Authorities Went Medieval On This Freedom Fighter
Hungarian peasant put hundreds of castles and aristocratic manors to the torch. They also killed thousands of the gentry, many of whom were tortured to death or executed in a variety of gruesome ways, such as crucifixion or impalement. The rebellion was finally crushed, and the peasantry was crushed with it. Hungary’s peasants were subjected to a reign of terror and a wave of retaliatory vengeance by the nobles. Over 70,000 were tortured to death, and the peasants as a class were condemned to perpetual servitude. They were permanently bound to the soil, fined heavily, had their taxes sharply hiked, and the number of days they had to work for their landlords was increased. As to their leader, Doja was captured and condemned to a fiendishly cruel death.
Accused among other things of having sought to become king, Doja was sentenced to sit on a hot iron throne, while a heated iron crown was affixed to his head. Next, bloody hunks were torn out of his body. Nine of his chief lieutenants, starved beforehand, were forced to eat his flesh. The aristocratic backlash backfired, however. Twelve years later the Ottoman Turks invaded Hungary, and found it relatively easy to conquer what was still a bitterly divided country. Doja’s legacy lived on. The revolutionary aspects of his life were drawn upon heavily during the communist era in Romania, his land of birth. Likewise in Hungary, where Doja is the most popular street name in villages, and a main avenue and metro station in Budapest bear his name.
