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188
Florin Nicolae ARDELEAN
deputy, a high ranking noble bearing the title of captain general (capitaneus
generalis). The chronicler Szamosközy recounts a military trial that took place in the
Transylvanian army of prince Bocskay, army that was besieging the town of
Sighi oara during June 1605. The captain of the haiduks András Szekél, was hanged
because he left the camp without the permission of the general, in the attempt to
capture a herd of cattle. Following this events he and some of his soldiers entered a
village during market day and murdered five men 13 . In this particular situation the
Transylvanian army was lead by the captain general Ladislau Gyulaffi, because
Bocskay was spending most of his time in Upper Hungary fighting against the
Habsburgs. It was not an unusual fact for a group of soldiers to leave the main body
or the army with the purpose of plunder. Sometimes they were even lead by their
superior officers. Plunder was considered a legitimate source of income for soldiers
and such behavior was usually accepted by military leaders of the early modern age.
One of the reasons behind the execution of Captain András Szekél was his
disobedience towards his superior officer (in this case the leader of the army, the
captain general Ladislau Gyulaffi). The plunder foray was probably initiated without
the knowledge or consent of the captain general, endangering the achievement of the
main objective of the campaign. Also the crimes committed against the civil
population could not be overlooked if we take into account the fact that Bocskay was
making efforts to obtain the full recognition of the Transylvanian estates for his
position as ruler of the principality.
In many cases military justice was applied only when it served a precise political
purpose. In his attempt to gain the trust and loyalty of the nobility and towns in Upper
Hungary, Prince George Rákóczi I, tried to control the plunder and random
destructions of his army that was fighting against the Habsburgs in 1644. At Prešov
the Transylvanian army was stationed for a short while in the vicinity of the town,
before continuing its march against the Habsburg controlled territories. Two captains
fighting for the Transylvanian prince remained behind with their men and robbed a
local noble. The two captains, probably of noble origin, were decapitated as a result
of Rákóczi’s judgment 14 .
A more efficient military justice was also desired by the estates, that some times
during their assemblies request the prince to take sever measures especially against
foreign mercenaries that were threatening the lives and proprieties of civilians both in
times of war and peace. Such an assembly held in Alba Iulia, in the first half of May
1639, issued an article against German mercenaries, employed in the personal guard
of the prince, that were committing all sorts of crimes against inhabitants all over the
country. The estates were however ready to admit that these soldiers could only be
judged and punished by their own captains and lieutenants 15 .
13
Ioachim Crăciun, Cronicarul Szamosközy şi însemnările lui privitoare la români 1566-1608, Cluj,
1928, p. 188.
14
Georg Kraus, Cronica Transilvaniei 1608-1665, Bucureşti, 1965, p. 115.
15
Szilágyi Sándor (ed.) Monumenta Comitialia Regni Transylvaniae, vol. X, Budapest, 1884, doc. XXI,
art. XXI, p. 221.