Abstract
The survey discusses the identity and self-image of seventeenth-century Hungarian and Transylvanian travellers as conveyed through their travel texts. The cultural borders in the mental map of the travellers coincided with the eastern and south-eastern borders of Transylvania. They placed themselves in the same position as their Western European contemporaries. Although the general tone of their diaries was one of admiration, they did not make explicit comparisons to the disadvantages of their home. There are also some cases of criticism on a civilisational basis towards the West, which shows that the travellers felt that they were on equal grounds to the West. The few cases of auto-stereotypes also show that some travellers tended to reinforce even the negative stereotypes attributed to Hungarians in order to question the Western discourse which placed them on a lower grade on a scale of civilisation. Towards their Eastern neighbours, the travellers tended to use a condescending tone: qualities such as boorishness, lack of education and barbarity were attributed to Russians, Wallachians and Moldavians. The worst reputation belonged to the Ottomans: in their case, even if – in a very few cases – tolerance and understanding came into picture, there was no possibility of acceptance. Hungarian travellers only used the discourse of their own inferiority towards Western Europeans when it was a part of their political agenda – otherwise, they included themselves in the concept of the region, imagined on the basis of erudition and Latin education – which they more and more often called Europe.
Notes
1. CitationHarbsmeier, “Reisebeschreibungen,” 1. After surveying the literature on seventeenth-century Hungarian travellers, we find that Harbsmeier's remark is applicable to some, even if very few travel accounts: Márton Szepsi Csombor's and Albert Szenci Molnár's travel reports were frequently used in the description of their character by CitationSándor Iván Kovács; see his “Szenci Molnár Albert”; Idem, “Szepsi Csombor Márton.”
2. Harbsmeier, “Reisebeschreibungen,” 2.
3. Apart from the practical differences of their travel experiences (e.g. that Transylvania had diplomatic representatives in the Ottoman Empire, while the King of Hungary, who also held the title of the Emperor, usually elected his ambassadors from among his non-Magyar subjects), no significant differences can be noted between the identity construction of travellers coming from the two countries. Although it would certainly be intriguing to make comparisons between the seventeenth-century Magyar and non-Magyar travellers from Hungary and Transylvania, this would however require a longer, more thorough analysis and may be the topic of further inquiry.
4. CitationSaid, Orientalism; CitationTodorova, Imagining the Balkans. Said's work obviously concentrates on the nineteenth century, even if some critics blamed him for trying to present the phenomenon of orientalism as already existing in Antiquity, thereby creating his own essentialist image of the West in a book dedicated to the castigation of the essentialist Western image of Islam. See CitationAhmad, “Between Orientalism and Historicism”; CitationÇırakman, From the “Terror of the World,” 7–34.
5. Çırakman, From the “Terror of the World,” 35–104.
7. CitationLucie Storchová – building upon the theory of Ziauddin Sardar – assumes the existence of an early-modern Orientalism, which does not stay in the centre of contemporary discourse and is less politicised than its modern counterpart, however, anticipates many of its topics. See her “Orientalische Gegenwelten”; CitationSardar, Orientalism.
10. For a synthesis of various earlier studies by Sándor Iván Kovács see his “A régi magyar utazási irodalom.” On the Transylvanian university peregrinations: CitationSzabó and Tonk, “Erdélyiek egyetemjárása”; CitationBozzay, “Der finanzielle Hintergrund”; also CitationA.P. Szabó, “Haller Gábor peregrinációja,” who places his case study in a very broad context. The single PhD dissertation written on early-modern Hungarian travel history – also a good example of the study of the material background and organisation of travel – addressed a travel in the opposite direction, Joseph II's travel to Hungary (CitationKulcsár, II. József császár utazásai).
12. For the application of the term Kavalierstour on a Hungarian example see CitationToma, “Nádasdy István.”
16. A short overview of the genres of Hungarian travel writing is provided by CitationKisbán, “Europa et Hungaria.” For more details see CitationKovács, “A régi magyar utazási irodalom.”
18. György Rákóczi I to Zsuzsanna Lorántffy (Lampersdorf, 6 Aug 1645) in CitationMHHD XXIV: 347.
20. A good example of the distinction between the “gaze” of the diplomat and the traveller is the diary of CitationGyörgy Vass, who was an extraordinary ambassador of Transylvania to Vienna between 1691–2, and later served as a resident ambassador there between 1698–1700. In spite of the volume of his diary, there are hardly any reflections on the place in it, even if he describes the spectaculars of the court (see his “Napló”).
21. CitationStagl, “Der wohl unterwiesene Passagier”; Kovács, “A régi magyar utazási irodalom.”
24. Pál Teleki to Judit Vér (London, 17 June 1697) in CitationFRS III: 175.
27. CitationBán, “Korai felvilágosodás és nemzeti műveltség”; CitationKovács, “Magyarok Rómában,” 194; Kovács, “A régi magyar utazási irodalom,” 184; CitationSzelestei Nagy, “Pongrácz Imre”; CitationSzelestei Nagy, “‘Látni méltó…’” For a critical re-assessment of the question see CitationGácsi, “A XVII. századi erdélyi főúri peregrinációs irodalom”; and also the response to it in Kovács, “A régi magyar utazási irodalom,” 217–8.
28. The role of travel books is emphasised by CitationKirály and Kovács, “Zrínyi Miklós római útikönyve,” where they try to reconstruct the travel experiences of Miklós Zrínyi in Italy with the use of the travel books available in his library.
30. There are examples of terms for “travel”, which have a connection to suffering. The English term itself derives from “travail”, and therefore, according to CitationAlex Drace-Francis, implies “labour, or ordeal, some painful but exemplary ritual, presumably limited to humans”. (See his “Towards a Natural History…”, 3.) The early-modern Hungarian term, however, is deliberately chosen to indicate a state of exile.
31. Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 227. The offical name of this town nowadays is Prešov (Slovakia).
32. CitationHaller, “Napló”. According to the hypothesis of András Péter Szabó, it is rather possible that Haller added these pieces of information in the draft of the diary after his return to Transylvania (A.P. Szabó, “Haller Gábor peregrinációja,” 12).
33. CitationNadányi, “Instrukció,” 120. The prior data: Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 234.
34. László Cseffei to István Kun of Monostorszeg (Venice, 28 August 1628) in CitationCseffei, “Utazási levelek,” 418.
35. Miklós Bethlen to Pál Bethlen (Vienna, 21 June 1661) in CitationMiklós Bethlen, Levelei, 118. Boldizsár Zalányi informs Judit Vér, the mother of his tutee, Pál Teleki, that he could not purchase German clothes (Vienna, 6 Sept 1695) in FRS III. 14. See also Vizaknai Briccius, “Napló,” 85.
37. Elector John George to György Thurzó (Neusorg, 31 July 1615) in CitationFRS I. 83.
38. Kemény, “Önéletírás,” 55.
41. János Pálóczi Horváth to István Bethlen (Paris, 13 April 1628) CitationURE 88.
43. Horn, “Esterházy Pál,” 22. The example of Regensburg is from CitationEsterházy, Itinerarium ad Germaniam, fol. 107. I owe my gratitude to Ildikó Horn who made it possible for me to read Esterházy's manuscript in her draft translation.
45. Mączak, Travel in Early Modern Europe, 255.
46. Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 101.
47. Mihály Bethlen, Útinapló, 108; the prior quote, Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 118.
48. László Cseffei to István Kun of Monostorszeg (Venice, 28 August 1628) Cseffei, “Utazási levelek,” 417.
49. László Cseffei to his mother, Anna Tomori (Paris, 8 April 1628) URE 81.
51. , Inventing Eastern Europe. Several of the reviewers of his book called attention to the fact that his thesis, according to which the differentiation between the two regions was made only in the eighteenth century, is hard to defend: differences are already noted in earlier centuries, while the custom of calling them “East and West” spread widely only later (Elise CitationKimmerling Wirtschafter in The Slavic and East European Journal 39 [1995]: 643–4; CitationMarshall Poe in Russian Review 55 [1996]: 713; CitationMark Bassin in Geographical Review 86 [1996]; 631–4). Earlier, CitationHans Lemberg also stated that associating the east–west direction with a civilisational scale started during the nineteenth century. See his “Zur Entstehung des Osteuropabegriffes im 19. Jahrhundert”. See also the critical remarks of CitationBracewell, “The Limits of Europe,” 113.
53. Esterházy, Itinerarium, 96–7.
54. Mihály Bethlen, Útinaplója, 87.
55. Ibidem, 73–4. In the case of other remarks, authors related not to an abstract norm, but to the general practice. It is obviously the case when Ádám Batthyány writes about the wedding of Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria in Vienna, “to me it occurred, concerning the festivities, that is was not a great festivity, as weddings used to be.” (Vienna, 18 July 1635) CitationKoltai, “Komédia és diskurzus,” 91.
56. Kemény, “Önéletírás,” 57.
57. Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 187, 140–1. The other city reproached for its lascivious atmosphere was Venice: on the experience of Miklós Bethlen and the hidden symbolism of the connection between politics and lechery in the Autobiography see CitationBene, “Politika, paráznaság és házasságtörés.”
58. Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 184.
62. CitationSennyey, “Római utazás,” 551, the prior quotes: 528, 550–1. The rector also wrote diaries during his later visits to Rome, however, these do not contain remarks of importance for this survey, see CitationIványi, Báró Sennyey László.
65. Kemény, “Önéletírása,” 21.
66. See the Hungarian examples in CitationJankovics, “A magyar peregrinusok Európa-képe,” 560–1.
67. Kemény, “Önéletírás,” 19.
68. Nadányi, “Instrukció,” 118.
69. Esterházy, Itinerarium, 44–5.
70. Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 104. However, the authors of some texts were keen on pointing out differences between Hungarian and Polish cultures, as in the case of the Polish envoy sent to the wedding of György Rákóczi II, later Prince of Transylvania, whose diary is full of critical remarks on Hungarian cuisine and dressing customs, see CitationGábor Várkonyi, “Jerzy Bałłaban.”
71. Kemény, “Önéletírás,” 290.
72. Szepsi Csombor, Europica varietas, 190.
73. CitationZrínyi, “Az török áfium,” 406–7. Ágnes CitationDukkon attempted to discover the sources of this passage, using also the rather negative image of the Russians provided by David Frölich in his calendars, see her “Egy mondat az oroszokról”. This Hungarian attitude is similar to that of many Polish observers, see Bracewell, “The Limits of Europe,” 83–4.
74. Mihály Bethlen, Útinapló, 58.
75. Zsuzsanna Lorántffy to György Rákóczi I (Pocsaj, 29 June 1645) in MHHD XXIV: 334.
77. Kemény, “Önéletírása,” 265.
78. Kármán, “Fatányér és kőkorsó,” 127–8.
79. Kemény, “Önéletírás,” 265. Petro Mohila (according to Romanian spelling Petru Movilă) had actually a truly outstanding erudition in the Orthodox world: the young priest, coming from a family of Moldavian voivods was educated in Paris, and when he was promoted to the post of the metropolitan of Kiev in 1632, he reformed the Kiev college according to Jesuit patterns, see CitationSubtelny, Ukraine, 120–1; CitationMagocsi, A History of Ukraine, 189–91.
80. Jakab Harsányi Nagy to György Rákóczi II (Constantinople, 7 September 1656) in CitationMHHD XXIII: 458.
81. Esterházy, Itinerarium, 25.
83. CitationTerbe, “Egy európai szállóige”; CitationHopp, Az “antemurale” és a “conformitas”; CitationImre, “Magyarország panasza” (a version in German is forthcoming in the collection of essays Osmanische Orient und Ostmitteleuropa, ed. by Robert Born and Stephan Conermann); CitationJ.B. Szabó, “Vázlat egy ellenségkép történetéről”; A. CitationSzabó, “Die Türkenfrage.”
85. CitationBenczédi, “A török orientáció”. See also CitationBenczédi, “Hungarian National Consciousness.” An exceptional case is that of the Turkish heroes in Miklós Zrínyi's Obsidio Sigethiana, who present outstanding moral examples with their strength, wisdom and bravery. However, their positive attributes only serve the purpose of giving even more emphasis to the superiority of Hungarian heroes in similar fields and maximise the moral victory achieved by them (see CitationJankovics, “The Image of Turks”).
86. Szalárdi, Siralmas magyar krónikája, 437; CitationJános Bethlen, Erdély története, 126; CitationKraus, Erdélyi krónika, 317. Mentioning lamentation is especially valid in the case of Szalárdi, as the title of his work is A Hungarian Chronicle of Laments.
88. See the detailed analysis in CitationKármán, “Verdammtes Konstantinopel.” Sadly, the only description which was not written by a diplomat, the work of an exile, János Komáromi, is of an entirely topographic nature, and avoids any personal remark about the region described – Constantinople – therefore has no significance for this investigation. See CitationKomáromi, “Konstantinápoly leírása.”
90. Kristóf Paskó to Mihály Apafi I (Constantinople, 6 February 1666) in CitationTMÁO IV: 303; György Rákóczi I to István Kőrössy (Gyulafehérvár / Alba Iulia, 30 August 1633) in RGYP Citation88.
91. Jakab Harsányi Nagy to György Rákóczi II (Constantinople, 2 February 1656) MHHD XXIII: 307, resp. Harsányi and Máté Balogh to György Rákóczi (Constantinople, October 1656) in CitationEÉKH II: 224.
92. Tamás Borsos to Gábor Bethlen (Constantinople, 28 September 1619) in CitationBorsos, Vásárhelytől a Fényes Portáig, 325; resp. Harsányi to György Rákóczi II (Constantinople, 17 December 1655) in EÉKH I: 567.
93. Harsányi to György Rákóczi II (Constantinople, 16 Oct 1656) MHHD XXIII: 484. In Ferenc Földvári's term, it was merged with the idea of the Ottoman inclination to accept bribes: “this Turkish nation is such that they are rather going after fortune, and turning away for some presents.” See his letter to György Rákóczi II (Constantinople, 31 July 1651) MHHD XXIII: 82.
94. The single work written by a Transylvanian author is the book of Jakab Harsányi Nagy (or, in its Latinised form, CitationJacobus Nagy de Harsány) which he wrote after having left Transylvania and was published in Brandenburg. See his Colloquia Familiaria. The work is entirely atypical with its positive image of the Turks. The image of the Turks under the anti-Ottoman wars in the late seventeenth century was reconstructed – given a lack of Hungarian treatises – from private correspondence by CitationÁ.R. Várkonyi, “Búcsú és emlékezet.”
96. Bocatius, “Relatio,” 107. Although Bocatius calls himself a German in the text, his experiences were most probably common among his contemporary Hungarians as well, even if they did not gain such an explicit rhetorical form in their case.
97. See the detailed analysis on Bocatius’ travel narrative in Kármán “An Ally of Limited Acceptability”.
100. Jankovics, “A magyar peregrinusok Európa-képe.”
102. For a rich overview, concentrating on the period after the late eighteenth century, see CitationBracewell, “East Looks West.”
103. For a recent study on seventeenth-century Hungarian aristocratic horticulture and its international connections, see CitationKustán, “Az arisztokrácia kertjei.”
104. See the description of this seemingly common early-modern eastern European pattern in Bracewell “The Limits of Europe,” 71–3.
105. Kovács, “A régi magyar utazási irodalom”; Jankovics, “A magyar peregrinusok Európa-képe”; Murdock, “They Are Laughing at Us?”
106. Jankovics, “A magyar peregrinusok Európa-képe,” 557. The borders of Europe were defined by education in the case of many Western European travellers as well, as it was shown in the example of Fynes Moryson by CitationStephen Olaf Turk Christensen. See his “The Image of Europe,” 273.
107. For a discussion of the idea of Europe and early-modern Hungarian travel writing, see Murdock, “They Are Laughing at Us?”
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