Mózes Székely (1553 – 17 July 1603) was a Transylvanian nobleman of Székely descent and briefly ruled as Prince of Transylvania.
MIchael was a military leader under Prince Sigismund Báthory. After the latter's third and final abdication in 1601, Transylvania was controlled by the mercenaries of Habsburg general Giorgio Basta. In April 1603, Székely instigated the native Transylvanian forces to rebel and, with the support of Turkish-Tartarian auxiliary forces, routed Basta's troops. On 8 May 1603, Székely claimed the title of a Prince of Transylvania, but his rule proved unstable, as his Tartarian mercenaries outdid Basta's troops in cruelty and Radu Şerban, the new Voivod of Wallachia attacked as an ally of the Habsburg Emperor.
Mózes' own kinsmen, the Székely, joined forces with the invader, who defeated and killed Mózes in the battle of Kronstadt on 17 July 1603. Radu withdrew to Wallachia, making way for a return of Basta's mercenaries.
Mózes Székely is the only Székely monarch of the Transylvanian Principality. His personality, way of life, historical faith, and fight for the Hungarian people, have led to comparisons with the last freely elected Hungarian national king John II., known as Zsigmond János, or the monarchs after him like István Báthory, István Bocskai, Gábor Bethlen and Ferenc Rákóczi II. All these great Hungarian characters sacrificed their lives for the maintain of the institution of Hungarian nation. They realized that their people could not develop without guaranteed institutional conditions of a state.
Mózes Székely was born in 1553 in the Transylvanian town of Udvarhely as a son of a primi pilus family. His father was a János Székely Literáti or János Literáti for short or "John the Scribe". When Mózes Székely was born the Hungarian Kingdom was not a European power; it was split into three parts. The central portion was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, whilst the House of Habsburg had divided the remainder of Hungary into two; the West Hungarian Kingdom and East Hungarian Kingdoms After the death of the Hungarian king John II (1571), the East Hungarian Kingdom was named the "Transylvanian Principality".
Mózes Székely was the only Székely monarch of Transylvania but for only for three months.
The Székelys spoke Hungarian but also had characteristics which made them distinct from the Hungarians. According to their won origin legend, and the Hungarian chroniclers, the Székelys originated from the Scythians, the Huns (just like the Hungarians), but entered the Pannonian Plain before the Hungarians with the Huns, and they belonged to Csaba, son of Attila.
The Székelys contrasted from the Hungarians not just in their identity but in several other features also. The Székelys were considered nobles till the middle of the 16th century. They had to donate an ox when the Hungarian king was crowned or for the birth of his first son. Beside this they were free of tax because they had to present themselves in protection of the Hungarian king at their own expense in arms just like the Hungarian nobles. The Székely army meant the topmost power of Transylvanian Principality. The Székelys retained their territorial autonomy and social order ein the territory of Hungarian Kingdom and the Transylvanian Principality until 1877. In the first period of the 13th century (in 1235) historical records mention that Székelys had their own government whose executive units were not counties but Széks. They had independent legal institutions etc. The specific Székely or Székely – Hungarian runic writing held up for the longest time among Székelys. The common usage of the field, the grass and woods also held up for the longest period among them. The Jus Regium was extended for them at the latest etc.
Mózes Székely in his younger years dealt in the salt trade. His father, János Székely Literáti was one of the first salt-headers or salt-chamberlain, when the Hungarian king John II, in 1562 after riots made the salt mines royal holdings. The Catholic István Báthory was elected for monarch by the mostly Protestant Transylvanian orders after the early death of king John II. In Transylvania – firstly in Europe - the equlaity of all churhes,and religious freedom was declared by law in 1568. The Transylvanian Principality was still a significant and thriving state in Europe at the end of the 16th century. Its population mostly consisted of Hungarians and Székelys, but also Saxons, Rumanians and others who lived there in small numbers. This is known from 1574 in a passage wrirten by Pierre Lescalopier the ensue of the French king Charles IX.
A minor rebellion started after the election of the Transylvanian monarch István Báthory. The Habsburgs did not want the leader who was freely elected by the Transylvanian people. They wanted Gáspár Bekes for the monarch as he was faithful to the court of Vienna. Mozes Székely made his name in this rebellion as a guardsman of the monarch István Báthory. In the summer of 1575 in Radnót along the Maros he crossed the river with his sword in his mouth. The monarch nominated him as the captain of the guardsmen and resigned the governing of the brigade to him also. The Transylvanian monarch István Báthory was elected to the Polish king on 14 December 1575 by the Polish Szejm. Báthory requested many Transylvanian Hungarian and Székely warriors to fight for him. We can find Mózes Székely among these Transylvanian warriors who took part in the liberating of Gdnaszk City. He also took part in the Polish – Russian war when Ivan the Terrible the Russian czar captured important parts of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. István Báthory the Polish king forced the retreat of the Russians from the captured areas and imposed a peace settlement causing the Polish people to refer him as one of their greatest king. Mózes Székely fought in tese camopaigns with thousands of Hungarian and Transylvanian warriors of Báthory. He was created to a Holy Knight by Báthory because of his valour then after the war he was nominated to lieutenant or chamberlain salt mine of Sófalva in Székely Land in 1583 and important lands were given to him also. He was married this time but the name of his first wife did not keep up because she died very early. He took Anna Kornis to wife then she gave birth two male children named István Székely and Mózes Székely Jr. He was mentioned as the lieutenant salt mine of Sófalva last in 1591 on sheepskins.
It was a very important revolution in his life - and in the life of the Transylvanian Hungarians too – when the monarch Zsigmond Báthory broke the peaceful cohabitation with the Ottoman Empire in 1594 and made a commitment with the Habsburgs involving his country and people into the long war against the Ottoman Empire – over a period of fifteen years -. Mózes Székely had many successful battles in the war against the Ottoman Empire but he was wounded in the assault of Facsád. The Havasalföld was discharged this time from the Turk power. In this war the Transylvanian army was over 50,000 strong. It was a very large army for this time in Europe. The Székelys usually were fought in these armies; Zsigmond Báthory promised if they fought hard against the Turks they would get back their original possessions. After the victorious campaign, Zsigmond Báthory renaged on his promise, and the Székelys rioted and were punished. After the third resignation of Zsigmond Báthory the governance of the Transylvanian Principality was settled on his uncle the Cardinal András Báthory. The parliament elected him but the Cardinal -monarch was opposed by Michael the (Voivode) Vajda of Wallachia (Havasalföld, Tara Romaneasca) (the Romanian historians called him Michael Valiant, Michael the Brave or Mihai Vitezaul) who with the support of Rudolf the Habsburg Emperor attacked him. The leadership of the Transylvanian army was given to Mózes Székely by András Báthory, but the monarch started to organize his army very late in the day, and importantly some of the Székelys were on the side of the Vajda Michael. Consequently, the Transylvanian army sustained a defeat at Schellenberg in 1599. The Székelys of Csík killed the fleeing Cardinal András Báthory too.
Mózes Székely took an oath of loyalty to Michael who was appointed by Emperor Rudolf. The Vajda Michael nominated Mózes Székely to the captain of the Transylvanian army but they soon turned on each other. Mózes Székely escaped to Poland intending to dislodge the Vajda and the Habsburg forces with the help and army of his old friend the Polish Chancellor Jan Zamoysky.
Whilst Mózes Székely was in Poland, the armed Transylvanian Hungarians overcame near to Miriszlówho. Vajda Michael fled and the Transylvanians recalled Zsigmond Báthory to be their monarch again. The Vajda and General Giorgio Basta, financed by Emperor Rudolf, inflict defeat on the Transylvanian army and it’s generals Mózes Székely and István Csákyon 3 August 1601. The Vajda Michael was also killed by the mercenaries of General Basta who then terrorised and killed the Transylvanian people. It is an interesting point in Transylvanian history that Captain John Smith the famous English traveller along with other English mercenaries came over to the Transylvanians and fought against the Habsburgs with Mózes Székely in the spring of 1602.
The forces of Mózes Székely sustained a defeat in the fight against the mercenaries of general Giorgio Basta near to Tövis in the July 1602, by reason of this the most Transylvanians escaped to Temesvár. Zsigmond Báthory the Transylvanian Monarch disclaimed irrevocably. Mózes Székely with Gábor Bethlen and other Transylvanian patriots organized the emancipation of Transylvania in winter of 1602–1603. He obtained the encouragement of Mohamed III Sultan of Ottoman Empire to become the monarch of Transylvania. Mózes Székely put his armies in action in march 1603 to discharge the Transylvanian Principality. The parliament elected him to become the monarch of Transylvania on 15 April 1603. He was ceremoniously inducted after the liberation of the capital (Gyulafehérvár, Alba Iulia, Weisenburg) on 9 May 1603. The monarch Mózes Székely successfully occupied the largest part of Transylvanian Principality - with the exception of various Saxon towns - in May and June 1603. He dislodged the mercenaries of Basta from Transylvania but he could not continue his advance. The Habsburg government mandated Radu Serban Vajda of Havasalföld to attack Transylvania. The Habsburgs encouraged the Székelys of Csík and Háromszék to attack the legally elected Transylvanian monarch. Some joined with the Vajda of Havasalföld while others fought on the side of the Székely monarch. The Transylvanians sustained a defeat in the Battle of Braşov, near to Brassó, on 17 July 1603. In the gory bottle – called the Mohács of Erdély – near 4,000 Hungarians and Székelys died including Mózes Székely. A cruel ravaging of the countryside continued, and the population of Transylvania dwindled away significantly and its ethnical constitution started to change at this time.
The battle captained by Mózes Székely in maintenance of Transylvania independence temporarily failed, but it was not pointless as the fight for the freedom of Hungarians restarted soon in 1604 under István Bocskai. At the end of this fight, the Habsburgs had to sign peace and admitted Bocskai as the monarch of both Hungary and Transylvania.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Sigismund Bathory". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Sigismund_Bathory.