It was 315 years ago, on September 26-27, 1709, that Bottyán János (the Blind), a Kuruc general, died. In him, we can honor one of the most outstanding generals in Hungarian history.
He was born around 1640 into an impoverished Protestant noble family. He became a groom of the Jesuit provost of Nagyszombat. He served them in Vágsellye, probably at this time he converted to Catholicism, for which his parents had disowned him. From 1665 he served as a cavalry soldier in Léva Castle and soon married, leading Lakatos Judit to the altar.
His courage and bravery soon made him stand out among his companions. We find him again in Vágsellye in 1676, this time as a flag-bearer. He was displeased by the rampage of the imperial troops in Hungary. Bottyán also distinguished himself at the Battle of Párkány in 1683.
In 1685, Lieutenant Bottyán took part in the recapture of Érsekújvár while serving in the army of Prince Charles of Lorraine. One of the later Kuruc general’s most daring deeds is linked to this siege. Virtue and life-threatening individual actions were never far from the spirit of the Hungarian Borderland warriors. The army of Prince Charles of Lorraine began the siege of the Highland fortress of Érsekújvár, defended by a 6,000-strong Turkish garrison, on June 11, 1685.
In the camp, Lieutenant Bottyán made a bet with his comrades that he would sneak into the Turkish-occupied town and “wring the neck” of the sheik of the mosque in the main square, who was urging the Ottoman fighters to fanatical resistance against the “infidels”. Bottyán donned a peasant’s garb and sneaked into the city, where, despite the siege, a market day was being held.
At noon, when the muezzin went up to the balcony of the minaret to call the “true-believing Muslims” to prayer, Bottyán, disguised as a serf, sneaked after him and pushed the muezzin, who had just begun to sing, into the abyss. The death of the “holy man” thrown from the minaret caused a great commotion in the main square, and Bottyán took advantage of it by running toward the castle gate with a squad of Turkish soldiers in his wake. When he reached the gate, a janissary blocked his way, raising his curved sword to strike menacingly.
But the daring Bottyán was not frightened by the sight of the janissary, but suddenly drew his flintlock pistol hidden in his cloth and shot the attacking Turk, then ran out of the gate. All the Turkish soldiers who ran after him, shouting and thirsting for revenge, were cut to pieces by the Hungarian soldiers hiding near the castle wall.
In the early 1680s, he was a cavalry lieutenant and first lieutenant in Komárom Castle, and after the recapture of Esztergom Castle, he was transferred there. He became the commander of the castle’s cavalry. For a short time, he was captain of Vác, then vice-captain of Esztergom, and in 1685 he defended the castle against the besieging armies of Ibrahim Sejtán. He distinguished himself in the recapture of Buda in 1686 and was already a lieutenant colonel when he fought in the capture of the southern castles.
At that time he lost an eye, which gave him his famous nickname: Bottyán the Blind. Meanwhile, he had acquired a considerable fortune, he had a house in Esztergom, where he became the richest citizen, he had pledged lands in the area, and his house was made a noble manor by Emperor Leopold I and given a coat of arms.
For his bravery at the capture of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár) in 1688, the King awarded him the gold medal of valor. By this time he had already become captain of Esztergom, then captain of the cavalry in the fields, and from 1695 he was a cavalry colonel and owner of a regiment of hussars. During the first half of the 1690s, he fought in the army of the legendary Turkish fighter, Margrave Louis of Baden, against the Ottomans who were fighting to regain their lost conquests.
In 1697, he served under the command of Prince Eugene de Savoy, who dealt a fatal blow to the Ottoman army of Sultan Mustafa II, who had marched to retake Hungary, in one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the 17th-century anti-Turkish wars, the Battle of Zenta. Bottyán’s bravery also earned him the sincere appreciation of the commander-in-chief, Prince Eugene.
After the peace treaty of Karlóca in 1699, which ended the war against the Turks, Bottyán János, discouraged by the excesses of the imperial military and administration in Hungary, retired to his estate in Esztergom. After the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, he was reactivated and his regiment was ordered to the Rhine.
In 1703, he was back home again, fighting in the Hungarian Highlands against Rákóczi’s Kuruc. He defended the castle of Zólyom with Schlick and Forgách Simon. During the siege of the Kuruc forces, he fought a duel with the famous Ocskay László, and both were wounded. After Forgách’s desertion, he was trapped in Zólyom Castle, and even then he secretly swore allegiance to Rákóczi, who appointed him General Chief Sergeant (now known as Major General) and made him the commanding general of the Transdanubian region.
He did not openly side with the prince at that time but returned to Esztergom with the obvious intention of handing over the castle to the Kuruc army. But Captain Kuckländer discovered the treachery and had Bottyán arrested and sent by ship to Vienna. In Nyergesújfalu, however, his serfs freed him, and in October 1704, he crossed the Danube and appeared before the prince, who welcomed him. His wife helped him to escape, but unfortunately, she was arrested by the commander of Esztergom and died in prison.
Bottyán had already taken Érsekújvár in November, and the following year he was given the task of recapturing the Transdanubian region. Already in the summer of that year, he prepared for the invasion, building a fortress at Kömlőd, which he named Bottyán’s castle. On 4 November he crossed the Danube and in a few weeks, he occupied the whole of the countryside. He raided Moravia, from where he returned with booty.
At the end of December, he defeated Hannibal Heister’s army at Szentgotthárd. In the following years, he successfully defended the part of the country against the Imperials, while at the same time maintaining strict discipline to prevent his soldiers from raiding and pillaging Hungarian villages. He also besieged Sopron, but could not take it.
He kept strict order and discipline in his army, but he was fair and cared for his soldiers, who loved and were enthusiastic about him. He also forbade them to drink to excess. He supported both monks and the poor, so he was adored not only by his soldiers but also by the masses. Bottyán was ready to sacrifice not only his blood but also his fortune for his country and often paid his soldiers with his own. He was popularly known as ‘János the Good’, and his soldiers spread the word that he was bulletproof, although he had many battle wounds.
For his effective defense of the Transdanubian region, he received the title of “Governor of the Transdanubian Region” from the Prince. In March 1707, he remarried, and married Forgách Julianna (1687–1713) in Pápa, thus joining the aristocracy and becoming a relative of Bercsényi Miklós. As for his family life, both his marriages were childless, and his vast fortune was shared by his widow, his stepchildren, and grandchildren from his first wife’s previous marriage, and his adopted heirs (such as Grassalkovich János). Forgách Julianna, widowed in 1709, married her late husband’s fellow general, Baron Palocsay György, in the summer of 1711.
His genius was even recognized by the Austrian generals. He put Somló Castle in order, provided adequate military equipment, and organized a defensive guard. At the beginning of 1708, Rákóczi sent him to the threatened Vág region. At the beginning of the year his raiders, led by Bornemisza János, captured the imperial commander-in-chief Maximilian of Starhemberg.
In the battle of Trencsén (August 3, 1708) he secured the area around the Vág River and after the defeat the mining towns. By this time, the Kuruc army had already dwindled considerably, and more and more of them had defected to the imperial side. Blind Bottyan remained loyal to the prince to the end.
In 1709 he was the commander-in-chief of the Danube-Tisza area and the Danube region. During the Moravian campaign, he secured the Kuruc main army with three regiments. His personal action helped to win the victory against the Austrian overwhelming force in Selmecbánya.
At that time, the most terrible plague, the pestilence, was raging, and it had also appeared among Bottyán’s soldiers. Some believe that the old general, who was often called Father Bottyán by his soldiers, also died of the plague, while others believe that he died of encephalitis in the Kuruc camp in Tarnaörs on September 26 or 27, 1709.
In his letter to the prince, Bercsényi Miklós reported the death of the most outstanding general of the War of Independence: “My poor blind brother-in-law Bottyán lost his other eye yesterday at about eight o’clock. Rákóczi remembered him as follows. “He was neither a man of good birth nor educated, so he was very blunt, but he was sober, alert, and hard-working. He loved the people, and they loved him very much, for he kept his soldiers under strict discipline, but always did them justice when they were right.”
His funeral took place in early October 1709 amidst a military display of pomp and splendour, amidst the thunder of cannons. He was buried in a sea of military and mourning flags in the church of the Franciscan Order in Gyöngyös. His crypt was unmarked, its secret kept by Franciscan friars. Thaly Kálmán placed a memorial plaque on the wall of the church in 1907.
In many places of the country, but especially in Esztergom, his memory is preserved by roads, bridges, and schools. His house in Esztergom is now the town hall. A bust of him was unveiled in the park of the castle in Vaja, but there are also statues in Esztergom, on the Kodály Boulevard in Budapest, in Lenti, Vác, Paks, Dunakömlőd and Gyöngyös. His name is connected with many legends, he almost became a figure of folklore.
His main military badge was his gilded, beaten silver battle axe, the ” Bottyán’s Axe “, with which he led his army into battle. This is also depicted in a painting of him.
Source: Szibler Gábor and the Hungarian Wikipedia, as well as https://www.origo.hu/tudomany/2019/09/a-vegvari-harcokban-megedzodott-bottyan-janos-soha-sem-tert-le-rakoczi-husegerol
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