Grantville Gazette, Volume 69

by Bjorn Hasseler

  Castle of Komárom (Komarno)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Kom%C3%A1rom/@47.7211378,17.983382,33490m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x476a4d2f43f02c75:0x400c4290c1e1920

  It was a formidable fortress, blocking the Danube before Vienna and Pozsony, making all river passage impossible. It was never taken.

  Castle of Sopron

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Sopron/@47.6928254,16.443831,33508m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x476c3b605048160d:0x400c4290c1e12a0

  It was a strategic castle and city right before Vienna; one more obstacle for the attacking enemy. The city of Sopron was a rapidly growing trading and market center next to the Austrian border. It had a population in 1633 of about four thousand people. It was also a coronation town: Ferdinand II's second wife, Queen Eleonora, was crowned here in 1622. The Diet of Sopron elected Ferdinand II's son, Duke Ferdinand to be King of Hungary in November, 1625, and he was crowned there in December.

  Due to the religious persecutions, many Evangelical [i.e., Lutheran] Austrians moved to Sopron in the first decade of the seventeenth century. Most famous of them was the aristocratic Eggenberg family, but renowned intellectuals, craftsmen, and merchants came there from all over Austria. For example, Andreas Rauch, the famous organ artist, arrived there from Vienna in 1628 and Johann Sartory, a chemist, in 1629. A famous Society of Noble Scientists was established in the city by Kristóf Lackner, a city judge, in 1604. It was similar to a guild of intellectuals; its members in 1625 were Gábor Lampert, pastor from Balf, Münderer Gottfried, pastor of Borbolya in 1623, and Jeremias Scholtz, physician. In spite of the sophisticated atmosphere, there was a nasty witch-hunt going on in 1630.

  ****

  There are many other fabulous castles of Royal Hungary that were not mentioned in details but nevertheless, they all played an important role in keeping the kingdom intact. The most important ones are listed here:

  Tihany, Légrád, Kapronca, Egerszeg, Szigliget, Egervár, Körmend, Németújvár, Csobánc, Fraknó, Zólyom, Késmárk, Eperjes, Kismarton, Magyaróvár, Vöröskő, Gimes, Korpona, Csábrág, Végles, Kékkő, Salgó, Somoskő, Diósgyőr, Torna, Krasznahorka, Sólyomkő, Boldogkő, Füzér, Szerencs, Ónod, Ungvár, Kisvárda, Ecsed, Kálló, Károly, Visegrád, Huszt, Léva, Sümeg, Veszprém.

  Most of them are in ruins now: the Habsburgs had them exploded, one by one, so as not to give shelter to any rebels in days to come.

  ****

  Principality of Transylvania

  Castle and City of Nagyvárad (Oradea, Großwardein )

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Nagyv%C3%A1rad,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@47.0745735,21.8674042,16952m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x474647e3687623,53:0x1b55a486d65d5344

  This was also called Várad, and it was the most important frontier castle against the Turks on the Transylvanian side of old Hungary. It was also one of the gates to Transylvania, and the princes regarded it as their second capital. Accordingly, the rank of its captain was elevated because its bearer became the second in rank after the prince. The captain of Nagyvárad was under the direct command of Transylvania's ruling prince, was second in rank after him, and was his substitute when the prince was on a campaign abroad. All of the princes, István Báthory, Kristóf Báthory, István Bocskay, and György Rákóczi II had been captains of Várad before becoming rulers of Transylvania.

  István Báthory was its captain in 1559, and when he became a prince in 1571, he began carrying out large construction works within the castle in the Italian late-Renaissance fashion that was considered the most modern fort architecture of the time. The building was completed in 1596 by Italian architects like Pietro Ferrabosco, Ottavio Baldigara, Domenico Ridolfino and Simone Genga.

  Prince Kristóf Báthory granted collective nobility to the citizens of Nagyvárad in 1580. Yet the citizens swore fealty to Emperor Rudolf, asking for his son, Miksa's, protection against Prince Báthory and the Turks. Archduke Miksa sent German troops to aid them and occupy this strategic city. The Turks besieged it unsuccessfully in 1598. Prince Bocskay laid siege to it as well. His army had to wait two years to starve the defenders out, making them surrender in 1606. Ferenc Rhédey was the captain of Nagyvárad between 1613-1618 and he modernized the fortifications.

  Prince Bethlen had the old, ruined medieval buildings pulled down in 1619 and ordered his Italian architect, Giacomo Resti, to build a pentangular renaissance palace for him that was finished only around 1650. It was the biggest Renaissance palace of Central and Eastern Europe. The city was blooming during the reign of Prince György Rákóczi I, especially due to his wife, Zsuzsanna Lorántffy. They supported the Reformed church and established a college. The first printing house was launched in 1565 when the Polish printer Raffael Hoffhalter settled in Nagyvárad. The next press was set up sixty years later by Ábrahám Szenczi Kertész. István Bethlen had the press brought from Luneburgum and Prince Rákóczi acquired special oval letters for it around 1640. The Hungarian Bible of Nagyvárad was first printed in 1657. The 1500 copies weren't finished because of the Turk siege of 1660. Luckily, they were able to smuggle the printed pages out and could complete the work in Kolozsvár (Cluj, Klausenburg). It was a sorrowful time because Prince György Rákóczi II was killed in a battle by the Turks, after he had wasted the Transylvanian army in a war for the Polish throne.

  Nagyvárad was a serious fort but most of their defenders went to the burial of the prince, led by their captain, Ferenc Gyulai. Only eight hundred fifty untrained soldiers were left behind under the leadership of vice captain, Máté Balogh, when Pasha Achmed and Pasha Ali of Temesvár set out to capture this important castle with fifty thousand seasoned soldiers. At the same time, near the border of Royal Hungary was the sizable army of General Souches who refused the begging and pleading of the city and denied even minimal help against the Turks. In the meantime the two pashas sacked Debrecen and destroyed some cities before completing the siege around Nagyvárad. It took them a month to drain the water of the moat and destroy the walls with mines and artillery. The defenders lacked the military knowledge to be able to use their own cannons, but they were valiant in close combat. After forty-four days of futile resistance, vice-captain Balogh left the castle with his people under the terms that the city wouldn't be sacked. Their heroic fight can be compared to the warriors of Eger, even though they weren't victorious. After the loss of Nagyvárad the Habsburgs received criticism internationally because the whole Partium (a great area between Transylvania and Royal Hungary) was now under Turkish control. Its loss marked the end of Transylvania's independence.

  Castle of Borosjenő (Ineu, Janopol)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Borosjen%C5%91+315300,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@46.4298523,21.8240081,4289m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x4745f9e1f4251dbf:0x96216d881674cbe3

  It had a grand Renaissance palace that was damaged in a fire in 1618 but was extended and renovated between 1625-1630. It belonged to the Transylvanian princes, but had always been badly wanted by the Turks.

  Castle of Lippa (Lipova)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Lippa+315400,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@46.0895289,21.683471,4316m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x474f7da21526324f:0xb1fd7b6901e9bf5b

  It was owned by Ferdinand I in 1551 but its Serbian soldiers, fifteen hundred men in all, surrendered it to Mehmed Begler-Bey of Rumelia. The Turks pillaged the city but Brother György, the famous monk and statesman, took it back in the same year. The following year its Spanish garrison yielded the fort to the Turks. The Turks organized a sanjak around it and garrisoned the castle with between one hundred and five hundred men. Many Sephardic Jews arrived there during this time. After forty years of Turkish rule, György Borbély's Transylvanian army took the castle. The Begler-Bey of Temesvár attacked the place in 1595 but Prince Báthory's arriving army chased him away. The Prince left two thousand soldiers in the castle which enabled them to beat the Turks back three years later. Lippa fell to the Romanian Prince Michael in 1600 but was taken back in 1604 by Prince Bocskay. (The Serbians surrendered the castl
e to him.) The Pasha of Temesvár captured it in 1605, and the next year it was taken back by István Petneházy's army. During the next few years this fort played an important role in Turkish-Transylvanian negotiations. The Turks wanted to get back Lippa and Borosjenö that had been organic parts of their frontier castle chain before the Fifteen Year War. Several Transylvanian princes had fed them with promises to give the two castles back but when Gábor Bethlen needed the confirmation of the Sublime Porte in order to gain the throne—he didn't take risks and had agreed to give the forts "back". He said:

  "…if I had a way of keeping it, I would follow that way at all costs—but I have no means to hold it or to procrastinate it any longer because the Turks wouldn't allow me to do so even if I vomited my soul in front of them…"

  Finally in 1616 it had to be ceded to them but its defenders, especially Captain István Vajda, didn't want to accept the decision: everybody thought it a shame and finally Prince Bethlen had to take it from him by siege. Afterwards the prince offered the fort to the Begler-Bey of Temesvár. Prince Bethlen's reputation suffered quite a bit from this action in the eyes of the Hajdu soldiers all over the country.

  The Turkish Bey of Lippa repaired, enlarged, and reinforced the castle and brought more Turks there from the surrounding Turkish frontier castles. Three circles of walls protected the inner castle, and there were fifteen hundred houses around the outer walls. The Turks installed the water of the nearby springs into the city and covered the streets with wooden boards. Allegedly seven schools could be found in the city. Altogether there were 953 defenders in 1621 and 800 in 1660. Prince György Rakoczi II defeated Achmed, Pasha of Buda, under the castle's walls in 1658. General Caraffa took it back after a four-day siege in 1686.

  Lugos ( Lugoj)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Lugos,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@45.6871128,21.8426205,17388m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x474fbebd56492451:0xe9161dd73d36f5a4

  The city had a castle surrounded by a wooden palisade and bastions. The Turks took it in 1552 but Sultan Suleiman the Great gave it to King Zsigmond János. The place was burned down in 1594 and in 1599 by the Tatars and also in 1603, then it was burnt by Captain Henry Dampierre Duval. The castle used to be an integral part of the frontier castles guarding Transylvania's border between 1536 and 1658. It was also a local center, and its garrison consisted of Hungarian, Romanian, and Serbian inhabitants who were mostly soldiers. There were six hundred riders and seven hundred infantrymen in 1626. A Romanian Reformed pastor called Moisi Pestisel, who was one of the Romanian translators of the Old Testament, lived here in 1581. Another famous Romanian pastor was Istvan Fogarasi, the translator of Protestant works into Romanian language in the 1640s. The city also became the religious center of Orthodox Romanian believers in 1622. The city became the property of the Treasury in 1615. The castle disobeyed Prince Bethlen in 1616 so it had to be taken by force. It was one of the castles the Turks demanded for allowing Bethlen to become a prince. The castle fell under Turkish rule permanently only after 1658, resulting in the escape of its inhabitants to Transylvania.

  Karánsebes (Caransebes, Karansebesch)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Kar%C3%A1nsebes+325400,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@45.4106571,22.1808353,8737m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x474e31c2a1df1575:0x73fc927250542a2e

  This was a smaller settlement with many privileges, located on a strategic place. It belonged to the German Teutonic Order of Knights between 1429 and 1435. During that time, the Romanian Vlad Dracul, the infamous historical father of the "Dracula," allied with the Turks, pillaged it. The city's heyday was during the time of the Transylvanian Principality because it was the headquarters of Lugos-Karánsebes County between the 1530s and 1658. Its furrier guild was very famous. Most of the inhabitants were Romanians but some Hungarians and Saxons. There were religious divisions among them but after the Diet of Torda in 1564, it was ordered that its church should be used alternately by the Reformed and the Catholic people of the city, every other week. Later the church became the property of the Reformed church. However, there was a Jesuit mission working there between 1625 and 1640, led by the Romanian George Buitul who tried to convert the greatest population of Reformed Romanians of Transylvania. The city couldn't avoid the Serbian mercenaries' attack that had been instigated by General Basta. They destroyed the nearby villages and sacked the city, selling many enslaved people to the Turks. Finally the citizens' uprising chased them away in 1604. The castle and the city became the property of the princes in 1605 and remained in their possession for a long time. Its garrison included two hundred riders and two hundred infantrymen in 1626. Ákos Barcsay, its captain between 1644-1658, finally ceded it to the Turks. It was taken back only after 1688.

  Temesvár (Timisoara, Temeswar)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Temesv%C3%A1r,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@45.7410432,21.1465497,17371m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x4745677dcb0fb5a7:0x537faf6473936749

  This was a strategic castle next to the Transylvanian border, a much disputed fort between the Turks and the Hungarians. First the castle beat the Turks back in 1551 but its famous siege took place in 1552. Pasha Achmed led an army of thirty thousand against the fort that was defended by chief Comes István (Stephen) Losonci who had barely two thousand Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, German, and Italian soldiers. After twenty-five days of siege, the Turks destroyed the water tower of the city so Losonci had to start negotiations. He was allowed to leave freely with his soldiers, accompanied by the city's inhabitants, but the Turks slaughtered them, capturing and beheading the seriously injured Losonci in the end. In spite of the massacre, the city began to develop during the Turkish rule, especially its agriculture. Temesvár was also an important trading center. It was the first city where beside the Turkish merchants, the Jewish traders appeared in bigger numbers. The houses of the city were built of clay and covered by wooden roofs, and the streets were paved by wooden planks. Each quarter of the city was surrounded by water and had its own fortress. Temesvár became a center of an elayet, and it was the starting point to launch raids and military moves against the nearby regions. Important Turkish officials and foreign envoys, including the Sultans, visited many times. All of the fugitives from Transylvania found shelter here, especially those who aspired to get the throne of Transylvania with the Turks' help. Gábor Bethlen used to stay in the city like many Romanians who wanted to rule Wallachia or Moldavia one day.

  Szatmár (Romanian: Satu Mare, German: Sathmar, Yiddish: Szákmér)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Szatm%C3%A1r+megye,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@47.7722936,22.7601767,33457m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x47380434f4e50c2b:0xbb0ab3cb55750d75

  After the Defeat of Mohács (1526), Szatmár was the third-best fortified frontier castle of the Kingdom of Hungary, built on its easternmost part. It was rebuilt in the modern Italian fashion with five bastions. It was on the three-sided border between Royal Hungary, Transylvania and the Turkish Occupied Lands. Control passed back and forth between the Transylvanians and the Habsburgs. General Basta in 1603 ordered the Italian Cesare Porta to complete the reconstruction of the fort. Nevertheless, it was occupied by Prince Bocskay the next year. Prince Bethlen got hold of it in 1622, according to the Peace of Nikolsburg. Prince György Rákóczi I's armies attacked the castle rather successfully in 1645, unlike the Turk armies in 1660 and 1663.

  Nagybánya (Baia Mare, Frauenbach)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/Nagyb%C3%A1nya,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@47.6688678,23.5008265,16762m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x4737dc70b4206f37:0x30914e534fa9d1dd

  It got its name from its plentiful silver and gold mines. The inhabitants were mostly Saxons, craftsmen, miners, and merchants. The city's patron saint is Saint István (Stephen), the first Hungarian king. The city was renowned in distant lands for its great Saint István cathedral that was finished in 1387. The church is 50 meters long while its tower is 40 meters high. In the time of King Matthias, Nagybánya produced more than the half of Hungary's gold, even though the mining towns in Upper Hungary were also very productiv
e. All kinds of artisans lived in the guilds of the city: carpenters, masons, furriers, potters, tailors, goldsmiths, and silversmiths, all had a very good reputation. The goldsmiths were especially world-famous; one of them became a professor of Gresham College in London. The townfolk became Protestant in 1547, and the first Reformed college in Transylvania was established there. Usurers held the renting rights and lived off the rich town's profits. Prince Bethlen took these rights away from them and freed the city from its unjust debt, gifting the mining rights to the city in 1620. In the Ring of Fire period the city was owned by Prince György Rákóczi I.

  Radna (Rodna, Roden)

  https://www.google.hu/maps/place/M%C3%A1riaradna,+Rom%C3%A1nia/@46.0995702,21.6583173,4315m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x4745877de6ffbdb3:0x57f7d120324cdf4d

  It was famous for its silver mines and was inhabited mostly by Saxons, but the high population included many Hungarians and Romanians as well. The city had very good relations with the cities in Romanian Moldova, for example with the mining city of Moldvabánya. It was the reason why they declined to join the prince's army in 1632 against the Romanians. In the first part of the seventeenth century many Saxon families moved to the depopulated city of Beszterce so the role of the Saxons in Radna had decreased.

  They didn't elect a Saxon City judge in the 1640s, and the Saxon and Hungarian pastors were preaching together in the church.