Holy Crown Research Articles

Nation, State, Europe and national revival in Hungarian party politics: the case of the millennial commemorations

POST-COMMUNIST TRANSFORMATION CONFRONTS all countries involved with questions of state redefinition. The strains that can be generated by these questions have been most evident, and most examined, in states newly emerged from the Czechoslovak, Soviet or Yugoslav federations and/or those with significant ethnic minorities. However, even in relatively old and ethnically homogeneous states, these issues cannot be tackled without engaging varying understandings of the national identity and the relationship between state and nation.! This article investigates the conceptions of the nature and purpose of the state presented by party political elites in one such state, Hungary. Hungary's relative ethnic homogeneity means that there has been no significant practical contestation about which national group the post-communist state is 'of and for', in Brubaker's terms.2 That is, questions have not arisen about public language use, for example (as between the language of the state's titular nationality and another, minority, national group), as has occurred in several other post-communist countries with larger and less assimilated minorities. Similarly, Hungary's well-established status has obviated any need to excavate a little-known national past to legitimate the state's existence. As then Prime Minister Viktor Orbtin commented in 1999, Hungarians could 'forget the word, invent Hungary. Hungary was invented quite well enough a thousand years ago, by St Stephen himself'.3 However, a 'national question' has consistently been identified as the single dominant dimension of the country's post-communist party competition.4 Partly, this dimension comprises familiar left-right differences over secularism and progressivism versus religiosity and cultural and social traditionalism. However, in the Hungarian context, as in many others, these differences also encompass divergent understandings of the national identity and of the nature and value of nationhood in general." In this respect, elite political competition since 1990 in part continues a central debate of modem Hungarian political and intellectual life, about what the Hungarian nation is and what its relationship to the Hungarian state should be.6 Prior to the 1920 Treaty of Trianon this debate indeed partly concerned the relationship between Hungarians, groups by then identified as being of other nationalities, and the Hungarian state. Since the

The Holy Crown of Hungary, Visible and Invisible

SEER, tol. 8i,Vo. 3,J7ulY2003 The Holy Crown of Hungary, Visible and Invisible LASZLO PETER The reader at this point will certainlyask:how it is possible that a national relic of such great significance has never been properly examined in order to attain satisfactory conclusions [about its origin]. The answer is as contradictory as unexpected: precisely because such importance was attached to the crown; because it has been treatedas the greatestnationaltreasure. Kamamn Benda and ErikFugedi on the Holy Crown' THE history of political ideas reveals continuities and unexpected revivals. Too frequently it proves premature to pronounce a political idea dead. A well-known example which demonstrates that major political ideas hardly ever disappear without trace has been the reemergence of the natural law theory which had spent years in the doldrums while utilitarianism dominated political philosophy in Britain and America.2 Ideas whose impact is more limited and confined to a single national society could, likewise, unexpectedly revive after their apparent demise. When over forty years ago the present writer, working towards his DPhil in Oxford, took up the doctrine of the Holy Crown of Hungary, he thought that the subject was of purely historical interest, or at least one without any direct relevance to Hungarian politics, present and future. The reason why this assumption looked obvious at the time was not even primarily because Hungary, as a part of the Soviet bloc, was ruled by Communists who rejected and sneered at any political Laszl6 Peter is Emeritus Professor of Hungarian History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London. I am grateful to Professor Janos Bak (CEU, Budapest) for raising critical questions about the text, to Professor James Burns (UCL) for his point on Hegel's influence, to Dr L6rant Czigany (London) for his comments on my use of terms, to Professor R. J. W. Evans (Oxford) for his incisive observations, to Virginia Hewitt (British Museum) for a piece of information, to Dr Martyn Rady (SSEES, UCL) for detailed criticism and archival references, to Judit Villam (Parliamentary Library, Budapest) for providing a copy of a colligatum she compiled, in I999, of recent publications on the Holy Crown question. Finally, I should like to thank my wife, Margaret, for her suggestions for improving the grammar and style of the text. In the use of capital letters for 'Holy Crown', I follow established convention (the use of lower case would amount to the making of a political point). 'Kalman Benda and Erik Ftugedi, TausendjahreStephanskrone, Szeged, I988, translation of A magyar korona regbnye, Budapest, 1979 (hereafter, Stephanskrone), p. 20. 2 The revival followed the appearance of John Rawl's A TheoryofJustice, Cambridge, MIA,197 1. 422 THE HOLY CROWN OF HUNGARY tradition of the old order which they replaced.3 The reason went deeper: it was generally taken for granted, even by opponents of the Communist regime, that political traditions,like the ideas of the Holy Crown, however important they had been in past centuries, were closely tied to the institution of the monarchy that had irretrievably perished by the end of the Second World War. By 1945 the whole traditional social order that used to maintain the institutions of the kingdom was gone. It is true that even after I945 some emigre groups of the displacedpoliticalelite, having escaped to the WestfromNazi or Communist rule, cherished old political traditions including ideas about the Holy Crown.4 In the I96os a Hungarian scholar, Charles d'Eszlary,publishedin Francea three-volumehistoryof the Hungarian politicalinstitutionsfromthe Middle Ages,5consideredlargelyin terms of the Holy Crowndoctrine(thedoctrinewas a late-nineteenth-century innovation, of which more later).He must have been a 'lastMohican'. For the world at large, so far as it took cognizance of Hungarian constitutionalmatters,the doctrinewas as dead as the dodo. Yet, the reportsof the death of the Holy Crown traditionturnedout to be greatlyexaggerated.Come I989, EasternEurope'sannus mirabilis, Soviet power in the region collapsedand, togetherwith that, Communist rule. Hungary, like a few other former satellites, became a parliamentarydemocracy. There was no question of restoring either the monarchy or the old social order. And yet the Holy Crown, like that fabled Egyptian bird, the phoenix, miraculouslycame forth with new life. The...

The Glass Cabinet

Summary Emergence of a scientific need for museum display. Emergence of the political need for museum display. Siting and visibility of the Hungarian crown jewels. Invisibility and visible theology of the regalia. Treasure turned work of art. Profanation of relics. Profanation of crown jewels. The Schatzkammer in Vienna. The membership of the holy crown and the holy crown. Musealization of the crown. “Re-sacralization”of the crown. Present-day status of the crown. Sacrality and museality

The Holy Crown in the history of enamelling

Summary This article attempts to provide contexts for the three types of enamel on the Holy Crown of Hungary. The enamels on the corona graeca, which are securely dated by their inclusion of a portrait of the Hungarian king Geza I (1074–1077), occupy a mid-point in the development of technically similar Byzantine enamels. By reference to both Byzantine and western medieval practice, the enamels on the corona latina are established as twelfth-century productions. Finally, the akroterioi, or ‘pinnae’, the triangular and semicircular projections attached to the upper edge of the corona graeca, are placed in a long but little-recognized tradition of technical virtuosity.

La „couronne latine”

Summary The expression corona latina concerning the upper part of the Holy Crown is used for a fictitious object. In this paper a dating from the late 12th century is accepted for the enamelled images on the curved bands, and they are considered as products of a historicizing tendency quoting models of the Ottonian period in the time of King Bela III. The crossed bands may have formed originally a reliquary of the head of Saint Stephen in Szekesfehervar, similar to the Stockholm reliquary of Saint Elizabeth. This type is reflected by the late gothic reconstruction of the reliquary of Saint Ladislas, which is perhaps an imitation based on the first, made at the end of 12th century.

La couronne grecque de la Sainte Couronne de Hongrie: le contexte de ses émaux et de ses bijoux

Summary This communication is concerned with the general circumstances under which the corona graeca of the Holy Crown of Hungary would have been produced in Constantinople. It is first considered in the context of „diplomatic gifts”, and is compared with other enamels of the same period that are now in Tbilisi, although it is usually agreed that these are of lower artistic standard than those in Budapest. The point is made that the crown must be the result of the same technical restrictions as any other examples of Byzantine enamel, and that this aspect of production could have involved the re-use of individual plaques, such as that with a rounded top portraying Michael VII Doukas. The question of the locality in the city where the workshop in which the crown was made is discussed, and the minimal evidence for the existence of a „palace workshop”is noted. It is suggested that the modest value of the gems in the crown could be the result of diplomatic or economic considerations; for modern eyes the contrast between them and the perfection of the enamels demands some explanation of this kind. It is pointed out that all the evidence points to there never having been any enamels used in the crowns worn by Byzantine emperors.

Remarks on the filigree of the Holy Crown of Hungary

Summary In this paper, the construction of the “corona latina”decorated with a rich filigree work is considered as a terminus ante quem for the dating of its enamels. The art historical construction of a circle of filigree-decorated objects (royal sceptre, Salzburg cross, objects found in Székesfehérvár graves) and their dating from the late 12th century are here discussed. The author expresses his doubts on the homogeneity of the group. On the basis of parallels with western goldsmiths' works of the second half of the 11th century a similar date is proposed for the filigree work of the corona latina.

The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, 1904-05 by David s> Wells Sandra Wilson (review)

758 SEER, 79, 4, 200I the cases of ArtfurGorgey being a traitor,the Holy Crown being a gift of the Pope, and so on; and especially in light of the debates occasioned by Gyula Szekffi'sI9I4 book on the exiled PrinceRakoczi, by FerencEckhart'scriticism of the old view of Hungarian legal history in the 193os, and by the I96os debate on nation, nationalismandpatriotisminitiatedby ErikMolnar. Pter's volume bringstogetheressayson a broad range of importanttopics, investigatedwith a mix of detachment and empathy that so often distinguishes historiographical achievement of great significance. In spite of the present reviewer'sdisagreementwith the author's'symbolicmap' of Central/Eastern Europe in view of the constitutional history unfolding from his account, this book is surelyno exception. It is to be wished thatsome of the most important studiesin it, which have only been publishedin Hungarian or in publications of limited availability,are made accessiblefor an English-readingpublic. Central European University LAsZL6 KONTLER Budapest Wells, David, and Wilson, Sandra (eds). TheRusso-Japanese Warin Cultural Perspective, 1904-05. Macmillan, Basingstoke,and StMartin'sPress,New York, I 999. Xii + 213 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. C42.50. ONE war can hide another. The Russo-JapaneseWarhas been overshadowed by the Great War that came a decade later. Nevertheless, the earlier, more limited struggle had very complex ramifications, not least, as this volume remindsus, in providingmaterialfor (usuallywrong) conclusionsto be drawn about the nature of warfare at that time. The main focus of this excellent collection of articles,however, is not on the militaryhistoryof the war but on how it was perceived. It is especially to be welcomed because specialists in aspectsof bothJapanese and Russian cultureare included. Three of the eight contributionslook at theJapanese context, three at Russiawhile the othertwo take in both sides. Most of the items are about the literatureof war while two contributorsexamine the impact of the war on military analysts and on the Russian intelligentsia. In their introduction SandraWilson and David Wellstakea look at RussoJapanese contacts prior to the war. In particularthe authors show how each country built up its linguistic and culturalknowledge of the other. In Russia, conventional fears of 'the Yellow Peril' were interspersed by intermittent vogues for Japanese culture. In Japan, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevskii and Tolstoi became well-knownand influential.They also sketchthe growing conflict over Manchuria in the i 8gos and provide a usefulaccount of the war itself and of the peace, not overlooking the fact, mentioned again in more detail in Sandra Wilson's later contribution, that, contraryto popular belief, the immense cost of the war and the terriblecasualtiesmade it impossiblefor Japan to contemplate prolonging the struggleeven though, in militaryterms, it was the more successful. One of the most interesting contributions, by S. P. Mackenzie, traces the 'lessons' learned from the war by military analysts.The obvious lesson, that heavy weaponry was the key and well-constructed defences were virtually REVIEWS 759 impregnable, was almost universally ignored. Instead, most observers Japanese, Russian and fromthe widerworld attributedJapanese victoryto superior 'spirit'.It confirmed theoristsin their pet ideas of the superiorityof active, offensive warfare. The war at sea was equally misunderstood. The importance of mines, despite the loss of several ships, and the way that blockade duty tied up resourceswere not widely appreciated. As Mackenzie tells it, it was not understood that the major land battles were not decisive; that economic and logistical pressureswere crucial or, in Japan's case, that the surprise,PearlHarbour-style,opening assaultwas not a complete success. Overall, the war confirmed existing assumptions about the priority of large navies, offensive armies and the crucial role of morale. While Mackenzie is, by and large, correct, he does not do justice to those who drew the right conclusions. To name only the most famous on the Russian side, Durnovo assumed in his February I914 memorandum to the Tsar that war with Germany would test every aspect of Russian society, industryand infrastructure and would not be won or lost through 'spirit'. The othermajorpiece of socialanalysis,byAdrianJones, isa characteristically sweeping, pugnacious and, at the end of the day, unconvincing argument that the war created a seismic shiftin the outlook of the Russian intelligentsia by showing that the Japanese way to progress was the new wave not the Russian one...

A Republic with a Royal Crown - The Historical Development of the Holy Crown Concept in the Hungarian Constitution

The idea of a Royal Crown personifying a state which is a Republic is an intriguing one. That is the situation of the Republic of Hungary. In this article, Professor Szakats traces the origins of the idea from the early days of Hungary through to its confirmation in 1989. The article also explores the nature and constitutional implications of the Crown as a legal person.

Les sceaux comme sources de la préhistoire des droits des Ordres (Etats) Hongrois dans la conservation de la Sainte Couronne

SUMMARY In this article Iván Bertényi starts from the importance in Hungarian constitutional history of the actual Holy Crown of St Stephen and the accompanying regalia. Physical possession of the Crown was necessary for a valid coronation and as a continuing symbol of royal authority. The author seeks to show the growing power of the Estates in fifteenth-century Hungary by tracing their growing association with the keeping of the Crown. This was formally established by the law of 1464, prescribing that the Estates elect their own guardians of the Crown. The article then shows how by combining chronicle evidence and evidence about the use of seals a prehistory of the law of 1464 can be constructed, showing the increasing participation of the Estates representatives in the measures taken to secure the Crown.

The Awakening of Magyar Nationalism before 1848

It has been said that Magyar nationalism was the chief disintegrating force in the Habsburg empire. This statement2 obviously refers to the period when integral nationalism was one of the major centrifugal force3 tearing the Dual Monarchy apart. As Hans Kohn has suggested, “Only nineteenth century nationalism stressed the Magyar character of the multiracial kingdom,” since previously the Holy Crown of St. Stephen rather than the Magyar nationality was the symbol of the Hungarian nation.4 Indeed, that often quoted admonition of the founder of the Hungarian state, “unius linguae uniusque moris regnum imbecille et fragile et,”5 can be interpreted in such a way as to place the emphasis on the a priori multinational character of the medieval Hungarian state and feudal nation. It is ironical that a recent school of Hungarian political writers has endeavored to use even the “idea of St.

Localization of the Enamels of the Upper Hemisphere of the Holy Crown of Hungary

There are few monuments in mediaeval art which have been the subject of greater historical and art-historical discussion than the Holy Crown of Hungary, an object associated for centuries with St. Stephen, founder of the Hungarian kingdom in the year 1000, and its first Christian king. Because of its national and religious connotations, the holy relic has been surrounded so completely by mystery and reverence that scientific examination has been impossible except on a few rare occasions when the Crown was made available to scholars for study. The most important investigation, that of Arnold Ipolyi1 took place over half a century ago and consequently leaves much to be desired from the point of view of contemporary art-historical research. It is impossible, obviously, for the contemporary scholar to attempt to establish a firm foundation for a study of the Holy Crown based on data compiled fifty years ago. Subsequent examinations have been so limited by official restrictions that they can not be called truly scientific. On the occasion of the last investigation, that of 1938,2 the ceremonies commemorating the ninehundredth anniversary of the death of St. Stephen, examining scholars were not permitted even to touch the Crown. As a result, few of the basic questions raised by the object could be studied scientifically. The brocade cap of the lining, which conceals important evidence concerning the method of joining the two portions of the existing stemma, could not be removed. And the two apostle plaques of the upper hemisphere, covered by the semicircular shields of the Pantocrator and the Emperor Michael Dukas, could not be seen because the shields on the lower crown could not be removed. These latter enamels are known to us only from the primitive drawings of Ipolyi's publication. The attempt, therefore, of some eight specialists in the fields of history, history of art, archaeology, Byzantology, mineralogy, and goldsmithy to thoroughly examine the subject in 19383 produced only negligible results except in those fields where something definite could be gained from the visual experience of the exposed Crown. Sándor Koch was able to determine that the precious stones are almandine-garnets, sapphires, amethysts, and pearls,4 and Gyula Moravcsik clarified the meaning of the Greek inscriptions on the enamels of the Byzantine hoop.5 All the other problems remained unsolved.

Localization of the Enamels of the Upper Hemisphere of the Holy Crown of Hungary

Localization of the Enamels of the Upper Hemisphere of the Holy Crown of Hungary