Flight behind the “Ottoman Curtain” Religious Refugees in Transylvania

Abstract

Already in the Middle Ages Transylvania was able to enjoy strong intellectual and economic bonds to Central Europe. While the conduct of such relationships between the south of Germany, Silesia and Małopolska were indeed affected in the 16th century, they were never really interrupted.1 A very unique situation emerged out of the political scene, however – after the Hungarian army’s devastating loss to the Ottomans at Mohács in 1526, which also took out the previously dominant families, the rules of play in the region were fundamentally changed. The medieval kingdom of Hungary collapsed and was divided into three entities.2