One of the firmly entrenched opinions of Hungarian historiography is that in the first half of the 17th century the Ottoman Empire was so much tied down by its own internal problems that little of its attention was spared for the European...
moreOne of the firmly entrenched opinions of Hungarian historiography is that in the first half of the 17th century the Ottoman Empire was so much tied down by its own internal problems that little of its attention was spared for the European peripheries, and, consequently, its vassals there managed to enlarge their room for manoeuvre. Yet a thorough examination of the sources has proved that in the middle third of the century the Transylvanian diplomacy had its eyes constantly fixed on
Constantinople, and anxiously followed all the moves of the Porte. This seems to have been even more characteristic of the reign of György II Rákóczi than of that of his father. Indeed, it appears clearly from the reports of Transylvanian envoys that Transylvania itself was part of the power struggles which tore the Ottoman Empire, and it is even possible to outline a group of Ottoman supporters who, time and again, engaged themselves to embrace the affairs of Transylvania. It is also evident that even Transylvanian intervention in Moldavia and Wallachia was made upon Ottoman instigation or outright petition in 1653 and 1655.
The problem of prince György II Rákóczi was thus not that he had a limited intelligence of the affairs of the Porte. It was, rather, that in the spring of 1656 the Empire was plunged into a deep crisis, whereupon the tough-handed intervention of the new grand vizier, Köprülü Mehmed, turned against him almost the entire political elite of the Ottoman state. According to previous practice, this should as a matter of fact have been ended by the fall of the grand vizier. Although Köprülü Mehmed
did face a series of challenges, any of which could have provoked his downfall, he, astonishingly enough, managed to retain power by a fruitful combination of tough will, obstinacy and a good amount of pure luck.
On the basis of experience gained in the past decades, the story and success of grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed was at once unimaginable and unpredictable. No political rationality either in the Empire itself or outside could suggest that such a turn will come about. Prince György II Rákóczi
was thus perfectly aware of the situation at the Porte, correctly assessed the fragility of the grand vizier’s position, and, consequently, rightly hoped until the very last moment that events might take
a turn favourable to himself. On the last account, however, the strong-willed grand vizier proved an „anomaly” of Ottoman domestic policy, who undermined all the political calculations of Rákóczi, no matter who well informed he was and how closely he followed the example of his predecessors.
