VII. CHAPTER Transylvania in the last decades of Turkish rule.

Mihály Apafy on the princely throne. Its individuality. His family life. Anna Bornemisza. Apafy's fear of
principality-seekers. Arbitrary tendencies. II. The election of Mihály Apafy as prince. The politics of
wealth accumulation. Victims of the league system. Miklós Zólyomi. The tragedy of Dénes Bánffy.
Hajsza against Pál Béldi. Béldi's escape and death. Holders of power. Mihály Teleki. Its individuality.
Guiding principles of its policy. The means of his wealth accumulation. The morals of the age. French
opinion about Mihály Teleki. The depravity of the lords of the council. Abuses in the management of
public revenue. Counterfeit mints. Destruction of old families. Social decay. The spread of sloppiness.
Decline of Protestant schools. Cseri János Apáczai. Miklós Kis from Tóthfalus. Literary life. The future
of Transylvania.

More excellent princes sat on the throne of Transylvania, their individuality shed a certain light on the
inner life of the entire country and breathed strength into the rudimentary public organization and
institutions long in need of reforms. There was peace in the country, personal and property security,
the administration of justice was conducted regularly, the intellectual life, industry and trade, and with it
the public wealth began to grow. However, all this has changed radically since 1657. The long civil wars
exhausted the people and eventually brought the princely power into a hand that could not live with it.

Mihály Apafy was a good individual, but he was not cut out for governance and left it entirely to his own
hands. Situations soon developed which, as chancellor János Bethlen, one of the most cultured and
patriotic men of his time, felt, would really require the pen of Tacitus to be written about.

Mihály Apafy's signature on his certificate dated September 7, 1662.

Read by M(ichael) Apafi sec. The original of the document is in the national archive

The prince himself was a naturally good-natured, learned man who was fond of literature. But he was
not up to his task at all, nor did he really try to fulfill it. "He would have been most suitable for a priest,
not a prince," because he is not used to "work and management" at all. He loved to hunt, he admired
watches of various structures and shapes, of which he compiled a rich collection. But whatever
important state affairs arose, he could not arouse his interest. When pressed, he answered: "Let the
gentlemen see", - later - "as Mr. Teleki likes". "Good robes, bread, wine",1 the country served him in
abundance. The prince ate and drank promiscuously and sometimes consumed a bucket of wine in one
sitting. At such times, he became completely addicted to his environment, which was otherwise sober.
If he had lunch at someone's place, which he did graciously, he always paid handsomely for the
hospitality. He couldn't refuse anything and handed out the tip in parts of 10-12 serfs. Fortunately, his
extravagances were kept in check by his wife, Anna Bornemisza, a very strong and intelligent woman,
who managed the financial affairs of the princely family with great care.2 Anna Bornemisza exerted a
strong influence on her husband, but since she was neither beautiful nor kind, the outgoing prince
courted other women . The princess actually kept the beautiful ladies of her court under secret police
surveillance, which led to many conflicts between husband and wife. At such times, the prince,
suddenly angry, resorted to dirty tricks and undeservedly beat his wife. But he always remained under
the leadership of the strong-willed woman, because he was in need of her in court maintenance.

As long as his wife lived, he took excellent care of his property and his court, which was quite numerous
and in which you could even find the court fool, who perhaps alone represented free speech. With the
death of the old lady, the princely court also began to decline, and if Apafy did not die soon, in the end,
says his chronicler, there would not have been enough left to live on.

Apafy did not seek the principality, and in the first two years he would have been relieved of his burden.
But as soon as he warmed to the throne, he fell in love with her and wanted to keep her. He began to
fear everyone, he saw everyone as a competitor, and he immediately believed anyone who was accused
of being a "principle-seeker". His confidants knew and used this weakness. Anyone who stood in their
way was suspected of aspiring to become a prince, and Apafy exposed his closest relatives, childhood
friends, or most zealous officials to them. During his long reign, suspicions, persecutions, property
confiscations, and executions continued unabated in Transylvania. The prisons were full, the convicts
always had work to do, and Transylvania had its inmates just like Hungary.

Apafy is more and more "I. Lipót in a Hungarian edition"3. He sent his opponents to the deathbed just
as King Lipót did and took the religious institutions for as little as he did. He said: "he was raised to his
throne not by the vote of the orders, but by the porta".4 From this he drew the conclusion that he can
rule as he likes. He did; he could not internalize foreign rule because he had no one to support him. He
also convened the National Assembly, often more than necessary. But if the orders brought up some
grievance, he also told them, like Lipót, not to waste time on useless things, but to work, that is, to vote
for the tax and to fulfill their wishes of a different kind. Although the orders did not have the courage to
strongly oppose arbitrariness, sometimes their desperation broke out. "We experience with the
bitterness of our hearts - said the representatives of the counties and the "people" at the spring
parliament of 1682 - the hopeless decline of our sweetly educated country and our sweet freedom that
was handed down to us from our sweet beginnings in your majesty's dignified principality and its fate
approaching unhappy sadness."5 Like legislation, justice and the entire executive power became a blind
instrument of princely arbitrariness. All of this would not have been a problem if this arbitrariness, as
happened abroad, was at the service of the public good and the national interest. But neither Apafy nor
his confidants thought of such a thing. Everyone was guided by the roughest instincts, and when the
prince had a son in 1676, whom II. Under the name Mihály Apafy, he was elected as his successor by the
orders in 1681 and was later confirmed by the sultan, Greed prevailed in the prince, as well as coveting
other people's wealth. He wanted to collect family wealth, which could only happen if he took it from
its rightful owners by force. With the encouragement of his close circle, he did this, and his rule
increasingly became an age of swindling, in which everyone's life and fortune depended on a thread.
The feeling of legal certainty was eradicated from the hearts. The ruler always threatened the lords, the
weaker ones, the nobility. In reality, the country has fallen into a state of bellum omnium contra omnes.
Everyone coveted the other's wealth, and the one who, in this struggle of twists and intrigues, rose to
the occasion because of his food, was celebrated as if he had saved the country, as if he had won a
victorious campaign. "God's judgment is on our lords," preached Mihály Tofeus, Apafy's court priest,
"whose wealth is so much that mice and flies cannot consume it, yet they cannot eat well until they take
something from the poor man." Whoever had the power used it relentlessly. For some, - the bishop
thundered this from the pulpit and mentioned the name as well - "the dungeon is never empty of
students, masters, pious God-fearing people, humane, noble people, the wretched people who have lost
their lot."

The parliament spoke out against this deterioration of conditions already in the fall of 1671. He
excitedly complained that the laws were stripped of all their effect, that people were rounded up
without a trial and goods were confiscated without a trial.6 All this, they said, was caused by the
carelessness and unscrupulousness of the prince's advisers. Sometimes the prince himself encouraged
him and said during the hunt that next year he would hunt not only wild animals, but lords. One of his
advisers, of course the least guilty, was also taken prisoner. All of this led the councilors to secretly form
a league in 1671 for mutual protection of each other, as well as against the parliament, as well as the
prince. The goal of their alliance was to free any one of them by all means.

So there was a league, but since neither the prince nor the orders interfered with their management,
the co-operative councilors began to devour each other. There were old and new, rich and poor people
among them. But both the poor and the rich were driven by an insatiable desire to judge. Even before
Apafy, the Rákóczys' Transylvanian possessions were eaten, of which the treasury and some lords had
plenty. But it was only while they were eating that their appetite came, and they first cast their net on
Miklós Zólyomy, "a worthless, almost half-witted man". Due to his enormous wealth, Zólyomy was
already suspected by János Kemény of aspiring to be a prince. With Apafy, this was even easier to
believe. So he accepted him, but since his complete innocence was evident, he dismissed him.
However, from that time on, Zólyomy lived in constant fear of being captured again, and when half of
the Vojvodina-Hunyad estate was illegally sued from him, in 1667 he ran to Várad, and from there to the
gate. The powerful shared their wealth and never gave away the loot, although the porta repeatedly
told them to Zólyomy became the first outstanding victim of the ruling system. At that time, Dénes
Bánffy was the foremost among the powerful, the councillors. He was the scion of an ancient Hungarian
family, the owner of a lot of livestock, the holder of the very first public offices, and Apafy's brother-in-
law. He is said to be the most beautiful and one of the smartest men of his time, but with his unbridled
pride and violence, he aroused such hatred that it made it very easy to overthrow his enemies. As a
politician he was completely insignificant. He was in secret contact with the court in Vienna and the
German commanders in Hungary, which caused a lot of harm to the refugees, but he did not do this to
bring the Germans into Transylvania or to become a prince with their help. He served the court in order
to get back his family's old possessions in Hungary. There was no politics hidden behind his connections
in Vienna, which remained completely in the background even in the plot to overthrow him. It was said
of him that "in many things his greatness is a great fluke", but this was only aimed at his arbitrary,
unrestrained nature, with which he made himself hated by both the poor and the rich.

Woe to the one who dared to invoke his right against him, because "the book of the law was on" in
front of him. He went beyond all limits, everyone feared him and considered his fall, which occurred at
the end of 1674, to be redemption. His tragedy did not inspire sympathy anywhere except his own.

Since both the Turks and the Bujdošos complained against him, Mihály Teleki saw that the time had
come to put him away. Pál Béldi and the other councilors willingly formed the league, even without
Apafy's knowledge. The league defended its actions by saying that it had already asked the prince to try
to "restore our noble freedom, which is on the verge of extinction, and to strengthen its own princely
seat".7

With this, Bánffy was accused of trying to deprive his brother-in-law of power. As soon as Apafy heard
this, he himself joined the league and ordered the arrest of Bánffy. At this serious moment, the
persecuted person completely lost his head. He could have fled to Hungary, or he could have launched
an armed resistance as the captain-in-chief of Cluj. Those around him recommended this or that, but
Bánffy did nothing, and even waited for Teleki to save him. Finally, he was captured by his own soldiers.
In the meantime, not only the prince but also the parliament contributed to the league, and after such a
fight as the people from Bratislava and German-Újhely, he was sentenced to death. On December 28,
1674, he was executed in Bethlen Castle,8 all his movable and immovable property, to the extent that it
belonged to him, was confiscated and shared among the prince, Teleki, Béldi and five others. Béldi
himself collected HUF 80,000 worth of gold and silver in Bánffy's belongings.

At the same time, Miklós Bethlen Keresden's father, chancellor János Bethlen, an eminent historian of
his time, was arrested. They were all accused of trying to kill the prince. Apafy himself did not believe
that they were guilty, and he kept nagging the councilors and members of the league to come forward
with evidence. However, they did not have such, but wanted to acquire them through investigation.
The witness interviews began and they tried to obtain evidence from the rumors of servants, soldiers,
and passers-by. But since Béldi was completely innocent in what he was accused of, that he wanted to
be a prince, that he tried to take Apafy's life, but with his violence and blackmail, for which he could
have been convicted a hundred times, the league did not care, the end of the long trial was that Bethlen
and Béldi were released on March 31, 1677 with sufficient guarantees.

Béldy was not a traitor until now, but he soon became one. On the one hand, he cannot forget the
violation of rights inflicted on him, and on the other hand, those who threw him into prison were
constantly trembling from his revenge. A further conflict could not be left behind in such circulars. On
December 1, 1677, Béldi called the orders of Háromszék to a meeting and sent a circular to the other
counties and seats, which, although emphasizing loyalty to the prince, sharply spoke out against "some
restless, false news poets, and people who do not think with the union". Against these, the circular,
which was also sent to the princely couple, calls on the patriots to join. Béldi therefore tried to form an
opposition against the councilors and formed an alliance with Count László Csáky, János Damokos, Lázár
Apor, and Mihályl Mihályl. In the letter of alliance, declaring themselves to be the defenders of the
homeland and the rights of the prince, they united until the end of their lives to "be tamed by the fluke".
Chairs Csik, Gyergyó and Kászon soon joined the call. In Transylvania, the news of the event caused
general panic, and the prince and his councilors fled to their castles. Teleki retreated to Kővár and
formed a guard from the hideouts. At the same time, he made the necessary arrangements with the
prince, by which time the Székely chairs all abandoned Béldi and addressed Apafy with declarations
overflowing with loyalty. Béldi did send his man, Kristóf Paskó, to the gate, but otherwise he did
nothing, although his followers encouraged him to take armed action, which would have been
successful. Instead, when the military came against him, at the end of January 1678 he fled to Turkey
with a few followers. With that, his case was lost. In Vienna, they were very happy that Apafy had a
problem at home and would not be able to help the refugees. The court's sympathy was even more
aroused by the fact that some Catholics joined Béldi. He actually supported the imperial emissary at the
gate. But Apafy sent not only an envoy, but also 80,000 thalers, and so they proved him right. Béldi was
sent to the Seven Towers and died there at the end of 1679. No one mourned him

With the fall of Béldi, the old aristocracy completely faded into the background. Now the new people
lived their world, among whom Mihály Teleki was the foremost in terms of talent and influence. He was
not born in Transylvania, but came from the parts there. First he was a follower of György Rákóczy, then
János Kemény, after whose fall he took refuge with Zsófia Báthory in Patak: Although he was the scion of
a respectable middle-class family, he lost everything during the war. After Kemény's death, as before,
he didn't have as many places to rest his head with his poor widowed mother. 10 But in the meantime,
his mother's sister, Anna Bornemisza, became a princess and managed to return to Transylvania, which
happened in the spring of 1663. Apafy soon appointed him captain of the important Kővár, a position
he had already held before.

Mihály also made a good excuse for winter,

That he was stuck in Transylvania blesses that hour

said the contemporaries.

His influence continued to grow, and in 1670 he became a councillor, even though, as he wrote: "I am a
poor lad in Transylvania, I have a lot of bad intentions."11 But he skilfully used the movements in
Hungary, and the hide-and-seek became the permanent means of his rise. He stood at their head in two
battles, but he always failed because he was not a soldier and his wits, appetite, and talents could not
prevail on the battlefield. The sound of guns was not his lifeblood. From the beginning, he often visited
embassies, negotiated with Hungarians, Turks, and Germans, and he quickly got to know them as he
traveled among them a lot. Undoubtedly, "he had a very beautiful and quick mind",12 and he could
have grown into a great statesman if "good cultura, teaching and experientia had been added to his
mind".13 However, this was lacking. He was educated not by school, but by practical life, and he
developed his talents purely in the spirit of food. All the virtues and vices of the practical man are
manifested in every branch of his career. He was not driven by big, idealistic goals. He respected
science, but did nothing to promote it. He exercised unlimited power for two decades, but he is not
remembered for any work, either in the field of politics or civilisation. He amassed a huge fortune, but
Transylvania went down the slope unstoppably, from one deterioration to another, and missed even the
most favorable opportunities to secure his interests. The whole country took as little advantage of the
refugees as it did later on the fall of the Turkish rule. During these memorable changes of the times, his
controlling minister took excellent care of his own individual and family interests, which he carefully
secured against the French, Poles, and Germans alike. But he did not care about the future of the
country, because he lacked any sense of the common good. She thought she was fulfilling her job duties
by taking care of herself.

His private life really remained clean of the repulsive crimes of the age. He was bornemisza and only in
the rarest cases could he be persuaded to drink. If he did, he quickly got drunk, and at such times "there
was no better, quieter person than him".14 Hiven took care of his family sanctuary, loved his wife and
children and supported his relatives. Slowly, enormous wealth and wealth, many lucrative jobs and
public offices accumulated in his person. In 1684, he was the general of the country, councilor, chief
tenant, chief lord of Torda county, Huszt, and chief captain of Kővár. But all this did not satisfy him. At
that time, he still wanted to be the chief captain of Trómszék and Csik, and he reached his goal.
Whoever stood in his way, he wiped out. At first, he acted cautiously and cunningly. But Béldi
overcame all limitations with his fall. On whose property he laid his eyes, he treated them unworthy.
After Béldi, Imre Thököly, Lőrincz Pekry and countless others followed. No one even dared to speak
against him, "Bánffy and Béldy's pitiful casuist floating in front of everyone's eyes". The people had
"forever the dungeon and the iron" in their minds and silently bore the yoke of its rule. But that didn't
save them either. Whoever had something, he shut it up and took his goods. There was always an
excuse, and if there was no better one, he accused the chosen victim of sodomy. He didn't even have to
prove this accusation. It was enough for László Vajda to do something like this, and the rich man ended
up in prison and a beggar's stick. Not even the grace of the prince saved anyone from looting. Mihály
Barcsay was one of Apafy's dearest people, but he was also captured. But all this did not satisfy Teleki,
who in 1684 had the parliament declare all the donation letters of Prince Ákos Barcsay to be null and
void, and thus he could lay his hands on a variety of goods that the people in question had possessed
undisturbed for almost a murder. In addition to the real estate, the movable value in his house was
constantly increasing. Anyone who wanted something from the almighty councilor did not knock
empty-handed. His own wife, the tall Judith Weér, warned her not to take so much of the gift. "Well,
wife," he replied, "just let him wear it; this is also how you carry these after my dead, and what would
you carry if they were not carried now:" This collection of gifts and tips is a common characteristic of all
the powerful people of the time, both at home and abroad. Nobody went empty-handed at that time,
because the world believed that "only a village judge would greet anyone with at least one rooster."
There were hardly any ministers or influential people in Europe who would have followed different
principles in accepting gifts and pursuing individual interests than Teleki.

However, whoever did it, whether it was Poland, a German, or the principality of Transylvania, could
care less about the national interest and the public good. "Whether it's bonum or malum," Teleki used
to say, "we're definitely in it" and he exploited every situation to his advantage. His great mind was
manifested only in such things. He was able to disarm everyone, the weaker with violence, the stronger
with willingness to serve. When later the German generals ruled in Transylvania and brought so many
curses on the people, Teleki never had a problem with any of them. He got along with the bloody Carafa
just as well as the noble-feeling Veterani. He readily carried out their orders; he did everything that was
asked of him because they were the stronger ones. On the contrary, he forced his compatriots to obey
unconditionally, because he was the stronger one. He lived through all the political and system changes,
and benefited from all of them. He served three princes, was the leader of the Bujdozos, a fervent
supporter of the Porte, an ally of the French and the Poles, a pillar of German rule, and in the midst of so
many changes, he remained the leading minister until his death. Sometimes Apafy himself began to
rebel against his will and raged and raged. "It bit his belt," Teleki said at this time and calmly waited for
the storm to pass, which, with the help of the princess, who remained his faithful ally all along,
happened very quickly.

A sharp-witted foreigner15 says about the minister of Transylvania, when he was already all-powerful (in
1679), that it is rare to find so many good and bad qualities combined in one person, as in the then 46-
year-old Teleki. His activity is incredible, he navigates even the most complicated cases, he can always
find a way to help; enterprising, ambitious, courteous, moderate, although he lives like a gentleman,
eloquent, he does everything to be informed about what he wants to know. On the contrary, he
continues, there are so many mistakes; he is unjust, cruel in nature, implacable in his hatred, violent,
scheming and uses all means to carry out his intentions; nothing is sacred to him when he has to satisfy
his lust for glory and revenge, to which he has so far thrown everyone who stood in his way as a victim.

The other influential people were like the leader. Mihály Barcsay, one of Apafy's favorites, often used
to tell the prince what he paid for the wars. There are enough noble widows in Transylvania, prank
them and make them pay the snow money. Later he himself got into trouble. Sensing the danger, he
transferred one of his possessions to his close friend, László Székely, who also played a prominent role,
with the stipulation that he would get it back as soon as he was released. But Székely immediately
donated it to himself with the prince, and Barcsay later could not get the property back even through a
lawsuit.

The corruption of the councilors resulted in unheard of corruption in the entire field of public life. The
most serious abuses in the management of public revenues have bitten me. No one checked the
management, no one examined the figures. In 1680, the orders sent a seven-member committee to
review the tax accounts of the chief treasurers since 1659. Of course, no one could find their way
around them anymore, and the auditors soon reported that the endless mass count was "just a dry
bone", which we "poked in vain". The most important revenues of the treasury were rented out by the
councilors themselves or their friends at pot prices. In 1672, the prince handed over the right to mint
money to the cities subject to strict rules. They also minted good money, but fake minters soon
appeared. So György Kapy minted the money with his gypsies, and fake, bad money flooded the country
to such an extent that complete confusion ensued, and in 1677 the prince turned to his advisers to take
measures to remove the bad money from circulation. First of all, they insured themselves, and when
the parliament passed the relevant law, they already sold all their cash, and thus the whole damage hit
the general public.

This government system completely transformed the ruling society, because it destroyed the old
families en masse, while the new people, who were more nutritious, quickly acquired great wealth and
power. They turned from "bad, inferior students, ignorant mendicants to gentlemen, great men", "in
five or six years to the judges of the country", as Bishop Tofeus said from the pulpit. But the rapid
career did not make them nobler or wiser. They lacked any sense of the public interest. He who serves
the public, - they used to say - serves no one (qui communitati servit, nemini servit). They did not want
to sacrifice for the country even in the greatest danger, and they said: "He who lends money to the
country is like the one who asks a village for lodging: he sleeps under the garden."

In the manner of the great tyrants of the court, a whole mass of petty tyrants overwhelmed the country
and suffocated the lower nobility and the serfs. In the counties, the head master, "worn-down bishop
and vice-chief" were playing around. The lower official could only keep his office if he drove a lot in
ambush for his superior, because "if he doesn't drive, he won't be an officer after a year." The former
satirist says that he would be happy "to see a viceroy on the gallows." But he consoles himself with the
fact that, if they also have the power here, in this valley of mourning, "hell will not show favor to you".
He asks civil servants:

For what merit are they losing income?

Why do you play cows on the pore?

Why do thieves expect help from you? 16

Legislature itself has languished in this angry atmosphere of corruptio. Due to the high cost, the orders
did not really want to gather and entrusted the exercise of their rights to a delegation, which the prince
convened at any time when important matters arose. But there was enough of a parliament, except
that there is hardly any trace of any measures aimed at taking care of material or intellectual interests in
the legislation of the era. Everything started to fall apart, even the ruling position of the Hungarians.
Even then, Hungarian was the official language of the state, but nothing was done either in the public
administration or in the social sphere to assimilate the foreign nationalities. On the contrary, it was
precisely this bad government that finally stopped the slow but really started process of Magyarization
among the Saxons. On a parliamentary document dated at the beginning of 1658, only 10 of the 22
representatives of the Saxon seats had German names, while the rest signed with good Hungarian
names. That the Saxon priests and more noble citizens knew Hungarian at this time is beyond doubt the
innumerable Hungarian quotations and document extracts found in the chronicles, diaries and other
records of the period. But since the government did not care about national interests and he generally
aroused dislike for himself, the Saxons finally alienated themselves not only from him, but also from
Hungarians, and when the country later came under German rule, they finally threw themselves into the
arms of the Germans. Just like that, nothing was done to assimilate the masses of Olach serfs who were
pouring in heavily and taking the place of the destroyed Hungarians. In 1667, Apafy set up a school and
printing house in Fehérvárt, in the monastery of the Oláhs, but he didn't care about it anymore. The
lower masses really remained at the lowest level of barbarism, materially and spiritually, in terms of
religion and education. In the 1980s, German High Commissioner Kinzing had a lot of contact with the
Wallachian and Rusin common people in Máramaros. In one room he asked a Rusin serf:

On another occasion, he opened the window and asked an Olah: "Who made these mountains?" "I
don't know," was the answer. The German could rightly say to the earwitness Miklós Bethlen that these
people differ from the mindless animals only in language and appearance. But - he added - what were
your princes, lords, and priests like, that they were not taught?17 Indeed, the true spirit and value of the
government is reflected in these conditions. How the prince perceived his vocation in the direction of
poverty will be illuminated by a later case. When Carafa came to the country in 1685 and his soldiers
were horribly robbing the people, the prince sent an emissary to him that if they were going to destroy
the land, "at least they wouldn't hurt the prince and his lord", "Rather they should be hurt, - retorted
Carafa, - because they are the cause of this war, not poverty". 18

The title page of Apáczai's Hungarian Encyclopaedia.

From the copy of the Budapest university library

But not only were the foreign elements unable to be included in the framework of the national spirit
and civilisation, the institutions that the ruling Hungarian Protestantism had created to protect national
education were also not protected from decline. With the destruction of Fejérvár, the school there was
destroyed. As Cluj became an outpost, the school there could not remain in the military city either.
Both were transferred to Enyed, and in order to consolidate their finances, a national collection was
organized in 1665. But it was not able to gain real strength, even though soon the schools of the
Protestants in Upper Hungary also came to an end. The more noble thinkers warned the prince about
the problems of the Protestant school affairs in vain. The agg János Bethlen, in his state of "preparing
for a great reckoning with my coffin and before my God"19, painfully complained to him that "there is
hardly a greater example of that spiritual calamity than the blowing up of the small and beautiful
schools of Várad, Pataki, Kassa and more in a wonderful storm". He therefore warmly recommended to
Apafy the Calvinist schools in Enyed, Cluj-Napoca and Fejérvár, which are also in great danger, and urged
that the "ref. collegium Enyeden should be stabilized". One or another educational institution remains,
but it is in a declining state and could only serve the national idea and education with few results. This
decline is all the more painful because an ardent apostle of national education arose in Transylvania,
who at the same time, when Miklós Zrinyi found the means to save royal Hungary in the reorganization
of national defense, wanted to ensure the existence of Hungarians by reorganizing the national school
and public education in Transylvania. Cseri János Apáczai20

he came out of completely different circumstances than Miklós Zrinyi. He was born of poverty, but in
his heart the noblest national ideals lived with as much fire as in Zrinyie. Just as Zrinyi was not allowed
to sleep by the sufferings of his homeland, Apáczai's soul was tormented day and night by the feeling of
the miseries of his native land far away, where he continued his studies. He woke him up from his sleep
many times, and forced him to constantly think about how he could help "our native sanctuary."21
Fortunately, fate took him to Holland to learn, where he saw a living example embodied in front of him,
what a miracle national civilization, which is small, can work he made a country destroyed by foreign
tyrants prosperous, free and rich in a short time. He urged his nation to follow this example. Returning
home, he tried with a strong will to introduce the Hungarian youth to the sciences. He believed that the
problems of the state could only be remedied if science passed into the blood of the people. And this
required a good school with national teachers and a national spirit.22 Just as Zrinyi wanted to free
Hungarians from foreign generals, Apáczai wanted to free Hungarians from foreign teachers. We can do
without them, we can live on our own strength, let's just get organized, this is the unshakable belief of
both. Just as Zrinyi wanted to involve all elements of society in national defense, Apáczai included all
strata in his public education organization. He wants a school in every village and demands a place for
both boys and girls. In addition to the folk school, he is planning secondary schools and hopes to
culminate the entire creation with a national university. He also defined a definite system for the
method of education. In this way, Apáczai actually complemented Zrinyi. They both served the same
idea. Each of them came up with a very detailed plan to realize their ideals. Each of them presents
himself as a great reformer, who preached the word of salvation with a clear awareness of his goals,
enthusiasm and persistence. But since Zrinyi did not become a reformer, Apáczai didn't turn out like
that either. None of them can win the favor of the powerful. Nuns II. He was an open enemy of György
Rákóczy. Ákos Barcsay warmly supported him and generously took care of the school in Kolosvár at his
encouragement. But it was already too late for Apácz, his weak physical strength was soon exhausted
by the many jobs and unworthy persecution. At the end of 1659, he left "the ungrateful Hungarian
world" here forever, as Miklós Bethlen, one of his warm admirers and distinguished students, says. This
talented, distinguished young man became the heir to his ideas. He himself visited Némtalföld and
returned with inspiring impressions; he was also convinced that, if Transylvania wanted to prosper, it
had to follow the example of the Low Countries. At one time he wrote to Miklós Kis Tóthfalusi, who as a
printer was at the head of a flourishing business in the Netherlands: "Just steal (master) the crafts of
Holland and let's make a little Holland out of Transylvania." Tóthfalusi also came home, but at home he
found Erdély "in his own sordidity", to which he quickly fell victim. Following Apáczai, he walked like
Apáczai. He also perished miserably in the petty, unblessed circumstances. There were also educated
people in large numbers in Transylvania at that time. Bethlen gave Hungarians three historians, Farkas,
János and Miklós. János Kemény, János Szalárdy, László Rhédey, Mihály Cserey and others wrote
precious chronicles, diaries and notes. Kristóf Paskó, the successor of the old lute players, wrote the
story of his time in verse. János Haller published Hármas historia. There was enough writing, but there
was no literary life, and most people wrote their books for their desk drawers, which were lost or
published only centuries later. Even then, it was said that despite the many learned and clever writers
in Christianity, there is no greater shortage of books among the same gens than among the
Hungarians.23

Of course, the general downturn did not leave the economic life of the people untouched either. The
powerful did not even think about the fact that the state has social political tasks and obligations in
terms of increasing public welfare. While they themselves became rich, the crowd reached a level of
wealth, the results of which can be seen to this day. Fortunately, at least the dying principality did not
get involved in international complications for a quarter of a century. But when the time of war finally
arrived, Transylvania's ship tossed about on the turbulent foam without guidance or compass and was
forced to blindly obey the arbitrary will of rude, foreign soldiers.