Lázadó tartomány? Az erdélyi szászok politikai útkeresése a 17. század elején
A Rebel Province? The Political Quest of the Transylvanian Saxons in the Early 17th Century

Summary/Abstract: The Transylvanian Saxons are generally believed to have pursued a pro-German, pro-Habsburg policy over the past centuries, but this simplistic approach is not appropriate in this case either. During the first decades of the 17th century, one of the most active periods of Saxon politics, this particular Transylvanian community carried out remarkable diplomatic manoeuvres in two world empires – the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire – in order to preserve the special religious privileges they had inherited from their ancestors in Transylvania. Using the example of the 1610s, the study draws attention to the fact that the strategy of the Saxon University in the era of the Transylvanian Principality was not always uniform, and that it was never tied to a single power, but was flexible and adapted to the possibilities, considering the realities of the situation. The extraordinary circumstances of Gabriel Bethlen’s accession to the throne have been known for a long time, but it has been less widely known that the Saxons’ opposition to Gabriel Báthory played a major role in his success. They wanted to remove the prince because of the curtailment of the autonomy of the Saxons, and to achieve this goal, intensive diplomatic activity was carried out both in Constantinople and in Vienna. At the centre of events in the land of Saxons was Johannes Benkner, Bethlen’s confidant in Brassó, long considered to be of unshakeable loyalty, who used his network of contacts in Transylvania and across the borders of the principality with remarkable virtuosity, first for Bethlen and then against Bethlen.

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