RAKÓCZI. - A Hungarian noble family, probably of Bohemian origin, whose members repeatedly held the title of Prince of Transylvania.
The most eminent representatives were:
SIGISMUND (1544-1608), elected Prince of Transylvania in 1607, abdicated the following year in favor of Gabriel Báthory;
GEORGE I (1593-1648), Prince of Transylvania in 1630, allied with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden against the Empire, conquered nearly all the Kingdom of Hungary, and by the Peace of Linz (1645) forced the Emperor to recognize Protestant freedom of worship in the lands of the Crown of St. Stephen;
GEORGE II (1621-60), Prince of Transylvania in 1642, aspired to the throne of Poland and died from wounds received in battle against the Turks;
FRANCIS I (1645-76), converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, was elected Prince of Transylvania but did not reign;
FRANCIS II (1676-1735), after the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, became the leader of the Hungarian independence movement; elected in 1704 Prince of Transylvania and in 1705 of all Hungary, he received support from Louis XIV, but after repeated defeats by the Habsburgs, he took refuge in Poland, then in England and France. In 1717 he sought the support of the Turks, who were then at war with the Emperor. Settling in the Ottoman Empire in 1720, he resided there until his death: he is the Hungarian national hero;
JOSEPH (1700-1738) was a claimant to the Hungarian crown during the Austro-Turkish War of 1737-38. The family became extinct in 1756.