Zrinyi

Zrinyi

(zrĭn`yē), noble Hungarian family of Croatian origin. Nicholas Zrinyi, 1508–66, distinguished himself in the defense of Vienna (1529) against Sultan Sulayman I, took part in the campaign of Ferdinand IFerdinand I,
1503–64, Holy Roman emperor (1558–64), king of Bohemia (1526–64) and of Hungary (1526–64), younger brother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
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 of Austria (later Holy Roman emperor) against John Zapolya, who claimed the Hungarian crown as John IJohn I
(John Zapolya) , 1487–1540, king of Hungary (1526–40), voivode [governor] of Transylvania (1511–26). He was born John Zapolya, the son of Stephen Zápolya.
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, and was appointed (1542) governor of Croatia. He is famous for his defense of Szigetvar against the army of Sulayman I and was killed there while attempting a sortie. His great-grandson Nicholas Zrinyi, 1616–64, was made governor of Croatia in 1647. He campaigned successfully against the Ottomans and was the acknowledged national leader of the Hungarians when he died in a hunting accident. He was a distinguished poet, one of the first to use Hungarian as a literary language. Besides lyric poetry, he also wrote an epic poem on the defense of Szigetvar by his ancestor and several prose works on political subjects, modeled on the style of Machiavelli. His brother, Peter Zrinyi, 1621–71, became governor of Croatia in 1665. Disappointed by the absolutist policy of the Hapsburgs, who owed their success in Hungary largely to the Zrinyi family, he joined (1671) with several other Hungarian magnates in a conspiracy against Holy Roman Emperor Leopold ILeopold I,
1640–1705, Holy Roman emperor (1658–1705), king of Bohemia (1656–1705) and of Hungary (1655–1705), second son and successor of Ferdinand III.
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. The plot, backed by Louis XIVLouis XIV,
1638–1715, king of France (1643–1715), son and successor of King Louis XIII. Early Reign

After his father's death his mother, Anne of Austria, was regent for Louis, but the real power was wielded by Anne's adviser, Cardinal Mazarin.
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 of France, was ill organized and easily suppressed. Zrinyi was executed. His daughter, Helen Zrinyi, d. 1703, married Francis I RákóczyRákóczy
, noble Hungarian family that played an important role in the history of Transylvania and Hungary in the 17th and 18th cent. Sigismund Rákóczy, 1544–1608, was elected (1607) prince of Transylvania to succeed Stephen Bocskay.
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 and, after Rákóczy's death, Imre ThökölyThököly, Imre
, 1656–1705, Hungarian rebel, of a noble family of N Hungary. His father, Stephen Thököly, took an important part in the unsuccessful conspiracy of Francis I Rákóczy and Peter Zrinyi against Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and
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. She was the mother of the Hungarian national hero, Francis II Rákóczy.