Stephan Bocskai

Stephan Bocskai

Stephan Bocskai's crown in the Vienna Treasury

Stephan Bocskai , also Stefan Bocskay , in Hungarian Bocskai István , pronunciation like Botschkai (born January 1, 1557 in Cluj , †  December 29, 1606 in Kosice , presumably poisoned), was a Reformed prince in Transylvania .

Life

He grew up at the court of the Habsburgs and returned to Transylvania. From 1592 to 1598 he was the main captain of Wardein Castle. He played an important role in the connection between the Habsburgs and Sigismund Báthory against the Turks . Later, however, disappointed he turned away from this alliance and led the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs, to which Gábor Bethlen won him. The background to the uprisings was also the efforts of the Counter Reformation and Viennese centralism . Important followers at his side were the Hajducken .

In February 1605 he was elected Prince of Transylvania in Nyárádszereda by the nobles and with the support of the Szeklers and shortly afterwards also recognized by the Transylvanian Saxons . He received the conquered Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania from Sultan Ahmet I as a Turkish fief.

In 1606 the Vienna Peace was signed with Rudolf II , who guaranteed the Hungarian Protestants freedom of religion . A relief on the Geneva Reformation monument reminds of this , next to which there is also a statue of Bocskai.

The next prince was Sigismund Rákóczi I.

Crown Stefan Bocskais

A crown was sent from the Ottoman court in Constantinople to crown him as prince of Transylvania. The crown is Turkish gold work, made around 1605. It was made of gold, rubies, spinels , emeralds, turquoises, pearls and silk. The height is 23.2 cm, the diameter 18.8–22 cm. It has the shape of an Orthodox cap, as worn by clergymen. The case for the Stefan Bocskai crown is, like the crown, Turkish handicraft and was also made around 1605. The fabric is Persian, made from lampas ( silk ) around 1600 , stretched over wood and gilded with silver.

After Bocskai's death, the crown and the case were handed over to Emperor Matthias by the Hungarian Reichstag (after Bocskai's designated successor Bálint Drugeth Hommonai had not been able to assert himself and died soon afterwards). This was also in connection with the peace of Zsitva-Torok , with which the hopes of Bocskai to extend his rule with Ottoman help over the whole of Hungary had failed. Ultimately, the crown and case ended up in the Vienna Treasury , where they are today under the inventory number SK Inv.-Nr. XIV 25 and SK Inv.-Nr. XIV 184 are kept.

literature

• Andrea Molnár: Prince Stefan Bocskay as statesman and personality reflected in his letters 1598–1606 (= Studia Hungarica. 23). Rudolf Trofenik Verlag, Muenchen 1982, ISBN 3-87828-154-4 (also: Zurich, Univ., Diss., 1983).

Web links

Commons : Stephen Bocskay  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ General dictionary of pronunciation of foreign proper names. A handbook for educated people of all classes. Arnold, Dresden / Leipzig 1839, p. 79 ( scan in Google book search).

predecessor	Office	successor
Michael the Brave	Prince of Transylvania 1604 - 1606	Sigismund I. Rákóczi