Hungary, and even in such towns as there were, most of the wealthy burgesses spoke German.
The most important event of the eighteenth century in Hungary was the war for freedom waged by Prince Francis Rákóczy II. against the Habsburg dynasty. Rákóczy's mother was Ilona Zrinyi, already mentioned as the heroic defender of the fortress of Munkács against the Austrians. Afterwards, she married Imre Thököly, who became a prominent leader in the wars of Rákóczy II., and died in exile in Asia Minor. When Austria treated Hungary as a conquered province, Vienna looked upon Rákóczy as the centre and soul of the national efforts to secure independence. The war lasted from 1703 to 1711, and ended in Rákóczy's exile.
But in spite of these depressing circumstances, there were two brilliant literary phenomena, both of them connected with the magic name of Rákóczy. One was the masterly prose of Rákóczy's faithful follower, Count Kelemen Mikes, and the other, the poetry born in the camp of Rákóczy's soldiers, called the Kurucz army. There sprang up among Rákóczy's soldiers an interesting, folk-like poetry—the Kurucz poetry,[1] sometimes uncouth, but full of strength and genuine feeling.
The poems do not all belong to the time of Rákóczy's war (1703–1711), for some were written during the earlier Kurucz wars, in which Imre Thököly, Ilona Zrinyi's husband, was the leader . But the most characteristic
- ↑ The word Kurucz is derived from the Latin crux, a cross. In the sixteenth century the powers wished to form an army of crusaders to march against the Turks. In the course of the proceedings, however, some regiments revolted against the nobility or their generals. Rebels were first called Kurucz on account of their symbol the crux. Later on, when the armies of Thököly and Rákóczy were rebel troops, the name Kurucz was also attached to them.
