a borítólapra  Súgó epa Copyright 
Aetas 17. (2002.) 1. sz.

Tartalom

Tanulmányok

  • Bagi Zoltán Péter :

    Abstract

    The military resolutions of the Regensburg Imperial Diet in 1594

    Following the conclusion of the Persian war in March 1590, the attention of the Sublime Porte again turned to Europe. After three years of uncertainty, waiting, and domestic struggle, Murad III gave in to the pressure of the 'Rumelian' or 'Western lobby', and, in the summer of 1593, after the defeat at Sisek of Dervish or Telli Hasan, Beglerbey of Bosnia, out of three possible theatres of war (the Kingdoms of Spain, Poland, and Hungary), sent his armies against the Austrian Hapsburgs. The court in Prague was caught unprepared by the Ottoman attack. Those around the emperor thought that the defence of the frontier in Hungary was impossible without the military and financial assistance of the Holy Roman Empire. At the Imperial Diet at Regensburg in 1594, an unprecedentedly high (80 Römermonat) aid was voted for by the Estates. In addition, on account of the religious wars flaring up again in the Netherlands and jeopardizing the internal peace of the Empire, the Estates deemed it necessary to revise the regulation of the activities of recruiters employed by alien powers. The author attempts to discuss as minutely as possible the sixteen articles of the Imperial Diet on that issue: the introduction or the reasons for renewing the articles (4 articles); the delimitation of the regulations, and the text of the oath the recruiting person and his guarantor had to swear (10 articles); the sanctions against those who caused damage and broke the rules (2 articles).

  • G. Etényi Nóra :

    Abstract

    Constitutional theory, politics, and pamphlets in the seveteenth century

    Although religiously and culturally colourful early modern Europe saw various systems of government, economic and social structures operating side by side, the idea of European unity appeared with an increasing frequency by the 17th century in works on philosophy and on the arts of politics, as well as in popular political pamphlets. The figure of the young crowned female suggested the idea of a coherent, organic whole from Spain to Constantinople, from England to Sicily. At the time of the Treaty of Westphalia, under the impact of the shock of the Thirty Years' War, the need for the solution of conflicts and for the creation of a functioning union further increased in works on constitutional theory and in draft-treaties based on natural and human law. The public discourse around the peace negotiations resulted in the transformation of the discourse of journalism, and caused contemporary pamphlets to teem with new concepts of constitutional theory. The attitude of constitutional theory became understandable and natural for an increasingly broadening, educated stratum of society, if not for the common man. This duality, the presence of the elite and the wider public is aptly characterized by a series of pamphlets published in 1678 under the title 'Ratio Status or Political Vagabond', which announced on its title page that three-faced Ratio Status had to take two expectations into consideration: the spirit of laws and the news reading public. The pamphlet pointed out that a certain kind of international publicity had come into being, which observed the power realignments in Europe in the context of domestic and international politics. Analysing basically current international relationships, the pamphlets emphasized situations of decision, turning points, presenting several alternatives, and giving readers the experience of thinking together and being insiders. At the end of the 17th century, the most popular, dialogical political pamphlets started to look rather like dramas with several actors, where courts were represented not by monarchs only but by a number of participants, with various interests and ideas. Besides the powerful elite, characteristic representatives of individual countries appeared in the theatre of politics and international publicity with parts of varying sizes indicating that the power realignment at the end of the century was being represented with its wider social bearings. The international public, in the process of being modernized, observed and appreciated the relationship and power status of Hungary and Transylvania, just liberated from the Turks, on the basis of a new scale of values and system of relations. These pamphlets not only presented military news and military performance, but emphasized the political possibilities of the Hungarian Kingdom, its relation to the Hapsburg Empire, as well as the international impact of domestic conflicts, and analysed the long-term alternatives. The pamphlet literature of the era indicates that the international significance of Hungary and Transylvania increased at the time of the expulsion of the Turks. Hungarian aristocrats and politically active Hungarian noblemen appeared in contemporary German language pamphlets in double roles: on the one hand, as parties in fictitious dialogues, active participants of the transformation of power relations, and, on the other, as passive sufferers of same. Familiar with the new type literature on constitutional theory and aware of the possibilities presented by the international presence, the Hungarian elite was consciously preparing for the new arrangements following the expulsion of the Turks.

  • Kőszeghy Miklós :

    Abstract

    From Babylon to Jerusalem: the pitfalls of communication

    The last decades of the existence of Juda as a state lead the researcher of this tragic but extremely exciting period among rapidly changing conditions, often difficult to survey. The channels of communications were at least as important for the period as they are today. Babylon and Egypt, the small states of Palestine, the various political trends within Jerusalem, the members of the political and religious elite of Juda already deported or still at home were all looking for ways to transmit and receive information – with more or less success. The merits or defects of their decisions were the results of how they were able to analyse the situation. Mapping this complicated communication network will contribute to a clearer picture of the last two decades of the history of Juda as well as of the functioning of the system of relationships between centre and periphery.

  • Kulcsár Krisztina :
    A helytartói státus [93.94 kB - HTML]

    Abstract

    The Lieutenant-Governorship. Prince Albert of Saxony (1738–1822) – his appointment and activity in Hungary

    Instead of naming a new person to replace the deceased palatine (viceroy), Lajos Batthyány, Maria Theresa appointed a lieutenant-governor (locumtenens) of Hungary in 1765. The lieutenant-governorship was not an unknown institution in the kingdom. In the Middle Ages, the viceroy (palatine), elected by the Estates, stood in for the king in a number of fields. After 1526, Habsburg rulers did not reside in Hungary. If no viceroy was elected, they appointed a lieutenant-governor, a trustworthy, loyal person, to run the affairs of the country. The rights and privileges of the locumtenentes were never clearly defined, and it was always up to the monarch to decide their responsibilities.

    There was a tendency after Charles III (IV) to select such persons from among chose associates of the Habsburg family. In 1732, Francis Stephen of Lorraine was chosen. He was the prospective husband of Maria Theresa and future Holy Roman Emperor, who held the office until 1741, when the new diet elected a new viceroy. His sphere of authority and role served as model in 1765 at the appointment of Prince Albert as locumtenens. The lieutenant-governors were granted various powers and titles: the chief responsibility of both princes was to preside at the sessions of the Lieutenant-Governor's Council, the highest (administrative) government office in Hungary, founded in 1723. Both presided at the sessions of the Supreme Court of Justice (Septemvirate Court of Appeal) as Chief Justice of Hungary. Albert was in addition, High Sheriff and Chief Justice of the Jazygians and Cumans. Francis did not have this title (since the three privileged regions redeemed themselves only in 1745), but he had the right to grant up to 32 tenements held in villeinage. This mediaeval privilege of the viceroys was, however, kept by Maria Theresa for herself in 1765. According to Article 1659:76, the palatine was also High Sheriff of Pest-Pilis-Solt County. The monarch had the right to appoint a lieutenant-governor to that office. Both Francis of Lorraine and Prince Albert were granted the office, although they subsequently ran the county through administrators.

    In both cases their close ties to the Habsburg house were decisive factors at the appointments. The Saxon prince, born in 1738, would go on to marry Princess Maria Christina, favourite daughter of Maria Theresa on April 8, 1766. Through her mother, Maria Josepha (daughter of Joseph I), who had fled to Vienna before the Prussian troops and seen the struggles of the Seven Years' War, he himself was connected to the Habsburgs as well. The Hungarian lieutenent-governorship strengthened the social position of both prospective bridegrooms (and husbands), the office providing adequate social standing and dignity for them.

    In 1765, the Queen established a new military position for Albert, hitherto non-existent in that form in Hungary. The rights of the viceroys included holding the position of the captain-general of the army of the realm. (In the 16–17th centuries, a representative of the Hungarian Estates holding command over foreign, billeted troops was viewed as potentially dangerous. This was probably one reason why monarchs failed to appoint viceroys, and after 1556, military affairs were decided in the War Council at Vienna.) Maria Theresa appointed Albert Captain-general (Capitain général) of Hungary in 1765. His instructions reveal that he was not to act independently, without royal decision, and he had to closely cooperate with the Hungarian High Command (Generalcommando), but this same office continued running affairs and correspondence.

    The lieutenant-governorships of Francis of Lorrain and Prince Albert constituted a transition from the locumtenentes of the 16–17th centuries to the archduke-palatines elected around the turn of the 18–19th centuries (Alexander Leopold 1790–1795, Joseph 1796–1847, Stephen 1847–1848). According to another version, the appointment of archduke-locumtenentes was also considered. In the 17th century, Archduke Mathias was considered for the job; and in the 18th century, Maria Theresa meant to appoint her youngest son, Maximilian after Prince Albert. The latter and his spouse went on to occupy the office of governor and locumtenens in the Austrian Netherlands, granted them in the marital contract. This meant another step in the process that tightened the relations between the Austrian Hereditary Provinces and the Kingdom of Hungary, and thus restricted the influence of the Estates. The Hungarian Lieutenant-Governorships of Francis and Albert thus gained significance not only for political reasons, but for family and family-political considerations as well.

  • Papp Sándor :

    Abstract

    Christian vassals at the north-western borders of the Ottoman Empire

    The different regions of the Ottoman Empire employed different administrative mechanisms. Besides the sancak-vilayet system, regarded as classic, there were vassal states along the frontiers of the empire. Although different from one another, they all had one common strait in that they had their own domestic self-governments. The paper discusses primarily the political relations of Moldva and Wallachia, the two Rumanian voivodates. Rumania today has three great historical regions: Moldva (Bog.dan) and Wallachia (Eflak) are mostly populated by Rumanians of Orthodox religion. Transylvania (Erdel), on the other hand, was part of the Hungarian Kingdom throughout the Middle Ages, its political elite consisting of the three political nations of the Seklers, Hungarians and Saxons, its established religions being Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Unitarianism. Rumanians were present, naturally, in that country, too, but they could play a political role only after being integrated into the above groups. From this it follows that the present paper analyses mostly the relations at the Porte of the two Rumanian voivodates, and Transylvania is mentioned occasionally only, as an example.

    I am trying to find out what the relationships were like between the Ottoman Empire and the two Rumanian voivodates. The question has abundant Rumanian literature. Recent studies rely mostly on the diplomatic sources of Turkish archives. It is a question of great importance for Rumanian historiography to find out on what level of subjection the Rumanian states stood. It is possible to 'measure' this by establishing whether the voivodes of Moldva and Wallachia had so called ?ahdnâme, letters of contract signed by the Sultan. In so far as it can be shown that the Sultans provided the voivodes with ?ahdnâmes during the confirmations, the relationships were not only of subjection, but contained a measure of co-ordination. We must remember that the Ottoman Empire, when putting its commercial and peace treaties with the Western world into writing, used the ?ahdnâme, which is known in western languages as capitulation. In short, if the Rumanian voivodes had ?ahdnâme (capitulation) at the time of the confirmation, it would mean that their legal relations with the Porte were similar to the Turkish connections of the western states. The eminent Rumanian historian, Ciurescu showed in 1901 that the Sultan's capitulations published several times in French and regarded from the 18th century for nearly two hundred years as the contract letters of the Rumanian voivodates, were forgeries. We know a peace treaty from the late 15th century, which contains the word ?ahdnâme as the self-referential term for the document. A comparison of this important document to the texts of contemporary European treaties revealed that whereas the Ottoman capitulations given to western states were contracts between equal parties, this document contains a peace treaty that is about taxpaying and subjection only. While the self-referential name of the document may be identical with the peace and commercial treaties concluded with European monarchs, its content rules out any possibility of its being regarded as their equivalent. However, it can be established – and Rumanian historians have been diligently researching the Ottoman and Bizantine chronicles in that respect – that the confirmations and peace treaties of the voivodes in the 15th century, even if produced to express vassal relationship to the Porte, were formally ?ahdnâmes indeed.

    Unfortunately, no ?ahdnâme texts have been found since the 16th century. Although the name of this type of document occurs occasionally in connection with the appointments of voivodes in Moldva and Wallachia, it would seem that those documents were not ?ahdnâmes. The voivodates had a significant degree of internal autonomy from the 16th century to the end of the Ottoman rule, but the voivodes were appointed in a form used in the case of the Turkish officials of the empire. The symbol of investiture was the flag (sancak), the charter of investiture the berât. This, however, was to some extent similar to the capitulation of European countries because the Rumanian voivodes were Christian vassals of the Sultans, and the religious (şeriat) law of the Islamic empire did not apply to them. Having compared the investiture mechanisms of the voivodes of Moldva and Wallachia to the confirmations of the ruling princes of Transylvania, I have found many similarities. Rumanian historiography does not describe in detail the process of the investiture of the voivodes of Moldva and Wallachia, which differs in the 16th century from that of the Transylvanian only in that in the latter after the confirmation by the Sultan's letter of order (hükm-i hümâyun) and the presentation of the flag (sancak), the berât, the final letter of investiture was written, and after it was handed over, the Sultan's ?ahdnâme was also written, in accordance with the conditions submitted by the Transylvanian envoys. After the flag and the Sultan's letter of confirmation (nâme-i hümâyun) had been handed over, either both the berât and the ?ahdnâme were written, or, in some cases, a charter was made at the Ottoman chancery, which contained the characteristics of both document types.

    At the end of the paper I print six charters translated from Turkish into Hungarian. Intending to be as thorough as possible, I print, with one exception, all the documents regarded as basic for the issue by Rumanian specialists. These include a commercial and a peace treaty from the 16th century, and two letters of confirmation (berât), as well as two Sultan's orders from the 16th century, sent, like in the case of Transylvania, to appoint voivodes. As a parallel, I also print a Polish-Turkish peace treaty (?ahdnâme) from 1577, to exemplify the texts of the Ottoman treaties with European countries.

  • Tóth Sándor László :
    A „szináni ajánlat" [84.47 kB - HTML]

    Abstract

    The „Offer of Sinan"

    (The idea of establishing vassal states in 1593)

    The study discusses the plans of the Porte at the beginning of the so-called Fifteen Years' War (1593–1606), focusing on the ideas of Grand Vizir Sinan, the decisive figure of the Ottoman court. The aim of Sinan Pasha was to get the whole Royal (Habsburg) Hungary and to invade Vienna, Prague (the centres of the Habsburg Empire) and possibly Rome (the seat of the pope). These cities were considered „kizil elma" (red or gold apples) by the Otttomans, i. e. the main targets of their expansion. In the case of Hungary Sinan wanted to occupy the key forts near the Danube and to annex these Transdanubian parts to the Ottoman Empire. For the territories he did not want to attack he reserved the vassal status. These territories were north of the main routes of the Ottoman line of attack towards Vienna. These regions included the Hungarian Highlands (nowadays: Slovakia) and the Czech (Bohemian) Kingdom. Sinan renewed the policy of Sultan Süleyman and in the summer and autumn of 1593 these territories were offered to certain Hungarian lords (Ferenc Nádasdy, István Báthori, Ferenc Dobó), if they accepted the overlordship of the sultan and payed tribute. One of the planned vassal state was called the principality (voivodate) of Kassa and the other was the Czech Kingdom. It did not matter for the Ottomans, which of the Hungarian lords would rule one or the other vassal state. Grand Vizir Sinan and Hasan Pasha (beylerbey of Temesvar) sent letters to these lords and with threats, promises wanted to persuade them to accept the offer, but they failed. However, the „offer of Sinan" proves that for the Ottomans both the establishment of vassal states and direct annexation were equally important.

  • Zakar Péter :

    Abstract

    The history of the Transylvanian chief army chaplaincy (1750–1868)

    The religious and military reforms introduced by the Hapsburgs' enlightened absolutism included the division of the Empire into districts with regard to the spiritual care of the military forces. The Superiority of Transylvania was organized relatively early, in 1750, and dissolved in 1868. The paper uses mostly archival sources to trace the history of this military district. The Transylvanian ordinaries, regarding it as an infringement of their own jurisdiction, initially protested against its establishment. The imp. roy. War Council at Court issued a decree on February 15, 1777 to have the military chapels of the empire surveyed, and the results provide a comprehensive picture of the state of the chapels in Transylvania as well.

    The Transylvanian Superiority, throughout its existence, the years of the Crimean War excepted, was the smallest military diocese of the Monarchy, with 5–6 army chaplains serving under the direction of the Transylvanian chief army chaplain. The Transylvanian bishops, along with those in Hungary, resisted the reform of the auxiliary system of the army ministry introduced early in the 19th century, but after a long struggle, were obliged to assume the right of presentation.

    The colourful religious composition of Transylvania made religious policy with regard to non-Catholic soldiers especially significant. The paper describes the development of the religious lives of Protestant, Orthodox, and Greek Catholic troops in the territory of the Transylvanian Superiority. During the reign of Maria Theresa Protestant ministers were banned even from military hospitals. The decrees of Joseph II provided for the free practice of religion, and by the turn of the 18–19th centuries the decree of tolerance was enforced among the army units stationed in Transylvania. Since Transylvanian laws provided more favourable treatment to Protestants than did the decree of tolerance, the army chaplains tried to make use of the possibilities inherent in the differences.

    After the revolutions of 1848, in which several army chaplains had taken active parts, the monarch, with his letters-patent of April 26, 1860, established 12 posts for Protestant army chaplains at the central garrisons of the military administration. This move was in accordance with the principle of religous equality, but adjusted deficiently to the special needs of the army. The army reform after the Compromise of 1867 abolished military districts. The peripheral position of the Transylvanian military district within the Empire made easier the job of officials resisting the central administration, but the latter could have its will prevail in most cases.

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