Tanulmány
The Rise of an Aristocratic Albanian Family on the Hungarian Frontier: the Aranids
During its expansion, the Ottoman Empire conquered countries and peoples one after another. Their elites had different reactions to the conquest: they either fled or made their compromises, finding a place for themselves in this empire “above nations”. This was true to the Aranits of Albania as well: after several failed rebellions one half of the family fled to Italy, while the other half became Muslims and took on leadership positions in Albania as Aranids. One branch of the family tried to find their fortune on the Hungarian frontier and managed to rebuild their position of power with great success. A prominent member of the family, Mahmud settled in Szolnok, and the city remained the headquarters of the family. While he “only” reached the position of sanjak bey, his protégé, Sehsuvar, who was a member of the clan but was of Hungarian origin, succeeded in becoming a pasha; and his son, Bektas acquired the most important position of the region, the title of Beylerbey of Buda. This is an especially remarkable feat considering that it happened during the final years of the long war at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Ottomans managed to improve their previously quite unfavourable results. However, Bektas was slain during a raid, and to our knowledge this spelled the end of the family’s sharply ascending career in Ottoman Hungary.
The Foundation, Equipment and Financing of the Habsburg Empire’s First Dragoon Companies During the Fifteen Years War
Similarly to the stories of regiments popular in the 19th and 20th centuries we also have sources about the hiring, equipment and everyday lives of the mercenaries and companies in the service of the Habsburg Empire at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the most interesting of these is the story of the dragoon companies hired and employed during the final period of the Fifteen Years War. In my study I am examining their fate from their hiring and muster through the payment of their salaries and lack thereof, up to the disbandment of the companies.
The Ottoman Campaign of 1658 – The Possibility of a Double Campaign
The topic of this article is the Ottoman campaign against Transylvania in 1658, which aimed to remove the Prince of Transylvania, George II Rákóczi from his position, who had already been deposed for his unauthorised attempt to take the Polish crown, but still tried to maintain his power. The recently discovered Ottoman language sources concerning the army’s food supplies put the whole issue into a different perspective. According to these sources the campaign was planned against the Dalmatian regions of the Republic of Venice, then slowly turned against Transylvania due to Rákóczi desperately trying to hold onto power, and culminated in the capture of the castle of Jenő and the appointment of Ákos Barcsai as Prince because of the Celali rebellion that broke out in the Ottoman Empire. Due to this situation the Ottomans were planning a double camping, presented in this study together with the previously mentioned events, as a process in three separate parts divided by the turning points of the campaign’s planning and execution process. The study discusses how the Ottomans planned to attack Zadar first with their whole army, and later only with their central armies, as well as how the regional army, then the full army led by Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed turned against Transylvania and Jenő.
Before Vasvár. An Attempt at a Habsburg-Ottoman Compromise at Temesvár in 1663
The peace treaty signed in Vasvár on 10 August 1664 by Grand Vizier Köprülü Ahmed Pasha and Simon Reniger von Reningen, the resident ambassador of Constantinople became known to Hungarian estates and Hungary as a “shameful” compromise, primarily because the parties failed to take Hungarian interests into consideration. However, the creation of this treaty was preceded by a more than two years long series of negotiations. A lesser known section of these negotiations happened between Summer 1662 and Spring 1663 in Temesvár, where the Habsburg representatives, Johann Freiherr von Goess and Philipp Johann Beris tried to settle the arguments between the two empires and save the peace in the camp of Serdar Köse Ali Pasha. This study discusses the process that led to the beginning of the negotiations at Temesvár and the debated issues in the discussions between the Habsburg diplomats and the Serdar. It is presented that in early 1663 there was a chance of making peace, – even though it would have been based mostly on the demands of the Ottoman Porte – but it failed on the issue of the affiliation of Székelyhíd. The primary sources of this examination were the reports of Goess, Berris, and Reniger, the Habsburg resident ambassador of Constantinople.
Official Oath in the Hungarian State Administration
This study proposes an archaeology of the official oath in the royal Hungarian administration, from the first centuries of the Christian statehood to the end of the monarchy in 1918. The evolutions of the oath pronounced by the councilors (in various medieval councils, dicastries and later in the 19th century’s ministries) allows replacing in the longue durée this complex phenomenon, the persistence of which until today shows a remarkably long-lasting tradition. First to be addressed here is the issue of implementing a mandatory oath for the king’s and later the state’s servants, crystallizing the bureaucratization and professionalization of the administration. The second issue is specific to the 19th and 20th centuries, and focuses on the multiple reformulations of official oaths during revolutionary periods: how did evolve the duty of loyalty between allegiance to the king, the constitution, the country and finally the nation? In order to achieve this study, oath-templates were collected from various official sources (Corpus Juris Hungarici, Rendeletek Tára) as well as from archival oath-repositories (libri juramentorum). The political as well as ritual dimensions of the oath taking (and its refusal) are just incidentally part of our study.
„It’s exceedingly uplifting and inspiring to see the enthusiasm of this Eastern people freed from slavery”. Revolution and Constitutionality in Early 20th Century Istanbul from the Perspective of a Civilian and Officially Diplomacy
Hungarian historiography has always shown great interest towards the libraries and archives of Istanbul. Starting from the second half of the 19th century Ármin Vámbéry made the first steps to secure access to Ottoman sources for Hungarian historians and experts. Later, between 1907 and 1911, Imre Karácson conducted research in Istanbul. His journal provides a detailed look into his correspondence with accomplished Hungarian and Turkish researchers of that time, everyday life in Istanbul, political struggles, the birth of Turkish historiography, the foundation of the Turkish Historical Society and the debates surrounding it. Karácson witnessed the Young Turk Revolution in Istanbul, the ascension of the new Sultan and his girding with the Sword of Osman, a ceremony equivalent in significance to coronation. He took photographs of the celebrating crowd and the march with open carriages with his own camera from the ship that took the new Sultan to Eyüp. The primary source for present study was the journal of Imre Karácson, the original manuscript as well as its typewritten version. Out of the several interesting topics discussed in the journal I’m focusing on the events in Istanbul from the Young Turk Rebellion, more specifically the second declaration of the Ottoman constitution (23 July 1908) to the dethronement of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (27 April 1909) and the ascension of Sultan Mehmed Resad V.
Műhely
Határainkon túl
Figyelő