Endnotes

  1. Dolman. An Hungarian pelisse. A more magnificent kind, worn only on state occasions, is called the attila. ↩

  2. Kalpag or Calpak. A tall, skin cap of Tartar origin, part of the Hungarian national costume. ↩

  3. The Amazon was Helen Zrinyi. She married first the young cavalier with whom we now meet her, Francis Rakoczy, and subsequently the famous Emerich Tököly, whose acquaintance we shall make presently. Her spirited defence of the fortress of Mohacz, 1689, against the Emperor is well known. ↩

  4. Eljen! Long live! ↩

  5. Some pretend that this shot was fired by a secret assassin sent from Vienna. Many doubt whether a shot was fired at all. ↩

  6. It is not without reason that Jókai alludes to Zrinyi as “the hero.” He was one of the greatest warriors of his day (1618⁠–⁠1666), and his victories over the Turks were many and brilliant. As a poet he stands high, even judged by a modern standard. His chief works are his great epic, Szigeti veszedelem, and his religious poems, Keresztre, “On the Cross!” ↩

  7. George Rakoczy I, Prince of Transylvania, 1630⁠–⁠1648. ↩

  8. Mente. A fur pelisse. ↩

  9. Szeklers (Siculi). The Szeklers were originally a military colony placed, at the beginning of the twelfth century, in the waste lands of Transylvania, which they engaged to defend against the incursions of the pagan Pechenegs, on being exempted from every other obligation. ↩

  10. John Kemeny, Prince of Transylvania, 1661⁠–⁠1662. ↩

  11. Csárdás [pr. chárdásh]. The national dance of Hungary. It is danced in ¾ time by single couples, who improvise the figures. It commences with a very slow and stately movement, gradually quickening into a furious gallop. ↩

  12. Csalmak [pr. chalmak]. A low, skin turban. ↩

  13. Aga. An honorary title among the Turks, here equivalent to lieutenant. ↩

  14. Asper. A small silver coin worth about fifteen to twenty kreutzers. ↩

  15. Nishan Order. A Turkish order of merit for valour, instituted by Selim III. It consisted of a gold medallion bearing the Sultan’s effigy. ↩

  16. Banderia. The mounted gentry of the county. ↩

  17. Firman. A decree issued by the Sultan and proclaimed by the Grand Vizier. ↩

  18. Divan. The Sultan’s council. ↩

  19. Maria. An old Hungarian coin worth about thirty-five kreutzers. ↩

  20. Odalisque, from Turkish Odalyk = chambermaid. Applied particularly to the chief concubines of the Sultan. ↩

  21. Bayaderes. Indian singing and dancing girls. A Portuguese word. ↩

  22. Oglan, the Turkish for boy. ↩

  23. Viz. the Saxons, the Szeklers, and the Magyars. The Wallachs simply cultivated the soil. ↩

  24. Decebalus. King of Dacia during the reigns of Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan. ↩

  25. Saxons. Geza II (1141⁠–⁠1161) planted in Transylvania a German colony to clear the forests and till the lands. These so-called Saxons have survived to the present day, and reside chiefly at Hermannstadt. ↩

  26. Apafiné = Lady Apafi. The “né” is a feminine suffix. ↩

  27. Palatine (Hungarian: “Nador”). The Palatine was the highest dignitary in Hungary after the King. The dignity was instituted soon after the year 1000, but since 1848 has been found incompatible with modern parliamentary government. ↩

  28. Sange moarte. Dead blood (Romanian). ↩

  29. Pomana, or pomena. An alms, a voluntary free succour. The etymology is obscure. Some opine that it is a corruption of per and manus. ↩

  30. Ungye méra ista via? “Whither goes this road?” The first two words are Romanian. ↩

  31. Ködurön. A rough, fur jacket. ↩

  32. Marcze Záre = Wednesday witch, hags possessing peculiar power on Wednesday evenings, according to the Wallachs. ↩

  33. Dainitsa. She who sings in a low voice, i.e. she who mutters spells. From Romanian daina, which is derived from the Hungarian danolni, to sing. ↩

  34. Armindenu. A green branch placed in front of houses on the 1st of May and at funerals. Compare Latin Alimentale. ↩

  35. Gradina Dracului. Garden of the Devil (Romanian). ↩

  36. Csakany. An ancient weapon, half hook, half battle-axe, of Tartar origin. ↩

  37. Armalists. Noblemen who could show literae armales in support of their nobility. ↩

  38. Spahis. Light Turkish cavalry. ↩

  39. A banquet was the usual prelude to judicial as to all other public proceedings in Hungary. ↩

  40. Árpád, the primeval ancestor of the Hungarian princes, who first led the Magyars into the plains of Hungary. He died in 907. With Hungarians, to come in with Árpád is like our coming over with the Conqueror. ↩

  41. Gyula = Julius. The heathen Prince of Transylvania at the end of the tenth century. ↩

  42. Gyula-Fehervár. White Julius’ town ↩

  43. Nigra Julia. Black Julia. ↩

  44. Ladislaus Hunniady. The eldest son of the great hero, treacherously beheaded in 1456. ↩

  45. Karoly-Fehervár. White Charles’ town. German: Karlsburg. ↩

  46. John Sigismund Zapolya (1540⁠–⁠1571), with whom the line of the Transylvanian princes began. ↩

  47. Stephan Bocskai, Prince of Transylvania, 1605⁠–⁠1606. A great statesman and warrior. ↩

  48. Gabriel Bethlen, the wisest of all the Transylvanian princes. He reigned 1601⁠–⁠1629. ↩

  49. Cardinal Peter Pázmán (1570⁠–⁠1637), a famous Hungarian patriot and statesman. ↩

  50. The celebrated Nicholas Esterhazy of Galanta, Palatine of Hungary. ↩

  51. Lobkovich (Eusebius Vincent), Leopold I.’s prime minister (1670⁠–⁠73), who attempted to make the Emperor absolute in Hungary. ↩

  52. Louis the Great, King of Hungary, 1342⁠–⁠1381. ↩

  53. Tököli (Emerich), the most extraordinary Hungarian of his day, famous for his marvellous courage and beauty, his adventures and vicissitudes. In 1682 the Turks proclaimed him Prince of Hungary, and for the next five years he disputed possession of that country with the Emperor. After being twice thrown in prison by the Sultan, he was released and proclaimed Prince of Transylvania, but, after many successes, was finally obliged to fly to Turkey. He was excluded by name from the general amnesty at the Peace of Lovicz, 1697, between the Turks and the Emperor; but the Sultan made him Count of Widdin and one of his chief counsellors. He died in 1705 at Nicomedia in Bithynia. He married Helen Zrinyi, who accompanied him everywhere with heroic fidelity. ↩

  54. Jus ligatum. The right of conspiring secretly against an offender unreachable by the ordinary law. ↩

  55. Green velvet was the symbol of the princely dignity in Transylvania. ↩

  56. The omen was justified when, nearly thirty years later, Tököli defeated and slew Teleki at the battle of Zernyes, 1691. ↩

  57. Arise, sir, the death-warrant has come! ↩

  58. The subsequent fortunes of Apafi, Csaky, Teleki, Tököli, Azrael, and Feriz are related in Jókai’s second historical novel, Törökvilag Magyarorzagbán (The Turks in Hungary), which is a sequel to the present story, and ends with the collapse of the Turkish power in Hungary. ↩