Rákóczi, György I, b 8 June 1593 in Szerencs, Hungary, d 11 October 1648 in Sárospatak, Transylvania. Prince of Transylvania from 1630; father of György II Rákóczi. From 1644 he was a leader of the anti-Habsburg coalition in the Thirty Years’ War, and in 1645 he annexed part of Transcarpathia. After the death of King Władysław IV Vasa in 1648, Rákóczi was a candidate for the throne of Poland. To that end he solicited support from Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky through Yurii Nemyrych. Khmelnytsky wrote a letter promising military support to Rákóczi, but the hetman’s delegation, headed by Ivan Vyhovsky, that took the letter to Transylvania did not arrive until after Rákóczi’s death.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]