⌂ Atlas ☰ Read as a page The thread: How did Transylvania become a principality that emperors had to bargain with, and how did one prince's gamble cost it its western fortresses?
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Key

Transylvania and its princes The Habsburgs and Royal Hungary The Ottomans and their pashas Wallachia Bohemian and Swedish allies Poland–Lithuania bond — succession, office, alliance conflict — war, revolt, prosecution

Sources & method

  1. Michael the Brave — Wikipedia (governor in the emperor's name, Prague 1601, Guruslău, killed near Câmpia Turzii) — source
  2. Sigismund Báthory and Mózes Székely — Wikipedia (1601 restoration, Goroszló, final abdication 1602; Székely's 1603 rising and death at Brașov) — source
  3. Stephen Bocskai — Wikipedia (Álmosd, Kassa, the elections of 1605, the crown of 11 November 1605, Peace of Vienna, death and succession) — source
  4. Belgioioso, Giovan Giacomo Barbiano di — Hungarian Wikipedia (the Kassa cathedral, January 1604; Álmosd, 15 October 1604) — source
  5. Gabriel Báthory — Wikipedia (election 1608, Szeben, Wallachia, Brassó 1611, Bethlen's flight, the 1613 invasion and murder) — source
  6. Bethlen Gábor — Hungarian Wikipedia (election at Kolozsvár 23 October 1613, Besztercebánya 1620, Nikolsburg, Catherine of Brandenburg) — source
  7. Nikolsburgi béke — Hungarian Wikipedia (the seven counties for Bethlen's lifetime, Oppeln and Ratibor, the crown returned) — source
  8. Battle of Humenné — Wikipedia (23 November 1619, the siege of Vienna broken off) — source
  9. Bethlen István (fejedelem) and Zólyomi Dávid — Hungarian Wikipedia (the 1630 succession, Rakamaz 1631, Zólyomi's arrest 1633, Szalonta 1636) — source
  10. George I Rákóczi — Wikipedia (Kassa 1619, election 1 December 1630, the 1644–45 campaign, Brno, death 1648); Linzi béke — Hungarian Wikipedia — source
  11. George II Rákóczi — Wikipedia (Radnót, the 1657 invasion, Międzybóż, the army lost near Trembowla, deposition, death at Várad) — source
  12. Barcsay Ákos — Hungarian Wikipedia (Jenő taken 3 September 1658, Lugos and Karánsebes ceded, tribute of 40,000 gold, Szászfenes); Siege of Nagyvárad (1660) — Wikipedia — source
Method. The chain of people follows a sourced account of the polity, 1600–1660; every claim the narration makes was checked against the sources above. Borders: historical-basemaps (A. Ourednik, GPL-3.0), the c.1600 snapshot, simplified — schematic, the right states in roughly the right places. Territorial changes: modern provinces (Natural Earth) or later snapshots standing in for historical ones. Portraits: each credited with its author, licence and source on the readable page. Relief: Esri World Physical Map. Narration: Azure neural voice.
A narrated polity atlas · 1600–1660

Hungary and Transylvania, 1600–1660

How did Transylvania become a principality that emperors had to bargain with, and how did one prince's gamble cost it its western fortresses?
Scroll to drive the map, or press begin for the narrated film. Scrub backward and everything un-draws.
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