The Hungarian defeat to the Ottoman army at the pivotal Battle of Mohacs in 1526 led to the division of the Kingdom of Hungary into three parts, altering both the shape and the ethnic composition of Central Europe for centuries to come. Hungary thus became a battleground between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. In this sweeping historical survey, Geza Palffy takes readers through a crucial period of upheaval and revolution in Hungary, which had been the site of a flowering of economic, cultural, and intellectual progress-but battles with the Ottomans lead to over a century of war and devastation. Palffy explores Hungary's role as both a borderland and a theater of war through the turn of the 18th century. In this way, Hungary became a crucially important field on which key debates over religion, government, law, and monarchy played out. Reflecting 25 years of archival research and presented here in English for the first time, Hungary between Two Empires 1526-1711 offers a fresh and thorough exploration of this key moment in Hungarian history and, in turn, the creation of a modern Europe.
Geza Palffy is Research Professor in the Department of Early Modern History at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of History, Budapest. He is author of The Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy in the Sixteenth Century and coauthor of Crown and Coronation in Hungary 1000-1916 A.D., as well as five books in German, three in Slovak, two in Croatian, one in Romanian, and twenty Hungarian titles.
List of Figures List of Maps List of Tables Acknowledgments Note on Terms and Names List of Abbreviations Political and Military Chronology, 1526-1711 Introduction Part I: Hungary after Mohacs: A Century of Direction Seeking, 1526-1606 1. On the Frontier of Two Empires 2. Roads from Istanbul to Vienna: The Ottomans in Hungary 3. The Bumpy Road to Vienna: The Habsburgs and the Hungarians 4. The Road to Istanbul: The State of King John Szapolyai and His Son 5. On a Narrow Path: The Principality of Transylvania 6. Society Finds Its Way 7. The Economy and Its Roads to Europe 8. The Search for a New Home: Ethnic and Demographic Changes 9. Finding Faith: Hungary's New Religion 10. Seeking a Language: A Cultural Golden Age 11. Looking in Vain for a Way Out: The Long Turkish War, 1591-1606 Part II: Decay and Rejuvenation: The Janus-Faced Seventeenth Century, 1606-1711 1. Peace or Civil War on the Border of the Two Empires? 2. New Ottoman Campaigns to Achieve an Old Goal 3. The Rise of the Hungarian Estates and the Break with Vienna 4. Transylvania Flourishes, Then Decays 5. Militarization and Self-Administration: Changes in Society 6. Economic Decline and Reorganization 7. Hungarian Populations Fall-Other Ethnic Groups Rise 8. The Revival of Catholicism-a Prolonged War of Religion 9. Half a Century of Cultural Progress-Half a Century of Military Crisis 10. A Country Liberated but Ravaged: The Long Turkish War, 1683-1699 11. Independence Movement and Civil War: The Rakoczi Uprising, 1703-1711 Glossary List of Rulers and Highest Dignitaries Select Bibliography (Monographs and Collected Studies) Name Index Place Index
Palffy offers a complex representation of the two centuries by not only depicting the military and political struggle for the liberation and the restoration of the unity of the Kingdom of Hungary. The result is a differentiated description of the developing institutions, infrastructure, economy, social structure and demographic development. - Marta Fata (Sehepunkte) Written in an elegant and seductive way, well-balanced, with assessments that are not only unique, but also solidly argued, with an exceptional iconographic support (maps, illustrations etc.) wonderfully distributed throughout the book, professor Geza Palffy's book will surely impose itself as an original synthesis with a substantial echo among the readers who are both historians and history enthusiasts. - Ionut Costea (Philobiblon) This important volume introduces English readers to one of the most critical periods of Central European history when "Hungary became the periphery and battleground of two empires, the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy." . . . Palffy has written a masterpiece that goes well beyond introductory accounts so common in English-language academic publishing. The author provides both a window on the fascinating complexities of early modern Hungarian history as well as a refreshing reevaluation of traditional Hungarian historiography. In a more general sense, anyone interested in Central and Eastern Europe will appreciate how Palffy illustrates the richness of Hungarian political, demographic, economic, and cultural developments. The book will benefit specialists, students, and general readers interested in the history of Hungary, its relationships with the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, and Hungary's place in early modern Europe. Students and scholars alike are well advised to put Palffy's volume on their reading lists. - Georg B. Michels (Hungarian Studies Review) Filling a glaring lacuna in the English-language literature on late medieval and early modern Hungary, Palffy's study critically challenges modern scholarship in ways that feel both timely and relevant given the troubling political climate in modern Hungary and much of the West. - Christopher M. Van Demark (Hungarian Cultural Studies) Palffy has written a masterpiece that goes well beyond introductory ac- counts so common in English-language academic publishing. The author provides both a window on the fascinating complexities of early mod- ern Hungarian history as well as a refreshing reevaluation of traditional Hungarian historiography. In a more general sense, anyone interested in Central and Eastern Europe will appreciate how Palffy illustrates the rich- ness of Hungarian political, demographic, economic, and cultural devel- opments. - Georg B Michels - University of California (Hungarian Studies Review) The present monograph by Geza Palffy is intended as a survey work of the historical Kingdom of Hungary in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and is aimed decidedly at a broader public. At the same time, however, it also provides important impetus for discussions within the historical sciences. . . . The monograph is an inspiring overview that is definitely recommended reading. - Markus Koller (Central European History) A comprehensive English-language work like this on the history of early modern Hungary did not exist until now. It will certainly prove its worth to read for anyone dealing with Central Europe at this period. - Nicolette Mout (TIJDSCHRIFT VOOR GES CHIE DENIS)
