The Székelys, sometimes also referred to as Szeklers
(Hungarian: székelyek, Romanian: Secui, German: Szekler, Latin: Siculi), are a
subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land. A
significant population descending from the Székelys of Bukovina lives in Tolna
and Baranya counties in Hungary and in certain districts of Vojvodina, Serbia.
The Székely light cavalry fit perfectly into the medieval
Hungarian military forces, supplementing the army of armoured knights. They
were especially effective against nomadic invaders from the East, using similar
fighting methods and strategies. One of their first recorded military victories
is from the 1280s, when Székelys of the Aranyos Seat attacked and partly
destroyed the Tatar troops returning to Moldova packed with loot. But Székelys
were not only defending Transylvania, they took part in campaigns abroad, too.
In 1499, when armed clashes with the Ottoman Empire and its
vassal states became regular, a diploma issued by King Vladislaus II (II.
Ulászló) reaffirmed the conditions under which the Székelys provided military
services:
"When the
King personally leads his army towards the East, against Moldova, each one of
the Székely cavalrymen and infantrymen are required to be under arms, go before
the Royal Army and wait for the battle abroad for 15 days on their own expense.
Also, on the way back, they shall go behind the Royal Army. When His Majesty
sends his personal deputy to the East, half of the Székelys should accompany
him as described."
In a similar way, half of the Székelys supported the king
during his campaigns against Wallachia and 1/5 of them if the army was only led
by a deputy. Common Székelys did not participate personally in wars with
Western and Northern countries; however, they were obliged to hire mercenaries
and send them in battle under the leadership of Székely captains. As a result of
their military services, Székelys had equal rights to the Hungarian nobles.
They were exempted from paying taxes and, when visiting the feudal noble
counties, even the poorest of them were treated as free people. As the diploma
of King Vladislaus II explains: "Therefore the Székelys, as nobles by
rights granted by glorious Hungarian Kings of the past, are exempt from any tax
or other duties, and are free." Following an old tradition, every landed
household gave an ox as a present to the king when he was crowned, when he got
married, and when a child was born in the royal family.
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Western-style mailed cavalry formed the core of Hungarian
armies. Yet the employment of steppe peoples- the Pechenegs, Szeklers, and
Cumans-as auxiliary light cavalry gave Hungarian armies a distinctive, hybrid
character and a tactical edge. The advantages of tactical combination of heavy
cavalry and horse archers were displayed with decisive results at the battle of
Dtirnkrut (Marchfield) in 1278, when the Hungarian armoured cavalry and their
Cuman auxiliaries played an important part in Emperor Rudolf’s momentous
victory. This hybrid military system was further developed under Louis the
Great. His Italian adventures in the 1340S and 1350S were pursued with armies
composed of 'lances', each of which consisted of a heavily armoured man-at-arms
and a group of lightly equipped horse archers. In the later fifteenth century,
it was light cavalry (the original 'hussars') who provided the rapid reaction
forces which backed-up Hungary's southern frontier fortifications and launched
raids (portycik) into Ottoman territory So dominant was light cavalry in King
Matthias Corvinus's army that the capabilities and limitations of these troops
effectively determined the way in which that army fought.
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Michael the Brave (1593-1601), prince of Wallachia and then
of the three Romanian principalities, was one of the most prominent
personalities in Romanian military. Michael transferred economic and political
power to the great boyars, a move that hurt the peasants' social and economic
conditions. In that context, emerged in Wallachia at the end of the 15th
century, the armies of Michael the Brave were heterogeneous, comprising,
besides Wallachians and Moldavians, Polish riders with shields, hussars, Hungarians
from Transylvania, Szecklers, Kazakhs, Serbians, Albanians, Greeks, and
Bulgarian mercenaries. Michael the Brave's military force consisted of both a
permanent army and a temporary one.
The pan-Romanian front started to take shape in the winter
of 1594-1595 when the Romanian rulers were practically fighting against the
Ottoman Empire within the Holy League, the major anti-Ottoman coalition led by
the Hapsburg emperor Rudolph II. However, when 100,000 Ottomans led by Sinan
Pasha invaded Wallachia, Michael had, besides his 16,000 people, only one
Transylvanian army corps of 7,000 people, most of them Szeklers who were led by
Albert Kiraly. The victory in Călugăreni on Neajlov-Arges, on 13 August 1595
won renown, but the counteroffensive of the Romanian principalities' forces
gathered in Rucăr was even more well-known and efficient from a military
standpoint. It led to the defeat of the Ottoman troops in the town of Giurgiu
while they were on their way back over the Danube after having temporarily
conquered the cities of Bucharest and Târgovişte.
After the Ottoman threat decreased, the prince of
Transylvania, cardinal Andrei Bathory, with the support of Poland started
threatening the rule of Michael the Brave in Wallachia. This is why the
Wallachian prince made a preventive strike, crossing the mountains and defeating
the Transylvanian army in Şelimbăr in 1599. This was, as the Romanian historian
Nicolae Iorga says, the first battle Michael the Brave fought on open terrain
against an army used to fighting according to Western custom. The same threat
was posed by Ieremia Movilă in Moldavia, who was serving the Polish interests;
this incited Michael to start a military campaign east of the Carpathians.
After that action he was entitled to call himself, in May 1600, ``by the grace
of God, prince of Wallachia, Transylvania, and all Moldavia.'' Romanian
historians have not yet agreed on the true reasons for Michael the Brave's
unifying the three principalities. Historical, ethnic, and religious arguments
proved that it may have been only a strategic-military action, a typical
medieval territorial expansion, or a military step toward a much larger
political project.
Poland, which had lost its influence in Moldavia, the
emperor Rudolph II of Transylvania, and the Hungarian nobles opposed this
unexpected situation and could not accept falling under the authority of a
Wallachian prince who imposed his own nobles. These leaders were also hostile
to Michael's attempts to rebuild his authority as prince of all three Romanian
principalities. This common attitude aided the Hungarian nobles in
Transylvania, who were led by general Gheorghe Basta, in defeating Michael in
the village of Mirăslău on 16 September 1600. Near the Wallachian border,
Michael was defeated again by the Moldavian and Polish forces led by Jan
Zamosky. Under these unpleasant circumstances, Michael was forced to ask for
Rudolph II's support at the Imperial Court in Prague.
The Hapsburg emperor
negotiated a reconciliation between Prince Michael and General Basta. That
reconciliation led to the defeat of Sigismund Bathory on 3 August in a battle
in Gorăslău. After that victory, Michael succeeded only in entering Cluj,
Transylvania's major town. After only five days, on 9 August 1601, he was
murdered at the orders of General Basta in the camp in Campia Turzii.
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