The Habsburg emperor’s cession of a large portion of Hungarian land to the Ottoman Turks under the Peace of Vasvar has provoked the opposition of many previously pro-Habsburg Hungarian Roman Catholic magnates, including the palatine administrator Ferenc Wesselényi; the bán (governor) of Croatia, Péter Zrínyi; the chief justice of Hungary, Ferenc Nádasdy; and Ferenc Rákóczi.

Forming a conspiracy to free Hungary and Croatia from Habsburg rule, they secretly negotiate for assistance from France and Turkey.

Ferenc Rákóczi marries Péter Zrínyi’s daughter Ilona in March 1666.

Péter Zrínyi finally receives some encouragement from the sultan in 1670 and prepares to march into Styria.

Rákóczi, believing rumors that a formal alliance has been concluded, also assembles his forces and arrests Count Rüdiger von Starhemberg, the imperial commander in the northern Hungarian city of Tokay.

The Turks' chief interpreter, however, has revealed the plot to Habsburg officials in Vienna.

Imperial troops rescue Starhemberg and easily disperse the rebels.

An Austrian court tries several leaders for high treason by a, and Zrínyi, Nádasdy, and two others are beheaded on April 30, 1671.

Wesselényi had earlier died of natural causes.

Rákóczi is spared on payment of a ransom, however, through his mother's influence with the Jesuits.