Pál Fodor – Géza Dávid: Ottoman spying in Hungary
Pál Fodor – Géza Dávid: Ottoman spying in Hungary
In this article the authors publish three Ottoman spy reports in Hungarian translation from the middle of the sixteenth century with the aim of shedding some light on the activity of Ottoman intelligence service in Habsburg-ruled Hungary.
The Ottomans maintained espionage centres in Hungary on three levels: 1. in the vilayet-centres; 2. in the sancak-centres, and 3. in the border fortresses. The main task of the network of spies was to gather information on the political and military plans of the Habsburg rulers both in Hungary and the German Empire.
The documents presented here serve to illustrate how the beylerbeyi of Buda and the bey of the sancak Szolnok tried to comply with these tasks. The reports reveal unanimously that the Ottoman frontier commanders succeeded in planting spies in the most important Habsburg centres both in Hungary and Austria. They also make clear that their secret agents were mostly the so-called pribeks and other intermediary elements of Southern Slav origin. By comparing the information of the reports with the actual events it can be concluded that the Ottoman spies supplied their master (and through them the sultan’s court) with reliable information in every matter of crucial importance.
