Stephen Sisa : The Spirit of Hungary

On a summer's day in 1595, two brothers stopped at the door of the Gyulafehérvár palace of Zsigmond Báthory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, and asked for admittance. Their ragged appearance suggested that they had had a long journey behind them.

When they appeared before István Bocskay, the Prince's chief counsel, the older boy, 15 year old Gábor Bethlen, implored the powerful lord to take them under his wings since both of their parents had died.

Taking pity on the orphans, whose father's name he recognized, Bocskay employed them as pages at Court. Gábor was given the job of taking care of the Prince's hound dogs. Who would have believed that hardly ten years later, he would be instrumental in putting Bocskay on the Transylvanian throne, and that at the age of thirty-three, he himself would be elected King of Hungary?

Transylvania's Land and People

Transylvania has figured often in the preceding chapters, since this region has always played an important role in the history of Hungary. Even a cursory look at a relief map of the Carpathian Basin yields an explanation. From a geographical point or view Erdély (the Hungarian word for the region) is a reduced version of the great Carpathian Basin to which it originally belonged. The word Transylvania means the "land beyond the woods," indicating the territory's sylvan nature. This little country is a complete and self-contained entity, a wonderful microcosmos in which hill and valley, field and forest, undulating downs and lush green meadows furnish all that human creatures can desire. Harmonious in its very variety, it lies securely cupped in its high hills. A little world of its own.

Its Hungarian name, Erdély, is derived from erd (forest). Its German name is Siebenburgen (seven burghs), while the Rumanians call it Transylvania.

Erdély's oldest inhabitants are the Székelys (Szeklers), a special Magyar branch whose folklore speaks of their descent from Attila's Huns. When Árpád's Magyars conquered the Carpathian Basin, they found the Székelys- presumably descendants of the Avars - already there.

In the twelfth century, invited by the Hungarian kings, a new nationality joined the Magyars and Székelys: the German speaking Saxons, who founded towns and villages, and came to constitute the burgher class.

In the fifteenth century. these three peoples joined hands and concluded a pact for mutual aid, the unio trium nationum ("union of three nations"). "Erdély is a three-legged chair; if you knock out a single leg the whole thing turns upside down," wrote a contemporary historian.

This situation was complicated by the presence of a fourth people, the Wlachs (Wallachians). The earliest written records of their existence in Erdély date from 1210 and 1222. The Wlachs came from the Balkan peninsula as semi-nomadic shepherd folk. In the ensuing centuries, their leisurely and voluntary immigration was transformed into wholesale flight from Tartar attacks, Turkish invasions and the oppression of their own Phanariote rulers. Incidentally, these Tartar and Turkish wars, while increasing the number of Wallachians (later called Rumanians) in Transylvania, decimated the indigenous Hungarian population of the country. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, just before the Turkish wars, the entire population of Transylvania numbered 425,000 people of whom about 100,000 were Wlachs. Two hundred years later, their number had risen to approximately half the entire population. The Wlach's population base was in Muntenia and Moldavia behind the Carpathians. Each province

was ruled by a Voivode who generally stood under the sovereignty of the king of Hungary.

In the first centuries of its existence, Transylvania was an integral part of the Hungarian State, governed by voivodes appointed by the king. The "three nations" attended the Hungarian legislative assemblies, although they also had a separate Transylvanian Diet. The Wlach population lacked the necessary unified national spirit and territorial coherence to receive recognition as a national group in the government.

A Refuge of Hungarian Spirit

Transylvania's relationship with Hungary underwent a change after 1541, when the Fall of Buda signaled the beginning of 150 years of Turkish rule in Hungary. Actually, Hungary was ruled in three ways:

In the west, the Habsburgs reigned as kings of Hungary, in the east was the Transylvanian Principality under the rule of elected princes; in between the two, the territory lying between the Danube and the Tisza, the Turks had driven their wedge.

During the next 150 years, Transylvania was the sole bearer of national spirit. Coveted by two great powers, it alternately bent its effort to shaking off the Turkish yoke with the help of the Habsburg Emperor, and to defending the country's independence and religious liberty from the Roman Catholic Habsburgs, with the help of the Turks.

The precursor of Transylvania's peculiar policy had been the double-dealing Friar George (Cardinal Martinuzzi).

When addressing the Turks, he would convince them that his love for the Magyar nation superseded his religious faith, that he would prefer to preserve Hungarian nationhood under the shadow of Mohammed, rather than let it become German under the sign of the Cross.

When he addressed Emperor Ferdinand, Friar George vowed that he was more loyal to his faith, than to his nation, the "altar of the Church" being more important to him than the "triple hill in the national coat of arms."

Both these allegations were plausible, still neither one was true. What he really wanted was to keep Transylvania free. He realized that this land had a mission to fulfill, a mission to preserve the spirit of Hungary, the flame of which was being smothered by Turks and Habsburgs alike in the territories under their rule.

As a result of the policy initiated by Fráter György and perfected by István Báthory, István Bocskay and Gábor Bethlen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Transylvania became the theater in which the main events of Hungarian history were acted out. Although for a century and a half it was ruled by independent princes, the moral tie which linked her to Hungary was never stronger than at that time.

Sword and Bible Hand in Hand

In one particular respect Transylvania furthered the spirit which has always been present in Hungary - the Magyar freeman's love of freedom and the striving for independence which led the gentry to look with favor upon the religious revolt, which had spread to the Valley of the Danube in the last years of the old kingdom before Mohács. The Reformation was also welcomed by the serfs, because it was simpler and more understandable, it spoke to them in their mother tongue - and demanded less taxes.

The teaching of Protestant ministers spread quickly, especially in Transylvania and the eastern regions of Hungary proper. Next to the serfs, the German burghers of Upper Hungary (Felvidék) and the Saxon townsmen of Transylvania were the most sympathetic to a creed which had its origin in their ancestral homeland.

The Magyar gentry was especially disposed towards Calvinism, in which they saw a theological justification for the defense of local autonomy. A sword in one hand and Bible in the other, the Hungarian nobleman was armed as never before to defend his traditional liberties. While all of Transylvania had been Roman Catholic before the sixteenth century, by the end of the seventeenth century Calvinism had almost supplanted Catholicism.

Unitarianism, a form of religious belief based upon the concept of God in one person, and founded by Ferenc Dávid in Transylvania (c1560), was also well suited to the region's mentality. One characteristic of Unitarianism is its tolerance of different beliefs.

Induced by the spirit of religious tolerance so characteristic of Transylvania, the Diet ( = National Assembly) of Torda in 1557 declared that all men could follow the religion of their choice. In 1568 the same Diet - one century ahead of other European nations - institutionally codified religious liberty, putting Transylvania in the unique position of providing asylum for those persecuted for religious reasons in other countries of Europe.

The general result of the Reformation in Hungary and Transylvania was a certain identification of Hungarian patriotism with Protestantism, particularly with Calvinism, since both meant automatic opposition to the ruthless Counter-Reformatory drive by the Catholic Habsburg dynasty. In this development, no role was played by the Greek Orthodox Church, which held sway over the Wlach population of Transylvania, because the Wallachs had not yet become important enough as a national group.

It was against this background of religious upheaval that the remarkable princes, István Báthory, István Bocskay and Gábor Bethlen played out their careers.

Among them, it was Báthory who surpassed the other two. One facet of his character was revealed on the day the Diet (National Assembly), elected him Prince of Transylvania.

Just before the election, the Sultan's ferman, sewn into a bag of red velvet and naming his preferred candidate, was brought into the room. Báthory insisted that the ferman remain unopened until after the election, for he knew that in it was his name, and he wanted to avoid any suggestion that he had received his power through the favor of the Sultan. As it turned out, the Diet elected Báthory uninfluenced by outside pressure.

Báthory reigned between 1571-1581, but Transylvania offered limited opportunity for his genius. When in 1575 he was also elected King of Poland, he kept Transylvanian interests in mind; he recruited thousands of his countrymen, especially Székelys, to join his army in Poland. He was the first ruler who thoroughly analyzed the historical philosophy and ramifications of Transylvanian-Hungarian-Turkish relations. This is why he pressed the idea of a Polish-Hungarian union. As a first step, he visualized Russia as a Polish satellite. Once this was accomplished, he felt that - with his power increased - he could drive the Turks out of Europe. The defeat the Turks suffered in the naval battle of Lepanto bolstered Báthory's hopes in this respect. Only after the expulsion of Islam could Hungary be rid of the German presence and influence, he believed.

Báthory's most famous triumph was a victory over the army of Ivan the Terrible in 1582. According to a Polish historian, "Báthory's policy not only surpassed the foresight of his predecessors, but achieved the last and highest unmitigated successes which the old Polish Empire was ever to attain."

His early death prevented him from carrying out his grand design of a Polish-Hungarian union. Báthory, as a Catholic, used his power to try to sway the religious balance in Transylvania away from Protestantism. Through the help of the Jesuits, a campaign was initiated in Erdély to regain the "lost masses." People gathered from far and near to hear the Jesuits' sermons; in Nagyvárad the Jesuits appeared when free baths were given to the poor; and in Kolozsvár they took young people into the forest to collect branches for Palm Sunday, returning in a religious procession. Artistic ornaments figured in their ceremonies in an attempt to capture the imagination of the faithful.

Needless to say, the Reformed churches regarded these activities with jealousy, but it was only under the rule of the next Prince, Zsigmond Báthory (1582-1613). that Jesuit activity was brought to an ebb.

A Curse that Worked

With Zsigmond's rule, István Bocskay entered into Transylvanian public life to become the Prince's chief advisor and the leader of the so-called German Party. Under his influence, Prince Zsigmond Báthory became engaged in a fifteen year war with the Turks in which he received the support of Emperor Rudolph, who was also King of Hungary. For Bocskay, it was a sad coincidence that during these years he had to deal with rulers who were touched by madness.

Both Báthory and King Rudolph had mental defects which worsened with the passing of years. It must have been during a "mad" spell at the beginning of his rule that Zsigmond committed the worst mistake of his life by carrying out a bloodbath against his opposition. He ordered the leaders, most of them his close relatives and his uncle Boldizsár, to be beheaded or strangled.

While watching the executions. the Prince began to cry in self-pity: "Oh God, what did I do against you

that you are compelling me to stain my hand with the blood of my relatives? But Your will means more to me that their lives!"

Having done away with his opposition, Zsigmond started his long-planned campaign against the Turks with good success. Some of his victories were sensational, especially his war against Grandvizier Ferhad, which prompted Moldavia and Wallachia to enter into a union with Transylvania.

At the zenith of his reign, he married Maria Christierna, a Habsburg princess. The wedding took place amidst great pomp, but the marriage was never consummated for two reasons. First, Zsigmond was called away from the reception to march against Grandvizier Szinan, who had just crossed the Danube with an immense army. Zsigmond. in alliance with the talented Wallachian Voivode, Mihály (Vitéz Mihály), annihilated Szinan's army at Gyurgyevo in 1595. This was the greatest victory over the Turks since Hunyadi's triumph at Nándorfehérvár in 1456. Hungarian and Wallachian forces accomplished this feat on their own, without any help from the West. Unfortunately, their cooperation was only ephemeral, to the detriment of both interests.

Zsigmond's happiness over his military success was overshadowed by his sexual impotence. His failure as a husband was reportedly caused by the psychological effect of a curse cast upon him by the mother of Boldizsár Báthory, whom Zsigmond had executed along with her second husband. "May the bloody shadows of your victims hover above your nuptial bed between you and the pleasures you seek!" she exclaimed. So effective was this curse that in the end Zsigmond, frustrated as a husband, sought a divorce to become a priest. To dispel his bloody visions, he would put on clerical frocks of various colors, - purple,. rust or black -depending on his mood. At the sight of his wife he would take out a rosary and begin to pray.

With his mental capacity deteriorating,. he lost the most important battle of the Fifteen Year War at Mezkeresztes where his troops, allied with Rudolph's army, were decisively defeated by the Turks in October, 1596. This prompted Zsigmond to abdicate the throne only to resume his reign a short while later. Twice more he resigned only to return to rule until he finally withdrew in self-banishment to

"atone for the bloodshed I have caused among the innocents."

Transylvania went through great suffering in the last years of Zsigmond's on-again, off-again reigns and again after he relinquished power to Emperor Rudolph. The Emperor, in turn, delegated to his all-powerful Italian general, George Básta, the task of "restoring order" in the land. Básta considered the Hungarian people a "hydra which raises its head from year to year," a hydra whose head needed to he cut off over and over again. With his Walloon mercenary troops, he established a reign of terror abetted by a famine which caused a severe shortage of animals. Even the plows in the fields were pulled by human beings. The starving population ate bread made of pulverized bark and acorns and there were even cases of cannibalism recorded among the Wallachians.

Until Zsigmond's final abdication, István Bocskay was his chief political mentor, encouraging him to hold to his pro-Habsburg and anti-Turkish course. Bocskay came from an old Hungarian family and his father, who was the brother-in-law of István Dobó, the hero of Eger, had held a position at Court. Much of Bocskay's childhood had been spent in Prague and Vienna under Court influence. The splendor he saw there convinced him that the Magyars' only salvation lay in an alliance with the great empire whose ruler was also the legitimate owner of Saint István's Crown. His political credo, however, made him very unpopular, and after Zsigmond's departure he was banished. He retired to his estate in the County of Bihar, beyond the Transylvanian border.

Until this time, Bocskay had been playing the role of a pro-Habsburg "Saul." However, he gradually became disenchanted with the way Rudolph and his captains were treating Transylvania. Rudolph in his early years was a capable and well meaning ruler, and one of the most learned men in Europe. Gradually, however he developed a streak of madness that first was evidenced by an abnormal obsession with astrology. He also became involved in alchemy, and in making fancy clocks with his own hands. He spent enormous sums for expensive paintings and invited foreign painters to his Court to watch them at work. Otherwise he was afraid of people: even talking to his own brothers made him tremble. When attending Mass he would sit in a booth protected by latticed iron. All these manias caused him to withdraw from people and from his empire's affairs to become an almost inaccessible ruler.

In Rudolph's eyes, Hungary was a distant and bothersome foreign land "infected" by Protestantism. In Kassa, he ordered the Protestants dispossessed of the famous cathedral there, and then, in disregard of the country's constitution, forbade any complaint regarding violations of religious liberty.

Rudolph cared even less for Transylvania, where he gave his mercenary troops free reign. Led by foreign captains, their favorite scheme was to confiscate nobles' estates on trumped up charges, including the lands of the former Palatine, Mihály Illyésházi, who fled to Poland.

However, the Imperial General Belgiojoso made a grave mistake when he tried to do the same thing to István Bocskay. His pretext for confiscating Bocskay's estate was a letter found in his possession written by Gábor Bethlen from Turkish exile, urging Bocskay to join the struggle against suppression.

From "Saul" to "Paul"

Bocskay chose to resist and fight. He enlisted the aid of the Haiducks (hajdúk), a reservoir of thousands of Magyar desperados, serfs and minor nobles, who, after losing their families, their estates and personal belongings in the long war against the Turks and Germans, had grouped together as a mercenary army.

With their help, Bocskay crushed Belgiojoso's troops, who hastily retreated to Kassa only to find themselves locked out of the city by the burghers whose church Belgiojoso had taken away just one year previously.

In contrast, the city opened its doors to Bocskay's army with jubilation. By this time, his army had grown to 10,000 men, marking the beginning of a general uprising against Habsburg oppression.

From Kassa, Bocskay issued a proclamation to the nation in which he listed grievances and declared that he would fight for constitutional and religious liberty. During the winter of 1604-5, he led the Haiducks in occupying the Hungarian Highlands, including Pozsony, where he seized the Holy Crown. On February 21, 1605, he was elected Prince of Transylvania and two months later Prince of Hungary, an unprecedented title granting him royal prerogatives. Gábor Bethlen, in the meantime, also obtained the support of the Sultan for Bocskay, who sent him a crown which Bocskay refused to wear, remarking: "Hungary already has a crowned king and while he, Rudolph, lives no one else shall wear a crown.

Bocskay kept up military pressure, his Haiducks raiding Austrian cities, until a palace revolt forced Rudolph to accept the Magyars' conditions for peace. The Peace Treaty of Vienna in 1606 brought redress of all former grievances, proclaimed religious freedom for the entire country and acknowledged the

independence of Transylvania. Tranquillity was restored and Hungary was secured for the Habsburgs.

Bocskay's other great achievement was his role as mediator in the conclusion of the Peace Treaty of Zsitvatorok, which put an end to the Fifteen Year War with the Turks. The Treaty was a marked success for the Emperor who, by a single payment of 200,000 talérs, was exempted from any further obligations. The Sultan Ahmed I also agreed not to exact taxes from Hungarian nobles living in territories under Turkish occupation.

On the homefront, Bocskay resettled and conferred nobility upon all the Haiducks in the area known today as Hajdú-megye.

With these successes, Bocskay achieved his paramount goal: he effectively won Transylvania's freedom from his own king. However, he did not enjoy his triumph for long, because he died quite suddenly in December, 1606. It was believed that his secretary, Mihály Kátay, had poisoned him. In retribution, Kátay himself was hacked to pieces by the Haiducks.

In his political testament, Bocskay explained his political credo this way:

So long as the Hungarian Crown is in Vienna, it is necessary and useful to maintain the Transylvanian Principality. But should God ordain that the Crown once again rest on a Hungarian head, we enjoin the people of Transylvania to submit to it as they did of old.

While István Bocskay had laid down the foundations of a new, independent Erdély, his plans were brought to perfection by Gábor Bethlen, during whose reign Transylvania enjoyed its golden age. It was not an easy accomplishment. While Bocskay had to deal with rulers afflicted by mental defects, Bethlen's counterpart in Hungary, Emperor Ferdinand II, was a bigot filled with animosity toward the Protestants. Preceding his coronation, he made a solemn vow in Mariazell, Austria, that he would eradicate Protestantism in every country under his reign. "I am ready to die by the sword if my shed blood is what it takes to sweep away these heretics." he declared.

Paradoxically, in accepting the Hungarian Crown, he swore to honor the country's constitution, which included religious liberty.

Ferdinand II started his drive for a Counter Reformation in Bohemia, but was personally caught in the ire of enraged Czech troops who surrounded his palace in Vienna. Confronted by a group of angry Czech nobles, the obstinate Emperor not only refused to change his policy, but daring the Czech swords, he kneeled before the Crucifix and renewed his earlier vow. Only the approach of relief troops signaled by blaring trumpets saved Ferdinand's life.

In Hungary, it was not so much the pressure of Vienna as the remarkable personality of Péter Pázmány that was responsible for the undeniable success of the Counter-Reformation. Pázmány, born a Protestant but educated by the Jesuits, chose peaceful persuasion. With his magnificent sermons he brought a great many influential people back into the fold of the Catholic Church. He became Archbishop in 1616 and did much to improve the discipline and standards of the clergy.

Gábor Bethlen rose from the lower nobility. Since he had lost his parents early, his tutoring was incomplete. Only later did he learn Latin, a language indispensable to politicians in Hungary until 1844. He never visited western European countries but avoiding the oppression of the Imperial military autocracy, spent years as an exile in Turkey where he learned Turkish and became acquainted with Turkish conditions. It was from exile that he helped pave Bocskay's way to the throne. At the Sublime Porte he had good friends whose decisions he was sometimes able to influence. While in Turkey, Bethlen learned to admire the efficiency of Turkish military power and how to deal with Orientals. When in power, he skillfully applied Turkish might to counterbalance the growing power of the Habsburgs.

Bethlen returned to Transylvania with Turkish help, and in 1613 was elected prince, to the consternation of Vienna.

Bethlen's first campaign against the Habsburgs was prompted by the Czech uprising in 1618 that marked the beginning of the Thirty Year War. In alliance with the Bohemians against the Emperor, he began military operations in September, 1619, and at the end of that same year, his troops stood at the gates of Vienna. With practically all of Hungary in his fold, the Hungarian Protestant estates elected Bethlen, already the head of Transylvania, King of Hungary. Bethlen refused to be crowned by the Holy Crown in his possession. His restraint was a sign of foresighted political wisdom. A coronation would have brought him into conflict with the Emperor and the Sultan at the same time.

Instead, he chose peace, which was concluded in Nicholsburg at the end of 1621. In the agreement signed there, Bethlen renounced the title King of Hungary, and returned the Holy Crown to Ferdinand. As a result, Transylvania added considerably to its territory, and the Emperor promised to respect the Hungarian constitution, including the provisions for religious freedom.

The terms of this agreement, however, were not observed by the Court of Vienna. This led to two additional campaigns by Bethlen in which the Emperor lost two of his chief generals, Dampierre and Bouquoi. In each case, he led his troops against the Emperor with England, France, Holland and Denmark as allies, according to the Pact of the Hague. By entering into this alliance with other Protestant rulers, Transylvania was catapulted onto the grand European political scene as an equal partner and defender of Protestantism.

Bethlen's marriage to Catherine Brandenburg added to his prestige, since he became the brother-in-law of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden.

His wars against Ferdinand II resulted in a standoff, leading to repeated renewals of the Treaty of Nicholsburg. Bethlen also coveted the Polish crown and forged a Swedish-Russian-Transylvanian alliance aimed at securing Germany for Gustavus Adolphus and Poland for Bethlen.

This plan, though well advanced, was foiled by Bethlen's death in 1629 at the age of forty-nine. In his last hour, when he could no longer speak, he asked for a pen and scribbled the following: "If God is with us, who is against us? No one, certainly no one."

The Golden Age of Transylvania

As a ruler, Gábor Bethlen had been a mixture of Fráter György, István Bocskay and Matthias Corvinus. His cunning and his reliance on Turkish power recalled the tactics of the Friar; his pro-Transylvanian stance was developed along the lines initiated by István Bocskay and his ruling methods were reminiscent of the era of the great Renaissance king, Mátyás.

He organized a standing army of mercenaries as Matthias did; strengthened the finances of Transylvania on the model of his great predecessor; and developed an autocratic form of rule similar to the absolutism of Mátyás. He also tried to influence European policy by armed might, while dreaming of a great coalition which, due to his early death, remained just a dream.

In other respects, the spirit of Transylvania seemed to be incarnate in Gábor Bethlen. He was a fervent Calvinist, yet religious tolerance characterized his rule. Of his two chancellors one was a Baptist, the other a Catholic. Among his friends was the Jesuit György Káldi, to whom he rendered assistance in publishing his famous translation of the Bible. Even Jews received privileges in the interests of trade. In an age of intolerance elsewhere in Europe, Bethlen's broadmindedness was almost unique.

Despite involvement in wars. he gave serious attention to culture and education. All over the land, new schools were established with free education provided to the children of the serfs. At Gyulafehérvár, Bethlen established an academy which became the focal point of Western-oriented culture. The social status of the clergy was enhanced and their "peregrinations" to the colleges of Holland and Switzerland were encouraged by stipends. Like Matthias Corvinus, Gábor Bethlen supported the arts at his Court, enjoying his role as the Maecenas of Transylvania.

His virtues were best summarized by his biographer, János Kemény, who wrote:

While displaying great authority to the outside world, at Court he showed amiable gentleness toward his servants, enjoyed good horses,. brilliant raiments, beautiful buildings, good music, splendid receptions and dances, but no drunkenness. He cared particularly for schools, he gave rich stipends for university education, he invited famous teachers from Germany and founded scholarships for Magyar students at foreign universities.

And he reduced taxes in Transylvania.

A golden age indeed!

It would seem that nothing more could be added to this eulogy about Bethlen's virtues and accomplishments.

Still, in conclusion, his most lasting achievement must not go unmentioned. Gábor Bethlen initiated the shaping of a particular Transylvanian mentality - call it "spirit" -which has enabled the peoples of the area to stand alone even when its separation from the motherland lasted for centuries. And while being a region apart, it not only preserved, but enriched its Magyar heritage, creating an ennobled variation of Hungarian spirit in the Carpathian Basin.

The year 1552 in Hungary saw the heroic defense and fall of Temesvár under the onslaught of Pasha Ahmed's army of fifty thousand men, followed by the fall of Drégely whose fortress was defended to the death by György Szondy against the forces of Ali Pasha. The fall of these two strongholds opened the way to Eger, the next target of the combined armies of Ali and Ahmed, totaling about 100,000 troops.

Since the defenders under the command of István Dobó numbered only 2.000 men, the odds overwhelmingly favored the Turks. Upon arriving under the walls of Eger, Ali Pasha disdainfully exclaimed: "This is but a decrepit pen - a little nothing to me!" Thereupon he fired off a letter to the Hungarian commander to surrender forthwith, lest everybody be killed.

Dobó's answer was a symbolic one: he ordered an iron coffin to be placed atop the fort's highest bastion with a lance at each end. One end bore the Hungarian flag, the other the Turkish war emblem.

The enemy understood the message: the defenders would fight to death!

The Turks, feeling cocky, were preparing to take the fort next day. But for many of them the next day never came. It was the Hungarians who opened the hostilities in a surprise nighttime raid into the Turkish camp. In the ensuing panic many Turkish cannons were destroyed and would-be besiegers killed.

When daylight came, Pasha Ahmed, enraged, ordered the bombardment of the city by 120 heavy cannons (the Hungarians had only nine). But as it turned out it took the whole of 18 days to open a gap large enough to allow a mass assault by the Janissaries through the forts massive walls. In three attacks led in a single day, the Turks lost 1.000 men while gaining no advance. New assaults were executed the next day, the day after and for weeks to come, but with little success. The defenders used such ingenious devices as hurling from atop the fort's walls deadly fire wheels and barrels filled with heavy stones. The enemy's giant battering ram was burned down by fire brands dipped in tar.

More than five weeks passed in unsuccessful efforts to capture the "decrepit pen" under whose main bastion no fewer than 8,000 Janissaries died in futile attempts to take it.

But the prolonged fighting also reduced the number of defenders, so much so that the women of Eger had to join their men in the fight. As Mór Jókai, the famous Hungarian novelist, wrote in one of his stories: "Songs, chronicles sing the praises of the women of Eger for posterity, recounting how these women fought on the ramparts of Eger; how brides picked up the swords of their fallen sweethearts; how the women fought beside their husbands or over their dead bodies; how they hurled burning tar and boiling oil onto the heads of the besiegers as they climbed the walls; how the women knocked the Turks from the scaling ladders by stones and stakes. For the Turks it was worse to fight the women than their men..."

The siege of Eger finally ended with the embarrassing withdrawal of the Turkish besiegers under the cover of night. This came about following the 38th day of the siege after a great many of Pasha Ahmed's elite troops were felled by a spectacular explosion which opened up the earth beneath them, for the Hungarians had succeeded in laying an elaborate system of underground mines where the main attack was expected...

"Only Allah can help here: God is with the Magyars. And who can fight against God?" - Turkish lieutenants shouted in desperation. refusing to continue the fight.

In the cleanup following the Turks' withdrawal, 12,000 Turkish cannon balls were collected within the fortress by the defenders who had lost 700 men and women.

The details of the entire siege of Eger and the circumstances leading to it are excitingly told by Géza Gárdonyi in his book "The Stars of Eger" (Az Egri csillagok), the most popular historical novel in Hungarian literature.

Stephen Sisa : The Spirit of Hungary