József Kelenik: Spies, News and Rumours. Intelligence Work and Warfare in the south Transdanubian borderlands during the first ha…
József Kelenik: Spies, News and Rumours. Intelligence Work and Warfare in the south Transdanubian borderlands during the first half of the seventeenth century.
Without a sufficiently developed news gathering and distribution network the unfavourable military and political circumstances during the first half of the seventeenth century would have meant that the castle network would have been incapable of fulfilling its duties. The vicinity of the enemy line, their superior numbers and the orders given by the allies to take up a defensive stance meant that the initiative was handed over to the Turks. The wide front line meant that the Hungary border posts neither had the strength nor the time to summon up a counterattack. In such circumstances the basic strategy amounted to beating off attempted incursions by preempting their enemies' plans.
The enormous amount of time and effort which was devoted to uncovering the enemies' next offensive meant that the Turks were constantly conscious of possible Hungarian information gathering. They were painfully aware that people of importance, or others who were likely to be of use, were always available to work as full time Turkish spies or coordinators if the price was right or if the necessary material rewards were forthcoming.
The casual news gatherers were usually made up Hungarian soldiers who had fallen into Turkish hands. As part of their ransom they were expected to work in the Turkish castles and it was there they made military movements, numbers and other important pieces of data available to those wishing to have a greater understanding of the situation. Another important group of news gatherers, although less reliable as a source, were the so-called conquered civilians who, by observing the movements of Turkish units, were able to play a key role in tipping off the Hungarian border guards.
