Conciliator Concordiae Habsburg Albert Király Egy 17. Századi Rézmetszeten

Abstract

Abstract The paper attempts to interpret a so-far unpublished engraving without signature or date, and to identify the circumstances and date of its creation. The starting clues for the interpretation are two well-known heraldic motifs: the coat of arms of the Hungarian Kingdom and that of the Austrian line of the Habsburg dynasty. The former is held by an allegorical female figure — the personification of Hungaria, the latter is kept by a young ruler wearing a crown, on the right and left of the composition respectively. The essential message of the composition also emphasized by other motifs is obvious: the “meeting”, interdependence, mutually useful collaboration of the regnum and the dynasty is the principal theme. Beyond this general idea, however, the composition has more concrete implications. It wishes to indicate the precedents, historical causes of this advantageous and beneficial concord and cooperation as well as the valid and worthwhile future perspectives from the vantage point of the time of creation. This context lends special appeal and importance to the question who — whose ideal portrait — can be identified with the crowned male figure carrying the Habsburg arms. It must be someone who in the clearly hungaricus context is entitled to embody the competence, aptitude and resoluteness of the Habsburg rulers. The answer will be obvious if we consider where the Habsburgs' long and often manifested aspiration for the acquisition or preservation of the Hungarian throne comes from. To be more precise: if we name the ruler of the Habsburg dynasty who, by the grace of God (Dei gratia) and by the will of the estate, firstly became the king of Hungary. The successor to Sigismund of Luxemburg, Albert I of Habsburg — the person we were looking for — had a short reign, but his figure was remembered with acknowledgement and respect by posterity. The bicentenary of his accession to the throne (1 January 1438) was celebrated by several commemorative events at the time of the diet sitting in Pozsony in 1637—38. Great emphasis was laid on the anniversary in the political publications of the period as well, particularly in the Latin works whose publication was promoted by the bishop of Eger — later archbishop of Esztergom — György Lippay. The engraving presented in the paper was made for one of these publications as a frontispiece. Consequently, it might have been ordered by György Lippay, which is also proven by the dedication to him in Latin and the coat of arms of the bishop in the middle of the engraving.