Franz I. Rákóczi

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Franz I Rakoczi (1645–1676)

Franz I Rákóczi (born February 24, 1645 , Gyulafehérvár , Transylvania ; † July 8, 1676 , Zboró , Kingdom of Hungary ) was a Hungarian nobleman, prince of Transylvania and father of the Hungarian national hero and leader of the electorate, Franz II Rákóczi .

Life

Franz I Rákóczi was the son of Georg II Rákóczi , Prince of Transylvania (1621–1660), and Sophia Báthory . In 1652, while his father was still alive, he became a prince. Due to a failed intervention in Poland in 1657, his father was removed from the throne by the Ottoman Empire and the Rákóczi were ousted. Georg tried militarily to regain the throne of Transylvania, but died in 1660 after a battle with an Ottoman army. Franz was thus forced to withdraw to the family estates in the Kingdom of Hungary.

The Rákóczi were Protestants and Sophia Báthory converted to marry George II. After his death she returned to the Catholic Church and supported the Counter Reformation . Franz also became a Catholic and thus won the attention of the Habsburgs .

On March 1, 1666, Franz married the Croatian Countess Helena Zrinska ( Ilona Zrínyi in Hungarian) and took part in the magnate conspiracy . One of the leaders was Jelena's father, Petar Zrinski . Franz soon became one of the leaders and led an armed uprising in Tokaj in 1670 . The uprising was quickly put down and Franz was taken prisoner in his mother's castle.

All the leaders of the magnate uprising were executed. Franz I. Rákóczi was spared this terrible fate. His mother Sophia was able to save his life thanks to her good contacts with the Jesuits . As can be seen from an agreement with Emperor Leopold I of February 21, 1671, she paid a fabulous ransom of 400,000 (!) Gold florins to the imperial family. Francis I then withdrew to his castle Zborov ( Hungarian Zboró, also called "Makovica") in what is now eastern Slovakia . He undertook not to politicize any more and also no longer held any public offices. Here he died on July 8th 1676 and was buried in the (then) Jesuit church in Kosice .

He had three children:

  • György (* 1667)
  • Julianna Borbála (September 1672– May 26, 1717)
  • Franz II Rákóczi (1676–1735)

Franz II was born three months before his father's death and became the most feared anti-Habsburg rebel of his time .

literature

Web links

"The Rákóczis and the Gold Treasure of Košice" (Hungarian)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From this ransom, Emperor Leopold I had a church built for the Jesuits in Kaschau between 1671 and 1684. The remains of Sophia Báthory and her son Franz I. Rákóczi were later buried in the crypt of this church. In 1773 Pope Clement XIV (1705–1774) dissolved the Society of Jesus with the bull Dominus ac Redemtor . The Church was taken over by the Premonstratensians . In the 19th century the crypt was opened forcibly and the graves looted. Efforts have been made since 2012 to put the crypt back in order; It is also intended to identify the bones of Sophia Báthory and her son Franz I by means of a DNA analysis and then to reburied them.
  2. ^ Anton Klipp: Die Rákóczi (see literature), p. 63 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Rákóczi, Franz I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rákóczi, Franz I (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1645
PLACE OF BIRTH Gyulafehérvár , Transylvania
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1676
Place of death Zboró , Kingdom of Hungary