Karácsony György, sometimes known as Karácsondy Gergely (Nagybánya, ? – Debrecen, spring 1570), was the leader of the peasant uprising of 1569-1570.
He was born in Nagybánya. Many legends circulated among the people about his great physical strength and frightening figure (“the black man”), his divine mission against the oppressor Turks, and his miraculous reputation. In 1569, superstitious people gathered around Karácsony in masses to liberate Hungary from Turkish rule under his leadership. Karácsony kept his camp in exemplary order by religiously tinged rules. Still, he could not prevent his fanatical men from running riot among the inhabitants of Szilágyság who had not joined him.
This strange uprising started in the second half of 1569 from the Transylvanian borderland, from the parts of the Partium region, and spread throughout the whole of the Tisza region. It was led by this mysterious man, Karácsony György, who is believed to have been a serf of Szilágyság, and whose sources indicate that he was of Romanian origin.
All that seems certain is that Karácsony György was often called the “black man”, perhaps referring to the mutiny of the Rác (Serb) self-styled prophet “Cserni Jovan”, who had conquered, looted, and burned the Southern Region of Hungary almost to Lippa along the Maros River, following the Battle of Mohács.
Prophetic messianic aspirations were, in their way, characteristic of both “black men”, but there was a huge difference between the incredible violence of Jovan Cherni and the religious fanaticism of the movement of Karácsony György. Here is my article on Jovan’s uprising:
https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/1490-1541/1527-cserni-aka-black-or-nenad-jovans-uprising/
Karácsony preached to the peasant masses who stood with him that he had been appointed by God to free them and the country from Turkish rule. More and more desperate and unfortunate serfs joined him and believed in his word and power. For this may explain why, when his 600 men marched against Balaszentmiklós (now Törökszentmiklós) in the Great Plain, they believed that they could defeat the Turks without any weapons.
In the spring of 1570, at the siege of Balaszentmiklós Castle near the Tisza, the Turkish Bey of Szolnok – most probably because he bribed Karácsony, who betrayed his men – won a victory over the marauding army. Thus, the Turkish guards attacked the serfs, and the troops were beaten and slaughtered. It was the infamous Bey Sasvár (Sehszüvár), the Hungarian who became a renegade, who scattered his troops, or bribed Karácsony.
You can read more about the life of Bay Sasvár on my page:
https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/essays/bey-sasvar-the-renegade/
But Karácsony and the main army, at least 5,000 more, were not discouraged, but set about recapturing Szolnok. However, Karácsony first moved his army to Debrecen to get food and “support”, but both the town and the noble county were frightened by his movement. When Karácsony reached Debrecen to get food, he began to use violence against the town magistrate, and the enraged population slaughtered his men and had him executed. According to others, a group of horsemen – led by Báthory Miklós – were supposed to have killed him in a fight.
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