354

Election of John Sobieski

[1673-7

garrison into Kameniec and advanced to the siege of Khoczim. Under its walls he was attacked by Sobieski, and suffered a defeat hardly less signal and complete than that of St Gothard (November 11, 1673). On the previous day King Michael had died, and the throne of Poland was once more vacant. In spite of the perilous condition of the kingdom, there was no lack of foreign candidates. Among the princes discussed was James, Duke of York, who had just been deprived of office in England by his notable refusal to comply with the provisions of the Test Act. But the most formidable competitors were those who could count on the support of either France or Austria. The Emperor again favoured Charles Leopold of Lorraine, whose prospective duchy had been in French occupation since 1670. To strengthen his candidature Charles Leopold was eager to marry the widow of the late King. Philip William of Neuburg was still living, but on this occasion put forward his son, who could claim descent through his mother from King Sigismund III, and who was equally willing to marry the dowager Queen. The French envoy was instructed to oppose at all costs the election of Charles of Lorraine, to give a sort of official support to the Neuburg prince, but to act with such prudent opportunism that whoever gained the Crown should believe himself indebted for it to the support of France.

As might have been anticipated, the choice of the Diet fell upon the vigorous champion of the nation's honour, John Sobieski (May 21, 1674). His accession was a triumph for Louis XIV, as that of his predecessor had been for the Emperor. Sobieski was bound to France by early associations, by the influence of his wife, Mary d'Arquien, and by his identification during recent years with the French party in Poland. Louis naturally sought to make the most of what might prove invaluable assistance in the east. He sent the Marquis of Béthune, who had married an elder sister of the new Queen of Poland, to carry his congratulations to Sobieski; and on June 11, 1675, a treaty of alliance was signed between France and Poland. The Polish King was to receive a subsidy of 200,000 crowns, and French assistance in the design of restoring Polish suzerainty over East Prussia. In return, he was to allow recruiting in his dominions for the French service and to give a helping hand to the Hungarian rebels. Thus Louis had it in his power to stir up formidable difficulties which would divert the forces of Austria and also those of the Elector of Brandenburg, who had rejoined the coalition against France. On May 27, 1677, Béthune signed a treaty with Apaffy and his allies by which, in return for French subsidies and aid from Poland, an army of 15,000 men was to make war upon the Emperor

1 Charles Leopold of Lorraine succeeded his uncle Charles III in 1675 in the titular duchy which he never ruled. Although he failed in his candidature for the Polish Crown, he married the Archduchess Eleonora Maria, the widow of King Michael, in 1678. The grandson of this marriage, Francis Stephen, became the husband of Maria Theresa and the ancestor of the later House of Lorraine-Habsburg.

1

1675-8]

Poland, Turkey, and Hungary

355

under the command of Teleki. Between these two dates, great efforts were made by France to bring about peace between Poland and Turkey. So long as the war lasted, neither Power could give effective assistance to Hungary; but its termination would enable France to bring either the Turks or the Poles into the field against the Emperor. The task was a difficult one, because Kiuprili refused to surrender any of the conquests of 1672, and Sobieski could only hope to make the Crown hereditary in his family by freeing Polish soil from the infidel. In 1675 the Polish King won a second brilliant victory at Lemberg. But the Turk had the more lasting resources, and in 1676 Sobieski found himself hemmed in by superior numbers. In October he agreed to the Treaty of Zurawna, by which the Turks retained the greater part of Podolia with the town of Kameniec, but recognised Polish suzerainty over western Ukraine.

In spite of all this diplomatic activity, the Hungarian revolt gained little from foreign assistance, and exerted far less influence upon the western war than had been anticipated at Versailles. Apaffy found it necessary to regulate his actions in accordance with the will of the Porte, which was not yet prepared for an open rupture with Austria. Ahmad Kiuprili, who had extended the empire of Turkey to its furthest bounds in Europe by the inclusion of Neuhäusel in its Hungarian dominions and by the acquisition of Podolia and Crete, died a few days after the signing of the Treaty of Zurawna. His successor, Kara Mustafa, had by his energy and strength of will gained the confidence of the two Kiuprilis and the favour of the Sultan. He had become son-in-law of Mohammad, and thus brother-in-law of Ahmad Kiuprili. In all his actions he displayed that hatred and haughty contempt for the Giaours which had been handed down from the days of Turkish triumph. Already, as Kamakam (deputy of the Vezir), he had persuaded Mohammad IV to express to the French Minister his willingness to make war upon the Emperor as soon as peace was made with Poland. This momentous decision was formally approved by the French Council of State, and the conclusion of the Treaty of Zurawna was welcomed with enthusiasm at Versailles. But, though Kara Mustafa never abandoned his design, he was compelled to postpone its execution. The Cossack Hetman Doroszenko, profoundly disappointed by the Treaty of Zurawna, appealed to the Tsar for assistance against his recent allies. In 1677 the Turks found themselves involved in a war with Russia — the one Christian Power for which they entertained a vague but real respect. So long as this war continued, it was hopeless for France or any other Power to expect Turkish intervention. Apaffy found it advisable to restrain his enthusiasm for the Hungarian rebels. In 1678 his representative, Teleki, withdrew of his own accord from the command of the insurgent forces and adroitly suggested as his successor Emeric Tökölyi, who was betrothed to his daughter. The new Hungarian leader possessed all the personal qualities which gain affection and loyalty; and his name still holds a high place in the traditions of his countrymen.

356

France, Poland, and Austria

[1677-9 But, in spite of his fiery courage, his persuasive eloquence, his constancy in misfortune, and the dramatic vicissitudes of his career, it is clear that the hatred of Austria which he inherited from his father was stronger than his devotion to the real interests of his country, and that his action on more than one momentous occasion was determined by personal ambition. It was of evil omen that he celebrated his acceptance of the national leadership by the issue of coins which had on their reverse the legend, "Tökölyi princeps partium Hungariae dominus," and on their obverse," Ludovicus XIV, Galliae Rex, Protector Hungariae."

The disappointment caused in France by the failure of the Turks to take up arms against Austria was neither so bitter nor so lasting as the resentment excited by the defection of Poland. Both personal and political motives combined to bring this about. The grasping Mary d'Arquien complained that the pension given her as Queen was no larger than that which she had received as the wife of the Grand Hetman, and demanded the elevation of her father, a dissipated elderly nobleman, from the rank of marquis to that of duke and peer of France. Louis XIV refused to grant this impudent request, and excused his apparent parsimony by recalling the large sums which he had expended in the Polish election. Sobieski himself, while as a doting husband he supported his wife's demands, felt that Louis had, for his own reasons, urged him into the Treaty of Zurawna, though he could have extorted better terms if he had waited for Russian assistance. Besides, Poland was overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, and its clergy, as well as the Pope, opposed the giving of aid to the Hungarian Protestants. In truth, had Sobieski followed the dictates of France, he must have incurred the hostility of his subjects. Although he received the crown on less onerous terms than his predecessor, he was only the first magistrate of a republic. Thus, in spite of the efforts of Béthune, the Polish King drifted further from France and nearer to the Emperor, who held out a prospect of his daughter's hand being given to Sobieski's son, and of the King's father-in-law becoming a Prince of the Empire and being endowed with lands in Silesia. In 1677 Sobieski pledged himself to give no aid to Leopold's rebellious subjects, and went so far as to prohibit the departure of troops which Béthune had recruited in Poland for aiding the Hungarians.

In 1679 Leopold, after a good deal of hesitation, followed the example set by his allies, Holland and Spain, in making the Treaty of Nymegen with France. His troops had at the end of 1678 driven Tökölyi from his strongholds in Upper Hungary; he was secure from opposition on the part of either Poland or Turkey; and, now that his hands were free in the west, it was naturally expected that he would complete the task of subjugating Hungary, which he had begun in 1670 and which had been interrupted in 1673 by his war with France. But the Emperor, though slow and timid, was not without intelligence, and what his mind had once grasped was not readily forgotten. He had learned

1679-81]

Religious toleration in Hungary

357

one lesson thoroughly since 1668. The dream that the peace of Europe could be assured by a friendship between Bourbon and Habsburg had proved wholly illusory. Leopold realised that the ambition of France could only be satisfied by the ruin of his own House, and that all other interests, even that of religion, must be subordinated to the supreme necessity of fighting his relentless enemy. He had learned yet another lesson also, but this less thoroughly. He was convinced, for the time at any rate, that his policy of harshness and persecution in Hungary had been ill-judged and unsuccessful, and he was prepared to try the alternative method of conciliation. He was further impelled in the same direction by the dictatorial measures of Louis XIV, the Chambers of Reunion, the ominous annexation in 1681 of Strassburg and Casale, and the difficulty of inducing the States of Europe or even of Germany to take any active measures against the monstrous encroachments of France. Under these circumstances it was eminently desirable to adopt any means of healing the open sore in Hungary. And so, in 1679, Leopold recalled Ampringen, whose rule was as distasteful to patriotic Catholics as to oppressed Protestants. In the next year he concluded a truce with Tökölyi which was later extended for two years. In 1681 he convened a Diet at Oedenburg, at which very great concessions were offered. The office of Governor was abolished, while that of Palatine was restored and conferred upon the popular Paul Esterházy. A complete amnesty was promised for past disloyalty, and even the Catholics consented to a decree that no Hungarian should henceforth be molested in the free exercise of his religion. A large number of towns and villages were named in which the erection of Protestant churches was allowed. The Emperor was to observe his coronation oath with regard to the maintenance of foreign troops, and was to take the advice of a Hungarian council upon Hungarian affairs.

Substantial as these concessions were, and extremely distasteful to the Catholic party, they failed to satisfy either the extreme Protestants or the extreme nationalists. Emeric Tökölyi declined to attend the Diet at Oedenburg, rejected its decrees as inadequate and insincere, and at the close of 1681 sent three envoys to Constantinople to offer to the Sultan the suzerainty over Hungary. His motives and their justification will always be open to dispute. From the Austrian point of view, he acted as the hireling of France and as an ambitious and unscrupulous rebel who was resolved at all costs to gain a principality for himself. From the opposite point of view, he was the resolute defender of political and religious liberty who refused to be deluded by the deceptive promises of an intolerant despot-promises which were only extorted by the fear of France and Turkey and would be withdrawn as soon as that fear had disappeared. The truth probably lies between the two extremes, and the desire to avenge the deaths of his father's associates in 1671 may

358

Turkish hostility to Austria

[1682

have weighed quite as much with Tökölyi as the love of liberty or personal ambition.

The conduct of the Imperial Government in the year 1682 displayed equal short-sightedness and irresolution. In the previous year the Turks had concluded the war with Russia by abandoning the Ukraine and leaving Kieff to be a Russian city. In January, 1682, the envoys of Tökölyi received the definite assurance of Turkish support. Kara Mustafa never wavered in his intention of undertaking the direct attack upon Vienna which he had planned six years before. The very fact that the plan was opposed by rival aspirants to the Sultan's favour made him the more resolute to insist upon a policy which had become essential to the maintenance of his own ascendancy. But, in spite of warnings, Leopold and his Ministers refused to believe in the imminence of danger from the east. They had decided at the end of 1681 to send Count Albert Caprara as a special envoy to demand the prolongation of the Truce of Vasvar, which would expire in 1684. Although their resident ambassador warned them that a special mission would be interpreted as a proof of fear and weakness, they had little doubt as to the acceptance of their demand. They continued the policy of conciliation in Hungary, and carried complaisance so far as to give approval to a marriage between Tökölyi, who had repudiated his betrothal to Teleki's daughter, and Helen Zrinyi, the widow of Francis Rákcózy. A representative of the Emperor attended the wedding, which was celebrated on June 15, 1682, at the bride's castle of Munkács. By this marriage Tökölyi strengthened his hold upon the patriotic party, and brought under his control not only the greatest inheritance in Hungary but also the person of his stepson, Francis Rákóczy II, the heir to a great name and an inspiring tradition.

In the summer the confidence of the Austrian Ministers received a rude shock. Caprara reported that the Turks evaded his demands by suggesting impossible conditions for the renewal of the treaty, and that in his opinion the Vezir was resolved upon war. Tökölyi, once secure of his bride (who was fourteen years his senior), concluded a treaty with the Pasha of Buda, raised the standard of revolt in the name of "God and liberty," and overpowered the surprised garrisons in Upper Hungary. But blindness still prevailed in Vienna. In September the truce with Tökölyi was renewed, leaving him in possession of his recent conquests; and the triumphant rebel was actually accepted as mediator to endeavour to bring about the prolongation of peace with the Turks. Under the influence of the Spanish ambassador, Marquis Borgomainero, more time was spent in discussing the measures for checking the distant aggressions of Louis XIV than in providing for the defence of Austria and its capital. Meanwhile Kara Mustafa was deceiving Caprara by artfully spaced-out interviews, and was employing the time in making elaborate preparations for a campaign which might, so far as official