Transylvanian peasant revolt

Date	June 1437 – January 1438
Location	North-Transylvania and the Tiszántúl, Kingdom of Hungary
Result	Patrician victory

Belligerents

Transylvanian peasants and petty nobles

Transylvanian aristocracy

Commanders and leaders

Antal Nagy de Buda †
Pál Nagy de Vajdaháza
Mihai the Vlach

Ladislaus Csáki
George Lépes
Michael Jakcs
Henry Tamási
Desiderius Losonci

Strength

unknown

The Transylvanian peasant revolt (Hungarian: erdélyi parasztfelkelés), also known as the peasant revolt of Bábolna or Bobâlna revolt (Romanian: Răscoala de la Bobâlna), was a great popular revolt in the eastern territories of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1437. The revolt broke out after George Lépes, Bishop of Transylvania, had failed to collect the tithe for years because of a temporary debasement of the coinage, but then demanded the arrears in one sum when coins of higher value were again issued. Most commoners were unable to pay the demanded sum, but the bishop did not renounce his claim and applied interdict and other ecclesiastic penalties to enforce the payment.

The Transylvanian peasants had already been outraged because of the increase of existing seigneurial duties and taxes and the introduction of new taxes during the first decades of the century. The bishop also tried to collect the tithe from the petty noblemen and from Orthodox Vlachs who had settled in parcels abandoned by Catholic peasants. In the spring of 1437, Hungarian and Vlach commoners, poor townspeople from Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca in Romania) and petty noblemen started to assemble on the flat summit of Mount Bábolna near Alparét (now Bobâlna in Romania) where they set up a fortified camp. The bishop and his brother, Roland Lépes, the deputy of the Voivode (or royal governor) of Transylvania, gathered their troops to fight against the rebels. The voivode, the two Counts of the Székelys and many Transylvanian noblemen also hurried to the mountain to assist them against the rebels.

The rebels sent envoys to the voivode to inform him about their grievances, but the envoys were captured and executed. The voivode invaded the rebels' camp, but the peasants resisted and made a successful counter-attack, killing many noblemen during the battle. To prevent the rebels from continuing the war, the bishop and the leaders of the noblemen started negotiations with the rebels' envoys. Their compromise was recorded in the Kolozsmonostor Abbey on 6 July. The agreement reduced the tithe by half, abolished the ninth (a seigneurial tax), guaranteed the peasants' right to free movement and authorized them to hold an annual assembly to secure the execution of the agreement.

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Wikipedia