„…úgy viseljük magunk, mint az ágon ülő madár” Rákóczi Zsigmond uralmának kezdeti esélyeiről
“We Carry Ourselves like a Bird on a Branch”: On the Initial Chances of Sigismund Rákóczi’s Rule

Summary/Abstract: From the very beginning, the Transylvanian princes were only able to keep their country intact if they established good relations with both the neighbouring great powers, the Habsburg Monarchy, and the Ottoman Empire. Although the orders of Transylvanian had the right of free election of princes (libera electio), which they received from Sultan Selim II in 1567 and enacted into law, the new princes had to be approved by the rulers of both great powers. When Sigismund Rákóczi was elected by the orders of Transylvania in February 1607, the new prince had to immediately get his rule accepted both in Constantinople and at the imperial-royal court in Prague. Rákóczi was also in a difficult position because in the beginning both courts supported a lord from Upper Hungary, Bálint Homonnai Drugeth, and by the summer of 1607 Gabriel Báthory, the last male member of the Báthory dynasty of Somlyó, had already established a larger circle of supporters both in Transylvania and in the Kingdom of Hungary. Rákóczi, despite his skilful political manoeuvres, must have known even then that he would soon have to renounce the principality, which he did not do until March 1608.

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