Rethinking the Work Ethic in Premodern Europe, eds. Gábor Almási and Giorgio Lizzul (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)
This book investigates how work ethics in Europe were conceptualised from the Middle Ages to the ... more This book investigates how work ethics in Europe were conceptualised from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Through analysis of a range of discourses, it focuses on the roles played by intellectuals in formulating, communicating, and contesting ideas about work and its ethical value. The book moves away from the idea of a singular Weberian work ethic as fundamental to modern notions of work and instead emphasises how different languages of work were harnessed for a variety of social, intellectual, religious, economic, political, and ideological objectives. Rather than a singular work ethic that left a decisive mark on the development of Western culture and economy, the volume stresses plurality. The essays draw on approaches from intellectual, social, and cultural history. They explore how, why, and in what contexts labour became an important and openly promoted value; who promoted or opposed hard work and for what reasons; and whether there was an early modern break with ancient and medieval discourses on work. These historicized visions of work ethics help enrich our understanding of present-day changing attitudes to work.
Despite fragmentation, heterogeneity and the continuous pressure of the Ottoman Empire, early mod... more Despite fragmentation, heterogeneity and the continuous pressure of the Ottoman Empire, early modern “divided Hungary” witnessed a surprising cultural flourishing in the sixteenth century, and maintained its common cultural identity in the seventeenth century. This could hardly have been possible without intense exchange with the rest of Europe. This three-volume series about early modern Hungary divided by Ottoman presence approaches themes of exchange of information and knowledge from two perspectives, namely, exchange through traditional channels provided by religious/educational institutions and the system of European study tours (Volume 1 – Study Tours and Intellectual-Religious Relationships), and the less regular channels and improvised networks of political diplomacy (Volume 2 – Diplomacy, Information Flow and Cultural Exchange). A by-product of this exchange of information was the changing image of early modern Hungary and Transylvania, which is presented in the third and in some aspects concluding volume of essays (Volume 3 – The Making and Uses of the Image of Hungary and Transylvania). Unlike earlier approaches to the same questions, these volumes draw an alternative map of early modern Hungary. On this map, the centre-periphery conceptions of European early modern culture are replaced by new narratives written from the perspective of historical actors, and the dominance of Western-Hungarian relationships is kept in balance due to the significance of Hungary’s direct neighbours, most importantly the Ottoman Empire.
Cet ouvrage présente les pièces liminaires des oeuvres transmises ou publiées par les soins de Jo... more Cet ouvrage présente les pièces liminaires des oeuvres transmises ou publiées par les soins de Johannes Sambucus (1531–1584), érudit hongrois, fils du maire de la ville prospère et cosmopolite de Tmava, au nord-ouest de la Hongrie ancienne. Parcourant l’Europe pendant une durée inhabituelle de vingt-deux ans, il passa son temps à con-stituer une immense bibliothèque de manuscrits grecs et latins. Ce fonds devint sans doute la plus grande bibliothèque privée de manuscrits en Europe centrale et orientale. Bien avant son installation à la Cour impériale de Vienne, il s’était taillé une solide réputation de lettré après la publication de son splendide livre d’Emblemata, issu des presses de Plantin qui allait devenir son principal éditeur. Bien qu’il fűt offìciellement historiographe de l’empereur, son in-térèt principal se toumait vers la publication des trésors uniques de sa bibliothèque. Il prit part à la publication de trente-deux auteurs classiques, byzantins et néo-latins où l’on retrouve des éditions mar-quantes d’Aristénète, de Diogène Laerce, de Pétrone, de Plaute ou de Janus Pannonius. Il contribua aussi aux premières éditions de certains textes de Gémiste Pléthon, d’Hesychius, de Nonnus ou de Stobée. Son travail de philologue est analysé dans une ample introduction en contrepoint de l’édition des pièces liminaires.
From the late 18th century in multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, new language-based national identi... more From the late 18th century in multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, new language-based national identities came to dominate over those that had previously been constructed on legal, territorial, or historical basis. While Hungarian language struggled to emancipate itself, the roles and functions of Latin (official language until 1844) were changing dramatically. Latin held a different significance for varying segments of society, from being the essential part of an individual identity to representing an obstacle to “national survival,” from guaranteeing harmony between the different linguistic communities to hindering change, social and political justice. This pioneering volume aims to highlight the ways language debates about Latin and Hungarian contributed to the creation of new identities and ideologies in Central Europe. Contributors include: Gábor Almási, Per Pippin Aspaas, Piroska Balogh, Henrik Hönich, László Kontler, István Margócsy, Alexander Maxwell, Ambrus Miskolczy, Levente Nagy, Nenad Ristović, Andrea Seidler, Teodora Shek Brnardić, Zvjezdana Sikirić Assouline, and Lav Šubarić.
The aim of this volume, in addition to publishing the text of the Secretissima instructio (1620),... more The aim of this volume, in addition to publishing the text of the Secretissima instructio (1620), has been to identify the author of this anonymous pamphlet and explore its historical and intellectual context. This pro-Catholic publication, written against Frederick V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, merits greater attention for several reasons. It was not only the most popular political pamphlet of the era, with more than 20 Latin and German editions in 1620 alone and with French, English and Italian translations and several circulating manuscript versions. Most theories about the authorship of the pamphlet have been based on contemporary information (or guesses). A textual and philological analysis of the work indicates that the author was of German origin, identified as Kaspar Schoppe, a Catholic convert of profound humanist education, who became the most dreaded author of Catholic propaganda during the epoch. The most important argument for Schoppe’s authorship is a manuscript pamphlet (published in the Appendices) dated 15 June and distributed in Valtellina, the northern neighbour of Milan, by pro-Spanish agents seeking to generate a civil war and drive Valtellina back into Spanish hands. This pamphlet can be regarded, in full, as an extract of the Secretissima instructio—obviously adapted to the political context of Valtellina. Having identified the author, the introduction fits the publication of the Secretissima instructio into Schoppe’s political activity and thought, which reflected the ideas and values of the Counter Reformation, so radically different of the political thought of Renaissance humanism.
This paper is an analysis of Animadversiones in Justi Lipsii Politica, a hitherto unstudied manus... more This paper is an analysis of Animadversiones in Justi Lipsii Politica, a hitherto unstudied manuscript by Kaspar Schoppe. The book offers insights into Schoppe's thinking of politics as a science independent of moral philosophy; his use of Biblical Machiavellianism, i.e. a language based on a Machiavellian interpretation of Old Testament examples in order to legitimate violent action against both heretics and the corrupt clergy; and finally Schoppe's interpretation of Machiavelli.
The main thesis of this article is that nationalist political discourses emerged in Hungary more ... more The main thesis of this article is that nationalist political discourses emerged in Hungary more suddenly, radically and earlier than previously thought. An underlying assumption is that nationalism may be best understood through an analysis of political discourses. The sudden appeal of these kinds of political discourses demands explanation. How did the discourses of nation overwrite earlier discourses? How did they gain social, political and cultural legitimacy? How were they related to the Enlightenment? In answering these questions, we first point to the ambiguity and fluidity of new concepts and terms, such as nation, language, fatherland, patriot and foreigner. These key concepts of nationalist discourses provided innovative and independent sources of political legitimation. They enabled the frameworks of political life and thought to be re-established. They made for an easy entry into politics because they were rooted in familiar, earlier political discourses. However, for the success of nationalism as a political paradigm, the new discourses of nation also had to make attractive ideological offers and project positive visions of the future. These offers, as we will show, were built on an appeal to ‘public happiness’. They bound together Magyarisation and nationalism and grew from an ideology into a political programme.
This paper examines the origins of Hungarian nationalism in the Kingdom of Hungary. Its main thes... more This paper examines the origins of Hungarian nationalism in the Kingdom of Hungary. Its main thesis is that nationalism (as a political discourse and not as a mass movement) emerged in Hungary more suddenly, more radically and earlier than previously thought. We argue that the power of nationalism in shaping culture, society, politics and identity may best be understood through an analysis of the conceptual arsenal, the rhetorical strategies and dynamics of the new discourse of nation and nationhood, which suddenly emerged in the early 1790s. We claim that it is the sudden appeal of these political discourses that needs to be explained first: how could they successfully overwrite earlier discourses? How did they gain social, political, and cultural legitimacy? How did they relate to the Enlightenment? To provide answers to these questions, we first point out the ambiguity and fluidity of new concepts, such as nation, language, fatherland, patriot, foreigner etc. These new key concepts in political discourse provided innovative and independent sources of political legitimation. They served as keystones, on the basis of which the framework of politics could be rewritten. They made an easy entry into politics also because they were rooted in more familiar, earlier political discourses. However, for the success of nationalism as a political paradigm (which remained relatively unchanged in the coming century), the new discourses of nation also needed to make attractive ideological propositions and project positive visions of the future. The main body of the paper shows how these propositions, all aiming fundamentally at public happiness, targeted at a variety of audiences.
This paper argues that Machiavelli's method, his inductive and comparative use of history and exp... more This paper argues that Machiavelli's method, his inductive and comparative use of history and experience for political analysis, and his fashioning of historical-political analysis as 'science', played an important and still unrecognised role in his reception in the sixteenth century. It makes the case that Machiavelli's inductive reasoning and stress on historia and experientia offered a model for scientific method that open-minded sixteenth-century scholars, eager to understand, organise and augment human knowledge (scientia), could fit to their own epistemology. By focusing on the question of method―a crucial issue for sixteenth-century contemporaries―the paper offers more than a key to the understanding of Machiavelli's positive reception. It also helps in apprehending the crucial importance of Lucretius to Machiavelli's scholarship; the role of the late Renaissance fascination with historia in his reception; and the breadth of appropriation of his method exactly in the decades when anti-Machiavellianism became official politics all over Europe. These claims are sustained through the cases of Machiavelli's early translators and promulgators; the French legal humanists and historiographers; the Swiss, Italian and French scholars engaging with medicine, Paracelsism and astronomy; the authors of political maxims from all over Europe; and finally Francis Bacon.
Never before had Europe been flooded with so many pamphlets, newsletters and broadsheets as at the... more Never before had Europe been flooded with so many pamphlets, newsletters and broadsheets as at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. After the Bohemian revolt, political propaganda began to shape public opinion much more heavily. This paper addresses the work and thought of the most gifed and influential author of Catholic propaganda, Kaspar Schoppe, identifying some of his anonymous bestsellers such as the Secretissima instructio (1620). On the one hand, Schoppe’s pamphlets mixed sarcasm with correct political analysis and caricatured Calvinist politics as vulgarly understood Machiavellianism. On the other hand, Machiavellian ideas were also used in the serious advice Schoppe privately offered to Emperor Ferdinand II on the question of how to avoid further revolts in Bohemia. The final section of the paper considers whether Machiavelli’s political thought played a role in the introduction of the new regime in Bohemia afer the Battle of White Mountain.
This paper presents the unusual story of the efforts of the political agent and pamphleteer Kaspa... more This paper presents the unusual story of the efforts of the political agent and pamphleteer Kaspar Schoppe to rehabilitate Machiavelli. Unlike the few earlier attempts by Machiavelli's Florentine descendants, Schoppe's campaign was motivated by complex factors, which were in a great part related to his vision of Catholic renewal. Through the story of Schoppe's campaign for Machiavelli (which at a certain moment became related to Galileo's similar fight for Copernicanism), this paper offers not only a novel interpretation of this fascinating figure of the Counter-Reformation but also insight into the problems of science and political philosophy in the Catholic world.
This study is centered on events in 1580 surrounding a scandalous publication of Machiavelli’s Th... more This study is centered on events in 1580 surrounding a scandalous publication of Machiavelli’s The Prince by Pietro Perna in Basel. With the presentation of new documents the paper fully reconstructs the judicial case that followed its publication, raising new questions about the author of the infamous book Vindiciae contra tyrannos. However, this fascinating story will serve only as a starting point for the investigation of Machiavelli’s late sixteenth-century reception, providing insights into not only the political and religious but also the scientific context of its publication. These fields, it will be argued, were thoroughly interrelated, all sharing similar epistemological premises.
In 1828, two Latin historical documents were published in the German language Viennese journal, A... more In 1828, two Latin historical documents were published in the German language Viennese journal, Archiv für Geschichte, Statistik, Literatur und Kunst. Both concerned the age of Prince Gabriel Bethlen. One was a supportive letter written by James I King of England addressed to Bethlen with references to the deep affinity between Hungary and Transylvania, promising financial help to Bethlen’s war against the Habsburgs. The other was a report on the meeting of the Viennese secret council, during which it was decided to resolve ‘the Hungarian-Transylvanian question’ among others by killing the Hungarian speaking adult population. The goal of the paper is to prove the spurious nature of these documents through a historical analysis, pointing out the anachronistic elements. As it happens with faked texts, they will tell us more about their own age, the political-ideological agenda of the national movement of the turn of the eighteenth-century, than of early seventeenth-century Transylvania. By answering the question of why these documents ended up in the Austrian journal of Baron Joseph Hormayr the study will not only offer an opportunity to reflect about the ways history was used for nationalist agendas but also about the paradoxes of contemporary Austrian patriotism.
Bethlen Gábor és Európa. Szerk. Kármán Gábor és Kees Teszelszky, Oct 2013
During the Thirty Years’ War Gabriel Bethlen acquired international significance through his asso... more During the Thirty Years’ War Gabriel Bethlen acquired international significance through his association with the Ottomans. Ottoman friendship was, however, a double-edged sword. This study analyses the ways this friendship became the centre of anti-Bethlen – but also anti-Calvinist – propaganda, fitting to the established topos of Calvinoturcismus. The claims about the Mohammedan religion of the Calvinist prince of Transylvania, his faithlessness and unreliability were harsh and have remained bothering for Hungarian historiography ever since, in which nonetheless Bethlen has developed into a national hero. These claims questioned both his sovereignty and Christianity. Being based on anti-Ottoman sentiments their message was simple and straightforward, addressing neutral or hesitant potential partners of the Palatinate.
It is obvious that the geo-political situation of Hungary, and especially of Transylvania, was not simple at all, and the alternative of Ottoman association (or friendship) was real, with all the consequent difficulties. It is also clear that the image of the Ottomans as “arch enemies” of Europe was not only the question of religious sentiments but also of complex political interests, which, as a matter of fact, coincided with the goal of Hungary’s liberation from Ottoman rule. However, the alternative of Ottoman orientation became a burning political issue after Bethlen’s (bloody) succession to the throne of Transylvania; no wonder that it was soon in the centre of anti-Transylvanian propaganda directed by Cardinal Klesl. Bethlen’s politics could easily appear to contemporaries as hazardous, while the Habsburgs were worried of Transylvania’s gaining strength and becoming more independent also because of their Counter-reformation goals in Hungary. Accusations of Bethlen’s “Turkish” habits and mind were thus no novelty at the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War; the novelty lay rather in the new methods and functions of propaganda (e.g. the use of sarcasm, the presentation of original documents etc).
The paper presents the origins, functions and methods of this propaganda, and follows some of the famous propaganda campaigns between Catholics and Protestants, like the ones generated by the Anhaltische geheime Cantzley or the Secretissima instructio. It raises the question about the influence of this rhetoric against Bethlen, and presents some examples the Ottoman orientation was defended by Protestants – e.g. by the Latitudinarian Georg Tschernembl, the ‘politic’ Thomas Roe, or Ludwig Camerarius. Finally, it investigates the possible reasons why an apologetic literature hardly existed in Hungary and concludes that the accusations about Ottoman orientation were difficult to refute partly because they were partially true (and used as a weapon by Bethlen), and also because Ottoman orientation had real advantages.
Rethinking the Work Ethic in Premodern Europe, eds. Gábor Almási and Giorgio Lizzul (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)
This book investigates how work ethics in Europe were conceptualised from the Middle Ages to the ... more This book investigates how work ethics in Europe were conceptualised from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Through analysis of a range of discourses, it focuses on the roles played by intellectuals in formulating, communicating, and contesting ideas about work and its ethical value. The book moves away from the idea of a singular Weberian work ethic as fundamental to modern notions of work and instead emphasises how different languages of work were harnessed for a variety of social, intellectual, religious, economic, political, and ideological objectives. Rather than a singular work ethic that left a decisive mark on the development of Western culture and economy, the volume stresses plurality. The essays draw on approaches from intellectual, social, and cultural history. They explore how, why, and in what contexts labour became an important and openly promoted value; who promoted or opposed hard work and for what reasons; and whether there was an early modern break with ancient and medieval discourses on work. These historicized visions of work ethics help enrich our understanding of present-day changing attitudes to work.
Despite fragmentation, heterogeneity and the continuous pressure of the Ottoman Empire, early mod... more Despite fragmentation, heterogeneity and the continuous pressure of the Ottoman Empire, early modern “divided Hungary” witnessed a surprising cultural flourishing in the sixteenth century, and maintained its common cultural identity in the seventeenth century. This could hardly have been possible without intense exchange with the rest of Europe. This three-volume series about early modern Hungary divided by Ottoman presence approaches themes of exchange of information and knowledge from two perspectives, namely, exchange through traditional channels provided by religious/educational institutions and the system of European study tours (Volume 1 – Study Tours and Intellectual-Religious Relationships), and the less regular channels and improvised networks of political diplomacy (Volume 2 – Diplomacy, Information Flow and Cultural Exchange). A by-product of this exchange of information was the changing image of early modern Hungary and Transylvania, which is presented in the third and in some aspects concluding volume of essays (Volume 3 – The Making and Uses of the Image of Hungary and Transylvania). Unlike earlier approaches to the same questions, these volumes draw an alternative map of early modern Hungary. On this map, the centre-periphery conceptions of European early modern culture are replaced by new narratives written from the perspective of historical actors, and the dominance of Western-Hungarian relationships is kept in balance due to the significance of Hungary’s direct neighbours, most importantly the Ottoman Empire.
Cet ouvrage présente les pièces liminaires des oeuvres transmises ou publiées par les soins de Jo... more Cet ouvrage présente les pièces liminaires des oeuvres transmises ou publiées par les soins de Johannes Sambucus (1531–1584), érudit hongrois, fils du maire de la ville prospère et cosmopolite de Tmava, au nord-ouest de la Hongrie ancienne. Parcourant l’Europe pendant une durée inhabituelle de vingt-deux ans, il passa son temps à con-stituer une immense bibliothèque de manuscrits grecs et latins. Ce fonds devint sans doute la plus grande bibliothèque privée de manuscrits en Europe centrale et orientale. Bien avant son installation à la Cour impériale de Vienne, il s’était taillé une solide réputation de lettré après la publication de son splendide livre d’Emblemata, issu des presses de Plantin qui allait devenir son principal éditeur. Bien qu’il fűt offìciellement historiographe de l’empereur, son in-térèt principal se toumait vers la publication des trésors uniques de sa bibliothèque. Il prit part à la publication de trente-deux auteurs classiques, byzantins et néo-latins où l’on retrouve des éditions mar-quantes d’Aristénète, de Diogène Laerce, de Pétrone, de Plaute ou de Janus Pannonius. Il contribua aussi aux premières éditions de certains textes de Gémiste Pléthon, d’Hesychius, de Nonnus ou de Stobée. Son travail de philologue est analysé dans une ample introduction en contrepoint de l’édition des pièces liminaires.
From the late 18th century in multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, new language-based national identi... more From the late 18th century in multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, new language-based national identities came to dominate over those that had previously been constructed on legal, territorial, or historical basis. While Hungarian language struggled to emancipate itself, the roles and functions of Latin (official language until 1844) were changing dramatically. Latin held a different significance for varying segments of society, from being the essential part of an individual identity to representing an obstacle to “national survival,” from guaranteeing harmony between the different linguistic communities to hindering change, social and political justice. This pioneering volume aims to highlight the ways language debates about Latin and Hungarian contributed to the creation of new identities and ideologies in Central Europe. Contributors include: Gábor Almási, Per Pippin Aspaas, Piroska Balogh, Henrik Hönich, László Kontler, István Margócsy, Alexander Maxwell, Ambrus Miskolczy, Levente Nagy, Nenad Ristović, Andrea Seidler, Teodora Shek Brnardić, Zvjezdana Sikirić Assouline, and Lav Šubarić.
The aim of this volume, in addition to publishing the text of the Secretissima instructio (1620),... more The aim of this volume, in addition to publishing the text of the Secretissima instructio (1620), has been to identify the author of this anonymous pamphlet and explore its historical and intellectual context. This pro-Catholic publication, written against Frederick V, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, merits greater attention for several reasons. It was not only the most popular political pamphlet of the era, with more than 20 Latin and German editions in 1620 alone and with French, English and Italian translations and several circulating manuscript versions. Most theories about the authorship of the pamphlet have been based on contemporary information (or guesses). A textual and philological analysis of the work indicates that the author was of German origin, identified as Kaspar Schoppe, a Catholic convert of profound humanist education, who became the most dreaded author of Catholic propaganda during the epoch. The most important argument for Schoppe’s authorship is a manuscript pamphlet (published in the Appendices) dated 15 June and distributed in Valtellina, the northern neighbour of Milan, by pro-Spanish agents seeking to generate a civil war and drive Valtellina back into Spanish hands. This pamphlet can be regarded, in full, as an extract of the Secretissima instructio—obviously adapted to the political context of Valtellina. Having identified the author, the introduction fits the publication of the Secretissima instructio into Schoppe’s political activity and thought, which reflected the ideas and values of the Counter Reformation, so radically different of the political thought of Renaissance humanism.
This paper is an analysis of Animadversiones in Justi Lipsii Politica, a hitherto unstudied manus... more This paper is an analysis of Animadversiones in Justi Lipsii Politica, a hitherto unstudied manuscript by Kaspar Schoppe. The book offers insights into Schoppe's thinking of politics as a science independent of moral philosophy; his use of Biblical Machiavellianism, i.e. a language based on a Machiavellian interpretation of Old Testament examples in order to legitimate violent action against both heretics and the corrupt clergy; and finally Schoppe's interpretation of Machiavelli.
The main thesis of this article is that nationalist political discourses emerged in Hungary more ... more The main thesis of this article is that nationalist political discourses emerged in Hungary more suddenly, radically and earlier than previously thought. An underlying assumption is that nationalism may be best understood through an analysis of political discourses. The sudden appeal of these kinds of political discourses demands explanation. How did the discourses of nation overwrite earlier discourses? How did they gain social, political and cultural legitimacy? How were they related to the Enlightenment? In answering these questions, we first point to the ambiguity and fluidity of new concepts and terms, such as nation, language, fatherland, patriot and foreigner. These key concepts of nationalist discourses provided innovative and independent sources of political legitimation. They enabled the frameworks of political life and thought to be re-established. They made for an easy entry into politics because they were rooted in familiar, earlier political discourses. However, for the success of nationalism as a political paradigm, the new discourses of nation also had to make attractive ideological offers and project positive visions of the future. These offers, as we will show, were built on an appeal to ‘public happiness’. They bound together Magyarisation and nationalism and grew from an ideology into a political programme.
This paper examines the origins of Hungarian nationalism in the Kingdom of Hungary. Its main thes... more This paper examines the origins of Hungarian nationalism in the Kingdom of Hungary. Its main thesis is that nationalism (as a political discourse and not as a mass movement) emerged in Hungary more suddenly, more radically and earlier than previously thought. We argue that the power of nationalism in shaping culture, society, politics and identity may best be understood through an analysis of the conceptual arsenal, the rhetorical strategies and dynamics of the new discourse of nation and nationhood, which suddenly emerged in the early 1790s. We claim that it is the sudden appeal of these political discourses that needs to be explained first: how could they successfully overwrite earlier discourses? How did they gain social, political, and cultural legitimacy? How did they relate to the Enlightenment? To provide answers to these questions, we first point out the ambiguity and fluidity of new concepts, such as nation, language, fatherland, patriot, foreigner etc. These new key concepts in political discourse provided innovative and independent sources of political legitimation. They served as keystones, on the basis of which the framework of politics could be rewritten. They made an easy entry into politics also because they were rooted in more familiar, earlier political discourses. However, for the success of nationalism as a political paradigm (which remained relatively unchanged in the coming century), the new discourses of nation also needed to make attractive ideological propositions and project positive visions of the future. The main body of the paper shows how these propositions, all aiming fundamentally at public happiness, targeted at a variety of audiences.
This paper argues that Machiavelli's method, his inductive and comparative use of history and exp... more This paper argues that Machiavelli's method, his inductive and comparative use of history and experience for political analysis, and his fashioning of historical-political analysis as 'science', played an important and still unrecognised role in his reception in the sixteenth century. It makes the case that Machiavelli's inductive reasoning and stress on historia and experientia offered a model for scientific method that open-minded sixteenth-century scholars, eager to understand, organise and augment human knowledge (scientia), could fit to their own epistemology. By focusing on the question of method―a crucial issue for sixteenth-century contemporaries―the paper offers more than a key to the understanding of Machiavelli's positive reception. It also helps in apprehending the crucial importance of Lucretius to Machiavelli's scholarship; the role of the late Renaissance fascination with historia in his reception; and the breadth of appropriation of his method exactly in the decades when anti-Machiavellianism became official politics all over Europe. These claims are sustained through the cases of Machiavelli's early translators and promulgators; the French legal humanists and historiographers; the Swiss, Italian and French scholars engaging with medicine, Paracelsism and astronomy; the authors of political maxims from all over Europe; and finally Francis Bacon.
Never before had Europe been flooded with so many pamphlets, newsletters and broadsheets as at the... more Never before had Europe been flooded with so many pamphlets, newsletters and broadsheets as at the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. After the Bohemian revolt, political propaganda began to shape public opinion much more heavily. This paper addresses the work and thought of the most gifed and influential author of Catholic propaganda, Kaspar Schoppe, identifying some of his anonymous bestsellers such as the Secretissima instructio (1620). On the one hand, Schoppe’s pamphlets mixed sarcasm with correct political analysis and caricatured Calvinist politics as vulgarly understood Machiavellianism. On the other hand, Machiavellian ideas were also used in the serious advice Schoppe privately offered to Emperor Ferdinand II on the question of how to avoid further revolts in Bohemia. The final section of the paper considers whether Machiavelli’s political thought played a role in the introduction of the new regime in Bohemia afer the Battle of White Mountain.
This paper presents the unusual story of the efforts of the political agent and pamphleteer Kaspa... more This paper presents the unusual story of the efforts of the political agent and pamphleteer Kaspar Schoppe to rehabilitate Machiavelli. Unlike the few earlier attempts by Machiavelli's Florentine descendants, Schoppe's campaign was motivated by complex factors, which were in a great part related to his vision of Catholic renewal. Through the story of Schoppe's campaign for Machiavelli (which at a certain moment became related to Galileo's similar fight for Copernicanism), this paper offers not only a novel interpretation of this fascinating figure of the Counter-Reformation but also insight into the problems of science and political philosophy in the Catholic world.
This study is centered on events in 1580 surrounding a scandalous publication of Machiavelli’s Th... more This study is centered on events in 1580 surrounding a scandalous publication of Machiavelli’s The Prince by Pietro Perna in Basel. With the presentation of new documents the paper fully reconstructs the judicial case that followed its publication, raising new questions about the author of the infamous book Vindiciae contra tyrannos. However, this fascinating story will serve only as a starting point for the investigation of Machiavelli’s late sixteenth-century reception, providing insights into not only the political and religious but also the scientific context of its publication. These fields, it will be argued, were thoroughly interrelated, all sharing similar epistemological premises.
In 1828, two Latin historical documents were published in the German language Viennese journal, A... more In 1828, two Latin historical documents were published in the German language Viennese journal, Archiv für Geschichte, Statistik, Literatur und Kunst. Both concerned the age of Prince Gabriel Bethlen. One was a supportive letter written by James I King of England addressed to Bethlen with references to the deep affinity between Hungary and Transylvania, promising financial help to Bethlen’s war against the Habsburgs. The other was a report on the meeting of the Viennese secret council, during which it was decided to resolve ‘the Hungarian-Transylvanian question’ among others by killing the Hungarian speaking adult population. The goal of the paper is to prove the spurious nature of these documents through a historical analysis, pointing out the anachronistic elements. As it happens with faked texts, they will tell us more about their own age, the political-ideological agenda of the national movement of the turn of the eighteenth-century, than of early seventeenth-century Transylvania. By answering the question of why these documents ended up in the Austrian journal of Baron Joseph Hormayr the study will not only offer an opportunity to reflect about the ways history was used for nationalist agendas but also about the paradoxes of contemporary Austrian patriotism.
Bethlen Gábor és Európa. Szerk. Kármán Gábor és Kees Teszelszky, Oct 2013
During the Thirty Years’ War Gabriel Bethlen acquired international significance through his asso... more During the Thirty Years’ War Gabriel Bethlen acquired international significance through his association with the Ottomans. Ottoman friendship was, however, a double-edged sword. This study analyses the ways this friendship became the centre of anti-Bethlen – but also anti-Calvinist – propaganda, fitting to the established topos of Calvinoturcismus. The claims about the Mohammedan religion of the Calvinist prince of Transylvania, his faithlessness and unreliability were harsh and have remained bothering for Hungarian historiography ever since, in which nonetheless Bethlen has developed into a national hero. These claims questioned both his sovereignty and Christianity. Being based on anti-Ottoman sentiments their message was simple and straightforward, addressing neutral or hesitant potential partners of the Palatinate.
It is obvious that the geo-political situation of Hungary, and especially of Transylvania, was not simple at all, and the alternative of Ottoman association (or friendship) was real, with all the consequent difficulties. It is also clear that the image of the Ottomans as “arch enemies” of Europe was not only the question of religious sentiments but also of complex political interests, which, as a matter of fact, coincided with the goal of Hungary’s liberation from Ottoman rule. However, the alternative of Ottoman orientation became a burning political issue after Bethlen’s (bloody) succession to the throne of Transylvania; no wonder that it was soon in the centre of anti-Transylvanian propaganda directed by Cardinal Klesl. Bethlen’s politics could easily appear to contemporaries as hazardous, while the Habsburgs were worried of Transylvania’s gaining strength and becoming more independent also because of their Counter-reformation goals in Hungary. Accusations of Bethlen’s “Turkish” habits and mind were thus no novelty at the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War; the novelty lay rather in the new methods and functions of propaganda (e.g. the use of sarcasm, the presentation of original documents etc).
The paper presents the origins, functions and methods of this propaganda, and follows some of the famous propaganda campaigns between Catholics and Protestants, like the ones generated by the Anhaltische geheime Cantzley or the Secretissima instructio. It raises the question about the influence of this rhetoric against Bethlen, and presents some examples the Ottoman orientation was defended by Protestants – e.g. by the Latitudinarian Georg Tschernembl, the ‘politic’ Thomas Roe, or Ludwig Camerarius. Finally, it investigates the possible reasons why an apologetic literature hardly existed in Hungary and concludes that the accusations about Ottoman orientation were difficult to refute partly because they were partially true (and used as a weapon by Bethlen), and also because Ottoman orientation had real advantages.
The new star of 1572 and the comet of 1577 had a major impact on the ways in which astronomical r... more The new star of 1572 and the comet of 1577 had a major impact on the ways in which astronomical research developed in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Behind this gradual but significant change there was an extended epistemological reform which placed increasing emphasis on reason and experience and strove to exclude arguments from Scripture and authority from scientific debate. This paper argues that the humanist debate on astrology after 1577, which was initiated by highly prestigious members of a supraconfessional Republic of Letters, can be seen as an element of this process. Unlike earlier detractors of astrology, these new critics chiefly employed philosophical and scientific arguments concerning the legitimation of the entire art. By analysing a variety of accounts, this paper will reveal how great and complex the stakes in the debate over astrology were. They concerned not only the crucial problem of predestination and God’s interventionalism (hence also the possibility of miracles), but also the idea of science, the concept of the human mind, and ultimately the humanist ideal of the virtuous, rational, and responsible citizen.
Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest E-mail: almasi.gabor@gmail.com The subject of the paper is t... more Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest E-mail: almasi.gabor@gmail.com The subject of the paper is the shift from an astrology-oriented astronomy towards an allegedly more objective, mathematically grounded approach to astronomy. This shift is illustrated through a close reading of Tycho Brahe's scientific development and the contemporaneous changes in his communicational strategies. Basing the argument on a substantial array of original sources it is claimed that the Danish astronomer developed a new astronomical discourse in pursuit of credibility, giving priority to observational astronomy and natural philosophical questions. The abandonment of astrology in public discourse is primarily explained by Tycho's social position and greater sensibility to controversial issues. Tycho's example suggests that the changes in rhetorical strategies regarding astrology (which happened earlier than changes in astrological belief) should be given more recognition in the history of astronomy.
This paper argues that the eminence and relative significance of Lutheran astronomers in the seco... more This paper argues that the eminence and relative significance of Lutheran astronomers in the second half of the sixteenth century should be explained on a different basis than sectarian doctrine. Religion should not be excluded from the investigation, but it is apparently not the presupposed influence of religious dogmas that needs focus here. The paper bases its argument on a study of a series of sixteenth-century non-Lutheran astronomical textbooks (editions of Sacrobosco’s De sphaera), revealing that faith in providentialism or the argument from design were common to a much wider group of scholars than the‘Lutherans’. It is argued that attention should rather be paid to the specific religious, social and political contexts in which astronomers carved out their fame as intellectuals.
This paper reconstructs the education of Emperor Rudolf II and his brother Ernst in Spain. It emp... more This paper reconstructs the education of Emperor Rudolf II and his brother Ernst in Spain. It emphasizes the essentially political character of humanist educational literature, which was intended to cultivate a learned political elite whose decisions would be guided by good morals and unbiased reason. In order to achieve their educational goals, humanists promoted a scientific approach to the rearing and schooling of children, from observation of their essentially non-adult nature to adaptation to their potentials, their character, and their age. The recognition that children could not be forced to be virtuous and needed to be given incentives to pursue study was coupled, however, with a certain degree of anthropological pessimism about their corruptibility and the habitual nature of virtues. This explains why the stress on free will and mild methods was always coupled with an emphasis on discipline and indoctrination. The education of Rudolf and Ernst, which was intended to foster moderation, self-control, diligence, and a love of learning, is a rare example of humanist ideals put into practice. It confirms both the special importance of the ideas of Erasmus for Northern humanism and the strong relationship between Latin learning, moral education, and governing.
This article provides an introduction to the history of the familiar letter along with a case stu... more This article provides an introduction to the history of the familiar letter along with a case study of Johannes Sambucus’s correspondence. It compares the Latin to the vernacular familiar letter in the sixteenth century, stressing their parallel development and mutual influence and the difficulties of achieving the level of privacy, naturalness, spontaneity and directness that was typically expected of a “conversation halved”, i.e. the familiar letter. Although in theory the use of the vernacular enabled the letter writer to be more playful and spontaneous, in reality, learned correspondence remained self-reflective and the feel of spontaneity had to be reinvented both in Latin and the vernacular. The great advantage of Latin over vernacular letters – and this is the main thesis of this article – was their increased potential for networking, especially when it came to connecting men of different social standing on the basis of collegiality and in the name of meritocratic values. As his correspondence makes abundantly clear, Sambucus was a master at addressing social or intellectual superiors within these terms. His letters created and maintained an ethos of equality – founded on shared culture and learned interests – which was the fundamental fuel that kept the Republic of Letters alive.
This article is a case study of the work ethic as represented in biographies of humanists. It dra... more This article is a case study of the work ethic as represented in biographies of humanists. It draws first and foremost on Melchior Adam's anthology of biographies of learned "German" men of 1615-1620. The analysis of some of the longer biographies reveals that Adam was more dependent on his sources than previous research supposed. Moreover, the stress on the education and diligence of the individuals in several of the biographies follows not from Adam's interests, but rather from the logic of humanist biographies, a primary function of which was to legitimate social rise, redefine social values according to meritocratic principles, and promote the Renaissance ideology of virtue. The vita of William Canter, which I analyze in considerable detail, illustrates how early modern biographies tended to construct the self on the basis of ancient and more recent clichés and to present ideal types. The work ethic represented by Canter's scholarly persona reveals that hard work in the Renaissance was intrinsically linked to disciplined time-management.
This article is the first serious attempt at reconstructing the biography of Martin Brenner, cont... more This article is the first serious attempt at reconstructing the biography of Martin Brenner, containing also an edition of his only surviving letter. This humanist of Hungary, coming from a German (Saxon) town of Transylvania, Bistrița (Beszterce, Bistritz, earlier Nösen, RO), has been primarily known as the first publisher of Antonio Bonfini’s Rerum Ungaricarum decades, although the text he published was only partial, lacking the last part on the period of King Matthias. The numerous shorter biographies or biographical comments of past historians have offered some valuable details but also made much confusion. While earlier we had no idea of Brenner’s date of birth, thanks to some data on his surviving book we can now place it between 1500 and 1505. While we know nothing of his early education, it is clear that it was solid enough to acquire not only Latin but also Greek. Brenner probably studied in one of the bishopric centres or major city schools, supported by his uncle, who we can identify in the person of Lőrinc Kretschmer of Beszterce (Laurentius Bistritius), provost of Székesfehérvár till 1530, who was in turn nephew of György Szatmári, bishop of Pécs, an influential and learned politician of the Jagiellonian period. Brenner thus probably studied to be a clerical, and in 1533 started in fact a church career as a priest of Viișoara (Heidendorf, Besenyő, RO), a village next to his hometown. However, he shortly gave up this position and moved to Székesfehérvár (Alba Regia), joining the cathedral chapter. His only known letter was dated from here in 1536. By the time Brenner had not only a select library but also a circle of learned friends, many of whom shared with him nostalgia for the cultural world and political power of Hungary in Matthias Corvinus’s times. These men consciously searched for the treasures and literary products of this epoch; Brenner among others searched through the remnants of the Buda library. However, the occupation of Buda and the middle part of Hungary in 1541 meant that he had to change life. From the party of King John Szapolyai he joined that of King Ferdinand and probably moved to Vienna, where he first published Lippo Brandolini’s dialogue De humanae vitae conditione with some erudite commentaries in 1541 (which also appeared in Basel twice), then prepared Bonfini’s history for print in 1543, likewise sending it to the Basel publisher Thomas Winter. He also sent to Basel a third manuscript, Brandolini’s Paradoxa Christiana, which was edited by Winter’s assistant Johannes Basilius Herold (Acropolita). At the same time, Brenner, already a mature man enrolled at the University of Vienna (1543), and later obtained a doctoral degree in medicine at Bologna in 1547. Two years later he was employed as town physician of Sibiu (Nagyszeben, Hermannstadt, RO), Transylvania’s largest town. The last known episode of this curious career is Brenner’s late tour in Italy (from Padua to Naples) in 1551 or 1552, the diary of which survived in Széchényi National Library. Brenner, already a city magistrate, died in 1553; the Greek epigraph he prepared before his death might still be visible in Sibiu.
This paper studies the reception of Themistius’s ideas on religious tolerance in sixteenth-centur... more This paper studies the reception of Themistius’s ideas on religious tolerance in sixteenth-century Venice. It argues that it was in the state of Venice where in 1560 the Hungarian humanist Andreas Dudith and the Greek philologist Michele Sophianos created a fictive oration by Themistius by providing a Latin paraphrase of a part of his fifth oration. The manuscripts of the fourth-century philosopher circulated in the greatest number in the area of Venice and were studied mostly by students of Aristotle. The Venetian edition of some of Themistius’s orations in 1534 shows a new interest in Themistius’s rhetorical skills. The idea to publish also his orations on religious tolerance, first came to Girolamo Donzellini, but could not be realised, since the Spanish ambassador to Venice Diego Hurtado de Mendoza denied him access. Dudith and Sophianos were more fortunate and paraphrased Themistius’s ideas urging for religious pluralism in ways that well serve our understanding of the limits of sixteenth-century tolerance.
Uploads
Books by Gábor Almási
Politics by Gábor Almási
privately offered to Emperor Ferdinand II on the question of how to avoid further revolts in Bohemia. The final section of the paper considers whether Machiavelli’s political thought played a role in the introduction of the new regime in Bohemia afer the Battle of White Mountain.
It is obvious that the geo-political situation of Hungary, and especially of Transylvania, was not simple at all, and the alternative of Ottoman association (or friendship) was real, with all the consequent difficulties. It is also clear that the image of the Ottomans as “arch enemies” of Europe was not only the question of religious sentiments but also of complex political interests, which, as a matter of fact, coincided with the goal of Hungary’s liberation from Ottoman rule. However, the alternative of Ottoman orientation became a burning political issue after Bethlen’s (bloody) succession to the throne of Transylvania; no wonder that it was soon in the centre of anti-Transylvanian propaganda directed by Cardinal Klesl. Bethlen’s politics could easily appear to contemporaries as hazardous, while the Habsburgs were worried of Transylvania’s gaining strength and becoming more independent also because of their Counter-reformation goals in Hungary. Accusations of Bethlen’s “Turkish” habits and mind were thus no novelty at the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War; the novelty lay rather in the new methods and functions of propaganda (e.g. the use of sarcasm, the presentation of original documents etc).
The paper presents the origins, functions and methods of this propaganda, and follows some of the famous propaganda campaigns between Catholics and Protestants, like the ones generated by the Anhaltische geheime Cantzley or the Secretissima instructio. It raises the question about the influence of this rhetoric against Bethlen, and presents some examples the Ottoman orientation was defended by Protestants – e.g. by the Latitudinarian Georg Tschernembl, the ‘politic’ Thomas Roe, or Ludwig Camerarius. Finally, it investigates the possible reasons why an apologetic literature hardly existed in Hungary and concludes that the accusations about Ottoman orientation were difficult to refute partly because they were partially true (and used as a weapon by Bethlen), and also because Ottoman orientation had real advantages.
privately offered to Emperor Ferdinand II on the question of how to avoid further revolts in Bohemia. The final section of the paper considers whether Machiavelli’s political thought played a role in the introduction of the new regime in Bohemia afer the Battle of White Mountain.
It is obvious that the geo-political situation of Hungary, and especially of Transylvania, was not simple at all, and the alternative of Ottoman association (or friendship) was real, with all the consequent difficulties. It is also clear that the image of the Ottomans as “arch enemies” of Europe was not only the question of religious sentiments but also of complex political interests, which, as a matter of fact, coincided with the goal of Hungary’s liberation from Ottoman rule. However, the alternative of Ottoman orientation became a burning political issue after Bethlen’s (bloody) succession to the throne of Transylvania; no wonder that it was soon in the centre of anti-Transylvanian propaganda directed by Cardinal Klesl. Bethlen’s politics could easily appear to contemporaries as hazardous, while the Habsburgs were worried of Transylvania’s gaining strength and becoming more independent also because of their Counter-reformation goals in Hungary. Accusations of Bethlen’s “Turkish” habits and mind were thus no novelty at the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War; the novelty lay rather in the new methods and functions of propaganda (e.g. the use of sarcasm, the presentation of original documents etc).
The paper presents the origins, functions and methods of this propaganda, and follows some of the famous propaganda campaigns between Catholics and Protestants, like the ones generated by the Anhaltische geheime Cantzley or the Secretissima instructio. It raises the question about the influence of this rhetoric against Bethlen, and presents some examples the Ottoman orientation was defended by Protestants – e.g. by the Latitudinarian Georg Tschernembl, the ‘politic’ Thomas Roe, or Ludwig Camerarius. Finally, it investigates the possible reasons why an apologetic literature hardly existed in Hungary and concludes that the accusations about Ottoman orientation were difficult to refute partly because they were partially true (and used as a weapon by Bethlen), and also because Ottoman orientation had real advantages.