western Slovakia reconquer Trnava (July?) and Nitra (end of the year). Bethlen is not directly supported by the Turks and loses the support of Protestant nobles (see 1620-August) , so that he starts peace negotiations with the Habsburgs in October.
— 1621(December 31) (signed on January 6 1622): The peace of Mikulov is concluded between Gabriel Bethlen and Ferdinand II of Habsburg. Under the agreement Bethlen renounces to the conquered territories and the Hungarian throne (the royal crown is returned to the Bratislava castle in March 1622), but in turn is appointed an “imperial Prince”, has to pay 50.000 ducats each year, and receives 2 principalities in Silesia (Ratibor and Oppeln) as well as 7 counties in Slovakia and northeastern Historic Hungary (till his death), meaning that the Transylvanian border temporarily passes through the middle of eastern Slovakia (till 1629, see also 1547, 1645). Furthermore, the decisions of the 1608 diet are confirmed.
1622: The Slovak Stanislav Turzo is elected palatine by the (Habsburg controlled) Diet at Sopron.
1623: Archbishop Peter Pázma
ň (Pazmány) (see 1616) founds the Pasmaneum, an important college for the education of priests in Vienna.1623-1624: 2nd Bethlen’s campaign to Slovakia:
— 1623: Bethlen is not satisfied with the 1621 agreement and the Habsburgs refuse to let him marry the daughter of Ferdinand II of Habsburg. Therefore, with the main aim of joining the anti-Habsburg troops in Moravia, he attacks Slovakia from Transylvania (in August), quickly moves to the west , conquers Trnava (in October), fails to conquer – together with the Turks- the town of Hodonn at the Slovak-Moravian border (in October) and loots in Moravia and westernmost Slovakia. In November he is pushed back to Trnava.
— 1624(May 8): A peace is signed in Vienna, under which the Peace of Mikulov (see 1621) is renewed, except that Bethlen loses Silesia, gets some properties in Transylvania and has to pay only 3000 ducats.
1625(February): Within the Thirty Years' War, French, English, Dutch and Venetian envoys ask Bethlen in Istanbul to support them in their war against the Habsburgs (see 1626).
1625(May): The peace with the Turks of November 1606 is prolonged at Gyarmat.
1626: Within the Thirty Years' War, Bethlen enters into an alliance with France and German protestant princes.
1626: 3rd Bethlen’s campaign to Slovakia:
— 1626 : Bethlen attacks Slovakia from Transylvania (in August) with the aim of joining the Coalition forces of Ernst Mansfeld in Silesia in their fight against the Habsburgs (the Coalition within the Thirty Years' War consisted of UK, NL and Denmark and was supported by France and German Protestant princes). He is joined by Turkish forces near Szécsény. The desired joining with Mansfeld fails, because the imperial general Albert of Wallenstein, send by the emperor to defeat Bethlen, had managed to push Ernst Mansfeld up to western Slovakia and to occupy Slovak town
— 1626(December 20): The Peace of Pressburg is signed at Bratislava between Bethlen and the Habsburgs. Under the agreement, the peaces of 1621/22 and of 1624 are confirmed, except that Bethlen does not have to pay the ducats anymore and has to promise that he will not cooperate with the Turks. The religious decisions of the 1608 diet will be also reconfirmed in 1630 and 1638 by the king at the diet in Bratislava.
1626 –1642 (Prelude to the George Rákóczi Uprising)
1626 (September)
: The archbishop Peter Pázmaň (see 1616) founds a Jesuit residence and a Jesuit college in Bratislava.1626 - 1629: Bethlen, not satisfied with the 1626 peace agreement, tries to form new anti-Habsburg alliances, but his efforts end with his death in 1629.
1627(February): Gunpowder for mining purposes is successfully used in Banská tiavnica pits for the first time in the world.
1627(July): Ferdinand II (as the Holy Roman Emperor) orders the Bohemian estates to reconvert to the Catholicism or to leave their country. A similar order is issued for Moravia i
n 1628. As a result, many Protestant families emigrate to western Slovakia (mostly to Skalica, Trenčn, Púchov, and Holč), because in Slovakia the 1608 laws are effective (see 1608, 1621, 1626). Note however that the 1608 laws did not refer to the construction of churches, where the “cuius regio, eius religio” principle continued to hold (i.e. the region of the ruler determines the religion in his region) , which especially prevented the Protestants from constructing churches in free royal towns– see 1637.1627(September): The peace with the Turks of November 1606 is prolonged by 25 years in Szönyi.
1629(November): Bethlen dies in Transylvania.
1630(February-May): The Diet at Bratislava decides that foreigners (i. e. not-inhabitants of Historic Hungary) can become nobles, and that all property grants performed by Bethlen are void.
1630: Fightings in Transylvania concerning Bethlen’s succession between Stephen Bethlen (Gabor Bethlen’s brother), George Rákóczi and Stephen Csáky arise and the Habsburgs fear that the Turks could intervene there (despite the 1627 peace prolongation) and prevent the Habsburgs from reintegrating the 7 counties (see 1621, 1626), owned by Gabor Bethlen till his death, into the Habsburg Hungary. Therefore they start a campaign to Transylvania (see 1631).
1630(end of ): Rákóczi wins the quarrels in Transylvania and becomes the Prince of Transylvania (December 1).
1631: The palatine Eszterházy leads a campaign against Rákóczi (see 1630) and is defeated in March near Rakamaz. The weakened Rákóczi finally signs a peace agreement with the Habsburgs at Košice (April 3), by which Rákóczi renounces to Gabor Bethlen’s conquests (the 7 counties) and the Habsburgs recognize him as the Prince of Transylvania.
1631 - 1632: The Peter Császár Insurrection (some 10000 people) in present-day northeastern Hungary and eastern Slovakia:
— 1631: An insurrection of peasants, led by Peter Császár, caused by lootings of Habsburg mercenaries after the defeat of Bethlen, starts at the upper Tisza River basin.
— 1632(March): Császár is executed in the town of Košice after two weeks of torture. The uprising spreads to whole eastern Slovakia (the Spiš, Zempln and ariš regions) and turns into an open rebellion against the nobles.
— 1632(summer): The insurrection is put down by George Rákóczi (who does this for the Habsburgs)
1633: Envoys of Ferdinand II and of the Transylvanian Prince George Rákóczi negotiate in Prešov about the settlement of their mutual relations.
1635 – 1777: The University of Trnava, a Jesuit university, center of anti-Reformation and of the early Slovak national movement (The dialect of the Trnava region will be taken as the basis for the 1st codification of the Slovak language in 1787 by Anton Bernolák). This university and the University of Košice (see 1657) are the only universities in Hungary and Slovakia in the 17th century (see also 1465).
— 1635: T
— 1667: A Faculty of Law is added.
— 1770: A Faculty of Medicine is added. The university becomes a modern university, allowing , for example, also professors that are no Jesuits.
— 1777: The university is transferred to Buda and in Trnava the Royal Academy (transferred to Bratislava in 1786) is established instead.
1636: In Transylvania, Stephen Bethlen (see 1630), supported by Turkish troops and wanting to become the Prince of Transylvania, is defeated by George Rákóczi, and the Turks -fearing the creation of an alliance between Transylvania and the Habsburgs- change the sides and recognize Rákóczi as the Prince of Transylvania again. This will strengthen Rákóczi’s power position in the following years.
1637 and 1638 : (see 1627) at Diets in Bratislava, the Catholics protest against the construction of a Protestant church in Bratislava since 1636 and require that the Protestant emigrants in Historic Hungary be expelled , and the Protestants, quickly decreasing in number and losing influence in Historic Hungary, protest against the confiscation of Protestant churches by yeomen converted to the Catholic faith. The only influential still Protestant magnate in Slovakia and Hungary is George Rákóczi, who is also the leader of Protestant nobles at the diets. In addition the relations with the Turks and tax and customs issues are discussed at the Diet of 1637.
1638-1639: George Rákóczi, the (Protestant) Prince of Transylvania, enters with the French and the Swedes into an anti-Habsburg alliance (within the Thirty Years' War) and promises to attack Hungary, i.e. Slovakia, as soon possible – see 1643 (A similar alliance had already been created in 1632 with the Swedes, but Rákóczi’s invasion of Historic Hungary had been betrayed and, Gustavus Adolphus the Great, the king of Sweden had died, so that no attack took place). The alliance will be definitively confirmed in 1643.
1639-1642: King Ferdinand II of Habsburg ceases to convoke the Hungarian Diet in 1639, after the Swedes had invaded Bohemia within the Thirty Years' War. But after strong protests of Protestant magnates he renews the diet in 1642. This act will be another reason for the support of Rákóczi’s uprising (see 1643) by Protestant nobles in Hungary.
1642 (February): The peace with the Turks of November 1606 is prolonged by 20 years in Szönyi.
1642: The first poem, whose content is the ”
defence”of the Slovak nation, is published in Levoča. Its name is Gentis Slavonicae lacrumae, suspiria et vota, and its author is Jakub Jakobeus.1644-1645 (the George Rákóczi
(Juraj Rákoci) Uprising)1644(February): Rákóczi invades eastern Slovakia, after the Swedes have invaded Moravia within the Thirty Years' War in 1643 and after Rákóczi has obtained permission to an attack of Historic Hungary by the Turks (Transylvania being a vassal state of the Turks). moreover, he declares himself the protector of the non-Catholics in Historic Hungary.
1644(March): Rákóczi conquers Košice, eastern and central Slovakia and tries to move to the west to join Swedish troops in Moravia, which however are defeated by Habsburg troops in the spring of 1644
1644(April): Rákóczi is stopped by Habsburg troops, led by the palatine Eszterházy, near Hlohovec (at the Slovak-Moravian border) and pushed back to eastern Slovakia.
1644(May): The Habsburgs fail to reconquer Košice. Rákóczi is defeated in southern Slovakia, retreats to Sárospatak (in present-day Hungary) and Habsburg troops reach eastern Slovakia and besiege Košice.
1644(July): Due to a plague epidemic in the Habsburg troops and a lack of food and after an attack of Rákóczi, the Habsburgs have to retreat, and Rákóczi’s troops reconquer eastern and central Slovakia.
1644(August): The Hungarian diet (of Habsburg supporters) at Trnava requires that fights with Rákóczi continue and the diet (of Rákóczi supporters) at Košice requires that peace is signed with the Habsburgs.
1644(end of August): The Habsburgs launch a new attack and they reach eastern Slovakia in October again.
1645(February): Rákóczi occupies central Slovakia and, because of quarrels within the Habsburg army, the Habsburgs agree to peace negotiations (in Trnava) leading to a preliminary peace agreement and to a retreat of Habsburg troops from Slovakia.
1645(June): After Swedish troops of General Torstensson have invaded Moravia in February 1645, Rákóczi breaks the preliminary peace and starts a new anti-Habsburg attack. He occupies Trnava and western Slovakia with the aim of joining the Torstensson troops in Moravia.
1645(July): The Ottoman Empire (the Turks) officially warns Rákóczi that they do not want him to fight against the Habsburgs. This is the result of intense negotiations between the Turks and the Habsburgs concerning Rákóczi since 1643.
1645(July - August): Rákóczi’s troops join the troops of the Swedish general Torstensson near the Moravian town of Brno in July, but the attack on Brno fails in August, because new Habsburg forces gather near Bratislava and because the Turks force Rákóczi to lay down arms (see 1645-July), unless he wants to lose Transylvania. A preliminary agreement between Rákóczi and the Habsburgs is reached on August 22.
1645(August 24 / December 16): A peace signed at Linz by Ferdinand II of Habsburg and George Rákóczi puts an end to the Rákóczi Uprising. Under the agreement, Rákóczi renounces to the conquered territories and receives 7 counties in Slovakia and northeastern present-day Hungary (till his death; see also 1621), meaning that the Transylvanian border temporarily passes through the middle of eastern Slovakia (till 1648, see also 1547, 1621). 2 of the counties (in present-day Hungary and Romania) however should belong to Transylvania even after Rákóczi’s death. Furthermore, religious freedom is guaranteed to Hungarian Protestants (especially in royal towns) and the Protestants should get back their churches confiscated by Catholic yeomen after 1608 (see 1637). The religious points will be ratified at the diet in Bratislava in 1646 (only after an intervention of king Ferdinand III himself against a strong opposition of Hungarian Catholics), but – as for the churches – only 90 of 400 confiscated churches will be returned.
1646 - 1662
1646-1647: The Diet meets at Bratislava. See 1645 (August 24). In addition, Ferdinand IV, the son of Ferdinand III, is elected king of Hungary on June 3 (coronated on June 16 1647). Ferdinand IV, however, will never become the de-facto ruler of Historic Hungary, because he will die in 1654, that is before the death of his father.
1646(April 24): The Uniat Church (later called Greek Catholic Church, in English also Byzantine Catholic) on territories to the south of Carpathians arises– 63 previously Orthodox priests from eastern Slovakia, north-eastern present-day Hungary and the Carpatho-Ukraine agree in the town of Uzhorod to redefer to Rome (the Holy See), but can keep using the Byzantine (Greek-Slavonic) ritus (the Orthodox church in the world had formally split off from Rome in 1054). More exactly Peter Rostoshinski, the then Bishop of Mukacheve, and George Yakusitch, Bishop of Eger in solemn council, with sixty three priests, abjured the schism and confessed themselves Greek clergy holding the Faith of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (see 863) in communion with Rome.
1648: The printing house of Trnava starts its work – it will be the most productive printing house in Historic Hungary in the 17th century. In the same year, it publishes the Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum (the Hungarian-Slovak-Latin Dictionary).
1648(September): A (relatively small) Turkish attack is defeated in the town of Banská tiavnica.
1648(October): George Rákóczi dies in Transylvania.
1648 – 1658/1660: The uprising of George II Rákóczi, the duke of Transylvania 1642-1658, against the Habsburgs and later also against the Turks takes place in Transylvania and Poland. He tries to create an anti-Habsburg coalition of England, Sweden and the Netherlands. Some of the important events were:
— 1657(January): George II Rákóczi invades Poland and occupies Warsaw without success. He does this without the consent of the Turks (see 1541) and as an ally of Sweden within a war between Sweden and Poland concerning the Polish throne.
— 1658: He is deposed as duke of Transylvania in 1658 by the Turks.
— 1658 – 1660: He fights against the Turks and against his adversaries in Transylvania.
— 1660: He is defeated by the Turks and dies. The Turks conquer Oradea (see 1661).
1649: A standing Habsburg (i. e. Imperial) army starts to arise from the troops used during the Thirty Years War. It definitively arises in 1702 – see 1714.
1649: At the Diet of Bratislava, Ferdinand III promises to pay money to the frontier castles and garrisons.
1650: The peace with the Turks of November 1606 is prolonged by 22 years in Istanbul.
1655: The Diet at Bratislava introduces the measure system used in Bratislava in whole Historic Hungary. See also 1587. In addition, Leopold is elected king (coronated on June 27 1655).
1657-1921: The Košice University:
— 1657: Founded by Benedikt Kisdy, the bishop of Eger (as a ”studium generale”).
— 1658: The university starts to work. It consists of a Faculty of Arts and a Theological faculty. It is a Jesuit university.
— 1660: Confirmed by the emperor Leopold I and p
— 1773: Turned to a state-owned university.
— 1777: Turned to a royal academy (Academia Regia) – a subsidiary of the Budapest University. Consists of a Faculty of Arts and a Faculty of Laws.
— 1850s: Renamed Law Academy.
— 1921: Abolished by the Czechoslovak government.
1658: At a meeting in Trnava, the Catholic functionaries decide to intensify the counter-reformation.
around 1660: A sort of power vacuum arises in eastern Slovakia (more exactly in Upper Hungary – see 1563, 1567) with its center Košice, because the Habsburgs are not able to control this region due to many wars they have to fight, Transylvania is weak and the Turks have to fight against Venetia, Poland and Russia. This will be become particularly important in the Imre Thököly Uprising (see 1678, 1682) and Francis II Rákóczi Uprising (see 1703).
1659: The Diet at Bratislava decides on tax issues and that the ducats minted in Kremnica shall have the same quality as the ducats of Vienna.
1660: The imperial General Louis de Souchès comes to Bratislava to stop an expected Turkish attack.
1661: Preludes to the 1663 - 1664 war:
(1) The Habsburgs send troops to Transylvania to help Transylvanian nobles to fight against the Turks, who (in 1661) have made their devotee Michael Apafi the new duke of Transylvania, which displeases the Habsburgs.
(2) The Croatian ban Nikola Zrinski has the fortress of Zrnyiújvár (i. e. Zrinski's New Town) constructed as a protection against the Turks.
(3) Frequent invasions from frontier royal castles to the Ottoman territory have taken place for years (esp. since 1648) in breach of the prolonged November 1606 peace, especially there is a successful imperial attack to the surroundings of Buda in the summer of 1661.
1662: The Diet at Bratislava is not able to agree on further steps concerning a further prolongation of the November 1606 peace agreement with the Turks, partly because Protestant deputies leave the Diet after their request - to deal with Protestant problems first - is rejected.
1663 – 1664 (the War with the Turks)
1663(March-July): A Turkish campaign to Historic Hungary: A huge Turkish army moves from Istanbul (in March), over Edirne to Buda (in June). In Buda, in July, the Turks decide to attack Nové Zámky (see 1573), because Vienna is protected too well. The Habsburgs initially make no special preparations, because they do not know where the troops plan to attack and because Vienna is well protected, but in June imperial troops are shifted from Transylvania to western Slovakia.
1663(July-August 7): In July the Turks reach túrovo (Parkan) and on August 7 they are
unexpectedly attacked by the Nové Zámky military leader Adam Forgáč (Forgách), but the Turks defeat Forgáč’s troops.1663(August 16 - September): An army of 50.000 Turks besieges Nové Zámky on August 16 and devastates the surroundings and since September (together with the Tartars, Ukrainian Cossacks, Moldavians and Walachians) also large parts of western Slovakia, Moravia and Silesia in order to provide supplies for the soldiers.
1663(September 24): Nové Zámky capitulates after 39 days of attacks and will soon be declared the center of a new Turkish province in Slovakia. After September 24 Turkish lootings in western Slovakia intensify.
1663(October - November): Nitra capitulates to the Turks on October 13, Levice capitulates on November 2. Then the Turkish army (the part that is not stationed in Slovakia) leaves Slovakia to winter near Belgrade.
1663/1664(winter): The horrors of Turkish devastation in Slovakia and the conquest of the Nové Zámky fortress provoke fear and reactions all over Europe: The emperor Leopold I receives help from the domestic (imperial) estates, Spain, Italian principalities and from the Rhenish Confederation, and the Pope allows him to levy military taxes on properties of the church.
1664(January - July): Military action against the Turks starts in southern Historic Hungary under the leadership of the Croatian ban Nikola Zrinski. In June, the Turks send a part of their forces to southern Historic Hungary and completely destroy Zrnyiújvár (see 1661) on June 29. Then these Turks move to the north, where they are defeated (see August 1).
1664(April-May): In Slovakia, Habsburg forces, supported by German soldiers and led by Louis de Souches (see also 1660) besiege Nitra until
the Turks of the town capitulate on May 2. Then they fail to besiege Levice and even have to retreat to Žarnovica, where they defeat the Turks on May 16 and start a counter-attack.1664(July 19): After the Moldavians and Walachians have left Turkish troops, the troops of L. De Souchès defeat and massacre the Turks in an important battle near Levice.
1664(August 1): Turkish forces from the south (see January.- July) moving to the north are defeated near Szentgotthárd (in present-day Hungary) by Habsburg troops led by general Montecuccoli.
1664(August 10): A 20-year peace is signed at Vasvár between the Turks and the Habsburgs. Leopold I will ratify it on September 27. Under this agreement, the Turks can keep what they have achieved since 1660, incl. Oradea (see 1660) and Nové Zámky (see 1663), and the Habsburgs have to withdraw their troops from Transylvania, but are allowed to construct a new fortress on the right bank of the Váh river (which is the present-day town of Leopoldov constructed in 1665). As a result, 750 towns and villages of southern western and southern central Slovakia will belong to the Ottoman Empire and the Turks intensify their lootings in the surrounding frontier regions. This disadvantageous peace agreement – concluded without the consent of the Hungarian diet at Bratislava- provokes a shock all over Hungary and leads – besides other reasons - to the Wesselenyi conspiracy (see below). The war of 1663-1664 has caused more than 100.000 dead and abducted - mostly Slovaks.
1664 – 1678 (the Wesselenyi Conspiracy, the 1st kuruc campaign and the Kuruc guerilla war)
1664/1666 – 1670/1671: The Wesselenyi Conspiracy: Main participants of this anti-Habsburg movement (see 1664 August 10) of Hungarian magnates initially aiming to break away from Vienna to create an independent Historic Hungary were:
—Nikola Zrinski (Slovak: Mikuláš Zrnsky, Hungarian: Miklós Zrnyi) [Croatian ban since 1647, died in 1664]
— György Lippay (Slovak: Juraj Lipai) [the archbishop of Esztergom, died in 1666],
—Francis Wesselenyi (Slovak: František Vešeléni, Hungarian: Ferenc Wesselenyi ) [the Hungarian palatine, died in 1667],
—Franjo Krsto Frankopan (Slovak: František Frankopan, Hungarian: Ferenc Frangepán) [the Croatian ban, Zrinski's brother-in-law] ,
—Petar Zrinski (Slovak: Peter Zrnsky, Hungarian: Péter Zrnyi) [a Croatian magnate, his personal aim: to have an independent principality],
—Francis Nádasdy (Slovak: František Nádašdy, Hungarian: Ferenc Nádasdy) [the supreme judge. His personal aim after Wesselenyi’s death: to become the palatine],
and later also:
— Francis I Rákóczi (Slovak: František I Rákoci, Hungarian: Ferenc I Rákóczi) [an eastern Slovak magnate, the biggest magnate in Historic Hungary, the son of George Rákóczi, Zrinski’s son-in-law since 1666; his personal aim was to have an independent principality],
—Stephen Thököly (Slovak: tefan Tököli, Hungarian: István Thököly) [an eastern Slovak magnate],
—Hand Erasmus von Tattenbach [a Styrian count]
and many other nobles.
The Zrinskis, the Frankopans and the Rákóczis were related through a triangle of family connections reaching from Croatia and southern Historic Hungary to eastern Slovakia (i.e. Upper Hungary). The conspirators were initially supported by France and they tried to get the support of the Turks, Poland, Venetia and others. Some of the events of this complicated conspiracy are:
— 1664: Nikola Zrinski initiates the conspiracy, but dies in the same year
— 1666(March): The first main agreement of the conspirators is said to be agreed during the wedding of Francis I Rákóczi and Illona Zrinski in Makovica
— 1666(April): At a meeting in Turčianske Teplice, Wesselenyi and Zrinski agree on particular further steps
— 1666
(August): The conspirators (incl. eastern Slovak and Transylvanian magnates) gather at Muráň castle and decide to ask the Turks to become their protector— 1667(March): Wesselenyi (the leader of the conspiracy after M. Zrinski’s death) dies
— 1667(June): The conspiracy is betrayed to the Habsburg emperor by Nicosios Panajotti, the interpreter of the Transylvanian legation, but the Habsburgs do not react yet
— 1668: France stops to support the conspirators financially, because Louis XIV and the Habsburg king Leopold I agreed on the so-called partition of the Spanish heritage, thus ceasing to be enemies . In July, the conspirators at a meeting in Turčianske Teplice decide to start an armed uprising despite the missing help from abroad
— 1669-1670
: In Croatia, Petar Zrinski finds out that he is suspected by the Habsburgs and denounces Nádasdy, who in turn reveals all plans to the Habsburgs. As a result P. Zrinski and Frankopan retreat with their troops to Čakovec (in present-day Croatia). later in eastern Slovakia, Francis I Rákóczi, supported by Protestant magnates of the region, tries to start to organize military troops and action— 1670(January): Petar Zrinski asks the Turks to make Hungary their (instead of Habsburg) vassal state in exchange for a yearly tribute of 60000 thalers, but the Turks reject this, because they are satisfied with the 1664 peace
— 1670(March 12): Petar Zrinski calls on his retainers to a revolt, but there is almost no reaction
— 1670(March 19): Only now (when sufficient damnatory evidence had been collected) the Habsburgs decide in Vienna to put an end to the conspiracy – they send troops to Croatia and Slovakia
— 1670(April-December): In Croatia, after the Habsburgs have arrested Tattenbach and Habsburg troops appro
ach Čakovec, Zrinski and Frankopan flee to Vienna in April to ask for mercy (and betray the other conspirators), but they are arrested. In Slovakia, Francis Rákóczi quickly disbands his troops and tries to come to terms with the Habsburgs. Other magnates in Slovakia, however, still resist , but are quickly defeated. In July Habsburg troops led by general John Spork conquer eastern Slovakia. In December the Orava castle (in northern Slovakia) of Stephen Thököly capitulates, shortly after Thököly himself has died there. His famous son Imre Thököly (see 1678-1687) manages to flee to Transylvania.— 1670(summer) - 1671: An investigating committee led by count Johann Rotthal starts its work in the town of Levoča and finishes its work as the infamous extraordinary court “Judicium delegatum extraordinarium Posoniense” in Bratislava (see below, see also 1673-September).
— 1671: The leaders of the conspiracy Nádasdy, P. Zrinski and Frankopan have to face a special tribunal led by the Austrian court chancellor Johann Paul Hocher. for all the remaining conspirators as well as more than 200 suspicious nobles (incl. Protestant clerics) the extraordinary court led by Rotthal and Gottfried Heister is held in Bratislava between January and September 1671 (see 1670 summer). As a result, “only” Nádasdy, P. Zrinski and Frankopan are
executed in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt (on April 30), 2 conspiratory nobles from the Zempln region (František Bóniš and Ondrej Naď ) in Bratislava, Mikoláš Drábik (a priest of Czech Brethren) also in Bratislava in July and E. Tattenbach in Graz in December. most of the accused are finally released. Some are sent down for life. many of the nobles flee to Transylvania or simply absent themselves – the court confiscates their (and other) properties, so that the Habsburg state gains huge properties of Nádasdy, Zrinski, Thököly, Wesselenyi and others. Francis Rákóczi is saved by the mediation of his mother Sophia Báthory (who has the double merit of being wealthy and also a devout Roman Catholic) and the Jesuits, and against a huge bail of 400. 000 guldens and the promise to allow imperial troops to be stationed at his castles in Slovakia (he will die in obscurity in 1676).1666: The Slovak i">Juraj Selepčéni Pohronec (György Szelepcsény) becomes the new archbishop of the Esztergom archbishopric with seat in Trnava.
1667-1711: The Protestant (Lutheran) College in the town of Prešov is the 1st Protestant school of higher education in Slovakia and Hungary:
—1665: Eastern Slovak towns decide at a convention to found a Protestant “collegium scholasticum” in Historic Hungary
—1667: The college is opened in Prešov. Its rector is Samuel Pomarius, a professor of the Wittenberg university. Theology, philosophy and oriental languages are taught in the highest grades (out of 10 grades in sum)
—1673-1678: Temporarily acquired by the Jesuits (i.e. the Catholics), see below 1671-1681
—1711(after the Francis II Rákóczi Uprising): Definitively acquired by the Jesuits by order of the king
—1873: After several changes turned to a simple teachers training college
1671-1681: Culmination of the Recatholization (i.e. of violent counter-reformation) as a consequence of the Wesselenyi Conspiracy. Between 1659 and 1681 the Protestants have been deprived of 888 churches (in the towns of Trnava, Púchov, Banská tiavnica, Banská Bystrica, Senica, Skalica, Turá Lúka, Bardejov and many others) and many of their congregations have been liquidated. Many Protestant ministers and teachers were sentenced to life and commuted to galley slavery (see 1673). The recatholization has often to be supported by imperial troops (e. g. in 1672 Jesuits, accompanied by soldiers, travel through the country forcibly converting the dissidents), which leads to various rebellions (see 1672 and later).
1671(March): Counties are ordered by the king to regularly provide food for the imperial troops stationed in their territory.
1672(May): Excise taxes, applicable to the nobles as well as the peasants, are introduced on the sale of liquor, meat, and grain in Slovakia and some other areas, which increases the general hate towards the king Leopold.
1672(July): The people of Turá Lúka attack the Catholic Bishop of Oradea when trying to occupy the Protestant church there. The bishop is killed. Twelwe participants of the rebellion are executed two weeks later. See also 1673 June.
1672(spring - November) 1st kuruc—campaign:
The “kuruc” [Slovak: kuruci, Hungarian: kuruczok] of the late 17th and the early 18th century were simply bands of anti-Habsburg armed fighters from Slovakia (i.e. northern and eastern Hungary, see also 1536, 1541, 1563, 1567) . They were bands mostly composed of fugitive peasants , mainly Slovaks (but also Ukrainians and Hungarians), and soldiers cashiered from the frontier anti-Turkish fortresses), but also of some nobles (especially those having fled to Transylvania because of the 1671 Rotthal committee and court – see Wesselenyi Conspiracy above).
— 1672(spring-summer): The kurucs, supported by Transylvania and the pasha of Oradea and led by the Transylvanian chancellor Michael Teleki, defeat imperial troops near Haniska and conquer parts of eastern Slovakia (esp. Bardejov, Sabinov and Kežmarok). The Protestants on the conquered territories expel Catholic priests.
— 1672(summer-October 26): The Orava Revolt: A kuruc group led by Gašpar Pika penetrates to the northern Slovak regions Liptov and Orava and is joined by many retainers and town leaders in these counties. In October 26 Pika conquers the Orava castle (see also 1670 – December).
— 1672(October): The main kuruc troops in eastern Slovaki
a are defeated near Rožňava and eastern Slovakia is reconquered by imperial troops. The kuruc flee to Transylvania or to the Ottoman Empire, but continue to fight (see 1672 - 1678).— 1672(November): The kuruc in Orava are defeated by imperial troops as well. Pika and 25 of his local supporters are executed on November 24 below the Orava castle.
1672 – 1678: After the defeat of the 1st kuruc campaign, a kind of guerilla war takes place between the kurucs and the imperial troops in Slovakia. Lootings undertaken by the kurucs totally devastate some regions of eastern Slovakia. The number of the kurucs is increasing steadily. They receive support from Transylvania (one of their leaders is even Michael Teleki, the chancellor of the Transylvanian Prince Michael Apafi and many of their attacks start from Transylvania) and from France with whom king Leopold I is at war since 1673. The kuruc are also trying to gain the support of Poland, but Leopold I enters into an agreement with Poland, under which Poland promises not to support the kurucs:
— 1675: Michael Teleki, the chancellor of the Prince of Transylvania, becomes the leader of the kuruc troops after quarrels concerning the leadership.
— 1677(January): In Fagaras (present-day Rumania), France concludes an agreement with Transylvania, under which France will support the kurucs.
— 1677(October): Polish troops hired and led by France (on the basis of the Fagaras agreement) totally defeat imperial troops in the Maramures county (present-day Rumania). This victory induced the kurucs to start a 2nd big campaign to Slovakia – the so-called Imre Thököly Uprising (see below 1678).
1673: As a result of the 1st kuruc campaign to Slovakia,
(1) the Habsburgs establish an authoritarian form of government in entire Historic Hungary: a council headed by Johann Kaspar Ambringen (a Hungarian-born grandmaster of the Teutonic Order) consisting of 4 Hungarians and 4 Austrians and directly reporting to the Habsburgs becomes the new government. The council declares Hsitoric Hungary a Habsburg province, cancels the function of palatine (the traditional highest office in Historic Hungary), abrogates the Hungarian Constitution (after it has been suspended in 1671 already), so that the Hungarian diet does not work anymore. See also 1681;
(2) the taxes are decreased again (see 1672 –May);
(3) another wave of persecution of the Protestants arose (see e. g. 1673-September).
1673(June - July): In Senica, the Protestants attack the Catholics and kill several of them on June 1. After complaints of the Catholics with the king, two imperial regiments (on July the 14th and on July the 18th) are sent to the town. The second one devastates the town, kills many inhabitants and finally sets the town on fire.
1673(September) – 1674(April): The extraordinary court Judicium delegatum extraordinarium Posoniense in Bratislava (see also 1670-summer) conducts the biggest anti-Protestant trial of Slovakia and Hungary. Main judges are Juraj Selepčéni Pohronec (in Hungarian György Szelepcsény, see 1666) and count Lipót Kollonich (Leopold Kollonič; at that time the bishop of Wienerneustadt):
— 1673(September 5): The first to be accused are 33 most important Protestant ministers from central Slovakia. All of them (except for 1) refuse to convert to Catholicism and decide to accept the offer to emigrate with their families (which they do in October 1673).
— 1674(March-April): The court cites 336 Protestants (teachers, rectors, students and further ministers from remaining Slovakia). Finally, about 90 of them who refuse to go to exile (usually to Germany or the Calvinists to Transylvania) or to convert to Catholicism (even after imprisonment at Bratislava castle) are sent down for life and moved to 6 prisons in Slovakia and present-day Hungary, mainly to prisons in Leopoldov and Komárno.
— 1675(March): 62 of the prisoners are transported on foot in 2 groups (42 and 20) to Italy.
— 1675-1676: As for the 1st group, in May 1675, 33 of the prisoners arrive in Naples after a 2 months transport on foot during which 8 prisoners are lost due to illness or death and 1 escapes. In Naples they are sold as galley-slaves to a Spanish ship, many of them die. As for the 2nd group, in July 1675, only 5 out of the 20 prisoners are still alive when they arrive at Bucari. On January 21 1676, the remaining 26 persons in Naples are freed by a court in Naples thanks to the Dutch general Michael Adraanszoon de Ruyter. 3 days later, the Habsburg king Leopold I, persuaded by the Saxon Geroge II, cancels the verdicts of 1674, but the 31 (26+5) Protestants are still prohibited from returning home – they will have to wait in Western Europe and will only come back to Slovakia in 1681(see 1681).
1678- 1687 (the Imre Thököly
(Imrich Tököli) Uprising (1678-1687/1688) and the Turkish War (1683-1699) till 1687)1678(January): Imre Thököly becomes one of the leaders of the kuruc troops (see 1672, 1672-1678) . He is the son of a former eastern Slovak magnate (see 1670 April-December) and was born in Kežmarok.
1678(August - November) 2nd big kuruc campaign to Slovakia: The kurucs (starting from the region of Mukacheve in present-day Ukraine) conquer a part of eastern Slovakia (eastern Slovakia was called “Upper Hungary” at that time) and the central Slovak mining towns (up to Levice) and northern Slovakia. The kuruc in eastern Slovakia subsequently have to retreat to Transylvania. The kuruc troops in central Slovakia (consisting of kurucs and Poles and led by Thököly and French officers – see 1677 October) are defeated by imperial troops near
Žiar nad Hronom on November 1. An armistice agreement follows, but it is violated soon.1679: A guerilla war between the kuruc and imperial troops in eastern and central Slovakia up to the Váh river follows. Both side undertake looting raids and a plague epidemic breaks out. Thököly himself with his troops fails to reconquer the mining towns, retreats to eastern Slovakia and defeats there the imperial troops in November.
1679(February): France and Poland stop to support the kurucs, because king Leopold I concludes a peace agreement with France at Nijmegen. Their only supporters remain Transylvania and (until (see 1681 only indirectly through Transylvania) the Turks.
1680(January): The kurucs make Imre Thököly their chief commander.
1680: In the spring, the kurucs occupy entire Slovakia, except for fortresses and towns with strong garrisons (such as Bratislava) and in the summer, they even penetrate to present-day Moravia. Seeing Thököly’s success and that he gains support among the majority of Slovak population, the Habsburgs try to negotiate with him, but they are not able to accept his conditions. Furthermore, in eastern Slovakia and adjacent territories (see 1646) conquered by the kurucs, followers of the Orthodox church expell Greek Catholics, because they consider them “allies” of the Catholic Habsburgs (see also 1687).
1681(spring): The Turks declare Michael Apafi, the Prince of Transylvania, chief commander of the kuruc troops fighting against Historic Hungary, thus officially confirming their support for the kurucs.
1681: Leopold I, facing Thököly’s successes and an approaching war with the Turks, abrogates the governing council established in 1673 (some sources: abolished in 1679) and convenes the Hungarian Diet to the town of Sopron (April-December), to which Thököly is invited as well, but he refuses to attend. The diet reestablishes the function of palatine (Thököly’s brother-in-law becomes the new palatine), the kurucs are amnestied, old privileges of the gentry are renewed, the sales taxes are abolished (see 1672) and in return for these concessions the diet votes a general levy of nobles to fight in the anticipated Ottoman war. Most importantly however, religious freedom is guaranteed for the privileged estates and free royal towns (but not for the remaining population), confiscated Protestant churches should be returned (many were not) and if the Protestants have no churches in a county, they are allowed to build 2 new ones there (so-called ”articular churches”) and if they have no churches in a free royal town, they are allowed to build a new one, but they had to be made only of wood, without any metal pieces, in the suburbs and their bell-tower must be built separately – only 5 of these unique building have survived in Slovakia (e. g. in Kežmarok, Banská Bystrica-Hronsek, Svätý Krž). I
mre Thököly rejects the decrees of the diet as inadequate and insincere and fightings continue in eastern Slovakia at the time when the diet is held.1681(automn): Thököly offers to the Turks to create a separate principality in eastern Slovakia (Upper Hungary) that would be however dependent on the Ottoman Empire (the Turks). See 1682 September 16.
1682(January): The envoys of Imre Thököly receive the definite assurance of Turkish support.
1682(June): Thököly marries Helena Zrinska (Helen Zrinyi), daughter of Petar Zrinski and widow of Francis I Rákóczi (see Wesselenyi Conspiracy 1664-1671), whose dowry includes many properties and fortresses for Thököly.
1682(summer): The Turks refuse to prolong the peace of Vásvár (see 1664 August 10), which would expire in 1684. Negotiations will follow until (see) December 21.
1682(July- September 16): A Turkish army helps the kurucs in eastern Slovakia and they conquer Košice, the center of eastern S
lovakia (Upper Hungary). Then they conquer the Fiľakovo castle in southern Slovakia, where, on September 16, pasha Ibrahim, the Turkish governor of Buda , crowns Thököly the king of “Central Hungary” (in Turkish: Orta Mandjar), which is the Turkish name for Upper Hungary, i.e. eastern Slovakia (see e. g. 1563, 1567). Thököly also receives a contract, under which Upper Hungary is under the protection of the Ottoman Empire in return for yearly payments of 40000 tallers, and the kings of Upper Hungary cannot be Catholic. Upper Hungary – just like Transylvania - becomes a vassal state of the Turks.1682(
September 16-November): After the conquest of Fiľakovo, many Slovak towns and frontier fortresses surrender to Thököly, so that in the end his territory extends up to the Váh river (including the mining towns). The Protestants on the territories occupied by the kurucs expel and kill Catholic priests. Many nobles start to support the kurucs and Thököly as well, although until now they were largely against the kuruc.1682(November): A truce is concluded by representatives of Leopold I of Habsburg and Imre Thököly in Vienna, under which Thököly can keep Upper Hungary only (i.e. eastern Slovakia), more exactly the territory east of the Hron river except for the central Slovak mining towns. Thököly is actually accepted by the Habsburgs as mediator to endeavor to bring about the prolongation of peace with the sultan (which of course will not work).
1682(December 21): The Habsburgs are officially informed that the Turks would not renew the Vásvar Treaty (see 1664 August 10) unless the problems concerning the Turkish Nové Zámky province (see 1663, 1664) are solved, i.e. the Slovak frontier fortresses Leopoldov, aľa etc. razed, 70 villages near Nové Zámky surrendered (more exactly not kept away from tax payments to the Turks) and Thököly recognized as king of Upper
Hungary under Ottoman suverainty. Since these conditions could not be fulfilled, they were equivalent to a declaration of war (see March-July). However the true reason for the 1683 war was that the Ottoman empire suffered from a strong lack of money, which it tried to cover by further conquests.1683(January): Thököly has a Diet of Upper Hungary convened in Košice. Among other things, the estates express their fear that he might sacrifice the national independence to the Turkish alliance.
1683(beginning of): The Habsburgs enter into anti-Turkish alliances with German prince electors (e. g. Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria, Johann Georg of Saxony, Georg Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg) and receive money from many Christian states ( Pope Innocent XI, Savoy, Tuscany, Genoa, Spain, Portugal, Venice, the Holy Roman Empire).
1683(March 31): The Habsburgs enter into an anti-Turkish alliance with Poland (king John III Sobieski). However, the Polish troops will only arrive in August.
1683(March - June) [Turkish War]: The Turkish campaign begins : A huge Turkish army of some 150, 000 men leaves Edirne on March 21, moves over Belgrade in May, Osijek in June to Székesfehérvár in June. As the army advances, it receives recruits from the vassal provinces of the Ottoman Empire and, by the time it reaches Osijek, its numbers have swollen to over 250,000 men. At the end, the army includes also some kurucs of Thököly, Transylvanian troops and Tartar troops. The Turks and kurucs are supported by France, which started a new policy in the 1680s consisting in annexing some of Habsburg territories. The Habsburg (imperial) army is under the command of Duke Charles of Lorraine and is joined - among other volunteers - by the youthful Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Hungarian palatine Paul Eszterházy(Pavol Esterházi).
1683(May) [Turkish War]: The Turkish sultan stays in Belgrade and charges the grand vizier Kara Mustafa with the leadership of the army.
1683(spring- July): Imperial troops are withdrawn from eastern and central Slovakia and retreat to the Váh river, which of course enables the kurucs to quickly conquer these territories. After Charles’ of Lorraine attack of Nové Zámky (see below June), the Hungarian palatine informs the emperor that he only controls the Bratislava county and parts of the Nitr
a and Trenčn counties and the rest of Slovakia is controlled by Thökoly’s kurucs.1683(June) [Turkish War]: For a moment Charles of Lorraine meditates attack as the best method of defense and attacks Nové Zámky, but than he quickly changes his mind (the risk of being cut off from the Austrian frontier was too great) and retreats to Vienna, where he leaves a garrison of 13,000 regular troops and takes most of the army to the northern shore of the Danube in order to harass the besiegers until the arrival of foreign aid should enable him to make a strenuous attempt to force the raising of the siege.
1683(June): Thököly visits the Turks when they are in Osijek to discuss further plans and cooperation.
1683(June 25) [Turkish War]: In Székesfehérvár , the Turks decide to attack Vienna (over Györ).
1683(July 7) [Turkish War]: The emperor Leopold I quitts Vienna.
1683(July 14/17 – September 12) [Turkish War]: The Turks besiege Vienna on July 14-17. The blockade of the city will last for 2 months, during which 18 Turkish attacks will be repulsed under the leadership of General Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg , count Zdenek Kašpar Kaplř of Sulevice and the mayor of Vienna, Andreas Liebenberg.. In the meantime
, the Tartars loot in Austria and in July, Charles of Lorraine impedes the supplies and interrupts the communications of the besiegers and defends the Bratislava castle (see 1683 July, early August) from the attack of Imre Thököly.1683(July): Thököly is joined by some of the Turkish troops near Levice, they conquer the town on July 21, and they move over Nitra and intava to Trnava and Bratislava, thus conquering the remaining Slovakia. On July 25, Bratislava is the last town in Slovakia to surrender to Thököly’s troops (the royal crown is transferred to Austria shortly before). But Bratislava castle does not surrender. Four days later, Charles of Lorrain pushes the kuruc-Turkish-Tartar troops from the region of Bratislava back to the Vah river, but this is only temporary (see early August).
1683(early August): Charles of Lorrain has to leave Slovakia and to retreat behind the March (Morava) river (in the course of the Anti-Turkish war). The kurucs attack the Záhorie region (i.e. westernmost Slovakia), Moravia and then reconquer western Slovakia (?). The town of Trnava is almost completely destroyed by a huge fire that breaks out on August 7 after the town’s (re)conquest by the kurucs, and 4000 people die in the town.
1683(August) [Turkish War]: Turkish troops that are supposed to prevent the relieving forces from Germany and Poland to join the Habsburg army are defeated near Bisamberg in Austria (August 23). The Polish troops (John III Sobieski) join Habsburg troops (Charles of Lorraine) in Hollabrunn and they are accompanied to Tulln (August 31), where a bridge of boats had been carefully protected to secure the crossing of the Danube. To Tulln came the also Catholic Bavars and Lutheran Saxons with a number of other German volunteers, who had already assembled at Krems.
1683(September 12) [Turkish War]: 65, 000 allied forces defeat some 200,000 Turkish besiegers of Vienna. The Turks – on a headlong flight - retreat to present-day Hungary. This marks the beginning of the end of Turkish supremacy in Central Europe.
1683(end of September) [Turkish War]: The allied forces (Austria, Poland, Germany) cross the Danube in Bratislava by the bridge of boats which had been brought down from Tulln (see above August) and after a few days' rest continue their march along the north bank towards túrovo and Esztergom.
1683(early October): Lithuanian forces, sent to help to protect Vienna, arrive in the Orava region, clash there with kuruc troops, start to demolish Thököly’s properties there and burn down 27 villages. As a result, Thököly interrupts peace negotiations which he has started with the Habburgs after the conquest of Vienna.
1683(October) [Turkish War]: The Poles, who are in advance, are defeated near túrovo on October 7, but then the remaining allied forces arrive and totally defeat the Turks (led by pasha Kara Mehmed) 2 days later and they conquer Esztergom, an important Turkish base, on October 27. Common military action of the allies ends because of the coming winter and the troops start to leave Slovakia to winter (see below). The vizier Kara Mustafa (fleeing from Vienna), instead of attempting to relieve Esztergom, continues his retreat to Osijek and Belgrade.
1683(after October 27): Since the sultan is angry with Kara Mustafa for having lost Vienna and not having helped Esztergom, Kara Mustafa blames Imre Thököly for the defeat at túrovo (see above), who had been within easy march of the battlefield but had rendered no assistance to his allies, the Turks. As a result, Thököly risks his safety by a personal visit to the sultan at Edirne, where his eloquence (strengthened by the support of Kara Mustafa's numerous enemies) prevails with the sultan , so that he is allowed to depart with renewed promises of aid and Kara Mustafa is removed and even executed on December 25 in Belgrade.
1683(November): On their departure from túrovo/Esztergom (in order to winter, see October), Polish and imperial troops conquer several towns and castles in central and eastern Slovakia from the kurucs and the free royal towns and nobles in Slovakia start to negotiate with Leopold I (see 1684 January).
1684(January): In Bratislava, Leopold I amnesties those participants of the Thököly Uprising that lay down their arms and vow allegiance to Leopold. Subsequently, representatives of 17 counties, 12 towns and several magnates, which have supported Thököly until then, come to Bratislava to vow allegiance to Leopold.
1684(March 5) [Turkish War]: The Holy League is signed at Linz between Leopold I, king Jan Sobieski of Poland and the Doge of Venice. It is inspired and financed by the Pope who wants the war of 1683 to be carried on. The three powers pledge themselves to carry on war against the Turks to drive them from Europe and to conclude no separate peace with them.
1684(spring) [Turkish War]: The Turkish War and war against Thököly are resumed. from now on, the Turkish War will be a continuous war lasting till 1698/1699 (Peace of Karlowitz).
1684(July 10 -November) [Turkish War]: Imperial troops besiege Buda in July, but fail to conquer it and retreat in November.
1684(end of): Imperial troops defeat the kurucs near Prešov in September (but Prešov itself is not conquered) and subsequently conquer many towns and castles in eastern Slovakia and north-eastern present-day Hungary (e. g. Krásna Hôrka, Tokay, Ónod).
1685(July 7- August 19) [Turkish War]: Charles of Lorraine besieges Nové Zámky (still occupied by the Turks) on July 7, but then he finds out that a big Turkish army between the >Ipeľ and Hron rivers prepares to reconquer Esztergom and retreats to Esztergom, where he defeats the Turks on August 16. Then on August 19 Nové Zámky
is also conquered and thus the last Turkish province on Slovak territory is destroyed (see also 1687-December). It is conquered by Aeneas Caprara, who had been left with a small force to maintain the siege till Charles’ return.1685(after August 17) [Turkish War]: A series of almost unbroken victories of the allies begins with the conquest of Nové Zámky (see above).
1685(September 11): The town of Prešov is conquered by imperial troops (by General Schulz).
1685(end of): After the defeat of Prešov, Imre Thököly appeals for aid to the pasha of Oradea, who receives him with royal honors and then sends him (on October 15) in chains to Edirne, because the Turks consider Thököly the main obstacle in achieving a peace with Leopold I and because – as the pasha put it – he is the originator of the Turkish War. With this imprisonment, Thököly’s cause has suffered a blow from which it will never recover. After it has become known that Thököly is arrested, the kurucs of Košice capitulate on October 25, most of his followers make their peace with the emperor and the kururc movement starts to come apart. Only the fortress of Mukacheve (in present-day Ukraine) will hold out under the command of Helena Zrinska, Thököly’s wife, till the beginning of 1688.
1686-1705: The remainder of Thököly’s life:
—1686 – 1690: In 1686 he is released by the Turks from his dungeon (see 1685- end of) and even restored to favor and is sent with a small army into Transylvania (reason: see 1686-after September 2), but both this expedition and a similar one in 1688 end in failure. The Turks then again grow suspicious of him and imprison him a second time.
— 1690: He is released and the Turks despatch him into Transylvania a third time. In September he routs the united Austrian and Transylvanian forces at Zernest and thereupon he is elected Prince of Transylvania by the Keresztenymez Diet in the same year, but can only maintain his position against the imperial armies with the utmost difficulty.
—1691-1699: In 1691, he quitts Transylvania altogether and fights for the Turks valiantly but vainly against Austria during the remainder of the war, especially distinguishing himself at Zenta (1697).
— 1699: The Peace of Karlowitz excludes him by name from the amnesty promised to the Hungarian rebels and stipulates that he is to be interned by the Turks in Asia Minor.
— 1700-1705: After one more unsuccessful attempt, in 1700, to recover his principality, he
1686 [Turkish War]: The Holy League, to which volunteers now flock from all parts of Europe, loses Poland as a member but the Elector of Brandenburg sends troops.
1686(September 2) [Turkish War]: Buda, the ancient capital of Hungary and center of Turkish power in present-day Hungary (see 1541), is conquered by the Holy League after a siege of 10 weeks. However, Bratislava remains Hungarian capital till 1784 / 1848.
1686(after September 2) [Turkish War]: Charles of Lorraine, entering into Transylvania, receives from Michael Apafi, the Prince of Transylvania, an acknowledgment of vassalage to the Habsburgs . The conquest of Buda and the vassalage of Transylvania mean that the main parts of ancient Historic Hungary are reestablished (see also 1536, 1541, 1687August), although Transylvania will definitively submit to Habsburgs only in 1691 when Thököly is defeated there (see 1686-1705). Apafi also confiscates Thököly’s properties.
1687: The so-called “Slaughterhouse of Prešov” takes place: The Italian general Antonio Caraffa leads a special court in Prešov, which (between March 5 and September 12) has 24 last supporters of Thököly executed, because they are allegedly planning a new conspiracy and are in contact with Helena Zrinska (see 1688). Since some innocent persons are among the executed as well, king Leopold I orders to abolish the court in October.
1687: At the Diet in Bratislava (April 1687- January 1688), Leopold I puts through the following: The right of free election of the king is abrogated and the Hungarian crown becomes hereditary in the male Habsburg line, the famous “ius resistendi” clause in the Golden Bull of Andrew II of (see) 1222 is repealed, the concessions to Protestants of (see) 1681 are confirmed, the Slaughterhouse of Prešov is abolished (see above) and the amnesty for the participants of the Thököly Uprising is legalized. From now on, the Greek Catholic (Byzantine Catholic) Church will be strongly supported by the Catholic Habsburgs (see 1680), so that followers of the Orthodox church will almost disappear in eastern Slovakia.
1687(August) [Turkish War]: The Turks are defeated at Harkány, near Mohács (see also 1526). The crushing defeat means the definitive capture of Hsitoric Hungary for the Habsburg Monarchy.
1687(December 12): The future king Joseph is coronated king in Bratislava.
1687(December) [Turkish War]: The imperial troops conquer the town of Eger (in present-day northern Hungary), thus definitively eliminating Turkish influence in southeastern Slovakia.
1688(beginning of): The fortress of Mukacheve – the last fortress in the hands of the kurucs - is conquered by imperial troops (see 1685 October).
1688-1703
1688 – 1699 [Turkish War]: The Turkish War continues in southern Historic Hungary, Serbia, Transylvania. The war becomes complicated for the Habsburgs, when they parallely have to fight against France in the west (since October 1688). Transylvania is conquered in 1691. An important victory of the Holy League is that of Zenta in September 1697. See 1699.
1688: The “Commitee for the Newly Conquered Territories” is established at Vienna and is supposed to return properties to those who have lost them due to Turkish conquests in Historic Hungary in the past. Of course, it is impossible to reestablish the ancient situation after 150 years, many properties are acquired by foreigners.
1689: Prelude I to the Rákóczi uprising (see 1703-1711): A war tax is established in Historic Hungary by royal rescript, after it has been refused by Hungarian magnates in 1698 (the Hungarians should pay 4 million florins out of 12 million demanded from all the Habsburg lands). A royal rescript without approval was in sharp break with traditional practice. Since the collection of taxes had been in the hands of the nobles, the army was used to collect the tax.
1690: The first wave of the process of colonization of territories depopulated after the Turkish retreat in what the Slovaks call the ”Lower Lands” [Dolná Zem, i.e. Historic Hungary to the south of Slovakia, i.e. present-day Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and Rumania etc.] starts. Other waves will follow in 1711 and in 1745. In sum, the process will take more than a century, and thousands of Slovaks will settle in the Lower Lands forever. Today, there are still relatively important Slovak minorities in Hungary (besides older settlers since 1690), Serbia (since 1745), Rumania (since 1748).
1690: A new wave of Serbs settles in Bratislava and in (the largely ethnically Hungarian town of ) Komárno (see after 1541) and they found Serbian suburbs colonies in both towns. Although they will be assimilated gradually, Komárno becomes the religiuos and cultural center of Serbs in Historic Hungary for a certain time period.
1692: The first permanent theatre with walls in Historic Hungary is constructed in Trnava.
1697(March): Temporary new rebellions of the kurucs start in Prešov, but partly spread to the ariš and Zempln region.
1699(January 26) [Turkish War]: The Peace of Karlowitz is signed between the Holy League (at that time: Austria, Poland, Venice and Russia) and the Ottoman Empire through the mediation of of England and the Netherlands. Under this agreement the Habsburgs officially gain almost everything they have lost to the Turks in the past (incl. Transylvania, Croatia and parts of Slavonia).
1700 – 1703: See next chapter
1703-1711 (Francis II Rákóczi
(František II Rákoci) Uprising = The Kuruc War)(for a definition of kuruc see 1672)
1700 – 1703: Preludes to the uprising:
— 1700: At the beginning of the year, a group of Hungarian nobles asks Francis II Rákóczi, [member of the famous Rákóczi family (see 1644, 1664), the richest noble in Historic Hungary and leader of the ariš county] to become the leader of an insurrection against the Habsburgs, but on November 1, F. J. Longueval - the French emissary in Vienna and a Belgian general in the Austrian service, who professed to be a friend of the Rákóczians - divulges the content of a letter of Rákoczi asking the French king Louis XIV to help the conspirators. Rákóczi (see 1701) and s
— 1701:
Rákóczi is arrested in Veľký ariš (Slovakia) on April 18 and brought to the prison of Wiener Neustadt (Austria), but his wife and some people of the royal court help him to flee to Poland – close to the border of Historic Hungary - on November 8. 2 days later king Leopold I sets a huge price on Rákoczi’s head (dead or alive). In Poland, Rákóczi starts to prepare an armed uprising together with Miklós Bercsényi.— 1701(July?): Beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) between Austria (i.e. Leopold I) + Great Britain + the Durch Republic + Brandenburg-Prussia + Hannover + Portugal + Savoy (last five since 1703)+Denmark (1704-1709), and France+ Spain+Bavaria+Savoy (till 1703)+Cologne+ Historic Hungary and Transylvania under Rákóczi (1703/1704/1705 see below). Although fightings begin in 1701 in northerm Italy, the war will begin in earnest only in May 1702, when Austria declares war on France. A side show to this war is the Great Northern War (1700 - 1721) between Sweden and (potential Austrian/English allies) Russia+Poland+Denmark (temporarily)+Saxony+ Prussia (later).
— 1702(April 8): In Poland, Rákóczi establishes contacts with the French king Louis XIV through influencial Polish magnates in order to prepare an anti-Habsburg rebellion, so that he has financial help from France and from Polish magnates.
1703(May 6): From Poland, Rákóczi addresses an appeal to the people of Historic Hungary for a struggle for freedom.
1703(May/June?): Delegates from the traditionally anti-Habsburg Calvinist territory which is today the western Carpatho-Ukraine visit Rákóczi in Poland to ask him to become the leader of an armed kuruc insurrection of ordinary people against the Habsburgs. Rákóczi – as the richest noble in Historic Hungary – first hesitates to accept this offer of badly prepared and ordinary people, but after he has learned that the insurrection had already begun (under the leadership of Tamás Esze and Adalbert Kis) and he has already been declared its leader, he changes his mind and goes to Hungary on June 9 (see June).
1703(June-July): On June 16, Rákóczi and small group of his supporters from Poland arrive in Historic Hungary at Mukacheve (in present-day Carpatho-Ukraine) where he starts to lead the popular upring (see above) and tries to reach the Tisza (Tisa) river, but he is defeated by imperial troops led by general Alexander Károlyi (Sándor Károlyi) at the Mukacheve castle (although most of imperial troops are now either on the Rhine or in upper Italy) and has to retreat to Poland – to the village Závadka close to the border of Historic Hungary. Having been joined by runaway hussars led by Ladislav Očkaj (Ocskay) and Blažej Borbéli, and (on July 4) by 400 dragoons and 200 soldiers hired in Poland by Bercsényi using the money of the French king, kuruc troops start a new attack in the present-day Carpatho-Ukraine. They have all people (nobles, towns and peasants) of north-eastern Historic Hungary on their side.
1703(July-August): The kurucs conquer or are supported by most castles and towns in north-eastern preent-day Hungary (often only recently conquered from the Turks – see e. g. 1687). Simultaneously, in eastern Slovakia – in Zempln, Spiš, Gemer and Novohrad – first kuruc troops composed of armed peasant troops arise and attack country-houses of lower gentry . Rákoczi is (at least initially) not supported or even has to fight against some nobles – especially in the Berehovo, Ugocsa counties and (in September) in Slovak counties, especially in Novohrad and western Slovakia- , but he is largely supported by the nobles of the Szabolc, Maramures and partly of the Satu Mare county. To remove the fears of the nobles, he issues a manifesto on July 18, but without success. Rákóczi will have to use a lot of diplomacy and threats to cope with these problems. In addition, Rákóczi manages to win round former imperial generals of Hungarian origin - general Alexander Károlyi and many others – which will be a decisive factor in his following successes.
1703(end of August): K
uruc troops led by Ladislav Očkaj move to Slovakia and conquer southern and central Slovakia - they occupy Gemer and Novohrad and attack the central Slovak mining towns.1703(August 28): (some sources September 27): Rákóczi issues a decree in Satu Mare by which all peasants are deprived of their feudal duties towards their lords, when the peasants are fighting in Rákoczi’s troops - thus causing many additional peasants to join his army (see also 1704 April 2).
1703(September - October): The kurucs conquer the central Slovak mining towns Banská tiavnica (on September 19) and several days later also Banská Bystrica
and Kremnica. In addition they conquer e. g. the towns of Lučenec, Krupina and Levice.1703(October – November): The conquest of the economically important mining towns induces king Leopold I (having to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession at the same time) to send more imperial soldiers (5000 men) to Slovakia. In October, these imperial troops led by general Leopold Schlick and commander imon Forgáč (Forgách) defeat the
kurucs near the town of Levice and in early November reoccupy the mining towns. However, on November 15, main kuruc troops led by Miklós Bercsényi appear near the town of Zvolen and totally defeat the imperial army, reconquer parts of central Slovakia up to the Váh river and (on November 28) conquer Levice and Topoľčany.1703(December): Rákóczi’s kurucs conquer the towns of Hlohovec and Trnava (on Dec. 2 and Dec. 4, respective
ly) and in late December they control almost entire Slovakia (except for the towns Bratislava, Trenčn, Nitra, Košice, Prešov, Bardejov, and the fortresses Leopoldov, Nové Zámky, and Komárno). They destroy the surroundings of the capital cities Vienna and Bratislava.1704
(January): Rákóczi’s kurucs conquer the well fortified Muráň castle. In addition, Rákóczi‘s manifesto ”Recrudescunt vulnera inclytae gentis Hungarian” (The Wounds of the Glorious Hungarian Kingdom) is printed in Trnava and contains a detailed list of 21 injuries that the Habsburgs in Vienna have committed against Hungary during the last decades in order to justify the uprising in the eyes of Europe.1704(April 2): General Bercsényi issues a decree, according to which peasants participating in Rákóczi’s troops will become free when the uprising ends.
1704: O
čkaj leads an attack to Moravia.1704(May 28): The Habsburgs start another big campaign led by general Adam Ritschan against the (70.000) kurucs in Slovakia , but Rákóczi’s kurucs supported by peasants from the Little Carpathians (Malé Karpaty) totally defeat the imperial troops in the important battle near Smolenice and kill the retreating soldiers in the Little Carpathians. More than 1000 imperial soldiers are killed. With this battle, the kurucs won some control over western Slovakia and subsequently started attacks in Moravia and Austria.
1704(June 13): Rákóczi is defeated by the imperialists at Koronco (in present-day Hungary close to the Slovak border).
1704(July 6): Rákóczi is elected Prince of Transylvania, although officially Transylvania was not an independent principality anymore for years.
1704(August 13): France loses the important Battle of Blenheim (a major battle in the War of the Spanish Succession ), which makes any direct help from France to Rákóczi impossible.
1704(October 17-30): Peace negotiations between the Habsburgs and Rákoczi in Banská tiavnica fail. The Habsburgs had been forced to these negotiations also by Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, who had given loans to Austria for the war in Western Europe and feared that they would be wasted in Slovakia. At this time, religious difficulties between the Catholics and Protestants arose esp. In 14 (Protestant) counties of north-eastern Hungary , but Rákóczi (Catholic himself) did not want to hurt any side, because he needed each single supporter. Later, seeing that 9/10 of his followers are Calvinists, he tried to secure them toleration, which alienated the pope, who then dissuaded Louis XIV from assisting him.
1704(October -November): On October 24, the kurucs conquer Košice and Prešov (after a 1 ½ year blockade by the kurucs) and (in November?) Nové Zámky.
1704(December 26): Imperial troops led by general Heister reconquer Trnava in the biggest battle of the whole Rákóczi uprising (2000 dead).
1705(January 3): New coins made of copper and bearing the inscription Pro libertate are put into circulation by Rákóczi (the older, valuable silver coins continue to exist). They have a very low value, which will have a desastrous impact on the economy (see 1706 spring, and 1706-1707).
1705(March) – 1709(end of): The experienced soldier and diplomat Des Alleurs, sent by France to Slovakia, is an advisor for Rákóczi.
1705(March - August): Rákóczi’s troops conquer Svätý Jur, Pezinok and Modra (suburbs of Bratislava) in March, but in August they are defeated near Budmerice. In general, however, their power position is still improving. Now they really control Slovakia and parts of northern present-day Hungary. All his troops are made up of some 100,000 men at this time.
1705(September-October): Rákóczi convenes the first Diet for nobles to Szecseny (
Sečany) [at Slovak border in present-day Hungary], where he is elected ”Prince” of Historic Hungary (see also 1704 July 6, 1707 May 1- June 22), a 24 member advisory body is created for him, and freedom of religion is established. A total separation of Hungary from the Habsburg empire is not declared yet.1705(October 27): Peace negotiations between the (newly elected) king Joseph I and Rákóczi start in Trnava. They will fail, because Joseph I is not ready to accept the independence of Transylvania (see also 1704 July 6) and any guarantees for Historic Hungary by European powers.
1706(spring): The Consilium oeconomicum, the chief economic body for Rákóczi’s territory (Slovakia), has to impose price controls on food and crafts products, because of a catastrophic economic situation in the country (see 1705 January 3).
1706(April 13 – July 25): Temporary truce between the Habsburgs and Rákóczi.
— 1706 – 1707: There are only few military actions in Slovakia, but a lot of social discontent by workers and nobles instead:
— 1706: A wage increase is required by iron-mill smiths from Gemer in June, by miners of Smolnk in July and the miners and the colliers of Spiš, Gemer and Abov at the end of the year. In October, the miners of Banská tiavnica openly show their discontent and send a special delegation to Rákóczi (see also 1707 March-October). The reason is that the wage paid through the new coins (see 1705 January 3) has a very low real value.
— 1707: The nobles from Slovak counties show their discontent with Rákoczi. For example on January 7, the Turiec county issues a circular letter (written mainly by Melichar Rakovský) claiming that Rákóczi’s orders cannot be contested by the nobles as opposed to the times of Habsburg rule (see also 1707 May 1). Many Slovak counties refuse to levy taxes, billet soldiers and so on. Rákóczi often strikes back and has his chief general imon Forgách (Forgáč) imprisonned only because he has been informing him about the discontent in Slovakia and north-eastern present-day Hungary (see also 1707 May 1).
—1707(March –October): On March 17, the miners again require a wage increase and go on strike. In late September, when no wage is paid anymore for a certain time, the strike is renewed and it turns into an open rebellion against Johann Gottfried Hellenbach, Rákóczi’s treasury count in the town. The miners require wage payments in silver coins (instead of copper coins) or in kind. Rákóczi‘s troops stop a 100 men delegation sent to Rákóczi near Krupina. On September 30 another army led by colonel Neumann arrives directly in Banská tiavnica and on October 3 it defeates the insurrection (11 miners are killed).
— 1707(June): An insurrection of the miners of Smolnk.
— 1707(September): An insurrection of the treasury employess in Solivar takes place, because they have not received their wage for 7 weeks.
1707(May 1- June 22): Rákóczi convenes a second Diet to Ónod [in present-day Hungary near Miskolc ], where Rákóczi’s troops have their main military camp] for representatives of counties (nobles) and of free royal towns from Rákóczi’s territories. Initially, the representatives of some (ethnically Slovak) counties, esp. of the Turiec, Tekov and Nitra counties, openly show their discontent (see above 1707) and ign
ore the meetings. The upset Rákóczi has 2 representatives of Turiec killed (Melichar Rakovský, the author of the circular letter of January 7 1707, on June 6 and Krištof Okoličáni (Okolicsányi) on June 9), the remaining 56 ones arrested and the Turiec county – as the initiator of the opposition at the Diet and especially of the circular letter of January - is supposed to be dissolved (which however will be taken back later). This affair is considered to be the first ethnically conditioned conflict between Slovaks and Magyars (i. e. ethnic Hungarians). Afterwards, the representatives approve any proposals of Rákóczi: The Habsburgs are formally deposed as rulers of Historic Hungary on June 16, further taxes are approved and the property of nobles that would not join the rebels within 2 months is supposed to be confiscated. The problem of the person of a new king remained unsolved.1708: The (Habsburg) Diet in Bratislava states that Hungarian nobles are exempt from taxation (compare with above) and palatine Paul Eszterházy declares the decisions of the Ónod Diet void.
1708: A rebellion of the hajduks in Nitra breaks out. The hajduks were a very badly disciplined part of Rákóczi’s soldiers.
1708(spring): General Sigbert Heister becomes the new chief commander of imperial forces in Historic Hungary. Under this new leader, the imperial army will quickly defeat Rákóczi (see below).
1708(July): I
mperial troops defeat troops led by Ladislav Očkaj and Vavrinec Pekri (Pekry).1708
(August 3): Imperial troops defeat Rákóczi’s troops in the important battle at Trenčn. From this defeat on, Rákóczi will not be able to regain his previous military power anymore and France will ignore Rákóczi. The battle started in the middle of July, when troops led by Rákóczi in person (16000 soldiers) besieged Trenčn (see also 1703 December). At the end of July 2 imperial armies set out for Trenčn - one led by general Heister from Bratislava (5000 soldiers) and the other one led by general Vird from Moravia (3000 soldiers). The fact that Rákóczi became unconscious after he had fallen from his horse, which gave cause to rumours about Rákóczis death among his soldiers, has contributed to the great defeat of Rákóczi’s troops – 3000 kuruc soldiers died, 500 were captured and the rest of them runs away.1708(end of August): The kurucs in Nitra surrender to the imperialists and Rákóczi’s general Očkaj switches the sides (he will be captured by the kururcs and executed for this in January 1710).
1708(October): Imperial troops reconquer the central Slovak mining towns.
1708(November): Rákóczi convenes his third (and last) Diet to Sárospatak [in present-day Hungary close to the Slovak border], at which he tries to save his deteriorating situation by declaring that all peasants fighting for him become free (in respect to their lords). However, the peasant do not believe such promises anymore.
1709: In the summer, imperial troops reconquer Liptov, and in December, most of Spiš and the town of Kežmarok.
1709 – 1714: A great plague epidemic in Historic Hungary.
1709(December 10): King Joseph I orders that churches and schools, confiscated during the uprising by Protestants, be returned to the Catholics.
1710: The kurucs are defeated at the Romhány castle (in present-day Hungary, close to the Slovak border) on January 22. This marks the definitive defeat of Rákóczi. On February 13, the kurucs leave the town of Levoča and on September 24 they lose the Nové Zámky fortress (see also 1704 October-November).
1711(February 21): After he has met personally Count Johann Pálffy (Pálfi) (a well-known Hungarian diplomat loyal to Joseph I, who has been strategically made the new chief commander in Historic Hungary at the end of the uprising instead of the crude general Heister), Rákóczi goes to (and remains in) Poland to meet the Russian tsar Peter I in order to ask him for help for his uprising, and he makes Alexander Károlyi (see e. g. 1703 June-July) the chief commander of his rebel troops. Once in Poland, he calls on the people of Historic Hungary to fight against the Habsburgs.
1711(end of April): The imperialists reconquer Košice – the last big seat in kuruc hands.
1711(April 29/30): Peace is made at Satu Mare between Count Johann Pálffy (Pálfi) (see above), representing the (new) Habsburg king Charles III (Charles IV), and Alexander Károlyi (see above), representing the rest of Rákóczi’s rebels (some 12 000 men). Károlyi has been moved to this by Pálffy’s diplomatic skills. The agreement contains the following main points: (1) the rebels that vow allegiance to the Habsburg king will be granted amnesty (which then happens on May 1), (2) it confirms the traditional liberties of the nobles of Historic Hungary and Transylvania (see 1687) and the traditional freedom of religious practice in exchange for loyalty to the Habsburgs, (3) details are to be determined by the next Diets (see 1712, 1714). This peace agreement puts an end to the last and biggest anti-Habsburg uprising in Slovakia and Hungary (80.000 ! victims), sets relations between the Habsburg centralists and the nobles of Historic Hungary till the end of the Austrian monarchy in 1918, and, after some 200 years of almost permanent anti-Turkish (1520’s – 1686) and anti-Habsburg (1604-1711) fightings in Slovakia, it marks the beginning of a long peaceful period in Slovakia, in Hungary (which has been recently reconquered from the Turks), and in whole central Europe, thus enabling an economic, social and cultural consolidation during the following decades.
1712 – 1714
1712(April 3– August 8): The Diet of Bratislava (terminated on August 8 because of the plague epidemic, see 1709) declares the leaders of the Rákóczi uprising traitors and abrogates all laws adopted by Rákóczi’s diets (in July).
1712 (May 22): Charles III (Charles IV) is coronated in Bratislava. The royal crown is transferred back from Vienna to Bratislava after 9 years for this purpose (it had been transferred to Vienna during the Francis II Rákóczi uprising). Charles III is the last male Habsburg coronated in Bratislava.
1713 (March 18): Juraj Jánošk - the Slovak equivalent of Robin Hood and topic of many Slovak legends, books and films - is executed in Liptovský Mikuláš. Jánošk was born at Terchová, was fighting with the kurucs in 1706-1708, then with the imperial army, in 1711 he became the leader of a forest robber group in northwestern Slovakia. He was captured in 1712 in Hrachov, but managed to escape. Finally, he was captured again and imprisoned in 1713 in Liptovský Mikuláš and sentenced to death on December 1713.
1713 (April): Charles III issues his famous Pragmatic Sanction enabling that his successor can be even a daughter (not only a son). It will be accepted by the Hungarian Diet at Bratislava only in 1722-1723.
1714(September 8) – 1715(June 15): At the Diet of Bratislava (terminated on June 15 because of the plague epidemic, see 1709) the nobles agree to support the standing Hungarian army which had been created by royal fiat in 1702 (see also 1645) and they accept the taxes necessary for the support of this army, but they also maintain their right to consent to the necessary taxes and subsidies and they also vindicate their right (as nobles) to be exempt from taxation, thus shifting the entire burden onto the shoulders of the other classes and particularly onto the peasants claim. Furthermore, elections of a new municipal authorities cannot be held without the presence of royal commissars.
1714: More than 3000 retainers flee from the ariš county.
1714: The Slovak polyhistor Matej Bel (Bél Mátyás, Matthias Bél) becomes the rector of the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum at Bratislava (see 1607). He was one of the greatest Slovak scholars in the eighteen century.