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King of Hungary (1620–1). Born into a Hungarian Protestant family, he was elected Prince of Transylvania in 1613. In 1619 he invaded Hungary and had himself elected king in 1620. Although he had to come to terms with the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (ruled 1619–37) the following year, relinquishing his claims to the Hungarian throne, Ferdinand was obliged to grant religious freedom to Hungarian Protestants.

Gabriel Bethlen (de Iktár) (-English, Romanian; Hungarian: Bethlen Gábor, German: Gabriel Bethlen von Iktár, Slovak: Gabriel Betlen;

Gabriel Bethlen, the most famous representative of the Iktári branch of the ancient Hungarian Bethlen family, was born at Ilia (Hungarian: Marosillye) and educated at Lazarea (Hungarian: Szárhegy) at the castle of his uncle András Lázár. Bethlen also supported Bocskai's successor Gabriel Báthory (1608-1613), but the prince became jealous of Bethlen's superior abilities and Bethlen was obliged to take refuge with the Turks of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1613, Bethlen led a large army against Prince Báthory, but in the same year Báthory was murdered by two of his officers. Bethlen was placed on the throne by the Otomans in opposition to the wishes of the Austrian Habsburg emperor, who preferred a prince who would incline more toward Vienna than toward Turkish Constantinople. In 1615, Bethlen was also officially recognized by the Emperor Matthias as the Prince of Transylvania; Bethlen promised in secret that he would help the Habsburgs against the Ottomans.

While avoiding the cruelties and excesses of many of his predecessors, Bethlen established a singular variant of patriarchal but sufficiently enlightened absolutism. Bethlen seems also to have been genuinely anxious to protect Protestant liberties. The Habsburgs had violated the Peace of Vienna of 1606 that put an end to the anti-Habsburg uprising of Bethlen's "predecessor" Stephen Bocskai. The Habsburgs had violated the secret agreement with Bethlen of 1615 and prolonged the peace with Ottoman Empire in July 1615, and even entered into an alliance with George Druget, the captain of Upper Hungary (i.e. eastern Slovakia and adjacent territories) against Bethlen.

While Emperor Ferdinand was occupied with the Bohemian rebellion of 1618, Bethlen led his armies into Royal Hungary (more exactly to present-day Slovakia) in August 1619 and occupied the town of Košice (Kassa, Kaschau) in September, where his Protestant supporters declared him "head" of Hungary and protector of the Protestants. He soon won over the entirety of present-day Slovakia, even securing the capital of Royal Hungary, Pressburg (Pozsony, today: Bratislava), in October, where the palatine even handed over the Crown of St Stephen to Bethlen. Bethlen's troops joined with the troops of the Czech and Moravian estates (led by Count Thurn), but they failed to conquer Vienna in November – Bethlen was forced to leave Austria after being attacked by George Druget and Polish mercenaries in present-day eastern Slovakia. most of Royal Hungary, Bethlen was not averse to a peace, nor to a preliminary suspension of hostilities, and negotiations were opened at the conquered towns Pressburg, Košice and Banská Bystrica (Hung.:Besztercebánya, Germ.:Neusohl). Initially, they led to nothing because Bethlen insisted on including the Czechs in the peace, but finally a truce was concluded in January 1620 under which Bethlen received 13 counties in the east of Royal Hungary. On 20 August 1620 the estates elected him King of Hungary at the Diet in Banská Bystrica with the consent of the Ottomans, but Bethlen refused to accept the crown because he wanted to reconcile with the Habsburgs.

The defeat of the Czech rebels by Ferdinand II’s troops at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 November 1620 (to which Bethlen had sent 3,000 delayed troops which however came too late) gave a new turn to Bethlen’s insurrection against the Habsburgs. Because the Protestant nobles had not received the confiscated property of the Catholics on Bethlen's territory and thus rescinded their support for Bethlen, and because Bethlen was not directly supported by the Ottomans, Bethlen started peace negotiations. As a result, the Treaty of Nikolsburg was concluded on December 31, 1621, under which Bethlen renounced the royal title on condition that Ferdinand confirmed the 1606 Peace of Vienna (which had granted full liberty of worship to the Protestants) and engaged to summon a general diet within six months). In addition, Bethlen secured the (purely formal) title of “Imperial Prince“ (of Transylvania), seven counties around the Upper Tisza River (in present-day Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania), the fortresses of Tokaj, Mukacheve (Munkács), and Ecsed, and a duchy in Silesia.

Subsequently Bethlen twice (1623-1624 and 1626) launched further campaigns against Ferdinand to the territory of present-day Slovakia, this time as a direct ally of the anti-Habsburg Protestant powers. After the second of these campaigns, Bethlen attempted a rapprochement with the court of Vienna on the basis of an alliance against the Turks and his own marriage with an archduchess of Austria, but Ferdinand rejected his overtures. Bethlen was obliged to renounce his anti-Turkish projects, which had always remained a goal of his. Bethlen died on November 15, 1629 before he could accomplish any of his great designs, having previously secured the election of his wife Catherine as princess.

Gabriel Bethlen was one of the most striking and original personages of his century.