Kuruc
Kuruc (Hungarian: [ˈkurut͡s], plural kurucok[a]), also spelled kurutz,[2][3][4] refers to a group of armed anti-Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
The name quickly became popular and was used from 1671 to 1711 in texts written in Hungarian, Slovak and Turkish to denote the rebels of Royal Hungary and northern Transylvania, fighting against the Habsburgs and their policies.
[13] The leader of the last of the kuruc rebellions, Francis II Rákóczi, did not use the term, instead using the French word insurgents or malcontents to highlighting their purposes.
Source:[15] After the Magnate conspiracy and rebellion of Francis I Rákóczi, Leopold I introduced an absolutistic government system in Royal Hungary (which was not occupied by the Ottomans and was not part of the Transylvanian Principality).
Citizens of Pozsony, including both men and women, guarded their church for weeks Szelepcsényi was not able to fight against them until, in 1672, Kollonics took matters into his own hands.
The subject of the coup was political crimes — the connection of the Lutheran and Reformed pastors with the pasha of Buda and the plan of an open rebellion, the main evidence of which was the indictment of István Vitnyédy's letters to Miklós Bethlen and Ambrus Keczer.
The oppressed Hungarians sought refuge in Transylvania, but the Prince Apafi didn't have permission from the Ottomans to let them in, so they started to gather by the Tisza river.
The kuruc army gathered in the Partium where many refugees of different origins took shelter from religious and political persecution in Royal Hungary.
Later, when the Turks lost ground to the imperial armies and Austrian despotism intensified, the Habsburg oppression of Hungarians played an increasingly important role in the motivation of the kuruc.
Initially, in August 1672, the kuruc army invaded Upper Hungary, where they conquered the castles of Diósgyőr, Ónod, Szendrő and Tokaj.
After they defeated the Habsburg army of Paris von Spankau near Kassa, the towns of Upper Hungary surrendered and many disaffected people joined them from the Slovak and Ruthenian population of the northern counties.
The two leaders of the army of "fugitives" were Pál Szepesi and Mátyás Szuhay, members of the minor nobility who previously took part in other anti-Habsburg movements.
According to the recollections of Pál Szepesi, the "fugitives" began looting in the northern countries: "In the guise of persecuting the Papists they pillaged whole counties.
"[citation needed] The Hofkriegsrat of Vienna immediately took measures: they strengthened the Habsburg troops, called more soldiers from Lower Hungary and made peace with the Hajduks.
The most infamous case was the trial of 300 Protestant pastors who were sentenced to death in 1674, and who were later sold as galley slaves in Naples, causing public outcry across Europe.
According to the plan, Royal Hungary would be occupied by three Austrian armies, the remnants of the Hungarian constitution abolished and a grand-scale program of German colonisation implemented.
He announced that he, along with the Polish and French kings, took up the arms against "the heavy yoke of oppression" and recommended "the submission to the mighty Turkish Emperor with a reasonable mind and sharp eye."
The kuruc army of Teleki, together with the Polish and French troops, advanced well into Upper Hungary but immediately retreated into Transylvania at the sight of the first Habsburg regiments.
On the other hand, a small kuruc cavalry troop (about 8,000 people) briefly occupied the most important mining towns and castles of Lower Hungary.
In 1681, Emperor Leopold I re-established the Palatine of Hungary, and thus some grievances were removed and a less repressive policy was adopted, but this did not deter the Hungarians from revolting again.
In the first half of the 18th century, "kuruc" was generally used to denote Hungarian cavalry soldiers (hussars) serving in the Habsburg army, especially in the time of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).
In present-day South German language, Kruzitürken is a swear word, combining Kuruzen (Kuruc) and Türken (Turks), meaning "curse it."
