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MARTINUZZI, GEORGE [GYoRGY UTIESENovI...

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 803 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARTINUZZI, See also:GEORGE [GYoRGY UTIESENovIc] (1482—1551) , Hungarian statesman, who, since he usually signed himself " See also:Frater Georgius," is known in Hungarian See also:history as FRATER GYORGY or simply THE FRATER, was See also:born at Kamicic in Croatia, the son of See also:Gregory Utiesenovic, a Croatian See also:gentleman. His See also:mother was a Martinuzzi, a Venetian patrician See also:family. From his eighth to his twentieth See also:year he was attached to the See also:court of See also:John See also:Corvinus; subsequently, entering the service of the Zapolya family, he saw something of warfare under John Zapolya but, tiring of a military See also:life, he entered the Paulician See also:Order in his twenty-eighth year. His See also:historical career began when his old See also:patron Zapolya, now See also:king of See also:Hungary, forced to See also:fly before his successful See also:rival See also:Ferdinand, afterwards the See also:emperor Ferdinand I., sent him on a See also:diplomatic See also:mission to Hungary. It was due to his tact and ability that John recovered Buda (1529), and henceforth Frater GySrgy became his treasurer and See also:chief counsellor. In 1534 he became See also:bishop of Grosswardein; in 1538 he concluded with See also:Austria the See also:peace of Grosswardein, whereby the royal See also:title and the greater See also:part of Hungary were conceded to Zapolya. King John See also:left the Frater the See also:guardian of his See also:infant son John See also:Sigismund, who was proclaimed and crowned king of Hungary, the Frater acting as See also:regent. He frustrated all the attempts of the See also:queen mother, See also:Isabella, to bring in the Austrians, and when, in 1541, an See also:Austrian See also:army appeared beneath the walls of Buda, he arrested the queen and applied to the See also:Porte for help. On the 28th of See also:August 1541, the Frater did See also:homage to the See also:sultan, but during his See also:absence with the baby king in the See also:Turkish See also:camp, the See also:grand See also:vizier took Buda by subtlety. Then only the Frater recognized the See also:necessity of a See also:composition with both Austria and See also:Turkey. He attained it by the treaty of Gyula (Dec. 29, 1541), whereby western Hungary See also:fell to Ferdinand, while Transylvania, as an See also:independent principality under Turkish See also:suzerainty, reverted to John Sigismund.

It included, besides Transylvania proper, many Hungarian counties on both sides of the See also:

Theiss, and the important See also:city of Kassa. It was the Frater's policy to preserve Transylvania neutral and intact by cultivating amicable relations with Austria without offending the Porte. It was a difficult policy, but succeeded brilliantly for a See also:time. In 1545, encouraged by the growing unpopularity of Ferdinand, owing to his incapacity to defend Hungary against the See also:Turks, the Frater was tempted to unite Austrian Hungary to Transylvania and procure the See also:election of John Sigismund as the See also:national king. But recognizing that this was impossible, he aimed at an See also:alliance with Ferdinand on terms of relative equality, and to this See also:system he adhered till his See also:death. Queen Isabella, who hated the Frater and constantly opposed him, complained of him to the sultan, who commanded that either the traitor himself or his See also:head should be sent to See also:Constantinople (1550). A See also:combination was then formed against him of the queen, the hospodars of See also:Moldavia and Wallachia and the Turks; but the Frater shut the queen up in Gyula-Fehervar, drove the hospodars out of Transylvania, defeated the Turks at See also:Deva, and finally compelled Isabella to accept a composition with Austria very profitable to her family and to Transylvania, at the same time soothing the rage of the sultan by flatteries and gifts. This compact, a masterpiece of statesmanship, was See also:con-firmed by the See also:diet of See also:Kolozsvar in August 1551. The Frater retained the governorship of Transylvania, and was subsequently consecrated See also:archbishop of See also:Esztergom and received the red See also:hat. Thus Hungary was once more reunited, but the inability of Ferdinand to defend it against the Turks, as promised, forced the Frater, for the See also:common safety, to resume the See also:payment of See also:tribute to the Porte in See also:December 1551. Unfortunately, the Turks no longer trusted a diplomatist they could not understand, while Ferdinand suspected him of an intention to secure Hungaryfor himself. When the Turks (in 1551) took Csanad and other places, the Frater and the imperial generals Castaldo and Pallavicini combined their forces against the common foe; but when the Frater privately endeavoured to mediate between the Turks and the Hungarians,Castaldo represented him to Ferdinand as a traitor, and asked permission to kill him if necessary.

The Frater's secretary Marco Aurelio See also:

Ferrari was hired, and stabbed his See also:master from behind at the See also:castle of Alvinczy while See also:reading a See also:letter, on the 18th of December 1551; but the See also:cardinal, though in his sixty-ninth year, fought for his life, and was only despatched with the aid of Pallavicini and a See also:band of bravos Ferdinand took the responsibility of the See also:murder on himself He sent to See also:Julius III. an See also:accusation of See also:treason against the Frater in eighty-seven articles, and after See also:long hesitation, and See also:hearing one See also:hundred and sixteen witnesses, the See also:pope exonerated Ferdinand of blame. See A. Bechet, Histoire du ministere du cardinal Martinusius (See also:Paris, 1715) ; O. M. Utiesenovic, Lebensgeschichte See also:des Cardinals Georg UtiesenoviE (See also:Vienna, 1881); Codex epistolaris Fratris Georgii 7535-1551, ed. A. See also:Karolyi (See also:Budapest, 1881). But the most vivid presentation of Frater is to be found in M. See also:Jokai's See also:fine historical See also:romance, See also:Brother George (Hung.) (Budapest, 1893). (R. N.

End of Article: MARTINUZZI, GEORGE [GYoRGY UTIESENovIc] (1482—1551)

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