Miklós Wesselényi

Miklós Wesselényi
Miklós Wesselényi in the painting of Miklós Barabás (1836)
Born	Miklós Wesselényi (1796-12-20)December 20, 1796 Zsibó, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	April 2, 1850(1850-04-02) (aged 53) on the way returning to Hungary from Gräfenberg
Resting place	Budapest
Nationality	Hungarian
Citizenship	Hungary
Known for	His political activity
Home town	Jibou
Parent(s)	Ilona Cserei and Miklós Wesselényi

Baron Miklós Wesselényi de Hadad (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈmikloːʃ ˈvɛʃɛleːɲi]; archaically English: Nicholas Wesselényi; December 20, 1796 – April 2, 1850), was a Hungarian statesman, leader of the upper house of the Diet, member of the Board of Academy of Sciences, hero of the 1838 Pest flood. A prominent and wealthy Hungarian aristocrat, son of Baron Miklós Wesselényi and Ilona Cserei, he was born at Jibou, and was educated at his father's castle by Mózes Pataky in the most liberal and patriotic direction. He inherited his father's exceptional physical strength, and he further trained himself in different sports, such as horse-riding and swimming. He was a celebrity in his age for his sportsman's accomplishments.

Wesselényi entered politics in 1818, taking minor positions at numerous County Diets, as was customary with the upper nobility his family belonged to. He went on a grand tour of Western Europe with his friend, Count Stephen Széchenyi in 1821-22. Realizing their native Hungary's need to catch up with the development of other European states, they become leading figures of the progressive opposition in the Upper House, promoting a program of reform and economic and national development. Hungary was under the foreign rule of the Habsburg emperors, who treated any native reform movement with deep suspicion. The Habsburg government, fearing unrest and independence efforts, took increasingly oppressive measures to curb the nationalist movement.

Wesselényi abolished several feudal laws and customs on his own estates, freed his serfs, built and ran schools on his own money, and organized lectures on modern agriculture for his former subjects. He established a printing press in Kolozsvár to promote his ideas.

In the Diet of 1834, he became one of the political leaders of the opposition. He held several speeches on current topics attacking feudal institutions, and printed and distributed the minutes of the Diet in order to give publicity to the debates. For these activities, the government took him to trial for inciting unrest, operating a printing press without royal permission, and also for one of his speeches, where he called for general land-redemption. His long-lasting trials (two at the same time) became a focal point of the country's political life and reform movement. His legal representative was Ferenc Kölcsey.