A 16. - 17. századi lengyel-magyar kapcsolatok Hopp Lajos munkásságában
Abstract
The author presents the scholarly achievements of a Hungarian literary historian Lajos Hopp (1927–1996) related to the Polish-Hungarian relations. It is a commentary to the fragment (conclusions) of Hopp’s unedited work published in the present issue of Barok, entitled “Changes of Polish-Hungarian ideas and traditions in the first half of the 17th century”. The study is kept in the Illyés Gyula Archives and Workshop of the Institute of Literary Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. It is an expanded and revised version of a dissertation entitled “Changes of Polish-Hungarian ideas and traditions in Baroque court literature” submitted by Hopp in 1987 to be awarded doctorate by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The presented fragment exemplifies the whole of Hopp research into the Polish-Hungarian relations in which he emphasised the endurance and changes of traditions of: “everlasting friendship”, “friendly relations” and the idea of bulwark in both the cultures from the late Middle Ages to the 18th century. Some of the thoughts were presented in Hopp’s monographs published in print. The discussed text refers to the period from the end of the 16th century (from Stephen Báthory’s death in 1586) to 1648 (the death of Wladyslaw IV Vasa, George [György] I Rákóczi). As he says, at that time the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Transylvania drifted apart politically due to, in his opinion, increasing religious differences and successes of the counterreformation in the Commonwealth, as well as political alliances of Sigismund III Vasa. The change came during the reign of Wladyslaw IV Vasa, when George I Rákóczi devised plans to acquire the Polish crown. The author debate the significance of Hopp’s research. His statements about social conditioning of the sphere of idea (its “social basis”) and Marxising interpretations, although moderated with time, seem to be outdated now. In his reasoning, Hopp departed from the approach characteristic of literary historians (research on topoi, metaphors, rhetoric), and got closer to interdisciplinary understood history of ideas (history of concepts) and “classic” political history. This found its expression in his source base, too, which included also texts related to a political practice. It was valuable that he included the history of ideas into his research on political relations. A reconstruction of Hopp’s methods causes difficulties – his language was complicated and he did not formulate his methodological assumptions or concepts used (for instance, a “historico-cultural form of consciousness” or “consciousness of community”, etc.). A reception of his research outside Hungary was hampered by lack of translations. In the author’s opinion, what is worth to emphasise in Hopp’s achievements related to Polish-Hungarian themes is the subject of his research – comparative studies in the history of political ideas and concepts in Central Eastern Europe. In recent years similar postulates were formulated by Hungarian scholars due to a reception of current trends in Western historiography. Some signs of interest in the language of politics and history of concepts are to be seen also in Poland. It seems sound, therefore, to refer in this context to Lajos Hopp’s research that could prompt us to reflect on possibilities and methodological form of its continuation.
Description
Keywords
művelődés kora újkor topos I Rzeczpospolita Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Poland-Lithuania barok XVI-XVII wiek Węgry Siedmiogród historia Węgier literatura węgierska kultura staropolska Erdély régi magyar irodalom irodalmár kutatás lengyel történelem Lengyelország magyar történelem conceptual history barokk magyar irodalom magyar történetírás przedmurze Early Polish literature Poland-Lithuania Polish history Poland Central Eastern Europe Central Europe Hopp Lajos 17th century 16th century antemurale Polish-Hungarian relationship Transylvania Hungary early modern literature early modern history retoryka rhetoric Batory Rákóczi Rakoczy Bethlen Báthory István Báthory
Citation
Szymon Brzeziński, A 16. - 17. századi lengyel-magyar kapcsolatok Hopp Lajos munkásságában, "Barokk. Történelem – irodalom – művészet” (különszám 2010), p. 319 – 327.