Ferenc Rákóczi II. [antikvár]

Who was this prince the anniversary of whose birth will be commemorated in Hungary on March 27th 1976? Was he a backward feudal lord fighting against centralized power in the Danube Valley, against a power that stood for progress ? Was he a nationalist trying to secure the supremacy of the Hungarian ruling class over other nations living in this land ? Was he the "Saint of the Country", a "Champion of Liberty" trying to create the political conditions necessary for social progress, the friend of the people who placed himself at the head of the peasant host in revolt fighting for their rights ? Or was he a political day-dreamer thinking as a Jansenist who was a stranger to this world might ? All this can be asked, has been asked about Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II. Basing myself on recent research I shall try to give as true a description as possible of this much debated man. The youth of a Hungarian aristocrat Ferenc Rákóczi II, the son of Prince Ferenc Rákóczi I. and Ilona Zrínyi was born on March 27th, 1676 in a country whose central part was still occupied by the Turks while the west and north were ruled by a Habsburg prince, crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary as well. Transylvania, to the East, still flourishing in the early 17th century had fallen prey to Turk and Tartar following the fateful Polish campaign by György Rákóczi II. Growing much weaker it just managed to retain its semi-independence in the shadow of the Ottoman Empire. Vienna and the Porte had signed the Peace of Vasvár twelve years