The Turkish World in Hungary

Mór Jókai's The Turkish World in Hungary is a historical novel set in the Principality of Transylvania in the final decades of its semi-independence - between the Battle of St Gotthard (1664) and the death of Chancellor Mihály Teleki at the Battle of Zernest (1690). Jókai's novels were popular in Victorian England and one of his most famous fans and admirers was Queen Victoria herself.

Jókai, the master story-teller, shares history and culture of 17th century Transylvania, with historical and fictional Szeklers, Saxons, Vlachs, Hungarians, and Turks together with bandits, superstitions, harems, Ottoman pashas and viziers, rustic characters, and heroism. The Turkish World in Hungary is also a romantic novel with plenty of passion, intrigue, and betrayal; a swashbuckler with duels and battles; and a comedy with ribald humor and subtle satire.

The main historical theme of the novel is the political struggles to maintain the independence of Transylvania and Hungary between two hostile empires, the Ottoman and the Habsburg.

Its main historical characters - Reigning Prince Mihály Apafi I, his chief counselor County Mihály Teleki, Pál Béldi the General of the Szekler army, and the young Count Imre Thököly - compete with each other to maintain independence according to their own ideas. Clashes end in tragedy, one after the other.

Originally published in three volumes in Pest, 1853, under the title Török világ Magyarországon. This modern, complete and faithful translation includes illustrations and annotations.