György Rákóczi II (30 January 1621 – 7 June 1660), a Transylvanian Hungarian ruler, was the eldest son of George I and Susanna Lorantffy.
Born in Sárospatak, Hungary, he was elected prince of Transylvania during his father's lifetime (19 February 1642), and married (3 February 1643), Sophia Bathory, who was previously compelled by his mother to reject the Roman Catholic faith and turn Calvinist.
On ascending the throne (October 1648), his first thought was to realize his father's Polish ambitions. 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 (Vasile Lupu and Matei Basarab). It was not, however, until the Treaty of Radnot of late 1656, when in early 1657, as the ally of Charles X Gustav, that he led a force of 40,000 men against the Polish king, John Casimir in the third part of Second Northern War (1655-1660), also known as The Deluge.
He took Cracow and entered Warsaw with the Swedes, but the moment his allies withdrew the whole scheme collapsed. In July 1657, his forces were defeated by the Polish army in the battle at Czarny Ostrów, and it was only on the most humiliating terms that the Poles finally allowed him to return to Transylvania. Here (3 November 1657) the diet, at the command of the Porte, deposed him for undertaking an unauthorized war, but in January 1658 he was reinstated by the Medgyes Diet. Again he was deposed by the grand vizier, and again reinstated as if nothing had happened, but all in vain. The Turks again invaded Transylvania, and Rákóczy died at Nagyvarad of the wounds received at the battle of Gyalu (Gilău) (May 1660).
| Preceded by George I Rákóczi |
Prince of Transylvania 1648-1660 |
Succeeded by John Kemény |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.