This article approaches the possibilities of researching regional demographic and economic differences in the Ottoman-controlled areas of the medieval Hungarian Kingdom proper in two very different settings. First, it provides research options on sixteenth-century dually ruled Hungary in the southeastern area between the Drava and the Danube. This region was the Habsburg-Ottoman border zone in this period. The second section of the article focuses on case studies of the subprovinces of Požega and Szeged and the possibilities of their comparison. Both of these sanjaks were positioned in the interior of Ottoman territory and shared similarities, but they were also very different in certain aspects, particularly the presence of Muslims. The data for this article is provided by several Hungarian and, to a more considerable extent, Ottoman surveys, which are to a large degree digitized. The authors use the data on settlements, population, landholding, and state income from taxes preserved in these sources to provide various indicators that can outline the possibilities for further research.
This article aims to reevaluate different socioeconomic and political systems—the era of Habsburg absolutism and the reconstruction after the expulsion of the Ottomans (1720–80s), the age of reforms (1780–1880), and the beginnings of the capitalist development in the Kingdom of Hungary (1880–1914)—from a different perspective: by focusing on trends in inequalities and changes in development levels. In order to trace the changes in the pattern of backward areas, development was calculated for three time horizons relying on the settlement-level data of the GISta Hungarorum database. The novelty of our approach is that we consider development multidimensionally, therefore a composite indicator of development was calculated using a causal approach (Structural Equation Modeling [SEM]) to substitute for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Human Development Index (HDI), which cannot be reconstructed at fine scale, nor calculated for the eighteenth century. Regional patterns of core-periphery relations and their temporal changes (differences in dynamism) were analyzed using GIS-methods for the three time horizons, and the varying depth of backwardness was also investigated by tracing two U-curves of the type developed by Jeffrey Williamson and Simon Kuznets over three centuries. Special attention has been paid to the relationship between nationalities and development levels in our analysis, as state politics has been accused of a discriminative attitude toward national minorities.
Long-term analyses frequently generate major methodological challenges. In the current study, an international indicator has been used for the case of Hungary. The modified and adapted so-called historical settlement-level Human Development Index (hsHDI) provides the methodological frame for the study. HDI is based on three components: GDP/income, educational attainment, and life expectancy. Five periods were included in the analysis. Significant changes were detected during this more than one-century-long period in the locations of the most and least developed settlements. The spatial pattern of hsHDI indicates a better situation in Transdanubia, while extended backward areas fall along the current border area even before the 1920 Trianon Peace Treaty. The Communist era had a major impact on the spatial structure, and increased living-quality values were observed in the northern Hungarian territory due to the state-supported mining and heavy industries. During the last decades—most occurring after the change of regime in 1989—significant restructuring was detected in the backward and developed settlements. The spatial structure of quality of life demonstrated increasing concentrations of high values in the surroundings of Budapest and the largest towns; low values in southwestern and northeastern Hungary were also observed.
The article presents a new research project that aims to assess regional disparities in the late medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Methodological issues are discussed as well as the possibilities for analysis, and the first results are presented at the county level. The general conclusion is that meaningful results with historical relevance can be obtained by using large amounts of purely qualitative data.
This article examines the day-to-day service of French soldiers and captains at the Battle of Szentgotthárd (Saint Gotthard) between the Holy Roman Empire and the Sublime Porte in 1664. The soldiers are obscure figures in history, but they appear in correspondence, memoirs, and other personal papers belonging to captains of the first or second rank. This documentation, dispersed across archives, makes it possible to follow the captains and men of the troops. The sources, written on a day-to-day basis or after the battle, allow us to explore the many dimensions of the fighting experience. The testimonies confirm several key aspects of warfare: fear, hunger, the role of camaraderie and religion, tensions within the imperial armies, and the “war culture” of these soldiers.
This review essay examines a critical edition of the collected writings of László Lajtha, a prominent twentieth-century Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist. The collection, edited by Melinda Berlász, compiles Lajtha’s writings from 1910 to 1962, including previously unpublished manuscripts and translations of works originally in other languages. It gathers his texts by subject into six chapters, covering topics such as Hungarian folk music, dance, musical instruments, and personal reflections. This publication is likely to spur further research into Lajtha’s life, compositions, and ethnomusicological work, and will make his writings more accessible to an international audience.
Hungarian efforts to solicit Ottoman military help against the Habsburg Empire have not received much scholarly attention. The meeting of Calvinist noble Pál Szepessy with Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, reveals that Hungarian Protestants, faced with the Counter-Reformation and military occupation, opted for the Ottomans as more tolerant and more humane overlords. Szepessy did not share the Turkophobia of Christian Europe—he perceived the Muslim Turks as divinely appointed agents of justice and liberation. The Szepessy-Köprülü encounter and its consequences were closely followed by Habsburg intelligence; Vienna feared that an Ottoman invasion of Hungary was imminent.
After World War I and the collapse of the Hungarian Kingdom via the Trianon Peace Treaty, a leader cult developed around Miklós Horthy, regent (the head of state) of Hungary between 1920 and 1944. This cult existed throughout the so-called Horthy era, but its intensity and emphasis changed. According to the official image of Horthy, created by many cult-makers and disseminated through different propaganda techniques, he was the only one capable of restoring the national glory and greatness that Hungary had lost after the Great War. As in the cases of other European leader cults of that time, it is very important to analyze the impact of the Horthy cult on the man who was the object of such adulation. This issue has not received sufficient scholarly attention from historians. This article shows how the uninterrupted propaganda, and his oversimplified and exaggerated official image, had a significant impact on Horthy’s self-image during World War II.
This article focuses on the historical contacts between the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire, with particular emphasis on the Pest-Buda–related mobility and commercial activities of Ottoman subjects during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Through a detailed analysis of three extensive, untapped archival registers from the Finanz- und Hofkammer Archiv in Vienna, the study reveals that Pest-Buda’s crucial role in economic and cultural exchanges between these two empires did not diminish during this period. The research explores the connections between Transylvania and Pest-Buda, highlighting the importance of the Pest-Buda-Transylvania-Ottoman relationship in understanding transimperial communications. By closely examining individual profiles and their mobility patterns, this study not only provides insights into the prevailing socioeconomic circumstances and the interconnected communities moving between the two empires during the period, but also offers a nuanced understanding of Pest-Buda’s role as a historical gateway for Habsburg-Ottoman contacts within the broader imperial context.
