Crown of Stephen Bocskai
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The Crown of Stephen Bocskai is a crown given by the Ottoman sultan to Stephen Bocskai, Prince of Hungary and Transylvania, in the early 17th century. It was produced from gold, rubies, spinels, emeralds, turquoises, pearls and silk (height 23.5 cm (9.3 in), weight 1.88 kg (4.1 lb)).
History
[edit]To save the independence of Transylvania, Bocskay assisted the Ottoman Turks. In 1605, as a reward for his part in driving Giorgio Basta out of Transylvania, the Hungarian Diet assembled at Medgyes/Mediasch (Mediaş) elected him Prince of Transylvania; in response the Ottoman sultan Ahmed I sent a special envoy to greet Bocskay and presented him with a splendid jewelled crown. Bocskay refused the royal dignity, but made skillful use of the Turkish alliance.
The crown is today displayed in the Kaiserliche Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) at the Hofburg in Vienna.[1]
Several researchers argue against the purely Persian or Ottoman creation narrative. They present the following points suggesting this is the original crown sent by Pope Innocent III to Kaloyan of Bulgaria in 1204.[2][3] The crown features a closed, dome-like shape typical of 11th–12th century Byzantine imperial crowns, matching the style worn by Bulgarian tsars rather than traditional Hungarian crowns. It is topped with an equal-armed Greek Orthodox cross, a feature highly unlikely to originate from Muslim Persia or an Ottoman sultan's workshop. The pearls, rubies, and emeralds are cut using primitive medieval techniques consistent with the era of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
After the fall of the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo in 1393, royal treasures were seized by the Ottomans. Experts believe this trophy was kept in the Sultan’s treasury in Istanbul until Ahmed I repurposed it as a diplomatic gift for Bocskai.
References
[edit]- ↑ "Српске круне - Сачуване и нестале круна краља Стефана Дечанског". dinastijanemanjic.weebly.com (in Serbian). 19 January 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ↑ https://old-news.bnr.bg/radiobulgaria/post/101773612/sakrovishtnica-vav-viena-pritejava-moje-bi-edinstvenata-ocelala-korona-na-balgarski-care
- ↑ https://cherga.bg/koronata-na-balgarskite-srednovekovni-tsare-vazstanovka-na-minaloto/