Habsburg Monarchy

Personální bibliografie prací významného českého historika Jiřího Raka.Je součástí kolektivní monografie věnované k jeho životnímu jubileu.
Personal bibliography of works of significant Czech historian Jiří Rak. It is part of the collective monograph devoted to his jubilee.

In Dutch nationalist historiography the Revolt against the Spanish monarchy has traditionally been considered a war of independence, fought by a small, freedom loving people against a much stronger and oppressive enemy wanting to impose its religion on the Dutch. In her article on the Spanish humanist Fadrique Furió Ceriol, Lisa Kattenberg argues that this conception is in need of some serious revision. Furió's writings show that during the first years of the conflict, at the Spanish court opinions on the attitude to be taken towards the Dutch rebellion were far from unanimous. Furió and others were strong supporters of a soft, reconciliative approach. They advised king Philip II to show his love to the people of the Netherlands and to forgive the revolt's leaders. Although in the end their efforts proved fruitless, at times the Spanish monarch was willing to listen to these voices in favour of peace.

The Habsburgs and their Courts in Europe, 1400–1700: Between Cosmopolitism and Regionalism, ur. Herbert Karner, Ingrid Ciulisová, Bernardo J. García García, Palatium, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, KU Leuven, 2014, 349 str. in Historijski zbornik, LXVIII, Nr. 1, Zagreb 2015. (213-217) [language: Croatian]

Prusko-rakouská válka z roku 1866 se pod vlivem letošního 150. výročí zabydlela v mediálním prostoru jako válka, která změnila tvář Evropy. To je samozřejmě novinářská zkratka, byť poměrně trefná. Válka mezi Pruským královstvím a Rakouským císařstvím totiž překreslila mapu soudobé Evropy možná více než déle trvající napoleonské války, a předznamenala také cestu Evropy k první a potažmo i druhé světové válce, jakkoliv i toto je opět zkratka. Samotné válečné tažení z roku 1866 i jeho politický kontext již byly opakovaně zpracovány. Zjevným dluhem je však zpracování válečného prožitku na základě vzpomínkových pramenů jak osobní, tak oficiální povahy. To je směr, který se v zahraničním vojenském dějepisectví čile pěstuje,  v domácím prostředí však toto pojetí stále představuje přístup s puncem neotřelosti, a je příznačné, že v klíčové monografii, která se k práci s memoriálními prameny hlásí, tematika prusko-rakouské války zcela chybí.

Fiscal federalism mirrored the multi-tiered system of late Imperial Austria. Financial flows were directed to the Empire and both of its dualistic halves, Hungary and Austria, but also to Crownlands and municipalities in the Austrian half (Cisleithenia). Increasing expenditures for welfare, infrastructure, and schooling helped forge new models of revenue sharing. The article focuses on financial negotiations between the Crownlands and the Ministry of Finance after 1905. Informal conferences addressed financial allocation as a problem of solidarity and loyalty. Horizontal loyalty and cooperation between the Crownlands was meant to strengthen the vertical axis between the Empire and its regions. However, the Empire held on to the separation between the regions and enforced a lack of communication among them, thus gambling away the chance of imperial integration.

Short biography of the Austrian general Adam Albrecht von Neipperg (1775-1829), second husband of Marie Louise of Habsburg .
From: Parma 2016 Dal ministro Magawly alla duchessa Maria Luigia, Quaderni del Museo Glauco Lombardi n. 16, Parma, 2016.

"Criminal Law in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia

This article deals with the material criminal law in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In the branch of the criminal law during the period of the Nazi-Occupation, the most changes (compared to other branches of law during this period) were implemented. The criminal law valid on the area of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was considerably complicated and unclear. There were some reasons for it. One of them was the fact, that the rules of the criminal law were not codified in any single legal enactment. The second reason was the exist-ence of two legal orders, which were valid simultaneously in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the substitution of the territoriality principle by the personality principle. Over the years, the use of the taken over Czechoslovakian rules of criminal law had been increasingly reduced for the benefit of the German criminal law and of the hearing of torts and delicts before the German courts in the Protectorate."

"Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), ed. Jonatan Meir, Three volumes, Mosad Bialik, Jerusalem

Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), first published in Vienna in 1819, is one of the sharpest and wittiest pieces of Jewish literature written in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is perhaps the most important piece of Hebrew prose composed before the stories of Mendele Mocher Seforim. A sly and complex story deriding Hasidism and Hasidim, it is told through the correspondence between the beadles of Hasidic courts and contemporary rabbis, and it presents a dark picture of  avaricious frauds and swindlers whose main concern was control over territory and the souls of believers, a goal achieved by beguiling the authorities and attacking all opponents. Perl lends his book a ‘Hasidic’ feel both in its physical design and in its language, presenting a Maskilic version of In Praise of the Ba’al Shem Tov that lays Hasidism bare so that no reader will ever be able to look at that, or any other Hasidic book, in the same way again. In addition to the book’s satiric sting, which would have been enough to bring its readers a dual pleasure, Perl’s hints at contemporary people and places, hidden within anagrams and numerological tricks. With the unraveling of these clues, which also include the use of actual Hasidic sources, the book is a valuable, contemporary view of historical reality. A meticulous reading of the book may therefore open a window on the hidden worlds of Hasidism and the Haskalah at the start of the nineteenth century.


The first volume (Imagined Hasidism) serves as an introduction to the complex satirical writings of Josef Perl of Tarnopol (1773-1839). At the center of the book stands an analysis of the satires, Megaleh Temirin (1819) and Bochen Tzadik (1838), including a systematic treatment of the ‘characters’ in the central works and a discussion of the dozens of manuscripts to be found in the Perl Archive in Jerusalem. Perl’s writings are analyzed here in the fuller context of Hebrew and Yiddish literature in general and Maskilic and Hasidic literature in particular, as well as other polemical writings and governmental records critical of Hasidism. The study thus presents a complex and nuanced picture of the relationship between literature and history, between the anti-Hasidic reports and the more complicated historical reality, and lays the groundwork for further research into the genre of nineteenth-century Maskilic satire.

The second and third volumes (Megaleh Temirin) present for the first time an annotated edition of Megaleh Temirin. It is based on the first edition and the scattered manuscripts and it includes a comparison to its Yiddish translation. The book is accompanied by appendices on its origins and contents, including fundamental treatments of several passages: an explication of the encoded names, the Hasidic sources used by the author, and the variants found in the manuscripts and in the only edition of the book in Yiddish.

The editor of the book, Professor Jonatan Meir, teaches in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University. He has published several articles on the Haskalah of Eastern Europe, Hasidism, and a number of varied topics in twentieth-century Kabbalah.


Contents

Volume 1  - Critical Edition

Concerning this edition
Key personalities
Sefer Megale Temirin – Critical Edition


Volume 2 - Appendixes:
1. Glossary, Abbreviations, Acronyms
2. Explanation of the Speaking Names
3. Perl’s Hasidic Sources
4. Manuscripts of Sefer Megale Temirin
5. Yiddish Introduction to Sefer Megale Temirin
Bibliographic Abbreviations

-------------------------------
Reviews:
(1) Dan Meron, 2013, ‘Megaleh Temirin’, Kivunim Hadashim 29, 55 pages (Hebrew)
(2) David Assaf, 2014, ‘Hasidim will not Read it but Tear it’, Haaretz, Tarbut ve-Sifrut, p .6 (Hebrew) http://onegshabbat.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/blog-post_18.html
(3) Eliezer Brodt, 2014, 'New book Announcement- Megale Temirin', The Seforim Blog http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/new-book-announcement-megale-temirin.html
(4) Matan Hermoni, 2014,  הסבתא המופקרת של הספרות העבריתHaaretz, Sfarim (Hebrew) http://www.haaretz.co.il/.premium-1.2382365
(5) Shinichi Yamamoto, 2015, 山本　伸一, "ヨナタン・メイール編著『想像のハシディズム』", ユダヤ・イスラエル研究　第28号  http://www.waseda.jp/assoc-jsjs/jistudies.html
(6) David Biale and David Assaf,, 2015, 'Revealer Revealed', Jewish Review of Books, pp. 17-21  http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/1454/revealer-revealed/
(7) Hillel Halkin, 2015, "Sex, Magic, Bigotry, Corruption- and the First Hebrew Novel', Mosaic Magazine,  http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2015/05/sex-magic-bigotry-corruption-and-the-first-hebrew-novel/
(8) Tomer Persico, 2015, "Interview", Lula'at haEl Blog, http://tomerpersico.com/2015/08/10/meir_perl/

Der Tod des letzten großen Staufers, Friedrich II., im Jahre 1250 hinterließ ein über zwei Jahrzehnte andauerndes Machtvakuum, das eine allgemeine Unsicherheit in Hinblick auf die Zentralgewalt des Mittelalters nach sich zog. Das sogenannte „Interregnum“ (ca. 1245/50-1273) läutet dabei einen entscheidenden Entwicklungsprozess der deutschen Geschichte ein: Von den glorreichen, hochmittelalterlichen Zeiten staufischer Kaiserhoheit zur Krise des Spätmittelalters. Eine Aneinanderreihung schwacher, nicht allgemein anerkannter Herrscher sowie sich emanzipierende Fürsten und Städte schwächen das spätmittelalterliche Königtum und Reich gleichermaßen. Letzteres beginnt zu zersplittern und sich in kleine bzw. kleinere Herrschaftsbereiche zu gliedern. „Eine Übergangsphase zum Schlechteren!“ – soweit zumindest die ältere Forschung.

Diese pauschalisierenden Urteile sind zwar derart fragwürdig, dass sich die neuere Forschung um deren Dekonstruktion bemüht. Doch halten sich diese veralteten 'Geschichtsbilder' des Interregnums zumeist bis heute. Dieser Befund ist umso erstaunlicher, da kaum eine andere Herrscherfamilie die Phantasie der Nachwelt in Deutschland und Italien so sehr beschäftigt hat, wie die der Staufer. Während sich um Friedrich II., den letzten großen Staufer, ein Personenkult entwickelte, geriet sein Sohn Konrad IV. beinahe in Vergessenheit (obwohl er 1237 zum römisch-deutschen König gewählt worden war). Konrads Halbbruder Manfred, der die staufische Herrschaft in Sizilien noch bis 1266 weiterführte, ist der breiten Masse schon gänzlich unbekannt. (Und selbst er war nicht „der letzte Staufer“ in Süditalien.)

Im Wintersemester 2017/2018 begannen wir uns am Historischen Seminar der Leibniz Universität Hannover im Rahmen eines Vertiefungsseminars zum Interregnum in diesen spannenden Diskurs einzureihen und aus dem Kontrast zwischen historischen Prozessen und deren Wertung kritische Fragestellungen zum Thema abzuleiten. Mit einer (zugegebenermaßen) etwas provozierenden, titelgebenden Fragestellung wollten wir dem Thema sowie dem (didaktischen) Ansatz der Veranstaltung gleichermaßen Rechnung tragen und fragten: „Who the f**k is Manfred?“.

Ziel der Veranstaltung war es dabei zunächst, die Fähigkeit der Studierenden zu fördern, eigene Forschungsideen im Dialog mit den Lehrenden sowie den Mitstudierenden zu entwickeln. (Was genau ist eigentlich eine Forschungsfrage?) Des Weiteren sollte auf diesen Dialog noch im Semester die schriftliche Umsetzung der Forschungsidee folgen. Anders ausgedrückt: Während schriftliche Studienarbeiten in der Regel im Anschluss an eine Veranstaltung im berühmten „stillen Kämmerlein“ verfasst werden, stellten wir den Prozess ins Zentrum einer Lehrveranstaltung. Zwei Gedanken waren dabei leitend: Erstens bekamen die Studierenden so die Chance, ihre Forschungsideen durch theoretische Anleitung und kritisches Feedback im Seminarkontext tatsächlich zu einer Forschungsfrage auszubauen. Und zweitens entsteht in der Summe das Potential, ein abgestecktes Themenfeld mit verschiedensten Ansätzen nicht nur „neu“ zu be-, sondern auch forschend zu durchleuchten. Zum Credo könnte man Folgendes erheben: Forschen lernen lehrend begleiten.

Diesem Credo entsprechend entwickelte sich im Laufe der Veranstaltung die Idee, nicht nur das Verfassen der Arbeiten dem angesprochenen „stillen Kämmerlein“ zu entziehen, sondern auch die fertigen Forschungsprodukte einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Dies soll in Form eines Aufsatzsammelbandes realisiert werden. Einen idealen Partner für dieses Projektvorhaben fanden wir im noch jungen scius-Verlag. Der scius-Verlag wurde 2015 von Jan Niklas Meier, einem ehemaligem Studierenden des Historischen Seminars, in Hannover gegründet und hat sich nicht nur der Publikation von geisteswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen im Allgemeinen sondern auch der Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs im Speziellen verschrieben. Ziel der Publikation wird es unter anderem sein, das (Projekt-)Seminar als Reflektionsebene zur Aus- bzw. Aufarbeitung des zuvor angerissenen (didaktischen) Konzepts zu nutzen. Neben der Veröffentlichung studentischer Beiträge soll der Ansatz „forschen lernen lehrend begleiten“ (am Beispiel der Geschichte des 13. Jahrhunderts) so auch einem größeren Publikum zur Diskussion gestellt werden. Zu Dank sind wir dabei dem CampusCultur e.V. verpflichtet, da wir diesen als großzügigen Förderer für die Buchpublikation gewinnen konnten.

Da das Konzept der Lehrveranstaltung bei erstmaliger Durchführung im Wintersemester 2017/2018 nicht nur großen Anklang bei den Studierenden fand, sondern sich auch im Hinblick auf die studentischen Beiträge als sehr fruchtbar erwies, lag es auf der Hand, Folgeveranstaltungen anzubieten: In Erweiterung des ursprünglich diskutierten Zeitfensters (ca. 1245/50-1273) nahmen wir im Wintersemester 2018/19 zunächst die Staufer im 12./13. Jahrhundert respektive die 'Vorgeschichte' des Interregnums in den Blick. Im kommenden Sommersemester 2019 werden wir uns dann in Gestalt Rudolf von Habsburgs mit dem Ende des Interregnums sowie den großen strukturellen Entwicklungen des endenden 13. Jahrhunderts auseinandersetzen. Insgesamt soll so gewährleistet werden, dass das 'Ursprungsthema' Interregnum in seinem historischen Kontext eingerahmt bzw. durch die Erweiterung des Betrachtungszeitraumes (ca. 1189-1291) umfassend diskutiert wird.

On Sissi in Italian literature. Draft of the article published in Elisabetta d’Austria, Trieste e l’Italia, Monfalcone, Edizioni della Laguna, 2000 [ISBN 88-8345-043-4] (and later published in Elisabetta d’Austria e l’Italia, Monfalcone, Edizioni della Laguna, 2001 [ISBN - 88-8345-055-8])

In the early twentieth century, three provinces of the Austrian half of the Habsburg Empire enacted national compromises in their legislation that had elements of non-territorial autonomy provisions. Czech and German politicians in Moravia reached an agreement in 1905. In the heavily mixed Bukovina, Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Jewish and Polish representatives agreed on a new provincial constitution in 1909. Last but not least, Polish and Ukrainian nationalists compromised in spring 1914, just a few months before the outbreak of the First World War vitiated the new provisions. Even though the provisions of these agreements varied substantially, new electoral laws introducing national registers were at their heart. These were designed to ensure a fairer representation of national groups in the provincial assemblies and to keep national agitation out of electoral campaigns. The earliest compromise in Moravia went furthest in consociational power sharing. However, the national bodies within the provincial assembly had no right to tax their respective national communities, and the provisions of the provincial constitutions kept the non-nationally defined nobility as an important counterbalance. The compromises in Bukovina and Galicia, even if they categorised all inhabitants nationally, contented themselves with even less autonomous agency for the national bodies in the provincial assemblies and rather emphasised the symbolic elements of national autonomy. The non-territorial approach in all three crownlands, however, was an instrument to reorganise multi-ethnic provinces that increasingly became the model for national compromises in other Austrian provinces.

Tekst govori o povijesti izgradnje i opremanja župne crkve Imena Marijina u osječkom Donjem gradu u 18. stoljeću na temelju arhivskih, kartografskih, grafičkih i drugih izvora. Istraživanjima se pokazalo da je današnja građevina podignuta tijekom dviju građevinskih kampanja na mjestu starije crkve iz 1714. Sjeverni dio, zvonik s korom, podignut je između 1758. i 1763., a potom je 1768. – 1775. uslijedilo podizanje broda i svetišta. Stilsko rješenje arhitekture crkve, ponajprije zvonika i zapadnog pročelja, povezuje se s mogućim uzorima u baroknoj arhitekturi Italije i Srednje Europe, a opremanje s djelokrugom umjetnika-obrtnika koji su sredinom i u drugoj polovini 18. stoljeća radili u Osijeku. U tekstu se donosi niz imena raznih umjetnika koji su radili za donjogradsku crkvu koji se do sada u literaturi nisu vezali uz ovu građevinu (graditelj Joseph Hatzinger, kipari Georg Egger i Joseph Erdt, stolari Heinrich Kessler i Thomas Firtler, slikar Franciscus Antonius Witz).

in: exhibition catalogue Sabine Haag, Alfried Wieczorek, Matthias Pfaffenbichler und Hans-Jürgen Buderer (Hgg.), Kaiser Maximilian I. – Der letzte Ritter und das höfische Turnier, Mannheim (Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Zeughaus), (Publikationen der Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Bd. 61), Regensburg 2014, p. 185-201

For the marriage of Francesco I de’ Medici and Johanna of Austria in 1565, Vasari and his assistants decorated the first courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio with frescos depicting cities in the Habsburg Empire. Subsequent uncertainty about the number and identification of the scenes can be resolved with the help of a travel journal by the Governor of the Tyrol, who was present at the wedding.

This is the original manuscript version of my 2016 Szigetvar Conference paper. The published version in the Brill volume is somewhat shorter. From the mid-fifteenth century through the early eighteenth century the Ottomans were an important player in European power politics, the only Islamic empire that challenged Christian Europe on its own territory. The Ottomans were a constant military threat to their Venetian, Hungarian, Polish-Lithuanian, Spanish and Austrian Habsburg neighbours and rivals. Ottoman expansion, itself a consequence of imperial ambitions and responses to geopolitical challenges, led to imperial rivalry with the Habsburgs in the Mediterranean and Hungary, and with the Safavids of Persia in Azerbaijan and Iraq. Ottoman conquests in the sixteenth century reshaped geopolitics in a vast area from central Europe and the Mediterranean to Greater Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. By the middle of the sixteenth century the Ottomans consolidated their conquests against both their Habsburg and Safavid rivals, and the empire's borders in Hungary saw only minor adjustments until the end of the sixteenth century. The first section of my paper briefly reviews how Süleyman's conquests and the resulting Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry in Hungary shaped power relations in the region. The second section compares the sinews of power of the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy. In the last two sections I address Ottoman and Habsburg military commitments. These sections show that the Ottomans enjoyed military superiority against their Habsburg rival during Süleyman's reign. While the Habsburg Monarchy did not have a standing field army until after the Thirty Years' War, Ottoman military pressure in Hungary forced the Viennese government to establish along the Habsburg-Ottoman border in Hungary and Croatia a permanent border defence force, which could be considered the first permanent army of the monarchy. Since the Habsburg government financed, supplied and administered the anti-Ottoman border defence in Hungary and Croatia in cooperation with the Hungarian, Croatian, Bohemian and Austrian Estates, the Ottoman challenge profoundly shaped the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy's military, financial and state institutions.

This article takes a fresh look on the status of Galicia within the Habsburg Monarchy between the late 18 th and the early 20 th century, presenting the obstacles and opportunities of economic growth faced by imperial policy-makers. At the same time, an analysis is presented of the impact of the imperial experience on the process of forging national identities. The emphasis has been placed on how the increasing national fragmentation in a multi-cultural region affected economic prosperity.

Gospostvo z gradom Hrastovec pri Lenartu je bilo v posesti izvorno štajerske plemiške rodbine Herberstein v dveh obdobjih, med letoma 1482 in 1802 ter med letoma 1909 in 1945. Prispevek natančneje obravnava njihovo prvo lastniško obdobje. Čeprav je glavna hrastovška veja Herbersteinov izumrla šele leta 1813, se je moral njen član, grof Karel Friderik gospostvu zaradi ogromnih dolgov oziroma bankrota leta 1715 prisilno odpovedati. Kljub temu je ostalo v rokah Herbersteinov, saj ga je kupil grof Janez Ernest iz mlajše stranske veje glavne veje na Herbersteinu. Po izumrtju te stranske veje je Hrastovec leta 1792 pripadel grofu Janezu Antonu iz starejše stranske veje omenjene glavne veje. Ta ga je leta 1802 prodal Pauerjem.

Previous research of the Marča-Union in Serbian and Croatian historiography has tried to resolve this issue within the framework of broader macro-Serbo-Croatian relations, often neglecting the local micro-level, ie. personal relations of individuals, but also the religious beliefs of the 17th century. At the same time, previous research mostly focused on the 18th century and incidents during the reign of Maria Theresa. This article is dedicated to the very beginning of the Union of Marča and the motives of Bishop Simeon for its acceptance by analyzing the available archival material. The available archival material shows that the motives of Bishop Simeon were primarily of a personal nature, caused by good personal relations with the representatives of the Zagreb diocese, as well as personal religious beliefs, as evidenced by various archives. Furthermore, it has been shown that the open and systematic pressure on the Diocese of Marča and the Orthodox „Grenzer“ by the Catholic Church begins after the signing of the union, and not before, as some researchers previously suspected.

"Se queremos que tudo fique como está
é preciso que tudo mude."


O leitmotif da obra de Tomasi de Lampedusa, imortalizada no grande ecrã pela objectiva de Visconti, sintetiza a sua ideia central, acerca do declínio das antigas elites, em particular da aristocracia, a favor da ascensão das classes médias, a partir da segunda metade do século XIX e a forma como uma facção daquela procurou, sem sucesso, manter a sua posição.
O tema da presente dissertação é precisamente o da evolução da Aristocracia em Portugal, em concreto da Casa Palmela, no contexto do Liberalismo, com maior precisão, no período que medeia entre 1810 e 1887, datas que, como veremos, reflectem a cronologia ditada pela própria evolução da Casa e também pelos rumos da nacionalidade.


"If we want everything to stay as it is
everything must change."


The leitmotif of Tomasi de Lampedusa's work, immortalized on the big screen by Visconti's lens, sums up his central idea of the decline of the old elites, particularly of the aristocracy, in favor of the rise of the middle classes from the second half of the century, and the way a faction of it sought, unsuccessfully, to maintain its position.
The theme of this dissertation is precisely that of the evolution of the Aristocracy in Portugal, specifically of Casa Palmela, in the context of Liberalism, with greater precision, in the period between 1810 and 1887, dates that, as we shall see, reflect the chronology dictated by own evolution of the House and also by the paths of nationality.

This course is the first half of a two-semester comparative empires sequence intended for upper-level undergraduate and MA students. This first half of the sequence focuses roughly on the period between 1500 and 1800. What is this course about? The Ottoman, Russian, and Habsburg dynasties are often packed together as empires. This categorization needs a careful breakdown. The Ottomans first ruled a principality (or a sultanate) which became an empire in the true sense of the word in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople. This empire existed until 1922, but it survived the 19th century partially because France and Britain wanted it to exist. Similarly, the Russian state began as a principality (or a duchy). It became a tsardom in 1547 when Ivan IV designed himself as 'tsar,' derived from the Latin 'ceasar,' thus 'emperor.' Russia officially became an empire in 1721 when Peter the Great decided that he was an emperor. The duchy and the early tsardom were ruled by the Rurikid dynasty which was succeeded by the Romanovs in 1613. The Austrian Habsburgs, however, never ruled an empire like that of the Ottomans or Russians, although Habsburg princes bore the title of the emperor by virtue of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which, in Voltaire's well-known formula, was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor empire." The Habsburg Danubian polity was a composite monarchy created through dynastic marriages and alliances between politically and culturally disparate entities. The state was ruled from Vienna and it was unified in the personality of the Habsburg monarch, while other monarchical cities and nobles fiercely competed for grandeur with the capital and the ruler residing there. When the Austrian Empire was declared officially in 1806 after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, it was an empire only in name.

In der späten Habsburgermonarchie identifizierten sich bereits weite Bevölkerungsteile mit Nationalitätenkonzepten. Die Regierung hatte zuvor durch Sprachklassifikationen und -standardisierungen einen erheblichen Beitrag zur Herausbildung von Nationalitäten geleistet. Die Bewegung des politischen Zionismus forderte die Anerkennung von Jüd*innen als Nationalität. In der österreichischen Sozialdemokratie widmete man sich der „Nationalitätenfrage“. Die zionistische Bewegung hingegen wurde in der sozialdemokratischen Arbeiter-Zeitung entweder nicht wahrgenommen oder offenkundig verachtet. In mehreren Artikeln wurde auf antisemitische Vorurteile, wie den „geldgierigen Juden“, zurückgegriffen. Die zionistische Zeitung Jüdische Volksstimme kritisierte diese Haltung und Praxis in zahlreichen Beiträgen des Analysezeitraums 1900-1910. Ein häufiger Vorwurf lautete, dass die Sozialdemokratie die „Judenfrage“ und den wachsenden Antisemitismus ignorieren würde. Sozialdemokrat*innen, die ursprünglich aus jüdischen Familien stammten, sich aber assimilierten und taufen ließen (Victor Adler bspw.), wurde vorgeworfen an „jüdischem Selbsthass“ zu leiden. In der Arbeiter-Zeitung reagierte man nicht auf die Kritik der Jüdischen Volksstimme. Die Diskussion über das Verhältnis von Sozialismus und Zionismus wurde in der Jüdischen Volksstimme sehr intensiv geführt, während sich die Arbeiter-Zeitung damit nicht befasste. In der österreichischen Sozialdemokratie hielt man an der Hoffnung fest, dass sich der Antisemitismus durch den Sozialismus und die Assimilierung von Jüd*innen aufheben würde. Ziel der Arbeit ist es jüdische Identitätsdiskurse, die das Verhältnis der zionistischen Bewegung und der österreichischen Sozialdemokratie der späten Habsburgermonarchie umspannen, anhand der Zeitungen Jüdische Volksstimme und Arbeiter-Zeitung aufzuzeigen.

The satirical writings of Lucian of Samosata had a tremendous influence on the literature of the Eastern European Haskalah, shaping its criticism of the burgeoning Hasidic movement in the nineteenth century as if there were no gap between it and the Roman Empire of the second century. Lucian’s criticism of false prophets, self-proclaimed philosophers, and common fools and frauds, like his satirical dialogues with the world of the dead, provided the perfect model for those Maskilim who opposed the revelations of the Hasidic movement in both theological and social realms. One particularly salient testimony to the classical satirist’s influence is the astounding translation of his story “Alexander the False Prophet” by the Maskilic writer Meir Letteris, the first translation of Lucian’s work into Hebrew. The translation, printed in full below, was based on the German edition of Christoph Martin Wieland and published in the journal Ha-Tsefirah, which Letteris edited in 1823. As with every translation, it is a new product, shaped in and by its own context. This essay discusses the tendencies and apparent goals of the translator, the additions and omissions he made to the text, and the influence of Lucian’s satirical style on the Haskalah.

Hungary between Two Empires 1526–1711 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021, 318 Pages, 7.00 x 10.00 in, 49 b&w illus., 15 maps, 3 b&w tables) can be ordered through the CAP site:
https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9780253054654/hungary-between-two-empires-15261711/
and in USA and Canada:
https://iupress.org/9780253054654/hungary-between-two-empires-15261711/

This work aims to provide an objective portrait of Emperor Karl I and an analysis of his early reign in order to help determine his responsibility in the collapse of AustriaHungary and to fill the gap in a historiography distorted by both hagiography and underestimation. This thesis examines Karl’s character, education, ability, outlook and ambitions prior to his enthronement in November 1916, and his attempts in the following six months to revive political life, implement administrative and constitutional reform and bring about national reconciliation in Cisleithania. The Bohemian lands, and in particular the Czech-German conflict, constitute the main focus of this study, although developments among Poles, Ukrainians and South Slavs are also considered. Since Karl’s chief concern was nevertheless the conclusion of peace, foreign policy – in any case inextricably bound to domestic issues in the Habsburg Monarchy – is also given due attention. The examination of Karl’s pre-war years reveals a not unpromising young man. His short heirship, however, involved only a perfunctory introduction to statecraft, leaving him lacking in preparation and experience. Yet, contrary to popular belief, Karl was not a blank slate; nor was he without his prejudices. Upon his accession to the throne, although he enjoyed a remarkably free hand, he threw in his lot with the German nationalists. After four months, however, he – or rather his foreign minister – retreated under the influence of the Russian Revolution and of the
American entry into the war. Karl then recalled parliament but did not have the resolve, courage, skill or support to build on this initiative. Offered no prospects, the political representatives of the Slav nationalities radicalized behind the scenes. With the reopening of the House, the irreversible extent of their disenchantment and estrangement burst to the fore. Although Karl finally sought to embark on a new course, his resolve again faltered and his half-hearted efforts bore no fruit. Largely as a result of his earlier mistakes and vacillation, the chance had, in any case, already passed.

The main components of the Habsburgs’ dynastical piety—worship of the Crucified, of the Eucharist, of the Blessed Mary and her spouse St. Joseph—are already well-known. They were common to both branches of the House of Austria, the Spanish as well as the Austrian one. However, they are far from exhausting the variety of manifestations with which they fostered the cult of the saints. More than other sovereigns, Austrian Habsburgs intervened on behalf of patron saints with the popes and the Roman Congregation of Sacred Rites. During the seventeenth century and still in the eighteenth century, they promulgated public feasts in the Austrian hereditary lands as well as in the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. This paper focuses mainly on the veneration they addressed to the Jesuit saints: Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Luigi Gonzaga, Stanisław Kostka, and Peter Canisius using archive and printed materials from Rome, Vienna, Prague, and Budapest.