Bethlen-Gabor — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Bethlen-Gabor (i.e. GABRIEL BETHLEN), descended from an ancient and distinguished Protestant family of Hungary, was born in 1580. He rose to prominence during civil troubles in Transylvania, and on the death of Gabriel Bathori succeeded (1613), by the aid of the sultan, in being chosen sovereign prince of Transylvania. In 1619, when the Bohemians rose in defence of their religious and political rights, they looked eagerly for support to Gabor, who was glad of such an opportunity to gratify his ambition at the expense of his enemy, Austria. He accordingly marched into Hungary, took Kaschau, his advance more resembling a triumphal procession an offshoot of the Huguenot settlement in Spital-fields. Its museum, opened by the Queen in 1872, is a branch of the one at South Kensington. Pop. (1881) 126,961; (1891) 129,134.