Transylvania in the Fifteen Years' War (1591-1606)

The best general sources on the period are the relevant volumes of EOE and the Székely oklevéltár (see above).

The most important narrative sources include István Szamosközy's works (MHH-S 21, 28-30: 1876-1800, Budapest), of which excerpts, in Hungarian translation, can be found in Erdély története (Budapest, 1963); the series Monumenta Hungarica and Pro memoria (Budapest, 1981); the works of János Baranyai Decsi (Czimor), in MHH-S 17: 1866 (Pest); Ambrus Somogyi's Historia rerum Ungaricum et Transyvanicarum 1490-1606, in SRT II (Nagyszeben, 1840); Farkas Bethlen, Historia de rebus Transylvanicis 1-6, (Cibinium, 1782-93); Ferenc Mikó's history (MHH-S 7: 1863, Pest); as well as the works of Sebestyén Borsos and his Ferenc Szabó Nagy, in Erdélyi Történelmi Adatok I (Kolozsvár, 1855).

The selections, translated into Hungarian, in Erdély öröksége II-III are also relevant to this period.

In Erdély és a Porta (Pest, 1862), László SZALAY offers valuable information on Transylvania's turbulent external relations and their domestic impact. The records of the Jesuits in Transylvania were edited by Endre VERESS in volumes 1-3 and 5 of FRT (Budapest, 1911-13, and Veszprém, 1921). Veress also edited the correspondence of Alfonso Carillo, in MHH-D 32 and 41 (Budapest, 1906, 1943); further information on the Jesuits was published in 'Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu', Monumenta Antiqua Hungarica I-III, ed. by L. LUKÁCS (Rome, 1969-81). Basta's letters were published by E. VERESS in MHH-S 34 and 37 (Budapest, 1909, 1913).

There is no detailed, monographic account of the period or of the long war. Some more general information can be found in SZILÁGYI, Erdélyország története; KŐVÁRY, Erdély története; ACSÁDY, 'Magyarország'; the relevant chapters in G. and Fr. TEUTSCH's Geschichte {1-797.} der Siebenbürger Sachsen; LUKINICH's Erdély; HÓMAN and SZEKFŰ's Magyar történet; MAKKAI's Erdély története: the volume Erdély története published in Bucharest; and in the Romanian works, noted below, on Mihai Viteazul. A recent work on the war is László NAGY's 'Erdély a 15 éves háborúban' (Sz 116: 1982).

Johannes ROTH, Aus trüber Zeit: Bilder aus der Geschichte der Hermannstädter Capitels (Hermannstadt, 1887).