11Ù272
HUNGARY AND EUROPEAN
ч
CIVILISATION
B Y
P R O F .
J U L I U S K OR N I S
O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F B U D A P E S T
B U D A P E S T , 1 9 3 8
P U B L I8 H E D B Y T H E R O Y A L H U N G Á R IÁ N U N IV E R S IT Y P R E SS
HUNGARY ANI) EUROPEAN CIVILISATION
B Y
P R O F .
J U L I U S K O R N I S
O F T H E U N I V E K S I T Y O F B U D A P E S T
B U D A P E S T . 1 9 3 8
P U B L IS H E D B Y T H E R O Y A L H U N G Á R IÁ N U N IV E R S IT Y P R E S S
1XÙ2 72
HUNGARY
AND EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
by Professor Ju l iu s Ko r n is
A ccording to early XIX. Century exponents of the idealistic tren d of G erm an philosophy, the destiny and the duty of m ankind lie in the end eav o u r to develop as fully as possible its inherent sp iritu al pow ers. U nder the w orld System, as ord ain ed by the etern al God, h um anity has, however, alvvays ronsisted of indi
vidual natio n s which can serve the cause of m an k in d only by developing to the full th eir individual peculiarities. T hus the universalist cosm opolitan conception of the XVIII. Century school of “enlightened” philosophers, w ith its enthusiasm for the ideal of a universal h u m an itarian ism , found its com plém ent in the n atio n alism of the rom antic era of the early XIX. Century T he idea of n ationalism is by no m eans inconsistent with th at of an universal h u m an itarian ism , in o th er words, with the idea of the évolution of m an k in d as a whole. All h istory proves th at each and every cu ltu re has been essentially national, and in each and every instance the pro d u ct of a specific n ational m entality. T hose of its elem ents w hich transcend the confines of n atio n alism and possess a universal value gradually build up a jo in t p ro p erty of the entire m ankind. Any one natio n is only entitled to exist as a distinct ethnie individuality and as a sep arate state in so fa r as it contributes to or protects and fu rth e r develops the c u ltu ral possessions of the entire world.
T h is is the only way in w hich any nation ftaVi, in the long
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succession of peoples, becom e indispensable to the m arch of the h istory of m ankind, and only a historical m ission of this n atu re confers upon a nation the right to live.
Sonie two tho u san d years ago one b ran eh split aw ay from the Finno-U grian ethnie fam ily and w as c arried sou th w ard by the tide of nom adic tribes, T u rk ish in origin, then sw eeping w estw ard from the Asiatic table-land. T his F inno-U grian people of fisherm en and hu n ters becam e fused in lim e w ith the Ogur tribe of the W estern T urks, a people whieh engaged in the pursu its of agriculture and cattle-raising and already at th at tim e stood on an incom parably higher level of civilization. In the course of ensuing centuries there evolved a hoinogeneous H ungárián nation, a H ungárián language enriched by O gur w ords, and also an ab- original H ungárián cu ltu re show ing sonie T u rk ish influences.
U nder the pressure of o th er peoples, this now Consolidated n atio n of horsem en m igrated w estw ard and tow ards the close of the IX. Century settled perm an en tly in the D anubian basin, its present hom eland, w here it joined the cu ltu ral com m unity of E urope and where, by dint o f prodigious efforts and struggles, it has survived for over a thousand years. W hen we reflect upon the destiny of the H ungárián people from the point o f view of the historico-philosophical perspective outlined above, there m ust arise in o u r m ind the questions: how, w here so m any of its racial k indred were doom ed to perish. did this one Asiatic people succeed in earn in g the title, of being endow ed by the genius of history w ith the fairest dom ain in C entral E urope?
W hat bestow ed upon this p a rtic u la r nation the right to exist in E urope?
I.
F irst and forem ost their highly developed instinct of statecraft.
It was this quality, too, w hich enabled the H ungárián n atio n to evolve in the D anubian basin a highly developed culture and thus enlist in the service of the h u m an itarian ideal of m an k in d
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which is the ultim ate goal of all history. Only effective use of statecraft, the stateb u ild in g talent, can create th at basis upon which the elem ents of culture, such as religion, a legal System, ethics, arts and sciences, can blossom and develop along well- defined lines. Its political h istory is at all tim es the backbone of any n a tio n ’s h istory; the évolution of the several phases of a n atio n ’s cu ltu re is but the last link in the chain of its history.
W hat then was H u n g ary ’s political m ission and how did she acquit herseif of it?
Until the X. Century no people was capable of establishing a durable state in the m ountain-girdlcd a rc a of the m iddle D anubian basin. Celts, T h racian s, S arm atians, as well as G er
m anie and Slavonie trib es dwelt here. H uns and o th er peoples of T u rk ish race o v erran these régions, b ut used them only as a highw ay, to push w estw ard, bent on sacking and looling the treasu res o f Italy. T his tendency was no t altogether alien to the H ungarians, w hose lightning p re d ato ry forays m ade them for h alf a Century the te rro r of W estern E urope. Eventually, however, the p ractical political instinct and the diplom atie sagacity of the Á rpád dynasty succeeded in p u tting an end to this roving tendency. The House of Árpád established itself firm ly in this a rea and, taking advantage of its rem ark ab le geo- political sym m etry, m ade of it a perm anent and definite abode. The Á rpáds were fully aw are of the dangers threatening both fro m the W est and from the East. B arely one Century a fte r the Conquest, Prince Géza and Prince Stephen carried th rough a thorough Organization of the country, conferring on the H ungárián State a firm ly anchored, p erm anent internal stru ctu re, fashioned a fte r the p attern prevailing at the tim e in W estern E urope.
On reaching the D anubian basin this people of horsem en and shepherds, w hich then possessed a fairly high degree of T u rk ish civilization, found there an inchoate variety of ethnie fragm ents, vvithout unity of political organisation, ln the East
and N orth-E ast dw elt Bulgars. The m arsh y region and the plains betw een the D anube and the T isza w ere fór the m ost p a rt uninhabited. In P an n o n ia lived the Slovènes, fu rth er South, C roatians. Avars w ere settled on the right b an k of the D anube as fa r as Győr, while Slovaks in habited the left ban k of the river.
In T rans-D an u b ia there w ere sporadic Settlements of G erm ans and Italians. The H ungarians subjected this vast, geographicallv com pact region to a process of a political and m ilitary reorga- nization, and im m ediate use of all vacant land.
As a prelim in ary to all this, the H un g arian s em braced C hristianity, w hich even before the Conquest was n ot altogether unknow n to them. W hile still in the Black Sea region they had occasion to becom e acquainted with the C hristian, the M oham- m edan and the Jew ish faiths. Though pagans them selves, the H ungarians w ere to leran t of the C hristians and of the follow ers of o th er creeds. F o r this reason th eir conversion to C hristianity was consum m ated w ithout m a jo r disturbance. Of décisive im p o r
tance for th e h isto ry of E urope w as the fact th at the keen political instinct of Prince Géza and P rin ce Stephen m ade them jóin the W estern, o r B om an C hristian com m union, instead of the B yzantine o r E as te m C hurch. T his decided the fu tu re destiny of H ungary. H ad H ungary not em braced C hristianity, she w ould hâve shared the fate of the Huns, the Avars, the Petchenegs, the Usbegs, the C um ans and becom e dispersed as they were. H ad she given in to the proselytising advances w hich reached h er from the B yzantine Church, she w ould have sooner or later lost h e r linguistic and ethnie individuality like the B ul
gars, who in the fold of the G reek-O rthodox failh becam e Slavs, o r like m any tribes of C um ans and Petchenegs, who w ere tu rn éd intő W allachs. The seat of the Á rpád d y nasty and the centre of gravity of the settled co untry was located in T rans- Danubia, o r close to the West. Contact w ith Italian s and G er
m ans convinced Prince Géza that his people could becom e pow erful, great and civilized only th rough the cultural influence
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o f the W estern Church. His son, St. Stephen, the founder of the C hristian H ungárián n atio n al State, afterw ard s secured the royal crow n fór him self directly íro m the P ope of Rome.
In less th an h alf a Century the H ungarians succeeded in building up a state w hose C hristian outlook and System of Organization w as in h a rm o n y w ith those of its W estern neigh- bours. W hile the task of evangelization w as accom plished by G erm an, Italian and Slovene ecclesiastics, the H ungarians were really converted ra th e r by the u niversal C hristian ideal which at the tim e perm eated all E u ro p e very deeply, and w hose great apostle w as the first king of H ungary, late r know n as St. Ste
phen. In an incredibly short space of tim e w estern m onastic culture tran sfo rm ed the alien in tru d ers from the steppes of Asia and infused them w ith a new faith, a new w orld outlook and a new civilization. Barely tw o générations later, W estern E urope elected the H ungárián King St. L adislaus as one of the leaders of the F irs t Crusade.
T his country, by now solidly w elded and pow erful, was destined fo r a great and w orld -im p o rtan t m ission. It becam e the d efen d er of the W est, E u ro p e’s o utpost against the Asiatic peoples w hich con tin u ed to p o u r in from the East. F o r three long cen tu ries H ungary actcd as a b re ak w a ter against the last waves of the m igration of peoples. No sooner did this flood recede when the crescent arose in the South, and for an o th er three cen tu ries H ungary, w ith suprem e self sacrifice, shed h e r blood in defence of the Cross. H ad H ungary not stopped with h e r own body the appalling onslaughts of Islam , the T urks w ould hâve overrun E urope, w hich at the tim e w as exhausted by the religious w ars, and as M acaulay said “the K oran w ould now be tau g h t in O xford”. T his was H ungary’s tragic historié m ission. She fought, suffered and perished, ail for the sake of th e o th er n atio n s of E urope. H er fairest, m ost fertile, m ost n alio n ally conscious régions, the focal points of pure H ungárián lifc in the valleys of the D anube and the Tisza, w ere ravaged
and ruined. In the Middle Ages the popu latio n of H ungary was practically as large as th at of E ngland o r F rance. H ad the T urks not devastated H ungary for three h u n d red years, the H ungarians w ould be to-day a natio n of th irty m illion. A fter the T urkish flood receded at the close of th e XVII. and in the beginning of the XVIII. Century the H absburgs, the ruling dynasty and the new, though alien, aristo cracy settled im m igrant Serbs and W allachs as colonists in the régions w hich h ad once been densely populated by H ungarians, and these new com ers a fte r the W orld W ar in 1919 requited H ungárián h o spitality by m aking com m on cause w ith th eir racial b re th re n across the fro n tiers and cutting off vast slices from the body of Ihe ancient H u n g árián State. And E urope by the Peace T reaty of T rian o n sanc- tioned this despicable act of ra n k ingratitude. In old days E urope show ed herseif m ore grateful; she bestow ed u p o n the H ungarians w ho victoriously fought the T u rk s the title of h o n o u r of “a shield of C hristendom ” and to this day the ch u rch bells peal out to the whole w orld at high noon the tidings of the glorious victory won at Belgrade in 1456 by the great H ungárián hero, Jo h n H unyadi.
II.
W hat m ade the H u n g árián n ation, this island in an alien racial sea, capable of such extensive political and m ilitary effort?
Its political System, its legal System and its co n stitu tio n al évo
lution, all of which, while p a rtly bo rro w ed from W estern E urope, were adapted to fit the ethnie individuality of the H ungarians. St. Stephen, the fo u n d er of the State, selected as his m odel the F ran eo -B av arian legal System, w hich he called
“the m odel for ancient and m o d ern ru le rs” ; bu t he tran sfo rm ed it along the lines of the H un g árián com m on law . F o r the co m m unal ow nership of lan d based on trib a l consanguinity, an institution ch aracteristic of nom adic p asto ral peoples, he sub- stituted the econom ic System of individual ow nership. on the
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p a tte rn of the C arolingian state; but in such a w ay th at ail titles of individual o w nership em anated from the ru ler and w ere contingent u p o n the loyalty show n to him. In this w ay a form of the G erm anie feudal System w as tran sp lan ted onto the H ungárián soil. St. Stephen did aw ay w ith the old tribal au tonom ^ w hich m ight hâve jeo p ard ised the centralized pow er of the new kingdom , b ut he preserved the form s and legal insti
tutions of the prim eval H u n g árián political, social and econom ic O rganization. Recognising th e ir im p o rtan ce as a b ulw ark of the n atio n al life, he w arm ly recom m ended them to this son — in the “A dm onitions” w hich he addressed to him — in the follow- ing w ords; “W ould a Greek be able to rule R om ans according to Greek usages o r a R om an to rule G reeks according to R om an usages? By no m eans.” He th ere fo re elim inated from the pagan social System only such elem ents as were absolutely inconsistent with C hristianity. He laid the fo u n d atio n fo r the county System w hich in tim e developed into a far-reach in g autonom y and centuries later am ply proved its value w hen it proved itself the m ightiest b u lw ark of the H u n g árián constitu tio n and n a tio nal asp iratio n s against the assaults of the H absburgs.
In Germ any, the decay of the cen tral (im perial) au th o rity led to territo ria l d isintegration, and the System of villainage b ro u g h t ab o u t the d é té rio ra tio n of the Reich. In France, on the o th er hand, the feudal System tu rn éd to the o th er extrem e, the king u su rp in g ail the political pow er fo r him self. The latter System w as never able to tak e firm root in Hungary, w here the pow er o f the king and th at of the n atio n al nobility balanced each other. As early as the beginning of the XIII. Century King Andrew II. w as obliged to sign the H u n g árián ch arter, the “ Bulla A urea” (12,22), w hich in the course of the h isto rical évolution of E u ro p ean co n stitutionalism was preceded only by a few years by the E nglish M agna C h arta (1215). A Century later the System of defence by feudal levies in troduced by the Anjou dynasty, although based on a feudal fo u ndation on the W estern pattern.
developed intő a specifically H un g árián institution. U nder this System, the nobility put arm ies into the field u n d e r flags of their own. T his did not, how ever, as in G erm any, b ring about the territo ria l dism em berm ent of the realm . On the co n trary , the unity of the n a tio n ’s m ight and te rrito ry rem ained unim paired.
The Crown of St. Stephen, w ith w hich all H ungárián kings up to our own day hâve been crow ned, grew into a Symbol of the country as such: “The body of the sacred cro w n ” (totum corpus sacrae coronae) m eans on the one han d the entire, in
divisible territo ry of the co u n try and on the other, the tw o political elem ents of n atio n al sovereignty: the king and the nobility. E arly in the XVI. Century the P alatin e Verbôczy, an outstan d in g ju rist, eom piled the H u n g árián legal System into a com prehensive synthesis, the “T rip a rtitu m Opus”, in w hich he evolved the theory th at the Holy Crown w as conferred on the king as the fount and the Symbol o f pow er and th at the king was but the w earer of th at sacred Symbol.
A fter the king and the flow er of the n o b ility perish ed on the battlefield of M ohács in 1526, H ungary saw herseif com- pelled to enlist the assistance of the neighbouring H absburg realm in her struggle against the T urks. The kingdom of H u n gary entered into a personal union with the G erm an-R om an em pire, bu t for a Century and a h alf H u ngary’s expectations failed to m aterialize. T he House of H absburg was no t at th at tim e p ow erful enough seriously to u n d ertak e the task of driv- ing out the T urks. They succeeded in doing so to w ard s the close of the XVII. Century; but th ere afte r they strove, continually and tenaciously, to m erge H ungary into th eir realm . H ungary did not give in, and írom the XVII. Century tili 1848 w as com- pelled again and again to rebel against h e r king and to assert the right to arm ed résistance gu aran teed to her by the Bulla Aurea ol 1222. After the struggle against the T u rk ish O rient sub- sided, H ungary h ad to e n ter into a contest w ith the G erm anie W est in the defence of h e r n atio n al asp iratio n s and h er racial
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individuality. T his tragic struggle cost H ungary h er best blood, h e r Yvealth and h er cu ltu ral energy. After h e r rebellions w ere crushed, a tw o-fold task taxed all h e r political acum en: on lhe one hand, to safeguard as fa r as possible the independence of the H ungárián n a tio n a l state and on the other, to draw from the connection w ith the G erm an-H absburg em pire the inévitable conclusions and to harm o n ise them w ith h e r own interests. The hap p iest solution, a fte r H u n g ary ’s last w ar of independence, w hich Austria w as able to win in 1849 only Yvith Russian assistance, was the Com prom ise of 1867, a dualislic System guaranteeing füll equality to the A ustrian E m pire and to the Kingdom of H ungary. T his arran g em en t rem ained in force for half a Century until the collapse of 1918.
III.
The political histo ry of the H ungarians being so replete with w ars, a n u m b er of w eighty questions hâve to be studied and answ ered. Let us pro p o u n d and answ er them in succession.
W hat was the level and the sp iritu al p a tte rn of the civilization w hich the H ungárián n atio n m anaged to assim ilate in ail the tur- m oil of political and m ilitary p ressu re from both the E ast and the W est, in ail the unceasing w arfare? WThat kind of civilization did the H ungarians bring with them and how did they assim i
late W estern cu ltu re? How did the H ungarians set about the task of developing th eir inherent, specific inlellectual pow ers?
W h at idcals are hidden as conscious or sub-conscious propelling forces in the evolutionary background of the H ungárián n a tio nal culture? Had lhe native o f Asia cast off his passive and static n atu re? How did he tu rn intő the type of the active E u ro p ean ?
At the lim e when the H u ngarians settled in th eir new hom e- land they w ere no wild Àsiatic h orde bu t a nom adic people engaged in the p u rsu its of cattle-breeding and agriculture. Com-
p arative philology, archeological research intő the period of the Conquest, reinforced by ethnological data, prove th at they possessed an advanced culture o f T u rk ish ch ara cte r w hich stood on a higher level th an the culture of the Slav peoples w hom they found settled in th eir new dom ain. T h eir rich voca.
bulary, th eir arm am en t and m ilitary establishm ent, th e ir habili- m ents and finery, th eir household furnishings, th eir ag ricu ltu ral im plem ents and th eir articles of luxury all testify to the high level of th eir culture. T he w ords “írá s ” (writing) and “b e tű ” (letter) are pre-C onquest borrow ings from the B ulgar-T urkish.
Several rem n an ts have been preserved of the aboriginal H u n g árián runic script, the System of w hich conform s to the Kök- T u rk ish inscriptions of the VI. and VII. centuries. In the surviv- ing m onum ents of the aboriginal H u n g árián culture archaeology has identified num ero u s E ast Asiatic, A rabic-Persian, Iran ia n and even Greek m otifs, the la tte r due to B yzantine contacts.
F ro m Asia the H ungárián culture b rc u g h t an aboriginal su b stratu m onto w hich Slav, G erm án and Italian cu ltu ral strata, w ere grafted a fte r the Conquest, the whole being glazed over w ith a veneer of C hristianity. Since then there h as been no single intellectual cu rren t in E u ro p ean cu ltu re the billow s of which have not w ithin a short tim e reached the w aters of the D anube and the Tisza. H ungary in th e M iddle Ages w as арргох- im ately as cultured as any co u n try in E urope. W ell intő the XIX. Century H ungary w as in cultural respects the easternm ost d istrict of W estern E urope. E cclesiastical literatu re. using Latin as its m edium , flourished in H ungary as it did in the West.
The g reat cycle of C hristian legends h ad its au th o rs and trans- lators in H ungary also. T he lu stre of the legends shone over H ungary’s own saint too; the Á rpád dynasty alone gave to the natio n five saints in the course of its three centuries of rule. The legends woven aro u n d the sainted kings Stephen and Ladislaus, round S tephen’s son Em eric and a ro u n d St. E lizabeth and St.
M argaret are am ong the gems of H ungárián m édiéval literature.
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The oldest H un g árián linguistic relie, the “H alotti Beszéd”
(F uneral O ration) originated about the y ear 1200. A pproxim a- tely ten tho u san d docum ents from the period p rio r to the extinction of the Á rpád d y nasty (1301) are in existence. Of the codices w ritten in the H u ngárián language, p a rticu la ry those ot theological n a tu re and dating írom the beginning of the XV.
Century o r later, a su b stan tiel n u m b er hâve been preserved, in spite of the d évastation of the co u n try by the T urks. These codices all m anifest the religious outlook of the Middle Ages and the chivalrous sp irit of th a t heroic epoch.
In addition to this derivative lite ratu re of ecclesiastics and nuns w hich was the scholarly lite ratu re of the Middle Ages, there rippled th ro u g h the d epths of the n a tio n ’s soûl, like a su b terran ean stream , a flood of p o p u lar poetry w hich was not restrain ed by the lim itatio n of the w ritten w ord. T his w as the paren t form of m instrelsy, the ab original n atio n al poetry which was not b o rro w ed from the W est and the origin of which is to be sought in d istan t Asia. At the tim e of the conquest the H ungarians alread y b ro u g h t w ith them no m ean supply of poetry.
E ckehard, a fria r of St. Gallen m onastery, relates in his X.
Century chronicle th at the H u ngarians w ere w ont to sing with great glee a fte r a feast. The pagan priests sang as they per- form ed th eir rituals. H ungárián heroic sagas of the pagan period w hich indicate the existence of a prim itive epos, sagas of the H uns and those of the conquest, have been passed on to us in the co n tem p o rary Latin chronicles. H ungárián docum ents con- tain num erous m entions of the b ard s of m édiéval p opular poetry, the roam ing m instrels and m usicians. The m anv term s denoting them , such as: ének m o n d ó k , igricek, regösök, hegedő
sök, síposok, kobz os ok , are in them selves extrem ely characte- ristic. All these w andering m instrels entertained the H ungárián gentry and p easan try alike with m usic and songs, although the ch u rch did not fail sh arp ly to censure their audiences. In time,
however, the sagas of the Árpád kings were substituted fo r the pagan epic poems.
The m édiéval H ungárián p o p u lar epics display the strong n a rra tiv e bent which is an inherent ch aracteristic of the F inno- Ugrian peoples. A nthony Reguly, a H ungárián, collected tw enty tho u san d lines of O stjak heroic sagas; B ernard M unkàcsi’s col
lection of Vogul p o p u lar poems runs to fo u r volumes. T he poelic diction of H ungárián p o p u lar poetry resem bles th at of the k indred Finno-U grian peoples; o th er com m on features are: the répétition of thèm es in analogous treatm ent, allitératio n and the em phasising of accentuated w ords by rhym ing. The H ungarians could not possibly hâve borrovved the latter fashions from the G erm ans, w ho h ad long discarded alliterative verse before the H ungarians cam e into contact w ith them . It is, however, probable th at the fusion w ith the O gur-T urkish race exercised a deep- reaching influence on H ungárián p o p u lar poetry, p articu larly the lyrical poetry. T he H ungárián p o p u lar lyrical poem s are constructed on the sam e p a tte rn as the T u rk o -T a rta r stanzaed poems; first a m etap h o r tak en from n a tu re and com bined then with some em otional o r ideological them e. “T he flow ery language of o u r lyrical poetry tells of o rien tal im agination and m ight hâve o riginated in the tulip-covered steppes of E astern Russia.” Sundry m ystical elem ents, w hich figure as poetic in
grédients in o u r chronicles, as fo r instance the m iraculous stag and the “tu ru l” bird, found th eir w ay th ith e r from T u rk o -T a rta r
p opular poetry. *
The ab original H ungárián p o p u lar poetry, w hich w as not reduced to w riting u n til centufies' after, constitutes one of the outstan d in g b u lw arks of n atio n al consciousness and of ethnie individuality and m aterially co n trib u ted to the process of steady- ing the very sóul of the H u n g árián people. The sp irit of the unw ritten ahoriginal p o p u lar poetry was re-born in Petőfi, in Arany, in Jókai and b rought fo rth in the XIX. Century a clas-
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sical period of the H ungárián lite ratu re of w orld-w ide literary interest.
Song and m usic are the tw in b ro th ers of p o p u lar poetry. The oldest specim ens of H ungárián m usic are pro b ab ly those ancient folksongs which bave been u n earth ed through the research w ork of the XIX. Century. O ur sister n ations, the F in n s and the E sthonians, started the m ethodical collection of th eir old folk
songs m uch earlier th an we did in H ungary. Most of the credit in this field is due to Ilm ari K rohn. The H ungárián collectors (Bartók, Kodály) follow ed his m ethod in collecting these blos- soms of the H u n g árián people’s sóul. The p ecu liar rh y th m of the language is of p rim ary influence on the shaping of the p o p u lar m elody. W herever there is a kinship betw een languages we are bound to e n co u n ter cognate thèm es in p o p u lar music, w hich is alw ays linked up w ith the text. One such com m on trait is the tendency to dw ell on the ends of the lines. T hus the last two notes of the ancient Runes of Kalevala are invariably pro- longed, so th at the score-w riters put the individual lines in 5/4 time. T he lines of the H ungárián songs also show retard atio n at the end. The altern atio n of th e octosyllabic w ith the hecto- syllabic rhythm oceurs frequently in old T ran sy lv an ian dance tunes and m ay also be found in F in n ish folksongs (B. Fabó).
T hough the ch u rch and the au tochthonous Slavs considerably influenced the native m usic w hich the H ungarians brought with them to th eir new hom eland, H ungárián music nevertheless shows th ro u g h o u t a specific and individual style. We encounter the first trace o f H ungárián folk m usic in the legend of St. G érard, w here the bishop finds delight in the singing of a m aid-servant who is busy o perating a mill. The bishop asks of his com panion:
“Teil ine w hat m elody h ath this chant that m aketh me stop in m y devout read in g ?”. The atten tio n of the Italian com poser, who w as certain ly endow ed w ith a keen m usical instinct, was a ttrac ted by a H ungárián melody, the rhythm and tone m easure of w hich he had never h eard before and which was u tterly dif-
ferent írom the ch an ts of the church. The spread o i C h ristian ity pushed the aboriginal n atio n al ch ara cte r intő the b ack g ro u n d even in the realm of music. T h at only an infinitesim al n u m b er of the aboriginal H ungárián n a tu ra l songs have been now preserved, in the ecclesiastical songs is probably due chiefly to lhe deep a v er
sion in w hich the ch u rch held p rofane poetry, as a relie of paga- nism . T he historié ballads and the tunes which rang out at feasts were carefully preserved by the H ungárián w andering m instrels of the Middle Ages, the so-called “ igric”, who suffered great p ersé
cution at the han d s of the church. The Council of B uda of 1279 even forbade the clergy to listen to m instrel m usic. T he love songs of the XV. and XVI. centuries, the so-called “ flow er songs”
also cam e to feel strongly the stem n ess of p u ritá n piety. King Andrew II.’s w a rrio rs re tu m in g írom the crusade popularized in H ungary the A rabian lute, w hich in the XV. and the XVI. cen
turies becam e the favourite m usical instrum ent.
C haracteristic of the style of the ancient H u n g árián folk music, as ascertained by o u r folklore experts, are the p entatonic scale b rought along from the aboriginal hom eland, the tem po rubato, a free, a rb ilra ry tim e w hich dép arts from the regulär m easure, the recitative m an n e r of singing and the loose, un- arch itectu ral texture of the m elody (B artok). Just as the p o p u lar poetry b rought fo rth a blossom ing of H ungárián poetry in the XIX. Century, so the research w ork on H u ngárián folkm usic un d ertak en by B artók and Kodály gave an im petus to a re n ais
sance of H ungárián m usical art in the XX. Century. The w ealth * and the m ultiplicity o f m élodies as well as the num ero u s rhyth- mic v ariatio n s inherent in the folksongs, opened for us the way to an untold n u m b er of new possibilities in h arm o n y and rhythm . Like ail o th er native créations of the H ungárián art, H u n g árián folkm usic glows w ith the radiance of the E astern sun, w afts the sh arp breeze of the steppes and re-echoes the stam ping rhythm of the nom adic horseinen of yore.
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The archaeological finds dating from the period of the eon- quest testify to the rem ark ab le artistic élém ents of the ab o rig i
nal H ungárián culture. The o rn am en tatio n of the w eapons and articles of luxury show s a strong P erso-S assanidian influence which is frequently perceptible also in the carvings of churches built in the tim e of St. Stephen, th at is in the XI. Century. Thus the reliefs on the rem n an ts of the V eszprém basilica are orna- m ented with the sam e P alm etta desings as ap p ear on the H ung
á rián sabretaches and scab b ard s of the IX, and X. centuries.
The stone-m asonry of H ungárián churches of the XI. and XII.
Century show s likenesses of plants and anim ais (dragons and griffins) of P ersian origin, w hile the origin of the plaited o rn a m en tatio n found carved in stone in somé of o u r ancient churches is un q u estio n ab ly Iran ian .
C hurch b uilding on a grand scale set in u n d e r St. Stephen, the arch itects being foreigners, m ostly L om bards. The R om anes
que c ath ed rals are not in ferio r in g ran d eu r to those of the same epoch in foreign lands. F o r a while a Byzantine influence m ade itself felt in H ungárián arch itectu re. E arly in the XIII. Century (1*210) the C istercian friars tran sp lan ted the Gothic style from F ran ce to H ungary, G erm any adopting the Gothic, a little later.
The origins of H un g árián goldw ork go back to the period of the Conquest. T he first great H ungárián sculptors cam e from the ran k s of the goldsm iths. W hen the T u rk s took N agyvárad by assault in 1600, th ere stood in front of the cath éd ral of th at city a statue of St. L adislaus, one of the m any equestrian m onu
m ents m odelled by M artin and George Kolozsvári, the two great H ungárián sculptors of the XIV. Century. A m onum ent to St.
George by the sam e m asters is to this day one of the artistic treasu res of Prague. H ungárián p ainting stood at first under B yzantine influence, but as early as the XII. Century H ungárián m u ral p ainting assum ed n a tio n a l ch ara cte r by its use of thèm es co n tain ed in the legends of the H ungárián saints.
2
The conversion to C hristianity also laid the fo u n d atio n for the H ungárián scholastic System. F rom the early XI. Century there were already in H ungary, as in W estern Europe, schools attach ed to m onasteries, churches and cathedrals. T he m onks tran sp lan ted to th eir H ungárián m onasteries the school System as it existed elsew here in Europe. In the course of the XIII.
Century g ra m m ar schools also m ade th eir appearance. As the social life progressed the need fo r higher in stitutions o f leam in g grew apace. In 1367 the university of Pécs was organized on the m odel o f th a t of Bologna, thus becom ing from the point of view of seniority the second oldest u niversity in C entral Europe, ju n io r only to th at of P rague (1348). H istory also contains references to a n o th er H ungárián university established 1389 in Ô-Buda. T he close contact with Italy during the reign of the A njou dynasty exercised a pow erful influence on the évolution of H u ngary’s culture. W hen Italian hum anism spread beyond the Alps, H ungary was the first co u n try in E urope in w hich it took root. Before th at date, in the XII. and XIII. centuries, num erous H ungárián you th s studied at the university of P aris, but from then on the universities of P ad u a, Bologna and F e rra ra exercised a fa r g reater attractio n . The n u m b er of H ungárián students becam e so large th at they form ed at those universities th eir own H ungárián student associations. At the university of V ienna a sep arate “N atio H un g arica” was organized in the XIV. Century.
IV.
The second half of the XV. Century was by fa r the m ost glorious period in the évolution of H ungárián culture. T his w as the epoch when the H ungárián race m anifested m ost strikingly its in h eren t c u ltu ral energy. T he th ro n e of H ungary at th at tim e w as occupied by King M atthew Corvinus “ the first m o d em H u n g árián ”, a tru e prince of the R enaissance, who challenges co m p ariso n w ith a Cosimo Medici, a Lorenzo the M agnificent, a Ludovico Moro.
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In hím the Italian R enaissance found its m ost liberal p atro n in E urope. N urtured by the m ost o u tstanding h um anists in a spirit of deep ad m iratio n fo r the antique, he developed Italian R enais
sance cu ltu re in H ungary to the sam e degree of lustre as it possessed in the co u n try of its origin. Ever since his accession to the throne he su rro u n d ed him self with aristo crate and digni- taries of the ch u rch w ho had received th eir schooling in Italy.
His wife was a d au g h ter of the King of Naples. Somé of the most celebrated of the Italian R enaissance artists lived at his palaces:
for instance A ndrea dei V errocchio, the crea to r of Colleone’s m onudistance A ndrea del Verrocchio, the c rea to r of Colleone’s m onum ent in Venice, L eonardo da Vinci, whose painting of the M adonna ad o m ed the palace at Buda, Fillipino Lippi who pain ted King M atthew ’s p o rtrait from his coins. Two relatives of Benvenuto Cellini, as well as the fam ous L om bard goldsm ith, C aradosso, and Benedetto da M ajano also, did great Creative w ork at Buda. A nother of King M atthew ’s créations was a vast lib ra ry of illum inated codices, for w hich he paid prodigious sum s to the celebrated m in iatu re painters, A ttavante and G herardo. T he splendor of his palaces at Buda and Visegrád, w hich elicited the greatest ad m iratio n of the V enetian am bas- sador, was enhanced by classically perfect statues in bronze or m arble, of Heracles, Apollo, D iana and Pallas Athene. Nor-w ere H u n g ary ’s great men forgottén: the statues of John and L adislaus H unyadi in the palace at Buda rad iated forth the vigour of H u n g ary ’s genius. Barely half a Century later all these m aster- pieces of the R enaissance were overtaken by a tragic fate.
‘A su b stan tiel n um ber are still at C onstantinople buried under the ruins of the huge hippodrom e of the Byzantine em perors, w h ith er the victorious T u rk s carried them off.” (F riedrich Riedl.)
T he circle of scholars w hom the great R enaissance ruler of H ungary assem bled aro u n d his person dispersed som ew hat earlier. In preference to Aristotle, the philosopher and idol of m édiéval scholasticism , the R enaissance affected the cult of
the divine P lato and follow ing in the footsteps of Cosimo Medici, King M atthew w as P la lo ’s enthusiastic disciple. Jan u s P annonius, King M atthew ’s great H u ngárián h u m an ist poet, w hom the Ita lia n ’s called “le delizie del m o n d o ”, tran slated into L atin the w orks of Plotinus, the neo-P latonist, while platonizing Italian philo so p h ers flocked to King M atthew ’s court. G regorys o f T rebisond and Joannes A rgyropulos d td icated some of th eir w orks to the A rchbishop Jo h n Vitéz, a H u n g árián h u m an ist of note and a distinguished w riter. In 1467 King M atthew established at Pozsony the A cadem ia Istro p o litan a, a u n iversity consisting of fo u r departm ents, at w hich somé of E u ro p e’s m ost outstan d in g scientists lectured, including the G erm an astronom er, Joan n es R egiom ontanus. H ungary was also am ong th e earliest of the nations to utilise G uttenberg’s invention; as early as 1473 a book, the H u ngárián N ational Chronicle, w as p rin ted in Buda.
The D anubian L eam ed Society (Sodalitas L ittera ria D an u b ian a), com bining the hum an ists of V ienna and Buda into a union, was organized in 1497 u n d er the direction of Jo h n Vitéz the Younger.
The w eak rules of King M atthew ’s successors allow ed the T u rk s to press forw ard, and the d isaster of M ohács (1526) soon pu t an end to the renaissance of H u n g árián culture. In the ensuing Century and a h a lf the flow er of H u n g ary ’s young m anhood perished on the b attlefields fighting against the T urks.
V.
W hen any new tren d of th ought ap p eared in Europe, it w as never long before it crossed the b o rd ers of H ungary. A b are seven years a fte r M artin L u th er displayed his 95 theses on the gâte of W ittenberg University, im passioned discussions w h e th er Re
form ation w as ju stified o r not w ere tak in g place at th e royal palace in Buda. Two decades later, th ree fo u rth s of the p o p u lation w ere P ro testan t. The G erm an-speaking cities of H ungary w ere the first to em brace the new ereed in its L u th eran version,
20
but soon a fte r the racially pure H u ngarians betw een th e D anube and the Tisza, as well as those beyond the latter river, weilt over to Jo h n Calvin’s teachings. A fter having been irrad iate d by the spirit of the Italian R enaissance, the sóul of H ungary becam e conquered in tu rn by the P ro te stan t sp irit of G ennany.
W hereas the form er, ap p earin g in the guise of a classical, lite- ra ry and aesthetic culture, in sp ired only H u n g ary ’s intellectual aristocracy, the latter, being a tu rn in g p o int in the religious outlook of the world, deeply perm eated the very soul of the people. The R eform ation greatly intensified religious fervour, not only am ong the P ro te stan ts bu t am ong Catholics, by w ay of reaction and as a m easu re of defense. The Diet of T orda in 1545 w as the first legislative body in E urope legally to enact religious freedom . T he m em orial to the R eform ation erected in G eneva p erp étu âtes p ro m in en tly the person of Stephen Bocskay, P rin ce of T ransylvania, w ho b attled for and gained for Protes- tantism equality before the law. In its endeavour to spread the Bible am ong the people, P ro testan tism em ployed the natio n al language instead of L atin and th u s co n trib u ted m aterially to the n atio n alizatio n of literature. T ran slatio n s of the Bible appeared in great num bers, first am ong the P ro testan ts and later also am ong the C atholics. An ab u n d an t religious literatu re of a polem ic n a tu re and in the H ungárián language sprang up w ithin a sh o rt tim e, being greatly facilitated by the great strides m ade in the a rt of printing. The place of the genteel L atin style of the R enaissance w as taken by a style of w riting w hich is brittle, h arsh but H u n g árián to the core. The youths of H ungary no longer studied at the im iversities of Italy but flocked to the Ger
m an P ro testan t in stitutions of learning. The university of W it
tenberg had in the course of the XVI. Century over one th ousand H u n g árián students. R eturning to Hungary, these students b ro u g h t with them from those focal centres of Germ an P ro tes
tan tism the éru d itio n and the discliplinary System of the Ger
m an schools, the spirit of the Germ an educational Organization,
and above all, the hum anistic teachings of Sturm and M elaneh- Ihon. In H ungary the P ro testan t cities and nobles vied with eaeh o th er in founding schools and invited first rate teaeh ers írom foreign lands. The foreign professors at the university of G yulafehérvár, founded by G abriel Bethlen, included M artin Opitz, Jo h an n Alsted, and H einrich B isterfeld. The great p éd a
gogue Com enius taught for four years (1650— 1654) at S áros
patak and endeavoured to reorganize th a t school. It was during his stay there th at he w rote his “O rbis p ictus” in w hich he insisted on tuition being given in the m o th er tongue and on the teaching of p ractical, scientific subjects.
About the m iddle of the XVI. Century the Catholics also rallied to action; they established schools and defended them - selves w ith the then new but m ighty w eapon of the press. T his was the beginning of the C ounter-R eform ation, of w hich the Jesuits w ere the m ost zealous apostles. Intellectuallv the m ightiest am ong them was P eter Pázm ány, A rchbishop of E sz
tergom. the “ H ungárián Cicero”, founder of the u n iversity of B udapest and the forem ost c rea to r of a system atic H ungárián literary language.
T hrough the R eform ation the H un g árián sóul becam e reli- giously conscious, while at the sam e tim e the great natio n al calam ity, the tragedy of Mohács, also m aterially intensified natio n al p ride and patriotism . Ever since the T urkish scourge first feil upon the nation, m elancholy has been the kevnote of the H ungárián tem peram ent. F o r over five centuries since the conquest the H ungarians had dwelt in th eir new hom eland, preserved its original territo ria l integrity and at tim es even greatly extended its borders. Now, how ever, three fo u rth s of the co untry were overshadow ed hy the T u rk ish crescent. In the N orth was a n a rro w strip ruled over by an alien m onarch, a H absburg King of H ungary who lacked u n d erstan d in g of the H ungarians and constantly strove to in co rp o rate H ungary intő his realm . ln the E ast w as T ransylvania, overw helm inglv Pro-
22
testant and a trib u ta ry of the Sultan. In the ineantim e the co u n try w as going to r a c k a n d ru in and its existence as a distinct political en tity w as c ram b lin g to dust. The H ungarians were continually engaged in fighting, now the T urks, now the Ger
m ans, and as freq u en tly as no t both at the sam e tim e. The desperate decline o f the co u n try caused C atholics and P ro tes
tants to inveigh against each o th er with b itte r and hateful in crim inations. Bofh sides give vent to th eir grief in “ Je rem iad s”, are deeply conscious of th eir iniquities and im plore God to save the co u n try from the abyss. E ver since then, and up to the presen t distress w hich follow ed the T reaty of T rianon, this natio n al distress has been the basic ém otion of H ungary’s n a tio nal soûl. The b allads of V alentine Balassa, the P etőfi of the XVI. Century, bew ail the fate of the nation. The same n atio n al suffering b urst forth from the sóul of Nicholas Zrínyi, a suc- cessful H ungárián co m m an d er against the T u rk s at the close of the XVIII. Century and also an epic poet of note, the Tasso of H ungary, as it does from the “ K urutz” songs of the H un
g árián w ars of independence u nder F ran cis Rákóczi. The sam e patrio tic sorrow broods in the odes of the H ungárián pseudo- classic poets, in Kôlcsey’s “ H ym n” which in tim e becam e the H ungárián n atio n al prayer, in the “Szózat” (Appeal) of V örös
m arty w hich exhorts the H ungárián, bound as he is to the native sód and b e reit of any kin, th at “fo r him there is no room elsew here in the w orld and th at he is bound to live and die here, regardless w hether destiny bestow ed on him blessings or visited p u n ish m en t”. The historié tren d in the rom anticism of the early XIX. Century indulged in reveries on the glory of the H ungárián m édiéval knights and grieved over Mohács “th at vast burial-ground of o u r whilom greatness as a n atio n ”. At the sam e tim e the greatest H ungárián d ram alist, Joseph Katona, sym bolized in his “ Banus B ánk” the peren n ial tragic elem ent in H u n g ary ’s history. W henever a H ungárián indulges in ph ilo sophie spéculation, as Im re Madách does in his “T ragedy of
M an” on the antinom ies of the w o rld ’s histo ry o r as Jo h an n V ajda does on the problem of “to be or n o t to b e”. th eb his sóul hovers in a m ist of pessim ism . In the m idst of the afflic
tions of T u rk ish dom ination, of the everlasting struggle for survival as an independent state and fo r the constitution, of the ever-recurring rebellions and w ars of independence, n atio n al pride and p atrio tism m anifested them selves am ong all natio n s of Europe, but first and deepest in the H un g árián m entality and literatu re. The tragic p a rt the H u n g árián was ord ain ed by destiny to play in the histo ry of the w orld forged him in the briefest space of tim e intő a p u rp o sefu l patriot.
W ith the peren n ial struggle fo r survival w aged on two fronts and the concom itant oppressive distress, it was b u t n a tu ra l th at H ungary, h er great cu ltu ral responsiveness n o tw ithstanding, now lagged several centuries beh in d as co m p ared w ith the M iddle Ages and the R enaissance period, w hen h e r culture kept equal pace w ith the évolution of th at of the W est. W hile at the close of the XVI. Century H u n g árián lite ratu re w as still spending itself exclusively on religious controversies and bible tra n s lations, S h ak esp eare’s plays w ere alread y being produced in London, operas w ere being acted in Italy, T asso w as already dead. In 1603 while P é ter P ázm ány w as arguing passionately w ith a P ro te stan t p asto r on the causes of the c o u n try ’s decline, Galileo at the u niversity of P a d u a was ju st beginning to lay the fo u ndations for a m odern n a tu ra l science, and the E ast-In d ia Com pany w as u n d ertak in g the enrichm ent of W estern E urope.
George Káldi w as still p u tting the finishing touches to his tr a n s lation of the Bible when the great E nglish pioneer of m odern thought, Bacon of Verulam , w as laid in his grave (1626). H u n gary w as still in the m idst of tran slatin g psalters and ch u rch h ym nals (Albert M olnár de Szene, Stephen K atona de Gelej) w hile C orneille’s Cid was already being staged, C alderon’s dra- m as w ere enchanting th eir audiences and Lope de Vega and M artin Opitz were at d e ath ’s door. In the m iddle of the XVII.
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Century when Pascal was censuring the shortcom ings of hum an know ledge in his b rillian t w orks, the H ungárián Jo h a n n Csere de Apácza w as busying him self with sim ple-m inded philosophising, wilh m aking ex tracts íro m D escartes w ritings and w ith compil- ing his d ry lexicon. W hile Z rínyi was still bem oaning the pitiable Situation of the co u n try and pondering ways and m eans of expelling the T urks, the salons had alread y began to flourish in P aris. W hile in H ungary Gyöngyösi was still com posing his insipid heroic poem s, M olière was at the zénith of his fame.
At the tim e w hen the H ungárián* w ere besieging B uda and liberating the n a tio n a l cap ital from its p ro tracted T urkish bondage, Bayle w as Publishing a scientific periodical, while Leibnitz, Locke and Newton led science and know ledge intő new path s and tow ard s new goals. M ystery plays w ere still being w ritten in the H u n g árián “ C síksom lyó” w hen V oltaire’s p h ilo sophie d ram as m ade th eir ap p earan ce. F ran cis F aludi reflects on the m an n ers of the n obility and of co u rtiers at a tim e when M ontesquieu w ith his “ S pirit of L aw s” alread y shook the foun- datio n s of E u ro p e ’s feudal Systems. The rhetoric éducation of the H un g árián no b ility w as still m ainly b ased on Cicero when W in ck elm an n ’s “ H istory of the A ntique Arts” revolutionized the évaluation of the antique world. Kazinczy w as still engaged in polishing o u r language, then in quite a back w ard state of évolution, while Goethe and Schiller w ere reaching the height of th eir perfection. H ungárián philosophy was still Stamm ering in L atin in the lingo of W olff’s notions when K ant’s “C ritiques”
were m ak in g th e ir successive appearances.
VI.
T he dism al p ictu re changes tow ards the close of the XVIII.
C entury as full realization cam e to the H ungarians of the back- w ardness to w hich they h ad been condem ned. The aw akening m anifested itself first in the realm of literatu re, with politics
follow ing suit. At the instigation of Bessenyei and later of Kazinczy, a vast activity along lines of both O rganization and pro p ag an d a set in. T hose who u n d erto o k this w ork saw in the developm ent of H ungárián lite ratu re a great patrio tic objective.
Poets and w riters deem ed them selves p rophets w hose sacred duty it w as to serve the n atio n al idea, to keep aw ake and to train the n atio n ’s soûl, to p lant the roots of lite ratu re firm ly in the realistic soil of everyday life and th u s to m ould the life of the n ation. In addition to the n atio n al view point they were fully aw are of the artistic side of th e ir task; they kept th e ir eyes on the m odern E uropean lite ratu re as a m odel and endeavoured to tran sp la n t its artistic elem ents intő the literatu re of Hungary.
T hey apply W estern E u ro p ean verse m etres to the H ungárián language, bu t u nder the influence of G erm an neo-elassicism , they introduced at the sam e tim e the old classical verse m etres.
They succeeded in a relatively sh o rt space of tim e in enriching our language w ith new phraseology, in m aking it plastic and fit for the artistic niceties o f expression. The literatu re of the F ren ch and Germ an “enlightened” school soon m ade its influence felt in H ungary.
By the tim e Stephen Széchenyi, “the greatest H u n g árián ”, em b ark ed upon his m om entous political, social and econom ic reform s, in the ’tw enties and ’th irties of the XIX. Century H ungary alread y possessed an up-to-date lite ratu re quite com parable to Ihat of E urope. T he prodigious genius of V örösm arty, having by Ihen com pleted the création of o u r poetic language, rad iated from his inspired poem s a pro fu sio n of form s, tones and moods.
T hrough our lite ratu re pulsate n ot only o u r ow n n a tio n a l asp i
ratio n s but C ontem porary u niversal ideas as well. Follow ing upon the inspired period of rom anticism , o f w hich the epic was the leading literary form , P etö fi’s genius, in the m idst of the universal dém ocratie trend of thought, leads the H ungárián lyrical poetry into new paths, enriching it with new p o p u lar tones, new thèm es and new ideals. F rom Jo h n A rany’s epic
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poems flow fo rth in a pow erfully plastic m an n er the specific national individuality, the ideology, the ém otions and the m u si
cal qualily of the language of the H ungarians. It w as now th at the very sóul of H ungary becam e conscious of itself; no longer does it copy foreign m odels, but becom es H ungárián in every fibre. P o p u la r épies, p o p u lar dram as, folksongs, p o p u lar ballads becom e the ruling form s of the poetic a rt and through the diction of folklore th eir language gains in refinem ent. H istorical and p o p u lar fiction m ake th eir ap p earan ee in H ungary about lhe m iddle of the XIX. Century. The greatest H ungárián novelisl Jókai im p arts to it a genuine H ungárián flavour. In th eir struggle to safeguard the c o u n try ’s co nstitution the H ungarians discard the L atin rh eto ric and create through the m edium of Kölcsey the m o d em H ungárián a rt of oratory, of w hich Louis Kossuth was soon to becom e a w orld-fam ous m aster. In the ’th irties and lhe ’forties o f the XIX. Century, the glorious reform period of H ungárián history, when the om issions of centuries were fever- ishly m ade up w ithin a few decades, Széchenyi helped to ini
tiate the H ungárián public press. F rom the first this was an institution of the highest type, and K ossuth’s m agic peu was soon to enrich its lite rary form with a shining lustre. H ungary’s m eríts in the political and in the cu ltu ral field once again began to meet w ith ap p réciatio n the w orld over. Just as D ante sym- pathetically ap o stro p h ised H ungary in the XIII. Century, Heine, Longfellow, E m erson, Carducci and Ibsen did likew ise in the XIX. Century in th eir odes to the H ungárián people.
Scientific literatu re in the H ungárián language also began early in the XIX. Century. H itherto L atin had been the language of science just as it had been the language of statesm anship.
H ungárián scientists had for the m ost p art been educated at foreign universities. The unfavourable general conditions compel- led holders of ch airs to lecture on a great variety of subjects — a fact w hich tended to shape th eir scientific in* ntality along polyhistoric lines. Sonie of them nevertheless achieved Europe-
wide renow n. T hus fo r instance the p h ysician Stephen Veszprém i created a sensation w ith his w ork on the plague, w hich was published in 1755 in London. A ndrew Segner, the inventor of lhe so-called Segner wheel, tau g h t ab o u t the m iddle of the XVIII.
Century, first in D ebrecen and late r in Jena, G öttingen and Halle. He w as the o rig in a to r of the im p o rta n t scientific tenet th at any body of w hatever co n fo rm atio n h a d th ree axes inter- secting each o th er vertically along w hich the cen trifu g ai force w as inoperative (trim etry). T he XVIII. Century also produced first-rate H ungárián b otanisls, zoologists and m ineralogists. At the sam e tim e a critical school of h isto rio g rap h y (Pray, K atona) began to function w ith am azing activity am ong the Jesuits. Into th at period also falls the beginning of the study of économ ies and statistics (Berzeviczy, Schw artner).
The founding of the H u n g árián Academy of Science by Stephen Széchenyi in 1825 b rought ab o u t the com plete d isplace
m ent of L atin and G erm an by the H u n g árián language in the realm of science. Now begins a system atic Organization of scientific w ork. T he scientific policy of the H u n g árián Aca
demy was, of course p rim arily directed tow ards philological research in the H u n g árián language. The great N icholas Révai, proceeding along the lines of the historical school of thought, th en beginning to assert itself, started early in the XIX. Century to publish the literary rom ains of the H ungárián language, a task energetically continued by the Academy. C om parative Finno-U grian philology, the first exponents of w hich (Sajnovits, G yarm atin) a p p ea r on the scene tow ard s the close of the XVIII.
Century, lound in A nthony Reguly an enth u siastic co llab o rato r, who w ith Széchenyi’s assistance and u n d er untold h ard sh ip s collected in the U ral and the Volga régions a w ealth of m aterial on the cognate idiom s. Shortly a fte r the m id-century c o m p a ra tive F inno-U grian philology w as alread y in full bloom in H ungary.
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O ther b ran ch es of science w ere also decidedly on the U p
grade and produced m an y a H u n g árián talen t of E urope-w ide renow n. The two m ath em atician s W olfgang Bolyai and his son Jo h n are friends of Gauss; Jo h n Bolyai was the first m an to devise a non-E uclidian geom etry. A lexander K örösi Csorna, whom the problem of the o rigin of the H ungarians drew irresistibly to Asia while still a youth, w as the first to engage in an exten
sive research w ork on the T h ib etan idiom s. Joseph Petzval, a H ungárián, devised the objective lens and the cam era obscura an d also con stru cted the first p ro jectio n m echanism . B aron Joseph Eötvös, w ho studied the leading tren d s of political ideo- logy in the XIX. Century, created a great sensation in E urope w ith his com prehensive w o rk on p olitical science. The studies of his son, B aron R oland Eötvös, on the law of gravity and the m agnetisrn o f the e arth hâve been acclaim ed as pioneer w orks by the entire scientific w orld and are also of far-reach in g practical value from the point of view of économ ies. Anisius Jedlik pre- ceded Siemens by 18 years in discovering the principle of the d ynam o; D onat B ánki devised the benzin spray-diffuser, K arl Z ipernovszky the c o -h ere r a p p ara tu s, W ilhelm Zsigm ondy is the forem ost au th o rity on artesian well boring, while Hugo Böck occupies the sam e em inence in the field of n a tu ra l gas wells.
The B udapest p h ysician and p ro fesso r Ignatz Sem melweis be- cam e a b en efacto r of h u m an ity by his discovery of a prophy- lactic against p u e rp era l fever. Armin V àm béry’s explorations in Asia have pro d u ced scientific results highly valued the w o ild over, while the geological and geographical studies of Louis Lóczy cast m uch entirely new light on those subjects.
One of the g reatest students of the Islam was Ignatz Goldzieher.
In addition to those specified, a hőst of now dead o r still living scientists b ro u g h t great credit and esteem to H ungary in the various fields of E u ro p ean scientific endeavour.
C onform ing to the specialization and the expansion of scientific pursuits, H ungary increased the n u m b er of h er higher
institutions of learning; there are to-day fo u r universities, of w hich th at of B udapest, originally founded by P eter P ázm ány at N agyszom bat, is the oldest. At the sam e tim e large n atio n al lib raries and m uséum s w ere established. T he H u n g árián A ca
demy of Science recently celebrated the cen ten arv of its ex i
stence; all over the co u n try literary bodies and scientific associations serving a great variety of specialized scientific p u rsu its are active and flourishing. Indicative of the cu ltu ral energy of the H ungárián people is the fact th a t the great public collections and the Academy of Science w ere not established by an act' of grâce o r w ith the funds of the ruling house. On the co n trary , the sp irit of sacrifice, the energy and the enthusiasm of the H ungárián body social created them despite discourage- m ent by the foreign dynasty.
W hen the reco n stru ctio n of the co u n try began a fte r the expulsion of the T u rk ish invader, a rt in H ungary, w hich was in the hands of foreign m asters, m oved exclusively in the p ath of the baroque. F rom the beginning of the XIX. Century on.
a rch itectu re w as dom inated by the neo-classical style. Since then the changes in the form s of a rch itectu ral expression run parallel w ith the tren d s prevailing in E urope. A ttem pts hâve also been m ade at creating an original H u n g árián arch itectu ral style which w ould apply thèm es and designs b orrow ed from p o p u lar arts and crafts. H u n g árián sculptors and painters, having studied at foreign a rt schools, hâve n a tu ra lly been dom inated by foreign influences. Many great talents am ong them hâve, how ever, been H u n g árián to the core, an d hâve gone th eir own w ays in artistic achievem ent (Michael Zichy, court p a in te r to the T sar, M ichael M unkácsy, P au l Szinyei-M erse, and others).
The specific H ungárián atm o sp h ère and its concom itant in fluences are increasingly gaining ascendency in the realm of H ungárián art, the m eríts and high level o f w hich hâve long since becom e know n and acknow ledged th ro u g h in tern atio n al exhibitions.
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In the very m idst of the bloody w arf are of the XVI. Century the natio n al elem ents of the H u ngárián m usical culture cam e strongly to the fore. T he a risto crats of T ran sy lv an ie and Upper Hungary' m ain tain ed ch o irs and o rch estras in th eir castles; those ch o irs and orchestras, strongly p atrio tic in spirit, cultivated the old H ungárián folk-m usic. To the H u ngárián people, to rtu red by the T u rk s and the Germ ans, the song w as an in spiration in batlle and a solace in th eir hopeless w anderings. The Rákóczi songs, w hich o riginated a fte r the crushing of R ákóczi’s rébellion, are the m ost typical expression of the n a tio n ’s sorrow . The heat of battle and the flam ing p atrio tism of th at period glow also in the Rákóczi m arch, w hich dates from the beginning of the XIX. Century and is by fa r the m ost stirrin g m artial tune in existence. A m elody like th is could hâve sprung only from the soûl of a heroic people p erennially shedding its blood on in- n u m erab le battlefields. (W hen Berlioz visited B udapest in 1846 he w as so im pressed by th at m elody th at he in co rp o rated it, in a m asterfu l tran scrip tio n , in his “F a u st”.)
T he o rch estras of the H ungárián aristo crats of the XVIII.
C e n t u r y no longer cultivated the specifically H ungárián music,
b u t ra th e r w ent in for th at of W estern Europe. An o rchestra fam ous in E urope w hich the P rinces E szterházy m aintained in th eir résidence served to an a rtist like Joseph H aydn as a w el
com e m edium fo r fully unfolding his talents. “W henever I w ant to h e ar a good o p é ra ”, said M aria T h eresa once, “ I go to Észter- h á za ”. M ichael H aydn, Jo sep h ’s younger b ro th er, directed the o rch estra of the Bishop of N agyvárad. Beethoven repeatedly stayed for extended visits at the résidences of several H ungárián a risto crats (E szterházy, Brunszvik, E rdődy, etc.). His m ass in C -m inor was com posed fo r a Princess E szterh àzy ’s p atro n sain t’s day; his A ppassionata so n ata was dedicated to a H ungárián aristo crat. In the ov ertu re to his opera “ King S tephen” and in his “ Ruins of A thens” he utilized H ungárián thèm es. Schubert visited one of the counts E sterházy in the sum m ers of 1818
