Reformations in Hungary in the Age of the Ottoman Conquest

Pál Ács

• Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9783525570845
• eBook ISBN: 9783647570846
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Pál Ács discusses various aspects of the cultural and literary history of Hungary during the hundred years that followed the Battle of Mohács (1526) and the onset of the Reformation. The author focuses on the special Ottoman context of the Hungarian Reformation movements including the Protestant and Catholic Reformation and the spiritual reform of Erasmian intellectuals. The author argues that the Ottoman presence in Hungary could mean the co-existence of Ottoman bureaucrats and soldiers with the indigenous population. He explores the culture of occupied areas, the fascinating ways Christians came to terms with Muslim authorities, and the co-existence of Muslims and Christians.Ács treats not only the culture of the Reformation in an Ottoman context but also vice versa the Ottomans in a Protestant framework. As the studies show, the culture of the early modern Hungarian Reformation is extremely manifold and multi-layered. Historical documents such as theological, political and literary works and pieces of art formed an interpretive, unified whole in the self-representation of the era. Two interlinked and unifying ideas define this diversity: on the one hand the idea of European-ness, i.e. the idea of strong ties to a Christian Europe, and on the other the concept of Reformation itself. Despite its constant ideological fragmentation, the Reformation sought universalism in all its branches. As Ács shows, it was re-formatio in the original sense of the word, i.e. restoration, an attempt to restore a bygone perfection imagined to be ideal.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Body
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part One: Erasmian Challenges
• Chapter 1: Erasmus and the Hungarian Intellectuals of the 16th Century
• Chapter 2: The Names of the Holy Maccabees – Erasmus and the Origin of Hungarian Protestant Martyrology
• Chapter 3: The Reception of Erasmianism in Hungary and the Contexts of the Erasmian Programme – The “Cultural Patriotism” of Benedek Komjáti
• Part Two: Protestant Reformations in Cultural Context
• Chapter 4: Bibles and Books – Vernacular Literature in Hungary
• Chapter 5: “Thou shalt not Commit Adultery” – The Metaphor of Paráznaság/Adultery as Applied in the Literature of the Reformation
• Chapter 6: Popular Culture in Reformation Hungary – A Fiddler's Song before 1580
• Chapter 7: The Theory of Soul-sleeping at the Beginning of the Hungarian Reformation Movement – Matthias Dévai: De sanctorum dormitione
• Chapter 8: Thomas Cranmer's Martyrdom as Parable – Hungarian Adaptation in Verse of John Foxe's Martyrology by Mihály Sztárai (1560)
• Chapter 9: Abrahamic Faith in a Hungarian Market-Town – A History in Verse by Máté Skaricza (1581)
• Chapter 10: “Thou art my Son, David” – The Limits of Historical Interpretation in the Unitarian Translation of Psalm 2
• Part Three: The Changing Image of Ottoman Turks
• Chapter 11: Alvise Gritti and Tamás Nádasdy – The History of a Burnt-Out Friendship
• Chapter 12: Andreas Dudith's Ottoman Brother-in-Law
• Chapter 13: Tarjumans Mahmud and Murad – Austrian and Hungarian Renegades as Sultan's Interpreters
• Chapter 14: The Rise and Fall of a Notorious Renegade – The Story of Şehsuvar Bey (1580)
• Chapter 15: “Pro Turcis” and “Contra Turcos” – Curiosity, Scholarship and Spiritualism in Ottoman Histories by Johannes Löwenklau (1541–1594)
• Chapter 16: Iter Persicum – In Alliance with the Safavid Dynasty against the Ottomans?
• Part Four: The Catholic Reforming Movements in the Early 17th Century
• Chapter 17: The Conqueror of the Ottomans in the Kunstkabinett – Curiosity and the Cult of the Hero in Pál Esterházy's Poem Egy csudálatos ének (A Song of Wonder)
• Chapter 18: Historical Scepticism and Piety – The Revision of Protestant Ideas on History in the Sermons of the Hungarian Jesuit Péter Pázmány
• Bibliography
• Register