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GEORGE [GYoRGY UTIESENovIc] MARTINUZZ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 803 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GEORGE [GYoRGY UTIESENovIc] See also:MARTINUZZI (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 See also: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 See also:George (Hung.) (Budapest, 1893) . (R . N .

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