George II Rákóczi

Who was George II Rákóczi?

György Rákóczi II, was a Hungarian nobleman, Prince of Transylvania, the eldest son of George I and Zsuzsanna Lorántffy.

Born in Sárospatak, Hungary, he was elected prince of Transylvania during his father's lifetime. He married Sophia Bathory on 3 February 1643, who was first required by his mother to reject Roman Catholicism and turn Calvinist.

On ascending the throne, his first thought was to realize his father's amnbitions in Poland. With this object in view, he allied himself, in the beginning of 1649, with the Cossack hetman, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and the hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia, but took no action for several years. In late 1656, by the Treaty of Radnot, he also allied with King Charles X Gustav of Sweden. In early 1657, he led a force of 40,000 men against King John II Casimir of Poland in the third part of Second Northern War, also known as The Deluge. According to the Treaty, which was signed on 6 December 1656, Rakoczi was to seize the provinces of Lesser Poland and Mazovia, together with rich salt deposits in Wieliczka and Bochnia.