György Rákóczi II a Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

n Hungarian ruler, was the eldest son of George I

George I Rákóczi

György Rákóczi I was elected Hungarian prince of Transylvania from 1630 until his death. During his influence Transylvania grew politically and economically stronger.-Biography:...

 and Susanna Lorantffy.

Born in Sárospatak

Sárospatak

----Sárospatak is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, northern Hungary. It lies northeast from Miskolc, in the Bodrog river valley. The town, often called simply Patak, is an important cultural centre.- History :The area has been inhabited since ancient times...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, he was elected prince of Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 during his father's lifetime (19 February 1642), and married (3 February 1643), Sophia Bathory, who was previously compelled by his mother to reject the Roman Catholic faith and turn Calvinist.

On ascending the throne (October 1648), his first thought was to realize his father's Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 ambitions. With this object in view, he allied himself, in the beginning of 1649, with the Cossack

Cossack

Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

 hetman

Hetman

Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....

, Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state...

, and the hospodar

Hospodar

Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or "master".The rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia were styled hospodars in Slavic writings from the 15th century to 1866. Hospodar was used in addition to the title voivod...

s of Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 and Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

 (Vasile Lupu

Vasile Lupu

Vasile Lupu was a Moldavian Voivode between 1634 and 1653. Vasile Coci surnamed "the wolf" who ruled as Prince of Moldavia had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was of Albanian origin and Greek education...

 and Matei Basarab

Matei Basarab

Matei Basarab was a Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654.-Reign:Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637, 1639, and 1653 - see Battle of Finta...

). It was not, however, until the Treaty of Radnot

Treaty of Radnot

Treaty of Radnot was a treaty signed during the Second Northern War in Radnot in Transylvania on 6 December 1656. The treaty divided the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between the signing parties.According to the treaty:...

 of late 1656, when in early 1657, as the ally of Charles X Gustav, that he led a force of 40,000 men against the Polish king, John Casimir

John II Casimir of Poland

John II Casimir was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania during the era of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Duke of Opole in Upper Silesia, and titular King of Sweden 1648–1660. In Poland, he is known and commonly referred as Jan Kazimierz. His parents were Sigismund III Vasa and...

 in the third part of Second Northern War (1655-1660), also known as The Deluge

The Deluge (Polish history)

The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish–Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and...

.

He took Cracow

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 and entered Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 with the Swedes, but the moment his allies withdrew the whole scheme collapsed. In July 1657, his forces were defeated by the Polish army in the battle at Czarny Ostrów, and it was only on the most humiliating terms that the Poles finally allowed him to return to Transylvania. Here (3 November 1657) the diet

Diet (assembly)

In politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is mainly used historically for the Imperial Diet, the general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and for the legislative bodies of certain countries.-Etymology:...

, at the command of the Porte, deposed him for undertaking an unauthorized war, but in January 1658 he was reinstated by the Medgyes Diet. Again he was deposed by the grand vizier, and again reinstated as if nothing had happened, but all in vain. The Turks again invaded Transylvania, and Rákóczy died at Nagyvarad

Oradea

Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...

 of the wounds received at the battle of Gyalu

Gilau, Cluj

Gilău is a commune in Cluj County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Gilău, Someşu Cald and Someşu Rece.- Demographics :According to the census from 2002 there was a total population of 7,861 people living in this town. Of this population, 83.43% are ethnic Romanians, 9.45% are ethnic...

(Gilău) (May 1660).