The Invention of a Hero: Lajos Kossuth in England (1851)

Abstract

The creation, propagation and mythologization of heroes, or rather, the images of heroes, have recently attracted a good deal of attention from historians. This article aims to contribute to this discussion through a study of the cult of the Hungarian independence leader Lajos Kossuth and his reception in Britain in 1851. Why was a Hungarian national hero so widely celebrated in far away England and how was Kossuth’s heroic image created? While historical research has not completely overlooked the subject, little attention has been paid to Kossuth’s own part and perhaps even more importantly, that of his representative in England prior to his arrival, Ferenc Pulszky, in these events. As this article will argue, Kossuth’s image was in fact purposefully manufactured by these two men and others. The role of Pulszky, Kossuth’s back‐stage manager cannot be overstressed; without him Kossuth might have remained an obscure Central European revolutionary leader. During the two years prior to the Magyar leader’s arrival, the ground was being carefully prepared for him, so that when Kossuth arrived, all he was required to do was employ his uniquely powerful oratory and continue to equate the Hungarian movement with certain universal values, a process that had already been set in motion by Pulszky. But specific Englishmen were also instrumental in the creation of Kossuth’s hero cult. A small group of liberal intellectuals and middle‐class radicals, including Lord Dudley Stuart and Richard Cobden amongst others, eagerly engaged in first helping Pulszky popularize the Hungarian question and then coaching Kossuth by giving advice on maintaining his heroic appeal. Thus it was a multi‐sided affair – the joint Hungarian duo of Pulszky and Kossuth and their English ‘sympathizers’ were all creators of Kossuth’s hero cult in England. But we must not forget that the adulation of Kossuth in 1851 was also down to more abstract notions: the receptiveness of contemporary English minds to the celebration of heroes and the importance attached to English national identity, with which the Kossuth cult was deeply intertwined in the eyes of all those Englishmen that celebrated him.