Southeast Europe

ased on ethnic criteria were formed, the alliance contributed to the exclusion of the
Romanians from the political system of Transylvania.
The 15 th century saw deep changes inside the borders of Transylvania. There was a
remarkable change in the condition of the serfs. Ethnically speaking, they were
heterogeneous: Romanians, a few Saxons, and Hungarians. The nobility tried to add to
the serfs’ responsibility because of economic development and the monetary circulation
and also because of its increasing need for protection. All these led to the abovementioned
mutiny (Erdély rövid története, 1989: 176-194, Engel, Kristó, Kubinyi,
1998:180-184).
After the death of the Hungarian King, Matthias Corvinus (1490), Hungary was
weakened both inside and outside its borders. In 1526 the Ottoman army defeated
Hungary in the battle of Mohács. After a short controversial period, during which the
former leader of Transylvania and Ferdinand the Hapsburg fought each other for the
throne of Hungary, the Turks conquered Buda, the Hungarian capital, in 1541. Thus the
Hungarian Kingdom was divided into three parts. The Turks transformed the middle
part into a pashalic, while the Hapsburg Empire held on to the western and the northern
parts. These areas enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy within the Hapsburg Empire. In
addition, a new political entity subordinated to the Ottoman suzerainty was formed in
the east (Barta, 1979).
Besides the Principality of Transylvania, the new political entity also included the
eastern part of Hungary, called “Partium Regni Hungariae” (the Hungarian parts). We
must point out that historical Transylvania did not overlap with the Principality of
Transylvania. Recently, the name of Transylvania has been used to refer to all territories
that belonged to Hungary before WW I and have been part of Romania since then.
Nonetheless, some clarification must be made in connection with certain historical
documents, because both the legal status of Transylvania and the way the ethnic groups
were treated in the Partium were different from those in the Principality (Roth, 1996:14,
Erdély rövid története, 1989: 232-233).
Religious reform reached the country in the 16th century. Germans and Hungarians
gradually took up new religions: the Saxons adhered to Lutheranism, while the
Hungarians (Szeklers included) turned to Calvinism and then to Anti-trinitarianism (also
named Unitarianism). Few of them (Szeklers in the Chair of Ciuc and in Three Chairs)
stuck to their Catholic religion. There was a remarkable tendency to combine ethnicity
with religion. Romanians kept their Orthodox religion. They could practice it, but
because it was a “barely tolerated” religion, Romanians did not share the same
privileges as the others. In the 16 th century – especially towards the middle of it –
Transylvania was ready to accept the new religious trends. Transylvania was the land of
“free religion”. The Diet issued laws that regulated all these religious orders, stipulating
in 1568 that nobody could be persecuted because of their religion, or compelled to adopt
principles that were contrary to their belief. Hence, the four religions (Catholic,
Reformed, Lutheran or Evangelical, and Unitarian) were considered official in
Transylvania. Orthodoxy, however, is not to be found among them. It was tolerated just
because Romanians were expected to adhere to the reform. This was a wise decision
considering the specific situation of the Principality i.e. foreign power that requested
unity inside the borders and balance in politics. It was also a model of peaceful coexistence
of the different ethnic and religious groups (Gündisch, 1998:81-87, Erdély
története I, 1987: 459-482).
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