Ferenc Rákóczi, who with his kuruc troops led the first concerted revolt to free Hungary from Habsburg domination back in the early XVIIIth century.

300th anniversary (in 2003) of the outbreak of the Ferenc Rákóczi and Imre Thököly-led insurrection which broke out in 1703 and ended sadly with the capitulation of the Hungarians in 1711 and the exile of Rákóczi and his followers to Turkey.

Ferenc Rákóczi II (1676-1735) lived in turbulent times. His father, Ferenc Rákóczi I (1645-1676) had held the lofty position of lifelong Prince (Fejedelem) of Transylvania, but the Turks deprived him of his throne. He had married Ilona Zrínyi of another illustrious noble Hungarian family and became involved in the Zrínyi-Frangepan conspiracy against the ruling Habsburgs. He was caught and Ilona had to pay his ransom, but he died, leaving two children, Julianna who eventually married the Italian Prince Aspremonte, and Ferenc II, who, aged 12, after ceding Munkács Castle was interred with his mother and sister in Vienna. The Habsburg Emperor Leopold took Ferenc as his ward, but in 1692 he escaped, returning to his family nest in Transylvania.

Touched by the desperation of the Hungarians suffering from Austrian oppression, in 1700 Rákóczi appealed to King Louis XIV of France, who provided him with arms and funds to mount his revolution. Unfortunately, the Austrians got wind of this and took him prisoner. Rákóczi escaped to Poland and it was from there that he, with 3,000 Hungarian kuruc soldiers, proceeded to march to the Danube, capturing the people’s hearts and their loyalty in the territories along the way. In 1707 Louis XIV urged Parliament to cast out the Habsburg House, declaring them illegitimate, but this was not enough to guarantee Rákóczi’s power.

The Hungarian military proved insufficient against the Austrians and Rákóczi was forced into exile. The brave kuruc troops laid down their arms in 1711 and the Hungarians signed the ignominious peace agreement at Szatmár. In 1715, from his exile in Turkey, Rákóczi attempted to mount another insurrection against the Habsburgs, but the Turks prevented his renewed actions to incite revolt.

During the long years of exile, Rákóczi and his sizeable retinue of loyal Hungarians lived in the town of Rodostó on the coast of the Sea of Maromora in Turkey, where the distinct quarter with its "Hungarian Houses" bears witness to their illustrious inhabitants of three centuries ago. Unfortunately, the wooden houses are in bad repair. The house of Rákóczi’s general, Miklós Bercsényi, has already collapsed and the remains have been removed (see N Kósa Judit, Bercsényi házát mar elbontották, Népszabadság, Kultura section, January 29, 2003).

Rákóczi’s Hungarian tutor Kelemen Mikes (1692-1762) followed the great leader into exile and in his famous Letters from Turkey recorded the life of Rákóczi’s Hungarian retinue. Mikes’s writings are now being re-examined, edited and published. Mikes, who never married, remained practically alone in Rodostó after Rákóczi’s death in 1735 and died of the plague aged 70. His poignant lines, "Where shall I go – at least here I can hear the ocean’s mighty roar, where Rákóczi’s great spirit lies in final peace," are often quoted.

Through the centuries, the cult of Rákóczi grew. In 1906 the writer and politician Kálmán Thaly (1839-1909) succeeded in bringing Rákóczi’s remains home to Hungary. With great pomp, Rákóczi’s and Thököly’s bones were laid to rest in a special crypt in the Dom (cathedral) in Kassa in Upper Hungary (now Kosice in Slovakia).

There are numerous institutions and associations named for the legendary leader. The Rodostó Alapítvány (foundation) is today the principal activist in attempts to rescue the Hungarian houses in Turkey in order to preserve this shrine to these earliest of Hungarian freedom fighters.