the military leadership debated about a possible intervention – awaiting the order from Vienna, the Hungarian nobility took action: they organized their defence, they captured and trialed the rioters in Deva (Déva), and executed 56 peasants. When Joseph II ordered the army to intervene, the uprising was ended by Horea on 14 December 1784, at Câmpeni (Topánfalva, Topesdorf). In January 1785, the leaders were captured for treason, after a bounty had been put on their heads. From the more than 600 captured rebels, 120 were sentenced; 37 death penalties were delivered initially but they were changed to imprisonment as a result of the amnesty of the emperor, with an exception regarding the three leaders. Horea and Cloșca were executed by the Hungarian authorities by breaking on the wheel on 28 February 1785 at Dealul Furcilor (Gabelberg, Forks Hill), Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár). Crișan hanged himself on the night before the execution. Legacy After the revolt had been put down, Joseph II responded by enacting a Patent for the Abolition of Serfdom for Transylvania in 1785. This put an end to serfdom, although the feudal system continued to be practiced for several more decades. The Emperor also ended aristocratic control over peasant marriages and expanded the peasants’ grazing rights. The uprising reverberated throughout Western Europe. It upset the feudal system and is considered by many to have inspired the French Revolution. In 1785, Jacques Pierre Brissot, who would become a leader of the French Revolution, published an open letter to Joseph II in which he asserted the right of royal subjects to protest. See also Horea, Cloșca și Crișan Division References Sources External links Conflicts in 1784 Conflicts in 1785 Peasant revolts History of Transylvania (1683–1848) 18th-century rebellions 1784 in Europe 1785 in Europe Riots and civil disorder in Romania Hungary–Romania relations Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor