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elections and the subsequent struggle between the two kings thus elected, both still holding a claim for the
whole country. At that time the realm had two crowned kings, Ferdinand Hapsburg and John of Szapolya,
but after the fall of Buda (1541) and the death of John of Szapolya (1540) the situation changed. The son
of John of Szapolya, John Sigismund already made a point of setting up the centres of his power in the
eastern half of the country, and was not crowned, either. He was only Johannes II. electus rex Hungariae,
and giving up even this title in 1570, he was content to be Princeps Transylvaniae et Partium Hungariae.
His successors held that title as well. Formally, the Principality of Transylvania was a vassal state of the
Turks, its princes ruling with the approval of the Sultan, but the Turks did not interfere with its internal
affairs and there was a possibility for a comparatively autonomous foreign policy as well.
The directions of the development of the Reformation and that of Antitrinitarianism within it were
significantly influenced by some of the important characteristics of the newly formed territory. What were
these characteristics? First of all it will have to be emphasized that the Transylvanian Principality was
ethnically extremely colourful. Three ethnic groups, the Hungarians, the Saxons and the Rumanians were
approximately equally represented in the population which numbered about one million. Political life,
however, was the field of action for three nations only, in the medieval sense of the word: the
Hungarians (Magyars), that is the nobility of the region; the Szeklers (Székelys), an ethnically and
linguistically somewhat distinct group of the Hungarians, holding on to its archaic internal structure and
guarding the borders of the country, and finally the Saxons. Thus the ethnical and political groups did not
correspond, and the Rumanians, who were mostly villeins, were -- like their Hungarian counterparts --
excluded from political life. There were very few Rumanian noblemen, and those Rumanian who
managed to get a title were soon integrated among the Hungarian nobility. There were significant
differences between the regions included into the new state as well. While in Partium the landed
aristocracy owned huge estates, the nobility of historical Transylvania had more modest properties. Also,
while Partium had rich and energetic market towns (oppida), (Lippa, Simánd, Békés, Szatmár,
Debrecen), those of historical Transylvania were much smaller. This will probably be explained by the
fact that the rich Transylvanian Saxon towns (Szeben, Brassó, Medgyes, Segesvár, Beszterce) did their
best to hinder the peasants' production for the market. Among the towns Kolozsvár must be separately
mentioned. This town, situated at the crossing of important trade routes and developing extremely
dynamically in the 15th and 16th centuries, became the intellectual centre of Transylvania. This was also
helped by the fact that the rich Saxon and Hungarian burgesses of the town created balanced institutions
that guaranteed equal rights for themselves and each other.
The fact that the ruling princes of Transylvania were all members of the aristocracy of Partium
meant that the weight of the central power was always secure in the life of the state. All this was reflected
in the peaceful course of the Reformation and its being directed from the top. The case of the bishopric of
Gyulafehérvár is one in point. The revenues and the palace of the bishopric, vacant since 1542 were
secularized by Act of Diet so that the centres of the new political power could be established. The new
principal power in the making thus vigorously contributed to the annihilation of the Catholic hierarchy
with the logical consequence that the Transylvanian ruling Princes took over the secular provostship of
the developing Protestant Churches. Although the new power of the prince was thus basically interested
in supporting the ideas of the Reformation or at least deep-going ecclesiastical reforms, it would not have
been enough in itself to guarantee the victory of Protestantism. This purpose, however, met the efforts of
the various groups of Transylvanian society, inspired by the causes well-known all over Europe. This
meeting resulted in the rather remarkable fact that in the territory of the Transylvanian Principality the
Reformation was victorious peacefully, without major upheavals. That is what happened to Lutheranism,
which came in gradually more and more intensive waves during the 1530s and 1540s, spreading first
among the Saxons. They, by the way, have adhered to Lutheranism ever since. Lutheranism was but an
episode among the Hungarian speaking population since in the 1550s more and more of them joined
various Helvetian movements. In the beginning they followed Zwingli, then in the 1560s it was rather
Bullinger and, to a lesser extent, Calvin whose influence could be felt. It seems that the boroughs of
Partium were particularly ahead in the reception of Helvetian trends, but the majority of the nobility
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