György Dózsa (or György Székely, Romanian: Gheorghe Doja; c. 1470 – 20 July 1514) was a Székely man-at-arms from Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, who led a peasants' revolt against the kingdom's landed nobility during the reign of King Vladislaus II of Hungary. The rebellion was suppressed, and Dózsa captured, tortured, and executed by being seated on a throne (itself smouldering according to legend), crowned with red-hot iron, devoured alive by his followers under duress, and then quartered.
György Dózsa was of Székely origins and known to his contemporaries as György Székely. Based on primary sources, he was probably in his forties or fifties at the time of his execution and thus must have been born around 1470. Nothing more specific is known of his ancestry, family, or early life. His birthplace has been suggested as Dálnok (today Dalnic, Romania). It was asserted by Márki in his 1913 biography of Dózsa that he was the man identified in a 1507 court document as Georgius Dosa Siculus de Makfalva (today Ghindari, Romania) and was therefore from the Dózsa family belonging to the Szovát branch of the Örlőcz clan. This has since been questioned, as variants of the family name Dózsa were 'quite common' at the time in Transylvania. Márki suggested a family tree starting with András Dózsa in the beginning of the 15th century who lived in Marosszék. His sons, Tamás and Ádám would have then moved to Dálnok and started families. Tamás, a vajda (infantry captain) became György Dózsa's father. Pataki doubts this, as Székelys of the lófő rank (as Márki stipulated the Dózsas were) depended on their land for their place in the economic and social hierarchy, which limited their mobility by making them reluctant to sell or exchange their lands (although they did do so at times). Therefore, he considers it unproven that the György Dózsa from Dálnok was the same person recorded as being from Makfalva in the 1507 court document.
Dózsa had a younger brother, Gergely Dózsa (Gregory Dózsa), who would be executed alongside him. Contemporary sources attest that Dózsa's father had had four sons; besides György and Gergely, they have been named as János (John), Lukács (Lukas), and Menyhért (Melchior). As Lukács is usually credited with the acts attributed to Gergely in other sources, the two names probably denote the same person. Menyhért supposedly became the ban of Croatia, but there is little to support this connection. Márki suggests that János might have been the same as a János Székely inciting a rebellion among the Transylvanian Saxons in 1513–1514, but Pataki disputes this. Márki claims that the family still had members in 1913, descending from Ádám Dózsa, György Dózsa's uncle. However, Pataki found no record of people named Dózsa living in or near Dálnok in the 1602 or the more extensive 1614 census, although many lófő and noble families with the name Székely lived there. Márki further argues that Dózsa had a sister, Katalin, who married Miklós Zeyk, a future supporter of King John Zápolya.
Dózsa probably did not receive much education, and seems to have been illiterate. He grew up in a time of widespread social upheaval and small rebellions. During the reign of King Matthias Corvinus, which covered what was probably Dózsa's childhood, peasants were taxed oppressively; after Matthias' death in 1490, the War of the Hungarian Succession broke out between John Corvinus (the late King's illegitimate son), Emperor Maximilian I, and two brothers from the Jagiellonian dynasty, John Albert and Vladislaus. The conflict impacted Transylvania, with the Székelys supporting Vladislaus. After his victory, they nevertheless suffered the tyranny of Voivode István Báthory, who extorted rents and taxes by torture and intimidation. Many Székelys fled the country, and Báthory's actions eventually prompted a successful revolt to replace him in December 1492. Even afterwards, the period that was probably Dózsa's youth and early adulthood was punctuated with revolts and rebellions, the most violent in 1506.
If the 1507 court document about Georgius Dosa Siculus de Makfalva indeed refers to Dózsa, he committed a violent robbery at a market in Medgyes (today Mediaș, Romania) that year, killing multiple merchants. The document requests that he be punished and removed in order to preserve the community's peace. However, it remains unclear whether this case concerns Dózsa or another man of a similar name. Family tradition recounted by Márki holds that Dózsa was a 'tall, strong' man with curly brown hair and of exceptional physical strength, but there are no contemporaneous depictions or descriptions of him.
It has been claimed by Márki and accepted by Pataki that Dózsa participated in the 1513 campaign of John Zápolya against Ottoman forces. He then probably joined the defence of Nándorfehérvár (today Belgrade, Serbia). Sources mention him as a cavalry captain of great courage during this siege. They tell the story of him beating the Ottoman champion, bey of the sipahis of Szendrő (today Smederevo, Serbia), named as Ali of Epeiros in a duel on 28 February 1514. Ali was a great swordsman, who had already caused the death of many Hungarian valiants during his duels.
Dózsa's desire for glory was growing, and his fellow soldiers tried in vain to dissuade him from challenging the feared Ottoman champion to a duel. According to legend, Dózsa was incensed by Ali insulting the Hungarians and also wanted to take his 'magnificent horse' for himself. In the popular account, the two men first fought with spears then with swords on a field outside the castle of Nándorfehérvár, and Dózsa cut off Ali's armour-covered right hand 'in one [piece]'. He then killed him. Although there is no decisive proof of how the duel exactly happened, it seems to have been considered important: King Vladislaus rewarded Dózsa with a noble title, a village, and a coat of arms. Some accounts claim that Dózsa demanded a prize himself, arriving at Buda with a letter of recommendation from his commander, others that he was summoned by the royal court. He perhaps took Ali's right arm there as proof of his victory.
With this victory, Dózsa won a nationwide reputation and fame.
One source claims that Dózsa committed a crime before arriving at court. He is suggested to have been rewarded with a large sum of money by the King, which the treasurer, István Telegdy, refused to give to him. At this, Dózsa murdered a royal tax collector, stole three thousand gold coins from him, and threatened to join the Ottomans. The court feared that Dózsa could open Nándorfehérvár to the enemy, and bought his loyalty with two hundred gold coins and two horses in golden and silver tacks. However, Márki does not believe that this happened, as the court would have had no reason to reward a soldier threatening treason instead of executing him.
When Dózsa arrived in Buda, some primary sources describe him being reprimanded by Miklós Csáky, Bishop of Csanád for his crimes. Dózsa then complained to Cardinal Tamás Bakócz, Archbishop of Esztergom, who gave him command of the crusaders as a consolation. This is unlikely to have happened in this way. Dózsa was, however, knighted by the King, his wages doubled. He was given a village of forty households located between Nándorfehérvár and Temesvár, as well as two hundred gold coins. The coat of arms of his family was also renewed (or given to him to ennoble him, as it is unclear whether his ancestors had been nobles) and a bleeding, cut-off arm holding a sword was included on it. Based on the crimson robes embroidered with gold and golden chain given to him, Márki claims that Dózsa was rewarded above the level of simple knighthood and could have hoped for a career at the royal court.
On 9 March 1513, Pope Leo X was elected, a man enthusiastic about driving the Ottomans out of Europe. On 17 June 1513, he published a bull authorising a crusade, appointing Archbishop Bakócz to organise it. The bull called not on European princes but on the people to fight the holy war and pre-emptively branded anyone who would impede the crusade as a traitor. When he returned to Hungary, the Archbishop was warned by the King that the country was strained financially and unable to furnish even the most important fortresses on the border. Among the leading barons of the country, there was a debate about the wisdom of launching a crusade: Bakócz argued that Hungary needed to exploit the internal strife of the Ottoman Empire for its own protection and go against them with as large an army as possible, considering that foreign aid was unlikely. The treasurer, István Telegdy thought that it would be wiser not to recruit commoners: a large number of missing peasants would be devastating for the country's agriculture during the summer, and untrained agricultural workers had little military value. He proposed only asking commoners for donations and relying on noble's banderiums for the crusade. The party favouring the peasants' crusade won and the bull was published on 9 April. The King arranged for tithes to be redirected to fund the operations.