1526-1683 1790-1867






Transylvanian Peasants' Revolt, 1784-1785




The Principality of Transylvania, 1683-1790



In Hungarian, Transylvania is called Erdely, in Rumanian Ardeal, in German Siebenbürgen.
The 2nd Ottoman siege of Vienna was broken in the Battle of Kahlenberg 1683. In 1688 the Estates of Transylvania renounced the sovereignty of the Sultan over their country, and submitted to Emperor Leopold. After a brief Ottoman invasion Sept./Oct. 1690, in which the Turks proclaimed Imre Thököly Prince of Transylvania, the country was restored to Austrian sovereignty. The war was ended with the Peace of Carlovitz / Karlowitz (1699), in which the Ottoman Empire ceded Transylvania and Hungary except the Banat to Austria.
The Kuruc Rebellion (1703-1711) separated Transylvania from the Austrian lands; However, Habsburg sovereignty was again recognized by Transylvania's diet in the Peace of Szatmar (1711), in which the country's privileges were confirmed.
While Royal and Ottoman Hungary were reunited to form the (Habsburg) Kingdom of Hungary, Transylvania was not included, but remained a separate entity. The principality's representative body was the diet; it did not meet between 1761 and 1790. The Austrian authorities, with some success, interfered in the appointment of officials, with the result of Catholics often given preferential treatment.
Transylvania had a capital of it's own - Kolozsvar (Cluj, Klausenburg), a diet of it's own dominated by the Hungarian nobility and the often German representatives of the cities. Although Transylvania granted freedom of religion, a clear distinction was made between Accepted Confessions - Lutheranism, Calvinism, Catholicism - and Tolerated Confessions/Religions (Orthodox Christianity : the Vlachs, and Judaism). The Vlachs (Romanians), which probably formed the population majority, were not represented on Transylvania's diet.
The border regions of Transylvania were placed under military administration (MilitÄrgrenze). Alba Iulia was fortified 1715-1738.
As Hungary had seen most of the fighting during the 16-year-long Habsburg-Ottoman war, Transylvania to a lesser extent had suffered from depopulation; a resettlement policy therefore also was less important for Transylvania then for Hungary. Yet settlement did take place, changing the ethnic balance in Transylvania in favor of the Vlach (Romanian) element.

Transylvania was administrated by governors appointed from Vienna. The Habsburg administration respected the religious freedom guaranteed to Transylvania in privileges, but still favoured Catholicism. In 1713, the church at Alba Julia (Gyula Fehervar), until 1601 the seat of the bishop of Transylvania and since occupied by the protestants, was returned to the Catholic church.
From 1734 onward, protestants from Austria proper who refused to convert to Catholicism were forced to transmigrate to Transylvania (until 1774, several thousand).

Transylvania was a multinational state where the respective nations, better ethno-religious groups, had found a modus vivendi which was manifested in their privileges. The Transylvania Saxons (i.e. Lutheran Germans) claimed that within their community, everyone was equal before the law; therefore no Hungarian nobleman should be permitted to buy Saxon land (for noblemen claimed a higher status in front of the law). The Habsburg administration regarded both Transylvania's Hungarian nobility and it's Lutheran German community as suspicious elements and, by supporting Catholicism, destabilized Transylvania's political balance. The process of destabilization received another strong impulse when Emperor Joseph II. strove to cancel all old privileges, which in case of Transylvania's Lutheran German community formed the basis of it's existence and identity. Joseph II. dissolved the Transylvanian university and revoked the diploma signed by Emperor Leopold I. in 1691.

In 1700, the total population of Transylvania was estimated at 500,000; a 1721 census counted 806,221 (132,570 families). In 1787, 258,339 families were counted. The Romanian population was represented by the Orthodox clergy. Campaigns to convert the Orthodox population to Catholicism, in the late 17th century, targetted the Orthodox clergy. The conditions asked of the latter for a union with Rome were the recognition of the pope, the usage of unleavened bread in holy mass, recognition of purgatory, trinity (1697/1700, accepted by Orthodox Metropolitan Atanasie of Transylvania). The Transylvanian Uniate Church was to continue practising her traditional liturgy and canonic law. At the Synod of Alba Iulia 1697, a part of the Orthodox clergy accepted the union. In 1704 a Jesuit university was established at Nagyszombat. In 1715 a Uniate diocesis was established at Fagaras. In 1759, Maria Theresia reluctantly decreed the toleration of the Orthodox Church, and permitted the Orthodox community to name their own bishop.

By the 1720es, many Transylvanian Saxons returning from studies in Halle and elsewhere in (Lutheran) Germany were inspired by Pietism. The Lutheran bishop of Transylvania was suspicious of pietist ideology; the pietist preachers and teachers met many obstacles and were isolated, unable to implement lasting changes.
Martin Gottlieb Seuler, a Transylvanian Saxon, joined the Freemasons in 1749 and soon after founded the first Masonic lodge in the principality, which as of short duration. The Saint Andrews' Lodge, established in the mid-1760es, was the first to last.
In the 1770es, the Jesuit (since 1773 Piarist) College at Kolosvar became center of Enlightenment thought; in 1770 J. Frivaldsky suggested a comprehensive economic reform. In multiethnic Transylvania, Frivaldsky's and others' publications reached a limited, educated readership - they were written in Latin; only in the 1780es were the first scientific works published in Hungarian.
Peasant rebellions 1744 (lead by Orthodox monk Visarion), 1751, 1759 (caused by heavy taxation and excessive corvee labour demands by the nobility). 1784-1785 Peasant Revolt lead by Horia.



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EXTERNAL
LINKS 		The Rise of Transylvania, from A Short History of Austria-Hungary by H. Wickham-Steed, 1914
History of Cluj (Kolozsvar/Klausenburg), from webcluj
The Hungarians of Transylvania, from Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Rumania, timeline
Transylvania, from Catholic Encyclopedia
The Transylvania Saxons, from genealogy.net
The History of Transylvania and the Transylvanian Saxons, by Konrad Gündisch, 114 K (focusses much on the settlement history; ch. 5 : Province of the Habsburg Empire
Transylvania, the land beyond the forests online, from Alba Iulia Online
History of the Romanian Church, from Eastern Catholic Pastoral Association of Southern California, strong on Transylvania
The Romanian Catholic Church (History of), from Chronology of Catholic Dioceses
Chiesa Cattolica Rumena, from Atlas of the Church, in Italian, timeline
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Peter F. Sugar (ed.), A History of Hungary, Indiana Univ. Press 1990, 432 pp.
Istvan Lazar, Transylvania - a Short History, Safety Harbor : Ingram 1997, 274 pp., KMLA Lb.Sign. 949.84 L431t
Ernst Wagner (ed.), Quellen zur Geschichte der Siebenbürger Sachsen (Sources on the History of the Transylvania Saxons), Köln : Böhlau, 2 Vol.s, 1981, in German
Rolf Kutschera, Landtag und Gubernium in Siebenbürgen 1688-1869 (Diet and Government in Transylvania, 1688-1869), Köln : Böhlau 1985, in German
Ernst Nowotny, Die Transmigration Ober- und Innerösterreichischer Protestanten nach Siebenbürgen (the Transmigration of Protestants from Upper and Inner Austria to Transylvania), Jena : Fischer 1931
Keith Hitchins, Die Idee der Nation bei den Rumänen in Transsilvanien (1691-1849) (The Concept of the Nation with the Romanians of Transylvania, 1691-1849), Bucharest : Edition Stiintifica si Enciclopedica 1989, in German
Uniatism in Romania, by Mircea Pacurariu, account of History of Transylvanian Uniate Church, Bucharest 1991, Online Book
Milton G. Lehrer, Transylvania. History and Reality, Bartleby Press 1986 [G]
Laszlo Makkai and Andraj Mocsy (ed.), History of Transylvania. Vol. I, Vol. II : From 1606 to 1830, online book posted by Magyar Elektronikus Konyvtar


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on June 4th 2006

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