¹ Woodward, C. Vann, The Future of the Past (Oxford, 1989), 309.Google Scholar

² Carr, E. H., What is History? (Harmondsworth, 1961), 30.Google Scholar

³ A possible case in point could be chapter 7 of my own book, István Tisza: The Liberal Vision and Conservative Statecraft of a Magyar Nationalist (New York, 1985);Google ScholarHungarian-language versions published in Budapest in 1994 and 2001. It is definitely not for me to say whether what I wrote is good or bad, correct or incorrect, but this seventh chapter attempted to place the progressives in the early twentieth century into the proper context of their times. Yet this chapter met with either incomprehension or rejection in Hungary, even by those who otherwise liked my book.Google Scholar

⁴ The best summary of this debate is by Vilmos, Erős, A Szekfű-Mályusz vita [The Szekfű-Mályusz debate] (Debrecen, 2000).Google Scholar

⁵ Domokos, Kosáry, A történelem veszélyei [The dangers of history] (Budapest, 1987), 533;Google Scholar also, in Kosáry, , “Magyarország a XVIII.században. Növekedés vagy hanyatlás?” [Hungary in the XVIII century: Growth or decline?], Valóság [Reality] 18, no. 1 (1975): 13–22;Google ScholarGyula, Benda, “Megjegyzések Kosáry Domokos cikkéhez” [Comments on Domokos Kosáry's article], Valóság 18, no. 3 (1975): 100.Google Scholar

⁶ János, Barta, Jr., A tizennyokadik század története [The history of the eighteenth century] (Budapest, 2000), 228;Google ScholarLászló, Kontler, A History of Hungary (Budapest, 2002), 218;Google ScholarMoritz, Csaky, Von der Aufklärung zum Liberalismus. Studien zum Frühliberalismus (Vienna, 1981), 64–80;Google ScholarKároly, Kecskeméthi, “Le Compromise de Leopold II avec la Hongrie” [Leopold II's compromise with Hungary], Revue de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France 1 (1994): 30–31;Google ScholarSzelényi, Balázs A., “Enlightenment from Below: German-Hungarian Patriots in Eighteenth-Century Hungary,” Austrian History Yearbook 34 (2003): 121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷ Marc, Bloch, The Historian's Craft (New York, 1961), 39;Google ScholarRobert, Darnton, George Washington's False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide to the Eighteenth Century (New York, 2003), 77.Google Scholar

⁸ No less a person than Prince Eugene de Savoy admonished Mary Wortley Montague, wife of the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, who was about to cross Hungary on her way to Istanbul in 1717. Prince Eugene warned her that she would not find shelter anywhere, nor would she meet any person along the long stretch between Buda and Eszek. Others added that she and her retinue would be buried under snow or captured by the Tatars, who regularly plundered Hungary. Mary Montague went ahead anyway and suffered no exceptional hardships. “I can barely refrain from laughing,” she wrote in a letter, “when I think of the terrifying tales I was told.” Nevertheless, she did remark, “There is nothing sadder in the world than traveling in Hungary with the knowledge of how flourishing this country once was.”Google ScholarGyőrffy, Katalin G., Kultúra és életforma a XVIII. századi Magyarországon. (Idegen utazók megfigyelései) [Culture and way of life in eighteenth-century Hungary (Observations of foreign travelers)]; (Budapest, 1991), 17;Google ScholarDomokos, Kosáry, Ujjáépités és polgárosodás [Restoration and bourgeois progress] (Budapest, 1990), 35.Google Scholar

⁹ Count Johann von Hofmannsegg described what it meant to cross the Danube in boats during the winter months. It involved skilled navigation between and around slabs of ice. “At home [in Saxony],” wrote Hofmannsegg, “few people would embark on such a journey, but here they do it just to go to a dance.”Google ScholarJános, Poór, “Gróf Hofmannsegg utazása a XVIII. századvégi Magyarországon” [Count Hofmannsegg's journey at the end of the eighteenth century], Budapest Negyed [Budapest quarter] 2, no. 2 (1994): 64.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Queen Maria Theresa admitted in her “Political Testament” that primarily Austrian, but also Bohemian officials, oppressed—before her reign, naturally—people in the Austrian Crownlands. This, in turn, created a great deal of ill will. “This animosity,” wrote the queen, “the Hungarians especially experienced, since the others sought to keep them in permanent subjugation and to prevent them from holding office. The apparent pretext for such an oppression was the unrest and rebellion in Hungary.”Google Scholar Quoted in Roider, Karl A., ed., Maria Theresa (Englewood Cliffs, 1973), 36.Google Scholar

¹¹ An excellent article on the Holy Crown is László, Péter, “The Holy Crown of Hungary, Visible and Invisible,” The Slavonic and East European Review 81, no. 3 (2003): 421–510;Google ScholarIstvan, Csekey, A Magyar trónöröklési jog. Jogtörténelmi és közjogi tanulmány oklevélmellékletekkel (The right of Hungarian royal succession: Legal historical and constitutional law study with documents) (Budapest, 1917), 226–71;Google ScholarGustav, Turba, Die Grundlagen der Pragmatischen Sanktion. Die Hausgesetze (Leipzig, 1912), 232;Google ScholarFerenc, Salamon, A Magyar királyi szék betöltése és a Pragmatica Sanctio története (The occupation of the Hungarian royal crown andthe history of the Pragmatic Sanction) (Pest, 1866), 192–97.Google Scholar

¹² Balázs, Éva H., Hungary and the Habsburgs, 1756–1800 (Budapest, 1997),66–74;Google ScholarGyözö, Ember, “Der österreichische Staatsrat und Ungarn in der 1760er Jahren,” in Ungarn und Österreich unter Maria Theresa und Joseph II, ed. Drabek, Anna M., Plaschka, Richard G., and Adam, Wandruszka (Vienna, 1982), 46–54;Google ScholarSzabo, Franz A. J., Kaunitz and Enlightened Absolutism, 1753–1780 (Cambridge, 1994), 313–14;CrossRefGoogle Scholarquoted in Balázs, Hungary and the Habsburgs, 59.Google Scholar

¹³ Béla, Grünwald, A régi Magyarország 1711–1825 [The old Hungary] (Budapest, 1910; orig. pub. 1888);Google ScholarEvans, R. J. W., “Maria Theresa and Hungary,” in Enlightened Absolutism: Reform and Reformers in Late Eighteenth Century Europe, ed. Scott, H. M. (London, 1990), 201.Google ScholarIn1774, the British envoy to Vienna, Sir Robert Murray Keith, decided to take a trip to Hungary.Google Scholar“In two days hence,” wrote Sir Robert, , “I thought myself removed to the other side of the terraqueous globe, among hordes who had originated from as far apart as the Chinese Wall and the White Sea….” Quoted in Robin, Okey, The Habsburg Monarchy: From Enlightenment to Eclipse (New York, 2001), 19.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Anonymous [József Izdenczy], Irrtümer in den Begriffen der meisten Ungarn von der Staatsverfassung Ihres Vaterlandes, und von den Rechten ihre Könige (Romischen Reiche, 1790), 79, 80, 90;Google ScholarFerenc, Strada, “Izdenczy József, az Államtanács elsö magyar tagja” [József Izdenczy, the first Hungarian member of the State Council], Bécsi Magyar Intézet Évkönyve [Yearbook of the Hungarian Institute in Vienna] 10 (1940): 142–49;Google ScholarImre, Madzsar, ed., Farádi Vörös Ignác visszaemlékezései az 1778–1822. évekröl [The recollections of Igná Farádi Vörös of the years between 1778 and 1822] (Budapest, 1927), 148–49.Google Scholar

¹⁵ István, Soös, “Ürményi József (1771–1825),” in Az oktatási törvénykezés hazai történetéböl:évfordulók, események [From the history of legislation on education in Hungary: Anniversaries, events], ed. Elemér, Kelemen (Budapest, 1991), 14–27,22, 15.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Zoltán, Fallenbüchl, Mária Terezia magyar hivatalnokai [Maria Theresa's Hungarian officials] (Budapest, 1989M), 5–56;Google ScholarOlga, Khavanova, “Elite Education and Politics: Hungarian Nobles at the Viennese Theresianum in the Eighteenth Century,” Sic Itur ad Astra [This way we reach the stars] 12, no. 4 (2000): 77–90.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Kosáry, , Ujjáépités és polgárosodás, 76;Google ScholarGusztáv, Heckenast, “A magyarországi ipar a xviii.században és a bécsi gasdaságpolitika” [The industry in Hungary in the eighteenth century and the economic policy of Vienna], Történelmi Szemle [Historical journal] 18, no. 4 (1974): 503–5.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Evans, R. J. W., “Languageand State Building: The Case of the Habsburg Monarchy,” Austrian History Yearbook 35 (2004): 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁹ Károly, Vörös, “A modern értelmiség kezdetei Magyarországon” [The beginnings of the modern intelligencia in Hungary], Valöság 18, no. 10 (1975): 1–3;Google ScholarGusztá, Heckenast, “A honoráciorok a reformkorban” [The honoratiori in the age of reform], Századok [Centuries] 123, nos. 3–4 (1989): 1–4;Google ScholarWindisch, Éva V., “Az értelmiség létszámának kérdéséhez” [On thequestion of the number of the intelligentsia], in Európa vonzásában. Emlékkönyv Kosáry Domokos 8O.szuletésnapjára [In thrall of Europe: A Festschrift on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Domokos Kosáry], ed. Ferenc, Glatz (Budapest, 1993), 122-25.Google Scholar

²⁰ Blanning, T. C. W., Joseph II (London, 1994), 115.Google Scholar

²¹ András, Gergely, “Das Ungarische Komitat in 19.Jahrhundert,” in Settlement and Society in Hungary, ed. Ferenc, Glatz (Budapest, 1990), 208.Google Scholar

²² Zsigmond, Zalabai, ed., Baróti Szabó Dávid jer magyar lantom [Dávid Baróti Szabó: Come my Hungarian lute] (Dunaszerdahely, 1994), 58–59.Google Scholar

²³ See note 40.Google Scholar

²⁴ Andor, Tarnai, Extra Hungariam nonest vita….: egy szállóige történetéhez [Extra Hungariam non est vita….: On the history of a common saying] (Budapest, 1969);Google ScholarJözsef, Kármán, A nemzet csinosodása ] (Budapest, 1981), 14–15; orig. pub. in Uránia in 1794;Google ScholarÁkos, Beöthy, A magyar államiság fejládése [The evolution of Hungarian statehood], 2 vols. (Budapest, 1900), 1:770–71.Google ScholarThe classic example used to portray the life of someon from the bene possessionati came from the pen of the famous writer Ferenc Kazinczy himself, who described in detail the life of his maternal grandfather, Ferenc Bossányi, a leading light in Bihar County and one of its two delegates to the diets of 1751 and 1764. Although prosperous by the standards of his times, he and his family lived in a simple reed-thatched adobe.Google ScholarIt was from there that Bossányi dominated his surroundings with patriarchal authority. “He was judge, advisor, and arbitrator … at times even to people from other counties.”Google ScholarFerenc, Kazinczy, Pályám emlékezete [Remembrance of my career] (Budapest, n.d.), 23, 24, 26, 27.Google Scholar

²⁵ László, Négyesy, ed., Gróf Gvadányi József és Fazekas Mihály [Count József Gvadányi and Mihály Fazekas] (Budapest, 1904), 116;Google ScholarSándor, Baróczi, A védelmezett magyar nyelv [The protected Hungarian language] (Budapest, 1984; orig. pub. 1790), 15.Google Scholar

²⁶ Rebecca, Gates-Coon, The Landed Estates of the Esterházy Princes: Hungary during the Reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II (Baltimore, 1994);Google ScholarAntal, Meszlényi, A Jozefinizmus kora Magyarországon [The era of Josephinism in Hungary] (Budapest, 1934), 15–30;Google ScholarÁdám, Somorjai and István, Zombori, eds., A Katolikus Egyház Magyarországon [The Catholic Church in Hungary] (Budapest, 1991), 63–64;Google ScholarGyörgy, Kókay, Felvilágosodás, kereszténység, nemzeti kultúra [Enlightenment, Christianity, national culture] (Budapest, 2000), 11–20.Google Scholar

²⁷ Zsolt, Alszeghy, “A könyv és olvasója” [The book and its reader], in Magyar müvelödéstörténet [Hungarian cultural history], ed. Sándor, Domanovszky, 5 vols. (Budapest, 1941), 4:492–760;Google ScholarCushing, G. F., “Books and Readers in 18th Century Hungary,” The Slavonic and East European Review 47, no. 108 (1969): 33–77;Google ScholarGéza, Fülöp, A magyar olvasóközönség a felvilágosodás idején és a reformkorban [The Hungarian reading public at the time of the Enlightenment and the age of reform) (Budapest, 1978), 24–28;Google ScholarAdorján, Kulcsár, Olvasóközönségünk 1800 táján [Our reading public around 1800] (Budapest, 1943), 31–69.Google Scholar

²⁸ Gábor, Tolnai, ed., Gróf Bethlen Miklós önéletirása [The memoirs of Count Miklos Bethlen] (Budapest, n.d.), xix-xxix;Google ScholarKároly, Máté, “A magyar önéletirás kezdetei” [The beginnings of the Hungarian memoir literature], Minerva 5, no. 1 (1926): 154–60;Google ScholarLajos, Szadeczky, ed.. Báró Apor Péter verses művei és levelei [The poems and letters of Baron Péter Apor] (Budapest, 1903), 19–71.Google Scholar

²⁹ László, Szalay, ed., Gróf Károlyi Sándor önéletirása [The memoirs of Count Sándor Károlyi], 2 vols. (Pest, 1865), 2:38–70;Google ScholarKároly Torma, ed., “Rettegi György emlékiratai” [The memoirs of Gyorgy Rettegi], Hazánk [Our country] 1 (1884): 126–47, 212–24, 281–302, 362–83;Google ScholarLajos Szádeczky, ed., "Halmágyi István naplói 1752–53, 1762–69 es iratai, 1669–1785”Google Scholar[The diaries of Istvan, Halmágyi, 1752–53, 1762–69, and Documents, 1669–1785], Magyar történelmi évkönyvek és naplók a XVI-XVIII. századból [Hungarian historical almanacs and diaries from the XV1-XVIII centuries] 4 (1906): 149–397,397.Google Scholar

³⁰ George, Barany, “The Age of Absolutism, 1790–1848,” in A History of Hungary, ed. Sugar, Peter F. (Bloomington, 1990), 175;Google ScholarCsaky, , Von der Aufklärung zum Liberalismus, 51; Barta, A tizennyolcadik század törtenete, 214.Google Scholar

³¹ Károly, Vörös, “A társadalom az életmód tükreben” [The society's way of life], in Magyarország története 1686–1790 [The history of Hungary, 1686–1790], ed. Gyözö, Ember and Gusztáv, Heckenast (Budapest, 1989), 1:759–60.Google Scholar

³² Kálman, Benda, “A magyar nemesi mozgalom (1790–1848)” [The Hungarian noble movement, 1790–1848], in Magyarország története 1790–1848 [The history of Hungary, 1790–1848], ed. Gyula, Mérei and Károly, Vörös (Budapest, 1983), 1:41–45.Google Scholar

³³ Kálmán, Benda, Emberbarát vagy hazafi? Tanulmányok afelvilágosodás korának magyarországi történetéből [Altruist or patriot? Studies on the era of the Enlightenment in Hungary] (Budapest, 1978), 352–53.Google Scholar

³⁴ Sugar, Peter F., “The Influence of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution in Eighteenth Century Hungary,” Journal of Central European Affairs 17, no. 4 (1958): 336, 354.Google Scholar

³⁵ Naponként való jegyzései az 1790dik esztendőben felséges II.Leopold Tsászár és magyarországi Király által szabad királyi várossába Budára rendelt s Posony királyi városába ataltetetett s ugyanott, 1791dik esztendőben befejezett magyar orszaggyulesnek [The printed proceedings of the Diet of 1790–91] (Buda, 1791), 4, 7, 16, 14.Google Scholar

³⁶ Elemér, Mályusz, “A reformkor nemzedéke” [The generation of the age of reform], Szazadok 57, nos. 1–6 (1923):26–39, esp. 30;Google ScholarGábor, Pajkossy, “Törekvések a magyar rendi alkotmány korszerűsitésére az 1790es évek első felében” [Attempts at modernizing the Hungarian feudal constitution in the first half of the 1790s], in A felvilágosodás jegyében.Tanulmányok H.Balázs Éva 70. szüetésnapjára [Studies honoring H. Eva Balazs on the occasion of her 70th birthday], ed. Gábor, Klaniczay, János, Poór, and Éva, Ring (Budapest, 1985), 169–73.Google Scholar

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³⁸ Darnton, , Washington's Fake Teeth, xiii. Joseph Ellis, the well-known American historian, expressed a similar thought most eloquently:“Hindsight is a tricky tool. Too much of it and we obscure the all-pervasive sense of contingency as well as the problematic character of choices facing the revolutionary generation. On the other hand, without some measure of hindsight, some panoramic perspective on the past from our perch in the present, we lose the chief advantage—perhaps the only advantage—that the discipline of history provides, and we are then thrown without resources into the patternless swirl of events with all the time-bound participants themselves.”Google ScholarEllis, Joseph J., Founding Brothers (New York, 2000), 6.Google Scholar

³⁹ Kontler, , A History of Hungary, 211–12.Google Scholar

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