Rákóczi, György, II

▪ prince of Transylvania

born Jan. 30, 1621, Sárospatak, Hung.

died June 7, 1660, Nagyvárad, Transylvania, Hung.

      prince of Transylvania from 1648, who had the laws of the principality codified, but whose foreign policy led to the restoration of Turkish hegemony over Transylvania.

      György II succeeded his illustrious father György I as prince in 1648 and continued his policy of seeking alliances with the hospodars (lords) of Moldavia to the east and Walachia to the south. In 1656, however, he joined Charles X (Charles X Gustav) Gustavus of Sweden in attacking Poland, hoping to be elected Polish king, an act in defiance of the Ottoman Turks, who had suzerainty over Transylvania. The Turks ordered their vassals, the Crimean Tatars, to drive the Transylvanians out of Poland, and in 1657 Rákóczi's forces were forced to beat a hasty retreat. In the same year the Transylvanian diet, on Turkish orders, deposed Rákóczi. When he was reinstated in 1658, the Turks invaded Transylvania in force, and Rákóczi was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gyalu in May 1660.

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