The Holy Crown and the Hungarian Estates : : constructing early modern identity in the kingdom of Hungary / / Kees Teszelszky, translated by Bernard Adams.

• Superior document: Refo500 Academic Studies (R5AS)
• VerfasserIn: Teszelszky, Kees, 1972-
• TeilnehmendeR: Adams, Bernard,
• Place / Publishing House: Göttingen, Germany : : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,, [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Refo500 Academic Studies (R5AS)
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (397 pages)
• Notes: Includes index.

This book is about one of the most important elements of the political narratives in the history of Hungary in past and present: the Holy Crown of Hungary. This object is one of the most widely used symbols of modern Hungarian nationalism in our times and has been in use for ages in political culture. Surprisingly less is known how the meaning of the crown has changed over the centuries and how this influenced the development of national identity in the early modern period. Starting point is that the "medieval doctrine of the holy crown" is a modern invention. Teszelszky's research concentrates on the relation between the change in the meaning of this crown and the construction of an early modern national identity between 1572 and 1665. Using a constructivist method of research the author shows how the Habsburg ruler and the Hungarian estates legitimised their political program through an image of the crown and the Hungarian political community. In a short period between the end of 1604 and 1613 during a rebellion in Hungary, a war with the Ottomans and a strive between Emperor Rudolf II and his brother Archduke Matthias, the medieval tradition of the holy crown was revived and redeveloped by Hungarian and foreign historiographers into an ideology which is still present today. Biographische Informationen Kees Teszelszky is a cultural historian, curator digital collections at Koninklijke Bibliotheek and affliated with the Media Studies at the University of Groningen.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Content -- Abbreviations -- Preface -- Introduction: concepts and context -- I. A changing symbol of authority: the meaning and tradition of the Holy Crown up to 1526 -- The visible and invisible crown -- The concept of the crown in Hungary -- The origin of the cultus of the Holy Crown -- The cultus of the Holy Crown around the reign of King Mátyás Corvinus -- II. The Holy Crown and the Hungarian Estates: the transformation of the Estates from a cultural to a political community -- The concept of natio in Medieval Hungary -- The concept of natio and the Holy Crown in the work of István Werbőczy (1517) -- The concept of natio and the cultus of the Holy Crown after the Battle of Mohács (1526) -- The formation of a Hungarian nation of Estates after the Battle of Mohács (1526) -- III. Emperor Rudolf II, Habsburg rule in Hungary and the Holy Crown -- The Emperor Rudolf II's political background -- The Illésházy case and the crown -- The work of Elias Berger a Grünenberg -- The dispute on the decline of Hungary (1602-1603) -- The speech of Demeter Naprágyi (1603) -- IV. The Bocskai Rebellion (1604-1606) -- The cause of the rebellion -- Bocskai's court in Hungary -- The body of the crown and the free towns of Hungary -- The song on Bocskai and the crown -- The justification of the Bocskai Rebellion in Querelae -- V. The Ottoman crown of Bocskai -- The request for a new crown -- The presentation of and handing over of the Ottoman crown (1605) -- The myth of the refusal of the Ottoman crown -- Bocatius' Hungaroteutomachia -- VI. The return of the Holy Crown to Hungary -- The end of the Bocskai rebellion and the testament of Bocskai (1606) -- Archduke Matthias Habsburg in Hungary -- Elias Berger as historian of the Habsburg family -- The theory of Illésházy and Berger concerning the crown.

The transferring of the Crown from Rudolf to Matthias (1608) -- István Illésházy's speech of 1608 and the work of Berger (1608) -- The coronation of Matthias as King of Hungary (1608) and its description by János Jeszenszky -- VII. Péter Révay's History of the Holy Crown (1613) -- Questions and problems -- Péter Révay's life and oeuvre -- The interpretation of the book on the Holy Crown -- Destiny, Christendom and the Holy Crown -- The description of the outlook of the crown -- The reign of King Mátyás II -- Révay's book and the shaping of national identity -- VIII. The effect of Révay's book on the crown -- The Sylvester Bull -- The debate on the apostolic nature of the crown -- Annales ecclesiastici regni Hungariae (1644) -- The aftermath of Révay's work and national identity -- Conclusion -- Epilogue -- Images -- List of images -- Bibliography -- Primary sources -- Research literature -- Index.