Emeric Thököly

Emeric Thököly inherited more than a title when his father, Count István Thököly, died - he inherited a rebellion. Born 25 September 1657, he took up the family trade of anti-Habsburg uprising and by 1682 had carved out enough territory to be named Prince of Upper Hungary, an Ottoman vassal state. The alliance with the Turks pulled him into the siege of Vienna in 1683, then to the front lines at the Battle of Zenta in 1697, where he led Turkish cavalry against European forces. He held Transylvania briefly in 1690, but the tide turned. When Habsburg Emperor Leopold I offered terms, Thököly refused to surrender. He lost Upper Hungary, left Europe behind, and retired to Galata near Constantinople, where Sultan Mustafa II granted him large estates. He died there 13 September 1705, a prince without a principality.