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Tállya." Further on, Prince George Rákóczi received the whole Tokaj estate with its vineyards as a privilege from the Viennese Court in 1644." In this way, the Rákóczi family became the politically strongest and greatest vineyard holder in Tokaj Wine-Region. Ihus, in the historiography, regarding the vineyard possessions in Tokaj Wine-Region, Prince George Rákóczi ITs reign was regarded as the First or Great Golden Age of Tokaj. However, there were also downsides to his rule. For example, Prince George Räköczi I as a hardliner adherent or faithful to Protestantism, did not tolerate the Jesuits in Tokaj Wine-Region.”* Therefore, he expelled them by force with his soldiers from Tokaj, and all their vineyards were confiscated to himself arbitrarily. Further on, in 1644, he seized coercively all the vineyards possessed by the free royal city of Lécse (now Levoca in Slovakia) in Erdébénye. His illegal acts had no consequences either in the Hungarian Kingdom or in Transylvanian Principality. "é With by death of Prince George Rakéczi I in 1648, the carrier of the Räkéczis started to decline in the second half of the 17° century. His eldest son, George Rakéczi IT (1621-1660; Prince: 1648-1660), who was elected, and of course, appointed as a Prince of Transylvania, gambled politically because he endeavoured to be elected and crowned as the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth without the approval of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the Prince did not take account of the political reality in that period and waged war upon the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with a huge army in 1657.” In the next year, this warfare caused very tremendous catastrophes to the Transylvanian Principality. For this reason, Prince George Räköczi Il lost his power in Transylvania in 1658 because, in the meantime, the Diet of Transylvania deposed him for undertaking an unauthorised war on Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the Prince in the same year gathered a newer Diet in Transylvania, where he was re-instated as a Prince of Transylvania again. But the Ottoman Empire did not acknowledge this fact at all and charged and overran Transylvania with an army. His troops were defeated in the battle of Szaszfenes (now Floresti, earlier Fenes in Romania), and Prince George Rak6czi II died of wounds received at the battle." At the same time, there wasn’t any exact and concrete 13, MNL-OL A 57. Vol. 7. No. 570., No. 575., No. 576., No. 626.; MNL-OL E 156. UC. No. 96:12., No. 96:13., No. 96:14., No. 96:15., No. 158:2. 4 MNL-OLE 156. UC. No. 153:15. 5 MNL-OL E 156. NRA (= Neo-Regestrata Acta). No. 719:25., No. 1251:41., ELTE EKK (= Eétvés Loránd Tudományegyetem Egyetemi Könyv és Kézirattár/ Loránd Eötvös University’s Library and Archive, Budapest, Hungary). Coll. Hev (= Collectio Hevenesiana). Cod. 7. Pag. 438-439. 16 MNL-OL E 156. UC. No. 18:1. 7 KARMAN, Gäbor, Confession and Politics in Principality of Transylvania, 1644-1657, Göttingen, Vandenhoeck Rurpecht Verlag, 2020, (Refo 500; Academic Stuides, Vol. 69.), 103-117, 157-177. Katx6, Gaspar, The Redemption of Transylvanian Army Captured by Tatars = Crimean Khanate between East and West (15” and 18” Century), ed. Denise Klein, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012, 91-106. 152
