Erzsébet Rákóczi, 19th century copy
Wedding coat of arms of László Rákóczi and Erzsébet Bánffy
Castle of Kistapolcsány (Topoľčianky, SK)
Erzsébet Rákóczi
Countess Erzsébet Rákóczi de Rákócz et Felsővadász was born on 16 November 1654 in Zboró (Zborov, SK), as the last descendant of the younger, Catholic branch of the Rákóczi family. Her great-grandfather was Prince Zsigmond Rákóczi, her grandfather was the brother of Judge Royal Pál Rákóczi, the brother of Prince György I Rákóczi. The guardian of the girl, who was completely orphaned in 1664, became Zsófia Báthory, who took her to a convent in Pozsony (Bratislava, SK), to get raised and educated. At the age of 14, she married Count Ádám Erdődy in Nagysáros (Veľký Šariš, SK) on 4 February 1668; however, a few weeks later, her husband died in a minor battle with the Turks. On 28 January 1670, another wedding was held in Nagysáros. At the time, Erzsébet was 15 and her second husband became György Erdődy, the cousin of her first husband. The young lady loved company and parties, she could even play the violin and write poems. At first, her marriage seemed to be happy, but her husband acted as a guardian of his young wife. As a single heir, Erzsébet inherited several lucrative estates, mostly in Sáros county; she managed these skilfully and thoughtfully, while the burden of her husband’s “guardianship” constantly grew. Since the 1670s, Erzsébet had a very close relationship with Pál Esterházy. It was probably at this time that her first known poem with the opening line “Oh, unfortunate, alas, unhappy me…” was written. In the second half of 1683, Count Thököly took hold of Erzsébet’s estates and her husband left her alone in her struggle to reclaim them. In 1685, their marriage broke – practically, Erzsébet left her husband and went on living separately. She had no children, but kept in touch with her relatives – in fact, she meant the lost home and family to Ferenc II and Julianna Rákóczi. Their relationship was very intimate. The Rákóczi siblings and their spouses often visited her at her castle in Kistapolcsány (Topoľčianky, SK). However, she did not join Rákóczi’s war of independence, she fled to the Croatian estates of her husband and died on 8 November 1707 in Szávaújvár (Novigrad, HR). Her estates were inherited by Julianna Rákóczi and Ferenc II Rákóczi.