Emeric Thököly (1657 - 1705) played an important role not only in the history of Kezmarok but also in the progress of the Hungarian nobility uprising against the Habsburgs. Thanks to his rebellion, in 1681, the Emperor convened a congress to Sopron, which resulted in two articles concerning the Protestants. These articles laid down the conditions for the construction of "articular" temples and the return of churches. 

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Emeric Thököly de Késmárk was born on September 25, 1657, in Kežmarok Castle. His father was Stephen II. Thököly and mother Mary Gyulaffy. He had five siblings. Adam and Stephen died in childhood. His sisters were married to important noblemen: Katarína (1655-1701) was married
to Franz Esterházy, Mária (* 1656) was married to Stephen Nádazdy and Eva (1659-1716) was married to Paul Esterházy - palatine and the first sovereign prince of the Esterházy family.

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Thököly family was the most famous owner of the castle manor. Four generations of Thökölys lived in Kežmarok between 1579 – 1684: Sebastian, Stephen I., Stephen II. and Emeric.

Stephen II. (1623-1670) gained the castle after the Stephen I. death, who was buried with his father in the family tomb in the St. Cross church (at that time belonged to Protestants). His mother was Katarina Thurzó (one of the seven daughters of the Palatine George Thurzó). In 1653, after the death of the Palatine, Stephen II.

became a director of Thurzó - Thököly estate in Orava.

 

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When Emeric was two years old, his mother died as 22 years old. In 1667 young Emeric began to study at the Evangelical College in Prešov. His father Stephen II. the director of Orava castle was involved to the Wesseleny anti-Habsburg conspiracy. In December 1670, Emperor Leopold I. issued an order to confiscate his property.  Stephen Thököly was defending The Orava castle until his death (1670), after that the Habsburg army gained the castle. Thököly's estates, including the Orava properties, devolved to state.

His only son Emeric fled from the castle as a 13 years old boy. According to the legend, he left the castle by the secret passageway and misguided the pursuers with his horse, that had horseshoes in the opposite direction. After the escape from the besieged Orava Castle, he retreated to Transylvania - the centrum of anti-empire uprisings. In 1678 he became a commander of the next uprising of the Hungarian nobility and with his troops, he successfully entered Hungary.

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The 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century were marked by the constant uprisings of the Hungarian nobility.  There were several reasons for the uprising: the dissatisfaction of the Hungarian nobility, who wanted to take a part in ruling the country and the Emperor - but he did not respect their requests. The counter-reformation of the Habsburg family against the Protestant churches was evident during the whole period. Since the majority of Slovakia was Protestant, the people fought against these decisions. The living standards of the people had been decreasing more and more - the towns and villages had to pay huge taxes to the imperial court and maintain the imperial army.  The south of Slovakia was occupied by the Turks and the Habsburgs cannot deal with this situation.

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Rebel soldiers were called Kuruci. The origin of the name "kuruc" is explained in two ways.  It can be an anagram from the Latin word "crux", which means a "cross" – as a reference to the ancient mercenaries - crusaders. The second option speaks about a mocking anagram “Kruzitürken”, which means Christian Turks.

Emeric Thököly was initially successful - he occupied the whole Slovakia. After these successes of the insurgents, in 1681, Emperor Leopold was forced to convene a congress of Hungarian nobility to Sopron, which enacted religious freedom and allowed the Protestants to build churches and schools under certain conditions. At the same time, the rights of the Hungarian nobility and the Palatine office (Palatine was the representative of the king in Hungary, elected by the Hungarian Congress) were renewed.

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Thököly sa ako jeho predchodcovia taktiež spojil s Turkami, ktorí súčasne bojovali proti Habsburgovcom. Turci ho dokonca roku 1682 korunovali za kráľa Horného Uhorska (Slovenska), sultán poslal Imrichovi symboly kráľovskej moci – vazalskú korunu, kráľovský plášť, meč, budzogáň a zástavu – každý symbol mu odovzdal iný turecký paša. Imrich sa však kráľom nikdy netituloval – podpisoval sa “len” ako sedmohradské knieža.

Keď sa kurucké vojská priblížili na Spiš, Kežmarčania boli v rozpakoch. Drvivú väčšinu obyvateľstva tvorili protestanti, nemali v láske rakúskeho cisára, lenže veliteľ povstalcov bol z rodu Thököly, a tých tiež nemali radi...

V auguste 1678 vstúpili kuruci do Kežmarku. Hneď vrátili protestantom odňaté kostoly, fary, školy. No počiatočná radosť mesta rýchlo ustúpila – kuruci práve tak isto plienili a rabovali ako cisárski žoldnieri a vôbec im nezáležalo na tom, že Kežmarok je rodisko ich najvyššieho veliteľa, ba možno mnohí o tom ani nevedeli. Až v roku 1682 dáva Imrich Thököly Kežmarku ochranný list, v ktorom zakazuje všetkým svojim vojakom akokoľvek mesto obťažovať.

Knieža si urobilo z kežmarského hradu prepychové sídlo, hoci sa tam takmer vôbec nezdržiavalo. Do Kežmarku chodilo aj so svojou manželkou Ilonou Zrínyi (bola od Imricha o 14 rokov staršia) a nevlastným synom Františkom Rákóczim II.

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Hviezda Thökölyho však tiež nesvietila dlho – definitívne zhasla v bitke pod Viedňou roku 1683, kde cisár

s pomocou Poliakov porazil spojené kurucko – turecké vojská. Na Spiš prichádzajú cisárske vojská, vzdáva sa im aj Kežmarok a skladá prísahu vernosti cisárovi. Hoci v marci 1684 Thököly poslednýkrát navštevuje  Kežmarok,

v apríli ho definitívne obsadia cisárske vojská.

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Napokon bol Imrich nútený uchýliť sa k svojim bývalým spojencom Turkom. Odišiel s manželkou i najbližšími spolubojovníkmi do Turecka, kde v meste Izmid aj zomrel. Po 201 rokoch boli jeho pozostatky prevezené

do Kežmarku.