CHAPTER IV.

LEOPOLD I. AND TÖKÖLI.1 (1655-1699. )

-1st,

PREVIOUS to his coronation at Presburg, in the year 1655, Leopold signed the following articles :That he would observe the franchises, immunities, statutes, rights, and customs of the country; 2d, That all grievances should be redressed in the diets which should be convoked at least once in every three years; 3d, That the affairs of Hungary should be transacted only by Hungarians, and that the Hungarians should never be cited before foreign tribunals; 4th, That according to the 1st article of the year 1608, the government of the frontiers and other charges should be confided only to Hungarians; 5th, That, in order to establish peace, the religious affairs should remain on the footing established by the pacification of Vienna, and that no one should be disturbed either by his majesty or others on account of religion; 6th, That his majesty should maintain all the conditions in regard to the election of the palatine; 7th, That the free towns and mountain districts (civitates liberas et montanas) should be preserved in all their rights and liberties; 8th, That his majesty should not be permitted, under any pretext whatever, to remove the crown out of the coun

1 This name is in foreign books frequently written Tekeli, the word being so pronounced.

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try; 9th, That no pretext should justify the séparation of any dependency of the crown of Hungary from the mother country; 10th, That the alliances made with Bohemia, the other provinces, and Transylvania, should be maintained in full force according to the pacification of Vienna; 11th, That his majesty should preserve inviolate the 2d article of the diet of 1608, and should neither proclaim war nor introduce foreign troops into Hungary without the consent of the diet (nec sine praescitu et consensu regni in Hungaria et partibus sibi annexis, ullum vel bellum moveat, vel militem extraneum inducat).

It was after these precautions taken by the Hungarian States that Leopold commenced his reign, in 1657. Leopold," says the German historian of Hungary, "was a young, learned and prudent prince, fond of business, who, from his piety, good-heartedness, and liberality, delighted in the happiness of his subjects, and the administration of justice. But the fault committed in his education placed him in a position by which he was led into quite a contrary path. Being designed for the church, his education was entrusted to the Jesuits, who impressed the young prince with such a veneration for their order, that he took their insinuations and requests as binding commands, always obeying what they said, notwithstanding his perceiving that they were frequently led by avarice and ambition. He gave ear, it is true, to some of his lay officials; but they were soon obliged to give way to the Jesuitical confessors. Leopold's spiritual advisers agreed with the Hungarian bishops, that the temporal power must entirely be submitted to that of the pope, that every papal order was to be implicitly executed, and that no treaties of peace or coronation

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MACHINATIONS OF THE JESUITS.

1

oaths were of any validity if they tended to the disadvantage of the Roman See. They farther agreed that a Catholic regent or subject should never omit an opportunity of persecuting the heretics and extending the power of the Catholic church. The Jesuits fettered so much the conscience of the emperor, that in his confessions he divulged to them all his secrets, and they tried to convince him that the true church is only to be found in the society of the Jesuits. As regards Hungary, the aim of the Jesuits was, to establish in that country absolute power, a scheme which could not but flatter the ambitious designs of the emperor." This policy soon made itself manifest by the introduction of fresh foreign troops, whose ostensible object was to march to Transylvania, but who, as will be seen, had another part to perform. The Austrian general Montecuculi, not very desirous to fight the Turks in Transylvania, soon retreated to Upper Hungary. Finding the population shut their gates before him, he marched to Lower Hungary, where he assisted the bishops in their persecutions of the Protestants. Leopold, being in want of new subsidies, convoked the diet in the year 1661. The Protestant party inveighed loudly against the systematic oppression of their co-religionists, who, besides being robbed of their churches and schools, were exposed to systematic insult and cruelty. Their voice, however, was powerless in the diet, from which they accordingly withdrew. The grand vizier, meanwhile, marched on to Gran, crossed the Danube, and, after a siege of a month, re

1 Gebhardi Gesch. des Reichs Hungarn, Buch 34, p. 528. 2 In this principality two candidates for the supreme rule rose in arms against each other; the one, named Abafi, was supported by the Porte; the other Kemeny, by Leopold.

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duced the fortress of Neuhausel. Leopold, however, profiting by the negligence of the vizier, who, instead of marching up to Vienna, afterwards spent his time in idle skirmishes, concentrated a large army, which soon after gained a signal victory over the Turks at St Gotthard (1664). This would have been the time for striking a still more decisive blow, and for the complete repulse of the Turks. But no sooner had Leopold learned the news of this success than he hastened to conclude a peace. Its chief provisions were: that Transylvania should be evacuated both by the imperial and the Turkish troops, that in Hungary matters should remain in statu quo, that the emperor should be permitted to erect a fortress on the Vag, and that after the ratification of the peace in Constantinople, he should send to the Sultan a present of 200,000 florins. Considering that, in addition to their old possessions, the Turks now gained Grossvardein and Neuhausel, such a peace could not, as may be supposed, be satisfactory either to the Austrian party in Vienna, or to the Hungarians. In fact, this peace, besides being looked upon as disgraceful, was the more odious for having been signed without the participation or even knowledge of the Hungarians. While the Turks spread devastation in those districts they recently acquired, the bishops, availing themselves of the general consternation, increased in confidence ; the archbishop Selepcseny sending out his Jesuits accompanied by armed forces, to commence the great work of conversion. At that time, however, many of that party who had blindly followed the Ferdinands, became diffident of the policy of Leopold. With Bohemia before their eyes, the temporal lords began to suspect, that the army employed to suppress the Pro

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PERSECUTION OF THE PROTESTANTS.

testants would finally be used for the subversion of all the institutions of the country, and they accordingly assumed a position hostile to Austria and the bishops. The head of this national party were the palatine Veseleny, Peter Zriny the Ban of Croatia, and Nadasdy the chief-justice. Having the command of troops which they had led against the Turks, Zriny and Nadasdy prepared to use their forces for the defence of their country's rights. Their scheme, however, at once proved abortive and tragic in its results;1 and the so-called conspiracy of these aristocrats afforded the emperor a pretext for entirely abolishing the ancient constitution of Hungary. The prince Amprigen, knight of the Teutonic order, was named viceroy; and the diet was superseded by a consul nominated by the emperor. Leopold, easily persuaded by the bishops that the last troubles proceeded from the Protestants, encouraged their persecuting zeal. The primate Selepcseny established accordingly a high tribunal at Presburg, summoning the Protestant gentry and clergy to appear before his Jesuitical judges (1673). More than 200 Lutheran and 75 Calvinist ministers made their appearance at Presburg, and were ordered to make their choice among the three following propositions:-1st, To renounce their functions; 2d, To ac

1 Veseleny died soon after the scheme was formed; and the rest of his comrades were betrayed. Zriny, who was in possession of a fortress, refused to surrender, and defied the threats of the emperor, but yielded at last to the overtures of Prince Lobkowitz, chancellor of the emperor, who promised him full pardon, and even new favours. Both he and his companions were, however, in spite of the remonstrances of the Hungarian States, brought before a foreign court-martial, accused of high treason, and sentenced to death (1671).