https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/1541-1699/18-november-1664-the-death-of-zrinyi-miklos-aka-nicholas-zrinski/

The Habsburgs could not focus on their Eastern interests: as a result of a new attempt by France under King Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) to reach the ‘natural frontiers’ – the Rhine and Alpine mountain ranges – and to gain continental hegemony, the Habsburgs were forced to concentrate ever greater power in the west in the second half of the 17th century. Vienna wanted to avoid a war on two fronts, so it sought peaceful relations with the Porte, which led to the Ottoman Empire, which was enjoying a renaissance under their rule, making new conquests in Hungary. To avoid conflict, Emperor Leopold I’s generals stood idly by while Várad fell in 1660, but the balance of the 1663-64 war was also scandalous, with Érsekújvár another important fortress falling from the system of fortifications, and the peace of Vasvár, concluded after the triumph of Szentgotthárd, imposed unduly lenient conditions on the Turkish side.

After the victorious Battle of Szentgotthárd, the Hungarian and Croatian noblemen were outraged by the Peace Treaty of Vasvár the Habsburgs made with the Ottomans. The high lords began to consider how they could liberate Hungary without the Habsburgs, or even against Vienna. The most significant members of the so-far loyal Hungarian elite aristocracy have become utterly disappointed in their ruler and decided to turn against him. Tensions were growing and Zrínyi Péter (Petar Zrinski), the younger brother of Zrínyi Miklós was particularly angry with the Habsburgs. However, the Conspiration against them was created by Prince Rákóczi Ferenc I of Transylvania, and he was the leader of the plotters in East Hungary.

In general terms, the aristocratic alliance, which lasted for some seven years, chased dreams far more daring than it was ever capable of realizing. The initial lack of seriousness of the conspirators, led by the noblemen Wesselényi, Zrínyi Péter, the Croatian Ban, and Nádasdy Ferenc, is shown by the fact that in 1665, at Murány Castle, they wanted to restore the unity and sovereignty of Hungary by plotting to assassinate the pro-Hapsburg Polish marshal Lubomirski or kidnap and blackmail Emperor Leopold, with plans that were worthy of adventure novels.

From the very beginning, the Wesselényi family tried to gain the support of Leopold I’s main opponent, Louis XIV, but received only promises from him; French diplomacy was only interested in the Hungarian overlords’ cause to create uncertainty in the Emperor’s hinterland, so after the end of the Devolution War – in 1668 – Louis made peace with the Habsburgs and turned away from the conspirators.

They had been in contact with France and Venice as well. Palatine Wesselényi was upset because he felt he had been set aside by the Habsburgs. The alliance between Palatine Wesselényi Ferenc, Chief Judge of the Country Nádasdy Ferenc, and Duke (Bán) of Croatia Zrínyi Péter (Petar Zrinski) was signed on 19 December 1666: the so-called Wesselényi Conspiracy has begun. However, they could not keep the treaty in secret for long, though. When it came to light, huge unrest and dissatisfaction spread among all the noble and common classes of Hungarian society. Partly, because the Treaty had accepted all the recently achieved Ottoman conquest, partly because the Hungarian Estates had been omitted from the document.

Péter met Wesselényi in the Upper Lands of Hungary in Stubnyafördő in April and they signed a further agreement in which they offered their mutual help to each other whereas the countries of Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia would „never abandon each other in their plight”. Although Chief Judge of the Country Nádasdy Ferenc disliked both Wesselényi and Zrínyi, he joined them in July, perhaps in the hope of getting the rank of the Palatine. He sent his letter by an envoy to Wesselényi who put aside their conflict and answered him in a very warm letter.

https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/essays/dragoons-in-hungary/

My conclusion is, that all of this can be directly connected to the 1664 campaign of General Zrínyi Miklós which was sabotaged by his very ruler. Let us not forget how disappointed Zrínyi Miklós had been and how suddenly he died. One may say that the Wesselényi-conspiration was the beginning of the so-called Kuruc-age in Hungary when the countries of the „Hungaries” fell into an even more confusing situation than in the period of the Dual Kingship after the Battle of Mohács, more than a hundred years before this.

The afterthoughts about the conspiracy by Kiss Csaba…

Unfortunately, this whole ‘conspiracy’ was a very amateurish, malicious, self-interested, truly ‘Hungarian’ conspiracy. After the death of Wesselényi Ferenc in March 1667, Nádasdy Ferenc, the country’s judge, revealed the whole movement to Prince Hannibal Gonzaga, the president of the Court Military Council, and later that year to the Emperor through his confidant.

In 1668, Wesselényi’s widow, Széchy Mária, reported the conspiracy to Johann Anton Freiherr von Rottal, the Hungarian chief adviser, and in the same year, through her confidant, Lessenyei Nagy Ferenc, she sent the court the documents, papers, documents, lists of names, etc., which were at her disposal.

In the summer of 1669, Petar Zrínyi also revealed the conspiracy to Baron von Rottal, trying to blame it all on Nádasdy. At the same time, Zrínyi played a double game, because at the end of November 1669, he sent his family friend, Captain Franjo Bukovacki (Bukováczky Ferenc), a Croatian nobleman from Turopolje, to the Porte as an envoy, where he offered the Hungarians and Croats as Ottoman vassals, with noble simplicity, if the Porte would support their planned uprising with military force.

Sultan Mehmed IV supported the offer, but Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazil Ahmed refused and reported it to Vienna. At the same time, Bukovacki returned to his master under the delusion that he had succeeded, as confirmed by a letter from the Bosnian Pasha Ibrahim. Zrínyi and his brother-in-law Fran Krsto Frankopán (Frangepán) began to prepare for the uprising and gathered troops, but the Croatian nobility refused to fight the ruler with the help, let alone the alliance, of the arch-enemy Ottomans.

At the same time, Zrínyi sent a letter to his fellow monks in Upper Hungary encouraging them to revolt, but at the same time, he also sent envoys to Vienna – including his late brother’s secretary and confidant, the Irish monk Mark Forstall of the Augustinian order – to somehow get out… Verily, only Prince Rákóczi I Ferenc had sparked a minor revolt and won a minor victory in Upper Hungary as we could read about it.

Zrínyi’s behavior in particular seems very duplicitous: he betrays the conspiracy and then subsequently commits open treason by offering the country to the arch-enemy Ottomans. He is also said to have claimed the Hungarian and Croatian thrones for himself and his family, but this has not been proven. At the same time, his envoys in Vienna continued to try to rescue their lord from the emperor…

His letter, full of obvious lies, is analyzed by the literary historian Jankovics József. It seems to be a real ‘Hungarian’ ploy: the conspirators obviously did not mean their movement seriously, but only intended to exert pressure on the court for their own interests. The court tolerated the ‘conspiracy’ for years – between 1667 and 1670 – and knew everything about it through the constantly reporting participants. They were given clear evidence – through Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazil Ahmed – of open treason and treason, i.e. that Zrínyi had offered the lands to the Ottomans, while at the same time claiming loyalty to the court and blackening the names of his fellow soldiers…

If you like my writings, please  feel free to support me with a coffee here:

This article contains Amazon ads. By purchasing through these links, you can help my work at no added cost to you. Thank you!