ANB 1053 THE HISTORY OF ANGLO-HUNGARIAN RELATIONSHIPS

Dr. Tukacs Tamás

Contents

I. The Beginnings: St. Stephen and St. Margaret of Scotland..............................................................2

II. The Effects of English Puritanism in Hungary.................................................................................5

III. The Image of Hungary in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries...................................................7

IV. The Effects of English Literature on Hungary until the Reform Age............................................14

V. “Anglomania” in Hungary in the Nineteenth Century..................................................................18

VI. Bölöni Farkas Sándor (1795-1842) and his Travels......................................................................25

VII. Széchenyi István and England.....................................................................................................31

VIII. English Travellers in Hungary in the 19th Century......................................................................37

IX. Fest Sándor, the Father of English Studies in Hungary................................................................42

X. Anglo-Hungarian Relationships Between 1945-48. The Role of the British Council.....................46

Sources and Recommended Reading...............................................................................................50

I. The Beginnings: St. Stephen and St. Margaret of Scotland

IN THIS SECTION, we will cover:

medieval England and Hungary (10th – 12th centuries) the earliest Anglo-Hungarian contacts, dynastic relationships the exiled English princes, Edmund and Edward in Hungary the alleged marriage of Edward and Agatha, St. Stephen’s daughter the references to Agatha and St. Margaret of Scotland in chronicles

Where do the relationships of England and Hungary begin? Naturally, we could go back in time almost infinitely, but the safest point of departure is probably the Middle Ages, more specifically, the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary and the rule of St. Stephen (1000-1035).

At the “very beginning” (by which we mean the 8th and 9th centuries) there was no direct contact between Hungary and England. An important intermediary power at this time was the Kingdom of the Franks (by and large the present-day France) which intended to conquer the area of Carantania, that is, the area of what is now Slovenia and Austria. They did succeed, and this territory became part of the Frank Kingdom in the late 8th century.

A crucial question, however, from the point of view of English and Hungarian contacts is whether St. Stephen had a daughter called Agatha and whether she married an English prince. How could a Hungarian princess get to know an English prince and how could he come to the Hungarian court? To answer this question, we shall have a look at the historical conditions of England at that time. Edmund II (or Edmund Ironside), the king of England died in 1016 in a battle with the Danes, after reigning for a few months. After his death, Cnut the Great (1016-35) became the king of England (and Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden, “the North Sea Empire”). Edmund II had two sons, Edmund and Edward. Cnut wanted to execute a number of noblemen he was suspicious of, including the two sons, and sent Edward and Edmund to Sweden, instructing the Swedish king, Olaf, to execute the two sons. Olaf, instead, sent them forward to Hungary. They arrived in Hungary in 1046, probably through Sweden and Russia (Kiev).1 Soon after arriving, Edmund died.

Edward (the Exile) married Agatha, and had three children: Margaret, Edgar and Christina. Things began to speed up in 1042, when Cnut’s family died out and his empire collapsed. Edmund Ironside’s younger brother, Edward the Confessor returned from Norman exile in 1042 and became the King of England until 1066.

It was somewhere in the early 1050s that news arrived claiming that Edward has a heir in exile. To be more exact, György, the archbishop of Kalocsa, and Leodvin, the bishop of Bihar visited Pope Leo IX in 1051. Aeldred, the bishop of Worcester heard from them that Edward the Confessor has a descendant in the Hungarian court. By the middle of the 1050s, the situation became very distressing for Edward, since he still had no male heir and the Saxon royal house was close to extinction. Aeldred went to Cologne and tried to persuade Henry III, the Holy Roman Emperor, to convince the 1 In Kiev, Olaf’s daughter, Ingigerd was the Queen, and Edward probably arrived in Hungary as a member of the retinue of Ingigerd’s son-in-law, the would-be Hungarian king, Andrew I (1046-60).

Hungarian king, Andrew, to let prince Edward go back to England. Meanwhile, Godwin, the earl of Wessex and his family also wanted to gain the English throne. Finally, Edward went back to England (through Cologne) in 1057. But two days after arriving, he died. The cause of his death is uncertain, and it is likely that he was murdered, probably by the Godwinsons. His son, Edgar, had to escape and he lived comfortably in the court of William the Conqueror, the Norman king. He was proclaimed king in the year of the Norman conquest in 1066, but was never crowned.

Now we have to concentrate on Margaret, Edward the Exile’s daughter and Agatha, Edward’s wife. Margaret (1045-93), after her family returned to England from Hungary, married Malcolm III, the Scottish king. She helped him to “civilise” Scotland and forced the Scots to get rid of their barbarous customs by Christianising them by force. Margaret forced the Celtic type of Christianity out of Scotland and imposed Roman Catholicism on them. She was canonised and became Saint Margaret of Scotland in 1250. Her daughter, Edith, later married Henry I, William the Conqueror’s son in 1100, thus the Normans’ right to the throne was sanctified by this compromise.

What do the contemporary sources say about Margaret? It was evident that Malcolm married her because of her noble descent. As Alfred, the abbot of Rievaulx [pronounce: ri:’voʊ] puts it, she was “de semine regio anglorum et hunnorum” (from the seed of English and Hungarian kings). Ordericus Vitalis claims that she “Edvardus filiam regis hunnorum in matrimonium acceptit” (she accepted Edward, the Hungarian king’s son in matrimony). Thus, Margaret’s Hungarian origin is very probable.

As for Agatha, the story is less clear and there is more uncertainty surrounding her identity. The contemporary sources emphasise two possible aspects: either she was the relative of the Holy Roman Emperor, or she was Saint Stephen’s daughter (which was basically the same thing from different aspects). The role of Aeldred, the bishop of Worcester has been mentioned above. It is not surprising that Worcester is an important source of documents.

1. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has the following entry for the year 1057 (when Edward returned to England):

“A.D. 1057. This year came Edward Etheling, son of King Edmund, to this land, and soon after died. His body is buried within St. Paul's minster at London. He was brother's son to King Edward. King Edmund was called Ironside for his valour. This etheling King Knute had sent into Hungary, to betray him; but he there grew in favour with good men, as God granted him, and it well became him; so that he obtained the emperor's cousin in marriage, and by her had a fair offspring. Her name was Agatha. We know not for what reason it was done, that he should see his relation, King Edward. Alas! that was a rueful time, and injurious to all this nation -- that he ended his life so soon after he came to England, to the misfortune of this miserable people. (…)”

Agatha is not St. Stephen’s daughter here. She is mentioned as the emperor’s cousin. This Holy Roman Emperor was Henry II, the brother-in-law of Saint Stephen.

2. Florence of Worcester’s work, Chronicon ex Chronicis (a compilation from different chronicles) contains new information regarding her identity. It claims Edward married “filia germani imperatoris Henrici”. What does “germani” mean in this context? It cannot mean “German” since then the phrase would translate as “the German Emperor, Henry’s daughter”. We know, however, that Henry

II was childless. So the word “germani” here must mean close relative (the word being related to the English word “germ”), that is, the brother-in-law of Saint Stephen, Henry II.

Other sources do not link Agatha’s identity to the German Henry II, but clearly speak about her as the Hungarian king’s daughter.

3. Ordericus Vitalis, an English chronicler, in his Historia Ecclesiestica, written between 1124 and 1142, included stories collected from chronicles, manuscripts and often personal meetings with crusaders and pilgrims. He is the first to mention Agatha as St. Stephen’s daughter. He mentions her as “filia regis hunnorum”, which clearly translates into “the Hungarian king’s daughter”.

He also has an interesting remark in his chronicle. He says that Edward “super hunos regnavit” (ruled over the Hungarians). How is this possible? We have to go back in time to the point when Aeldred goes to Cologne to seek help from Henry III to promote the homecoming of Edward. It is also remarkable that Edward could only go back to England after the German Emperor’s death, so it is possible that he was kept there by force, and maybe Henry had some plans with Edward, because, after all, through his wife, Agatha, Edward had an important connection with Henry III’s predecessor, Henry II, who was Saint Stephen’s the Hungarian king’s brother-in-law. It is probable that Henry wanted to send a counter-king, one of his relatives, to Hungary against the Hungarian king Aba Sámuel (1041-44). This counter-king could have been Edward the Exile. That is why the chronicle could say (assuming that Edward really became king) that he “ruled over the Hungarians.”

4. The following, not too reliable source is Geoffrey Gaimar, an Anglo-Norman chronicler. In his L’Estoire des Engleis (The History of the English), a verse chronicle written in Old French between 1136 and 1140, he speaks about Agatha as the Hungarian king’s daughter and Edward as the heir to the Hungarian throne. The whole work sounds like a fairy tale or romance with a lot of fictitious names:

“Li reis sa fille a Edgar (!) donat / Veauz sa gent cil l’epusat / E li reis fist a tuz saver / Apres son jur sait Edgar heir.”

"The king gave his daughter to Eadgar. / Before his people, he married her, / And the king gave all to know / That Eadgar should be his heir after his days."

“Eadgar” and his wife become the parents of Margaret and Eadgar the Ætheling:

"De cest Edgar e de sa femme, Eissit la preciose gemme, / Margarete lapelat lom, / Raine en fist rei Malcolom. / Ele aueit vn son frere ainnez, / Edgar l’Adeling estait nomez."

"From this Eadgar and his wife / Issued the precious gem, / Margaret they called her. / King Malcolm made her his queen. / She had an elder brother, / Eadgar the Ætheling was he named."

5. The last source to be mentioned here is abbot Ethelred of Rievaulx. He was raised in the court of the Scottish king David I (1124-1153), the son of Malcolm III. Ethelred had first-hand information

about family matters. He speaks about Margaret as “de semine regio anglorum et hunnorum”, that is, “from the seeds of English and Hungarian kings”.

II. The Effects of English Puritanism in Hungary

IN THIS SECTION, we will cover:

Protestantism (Puritanism) as a vital link between England and Hungary students visiting famous English universities, study tours the three centres of English influence (Debrecen, Sárospatak and Transylvania) translations of English theological works the Habsburg rule and the revival of English after the 1760s

After the beginning of the 16th century, another very important aspects of Anglo-Hungarian contacts was the link provided by the common religion, Protestantism. A typical person who built relationships between the two countries was a wandering university student – “a peregrine” as they were called at that time – who went to Protestant countries (Northern Germany, the Netherlands, England) to perfect his knowledge.

As early as the 16th century, data can be found on Hungarians who visited England to study. According to Bod Péter, there was a student, Skaritza Máté by name, who visited England during his travels in 1571. He was not the first Hungarian student we know of: a certain Nicolaus de Hungaria spent three years at Oxford between 1193 and 1196.

Between 1600 and 1680, no less than 200 Hungarian students went on study tours. In the period between 1616 and 1699, financial aid was given to Hungarian students in the eight Oxford colleges 155 times and we know 35 students by name among them.

Here mention must be made of the founders of the Puritan movement in Hungary, Medgyesi Pál and Tolnai Dali János. Medgyesi was Lórántffy Zsuzsanna’s chaplain-in-ordinary (Lórántffy was the widow of the late Transylvanian prince, Rákóczi György II). But Tolnai’s importance is greater. On 9 February 1638, he and other nine Hungarian fellow Puritans made a formal contract in London to propagate their ideas. After his return to Hungary, he started to spread his ideas. Rákóczi György II sent him to Sárospatak, but his teachings were considered to be dangerous and he was expelled from there in 1642. The Szatmárnémeti Synod put him under a ban in 1646. (Why were Puritan ideas found dangerous in Hungary?) After the death of Rákóczi György II, however, Tolnai found a patron in the person of Lórántffy Zsuzsanna, mentioned above, who facilitated the journeys of several Protestant theologians to England. Finally, three centres of Protestant teaching emerged in Hungary: Sárospatak, Debrecen and Transylvania as such.

After the Turkish occupation of Hungary, Debrecen enjoyed a rather precarious independence which was effectively bought from the Turks and was guaranteed by the Habsburgs and the Transylvanian princes. As a result, a prosperous agrarian Calvinist community emerged.

The first English influences that reached Debrecen were William Perkins (1558-1602), Louis Bayly (?-1631) and Perkins’s disciple, William Ames (Amesius) (1576-1633). The Hungarian Puritans set out to translate the works, mainly conduct books, of these eminent scholars. The earliest Perkins translations were carried out in 1620 and 1637 by Kecskeméti János and Iratosi János. In Cambridge, Medgyesi Pál started to translate the great conduct book of Louis Bayly entitled Praxis Pietatis (The Practice of Piety). By the 1660s, Debrecen acquired the role of the chief mediator between the culture of England and Hungary. William Ames’s Puritanismus Anglicus was published in 1662 and was translated by Komáromi Csipkés György, who was then a professor of Oriental languages at the college of Debrecen.

Most of these translations, adaptations or summaries were, in fact, not made from the English original works but from Latin versions. The early translators did not feel competent enough to translate English texts. For this reason, a special English study group was set up in Debrecen, names Schola Anglica. Komáromi Csipkés György wrote the first book of English grammar (1664) entitled Anglicum Spicilegium (Gleanings from English Grammar).2 He relied on different sources, such as John Wallis’s Grammatica Linguae Anglicae (1653) and De Institutione Linguae Anglicae by an anonymous writer. He also wrote a Hungarian grammar book (Hungaria Illustrata), printed in Utrecht (another important Protestant centre) in 1655, two Hebrew textbooks, plus a full translation of the Bible, published in Leyden, in 1718, after his death (1678). After Komáromi’s death, the Schola Anglica also began to lose its importance.

The turn of tide took place in 1688, the defeat of the Turks and the Habsburg occupation of Hungary. Since the Habsburgs were Catholics, the cause of Protestantism suffered a serious blow. Heavy taxes were laid on Protestant educational institutions, Protestant scholars were denied passports, so they could not go on Western study tours and only Roman Catholic theological books were allowed to be printed. The situation became worse after the failure of the Rákóczi war of independence in 1711.

Things began to change in the late 1760s. There was one important difference, however. Instead of the Protestant influence, the forms of contact with England were established in a secular form. Hungarian men of letters became acquainted with the masters of English literature through French and German translations. The most popular literary figures were John Milton, Alexander Pope and Edward Young.

English firmly established itself as part of the curriculum of Protestant schools of Sopron and Késmárk. The Schola Anglica was also reorganised in Debrecen under the leadership of Szilágyi Sámuel, Benedek Mihály, Sinai Miklós and Budai Ézsaiás. They also set out to visit English universities but by this time their interest was purely secular. It is largely due to these 18th-century figures that the members of the coming generation (Csokonai, Bessenyei) became familiar with English literature.

2 For a discussion of Komáromi’s grammar book, see Béla Korponay’s study in Angol Filológiai Tanulmányok VI (1972), p. 65-95.

III. The Image of Hungary in England in the 16th and 17th Centuries

IN THIS SECTION, we will cover:

the spirit of the Renaissance and early Modernity references to Hungary in the works of famous writers references to Hungary in the travelogues of the period the stereotypes and misconceptions relating to Hungary the specific works mentioning Hungary in the 17th century

How do the others see us? This has always been an intriguing question which has excited the Hungarians almost all the time. From the point of view of Anglo-Hungarian relationship, it is interesting to look at the concepts, ideas, prejudices and distorted and unreliable information that the English held in connection with us in the early modern period.

Let us begin with Shakespeare’s age (the second half of the 16th century). In this period, there were two main driving forces. At the end of the 16th century, the panorama of the English cultural and intellectual life becomes exceptionally wide. This is the age of the Renaissance, people were curious about everything, they discovered the world again and became interested in distant lands, geography, natural sciences, in short, anything new. The other important feature of the age is that practically half of Europe became a battlefield (due to the Turkish wars). It was extremely dangerous for an Englishman to travel to Hungary, but once they did, they were sure to be involved in all kinds of adventures. The frequent type of this age was the bragging soldier, who, returning from the European war, told all kinds of fantastic tales. Naturally, it was not only the desire for adventure that moved soldiers but also the hope of getting rich by plundering and getting a share from war booties.

The first figure to be mentioned here is the famous Renaissance poet, Sir Philip Sidney. As an adventurer, he came to Hungary in 1573 and spent more than a month here. He became interested in political matters and later wrote a pamphlet against the possible methods of protecting Hungary from the Turks. In his famous essay, “A Defence of Poetry”, he writes the following about Hungarians in connection with heroic poetry: “In Hungary I have seen it the manner at all feasts, and other such meetings, to have songs of their ancestors’ valour; which that right soldier-like nation think the chiefest kindlers of brave courage.”

Other references to Englishmen fighting in Hungary include the following works. Ben Jonson’s (1572-1637) comedy Every Man in his Humour (1598) has a character called Captain Bobadilla, the typical bragging soldier type, who often boasts about his heroic deeds at Esztergom.

EDWARD KNOWELL. He is melancholy, too.

BOB. Aye, faith, sir, I was thinking of a most honourable piece of service, was performed tomorrow, being St. Mark’s Day: shall be some ten years now?

E. KNOW. In what place, captain?

BOB. Why, at the beleaguering of Strigonium, where, in less than two hours, seven hundred resolute gentlemen, as any were in Europe, lost their lives upon the breach. I tell you gentlemen, it was the first, but the best leaguer, that ever I beheld, with these eyes, except the taking in of – what do you call it, last year, by the Genoese, but that of all other was the most fatal and dangerous exploit that I was ever ranged in, since I first bore arms before the face of the enemy, as I am a gentleman and a soldier.

E. KNOW. Then you were a servitor, at both, it seems! At Strigonium and what do you call it?

BOB. Oh lord, Sir? By St. George, I was the first man that entered the breach: and had I not effected it with resolution, I had been slain, if I had had a million of lives.

Captain John Smith (1580-1631), the legendary adventurer, later the founder of the colony of Virginia in America, travelled to Hungary in 1600 and later recorded his experiences. After the siege of Kanizsa, being reputed to have defeated, killed and beheaded Turkish commanders in duels, he was knighted by Báthory Zsigmond, the prince of Transylvania. He was even given a coat of arms, showing three Turkish heads with the motto “Vincere est vivere”, meaning “To win is to live.” He also described the battle of Vöröstorony in great detail and named several English soldiers fighting there.

William Lithgow, a Scottish traveller visited Hungary in 1616 and wrote about his adventures in The Total Discourse of Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations (1632). Although he was an educated person, he travelled for 19 years and 30,000 miles, he does not paint a too pleasing picture of Hungary. He mainly emphasises his fantastic adventures including rascals, villains and robbers:

The Hungarians have ever beene thiftuous, treacherous and false, so that there one brother will hardly trust another, which infidelity among themselves and distracted deceitfull governours, was the chiefest cause of their over- throw and subjection under Infidels : And so have corrupt Counsellors, and insolent Princes beene the ruine of their owne Kingdomes ; for if we would have a Prince fit to governe others, and to direct him selfe with the square rules of wisdome and judgement, to know how to become all places, and to use all fortunes ; let him bind his tender youth with a disposition temperd with sadnesse : for such a man can neither seduce his minority with ill examples, nor marre his waxen age with a false impression, too common a condition of these dissolute times.(. . .)There is a great Gentry in this Kingdome, but un- travelled abroad, farre lesse mannerly at home, being luxurious and ill taught, and damnably given to that Masculine misery, the whole Southerne World is defiled

with. Having now traversed all the Countrey to Grana, and so to Gatterad in Valechia, I found the Country so covered with Woods, and them full of Murtherers (for I was robbed on these confines, and hardly saved my life) I was constrayned I say, to returne to Tockai in the higher Hungary, and from thence in one day I stepped into Transilvania. (. . .)The Inhabitants here are all Protestants, but for their Vayvod or Prince Bethlem Gabor, I saw him not, for hee was lying sicke of a Feaver at Juliastrad : This Provinceis a free Principality, and notwithstanding adherent in some respect to the authority of the Turke. But now having left this Religious Country, and crossing the North passage of the Hils, called the Borean Berger, or North mountaine, I entred in Moldovia ; where for my welcome in the midst of a border- Wood, I was beset with six murderers, Hungarians and Moldavians: where having with many prayers saved my life, they robbed mee of

threescore Hungar Duccats of gold, and all my Turkish clothes, leaving me stark naked ; save onely they returned to me my Patents, Papers, and Seales.

This done, and for their better security, they caryed mee a little out of the way, and bound my naked body fast about the middle to an Oaken tree, with wooden ropes, and my armes backward so likewise : swearing to me, that if I cryed for helpe, or marred them of their designes before the Sun set, they would turne backe and kill me ; promising then to set me free.

But night come, and I forgotten, was left here in joy fall trembling feare, for Wolves and wild Boares till the deliverance to-morrow ; where at last by Gods providence I was relieved in the morning by a company of Heards : who clothing me with an old long coat of theirs, and refreshing me with meat ; one of them caryed me five leagues unto the Lord of the ground, the Baron of Starhulds a Moldavian Protestant, with whom I stayed fifteene dayes : And was more than repaired of all my losses, by his owne bounty, and Noble Kinsmen, his neighbouring friends, and would not suffer mee to goe any further in the Countrey, because of the Turkes jealousie over strangers, in regard it was but lately wrested from a Christian Prince, with whom I was conversant at Constantinople in Sir Thomas Glover, the Ambassadours house.

This is an age which is slow transition between literary periods and ideologies. The old mythological tales, romances and chivalric tales are going out of fashion or becoming downright ridiculous (see for

example Chaucer). The reading public wanted something real and this demand was satisfied by “exotic” travelogues.

Shakespeare mentions Hungary twice. One reference is in Measure for Measure (1603/04):

LUCIO. If the duke with the other dukes come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then, all the dukes fall upon the king. FIRST GENT. Heaven grant us its peace but not the king of Hungary’s!

This scene has very little importance within the play and has no consequences later on. Then why is Hungary mentioned? Could Shakespeare know anything about the political situation of Hungary and could the Elizabethan audience have understood this reference? The probable meaning of Lucio’s comment is that the peace of the Hungarian king is not welcome, because it is not stable. If there is some kind of peace, it will soon be broken and a war breaks out again. So, for the contemporary English, “the peace of the Hungarian king” could have mean something “impossible.”

The second reference to Hungary is in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602) in which a character exclaims: “base Hungarian wight!” (A “wight” means a chap, a fellow.) This is probably a word play on the word Hungarian, conflating it with “hungry”, beggarly, needy. Also, “a Hungarian” could mean an English soldier returning from a Hungarian war, an adventurer, a wandering fortune-seeker.

The Elizabethan age (1558-1603), then, mostly remains on the level of generalities in which Hungary is often mentioned in connection with the Turkish wars. In 1600, Rooke Churche completed the translation of Martin Fumée’s The History of the Troubles of Hungary. In the foreword, the author draws a frightening picture of the war-stricken Hungary. In the English minds, Hungary was practically a battlefield, a country that was helplessly fighting against a great enemy, which served excellent material for all kinds of exotic stories.

In the 17th century, the picture seems to change a little bit. Hungary was looked at in basically three ways: 1) as a once powerful kingdom, now a victim of Turkish colonisation; 2) its exact opposite, the exotic faraway land, which is abundant in corn, minerals, etc. and 3) as a Protestant fellow-country, the victim of the Catholic Habsburg rule.

In what follows, we are going to have a look at a number of sources and how they describe Hungary. [Note: of course, you need not memorise all these names and sources, but try to form a picture of the most important ideas and stereotypes.]

1. George Abbot, A Briefe Description of the Whole World (1599)Abbot was an Oxford professor, later the archbishop of Canterbury. His book had great success, it had ten editions until 1636. He gives mere 17 lines to Hungary, praising Hunyadi János and his fights against the Turks.

2. Martin Fumée, The Historie of the Troubles of Hungariae (1600)It gives a very simplified view of Hungary, but the translator (Rooke Churche) was an eye-witness as well.

3. Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes (1603)The book is more than 1,000 pages, contains an enormous quantity of information. In the section referring to Hungary, the author describes Hunyadi János’s campaigns and praises Báthory Zsigmond.

4. Giovanni Botero, Le Relazioni Universali (translated into English as The Worlde, or an Historicall Description of the Most Famous Kingdomes and Commonwealthes Therein in 1601)Hungary only appears in the third edition (1608). The author is interested in military affairs. He knows a lot about the country, but much less about the Hungarians. A later edition contains a passage on the excellence of the Hungarian kingdom in protecting Europe from the Turkish menace.

5. Michel Coignet, Epitome Theatri Orteliani (a Latin language summary of Abraham Ortelius’s 1570 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern world atlas). There are references in Coignet’s summary to “Zecklandt” (Székelyföld), whose inhabitants are called Siculi. They are free, equal and brave warriors like the Swiss. The commonplace of Hungary as a rich land appears. The source of false beliefs associated with the Seclers, such as before getting married the men do not sleep in beds or the complete dowry of a woman is only one item of clothes is unknown.

6. Robert Stafforde, A Geographicall and Anthologicall Description of all the this Globe (1607) Hungarians are depicted as a warlike, brutal folk. They are basically peaceful people who only get angry when they are accused of being cowardly.

7. Joannes Boemus, The Manners, Laws and Customs of all Nations (1611)The author claims that the Hungarian language is not too different from the Czech. Overall, he gives a very weak description of Hungary.

8. Edward Brerewood, His Pilgrimage (1613)Brerewood was an antiquary, a mathematician, a logician, a linguist and a professor of astronomy in London. He gives much better information. He writes about the Protestants in Poland, Transylvania and Hungary and talks about the whole population of Hungary as Protestant. He regards Hungary as a Protestant fellow-country.

9. Fynes Moryson, An Itinerary Containing His Ten Years Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohemia, Switzerland, Netherland, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Turkey, France, England, Scotland and Ireland (1617)This book gives advice to travellers in Europe. He did not visit Hungary, he only had second-hand information. He mentions the origin of the Hungarians, their language (“Scythian”) and a strange custom that might explain the origin of the expression “a feather in his cap. ”

Hungaria so called of the people Hunni, was of old called Pannonia the lower, and of right belongs to the German Emperour, but of late the Turkes have subdued the greater part thereof. It hath many and strongly fortified Cities, as Debrezinum, Varadinum, Segedinum (vulgarly Seget) ; Castrum (taken by the

Turkes) Strigonium vulgarly Gran (taken by the Turkes in the yeere 1543) Alba Regalis (at that time also taken by them) Quinquecclesiae (the seate of the Bishop) Buda seated upon the Danow; (twice or thrice taken and regained on both sides, of old the Kings seate) called vulgarly Offen, and Pesta (seated on the other side of Danow) vulgarly called New Offen. The Hungarian Nation yeelds to none in strength and courage, not unlike the Scithians in language and manners.(. . .)The Hungarians in their attire differ little from the Polonians, but no Hungarian may weare a feather, except he have done some noble act, and according to the number of his brave actions, so many feathers he may weare, to witnesse his valour.

10. Edward Grimstone, The Estates, Empires and Principalities of the World (1615)He emphasises the abundance of natural riches and that Hungarian is similar to the Czech language.

11. Peter Heylyn, Microcosm: A Little Description of the Great World (1621)This is one of the best descriptions. Heylyn praises the Hunyadi family, gives a list of Hungarian kings and writes about Bethlen Gábor. He clearly sees his role, saying that the Hungarians chose a prince who maintains the reformed religion and protects the kingdom from the attacks of Emperor Ferdinand, the Habsburg ruler.

12. Gabriel Richardson, Of the State of Europe (1627)He maintains that there is no certain information on the origins of the Hungarians. As for our language, he claims that it is some sort of Slavic language, but different from Polish. He describes Hungary as the protector of Christianity.

13. John Barclay, Icon Animorum: A Mirror of the Minds (1631)Barclay talks about the Hungarian society and says that one cannot expect civilised behaviour of a people under Turkish and Austrian occupation. He says that Hungarian peasants are cruel but he has a positive view of noblemen, who guard their privileges very strongly. He concludes that Hungarians cannot bear any limitation of their freedom.

The earth in the bowels of it hath many metalls both of different natures and estimations; and golde it self is rolled up on the sandy shores of many their rivers; and the same rivers most fruitfull in breeding of fish, which are cheape there by reason of the plenty. The natures of the people is therefore more hardly to bee learned, because in this age they are o’erwhelmed with afflictions and scarce left to their owne dispositions; for they are oppressed on one side by the Barbarians, which haue made themselues masters of a great part of it; on the other side auxiliary Souldiers leuied amongst the nations of Europe, haue by their multitude and long aboade in that

Countrey, infused, in some measure their manners and dispositions into the people.

I can suppose it should spring from no other cause, then continuance of warre and calamity among them, that the Country-Boores haue quite lost their innocent simplicity and returned so extremely cruell. (. . .) Their Noble-men (as is fit) are a brauer and better disposition, their minds and visages framed to magnificence, and their whole garbes composed to a pleasing Maiesty. They use Gownes and such robes as the Easterne people, but especially purple, or skie-coloured. And this attire doth wonderfully become the men, a short sword commonly adorning their gowned-side. (. . .) No greater care at all possesses them then to forsake any of those prerogatiues, which they from many ages haue maintained inuiolable. For that reason is their valour more constant in fighting against the Turkes, who vnder one Law of servitude doe oppresse all the families, of great blood or eminence foreuer. (. . .)Their railings at each other in their common discourses at home are very cruell; and with great curiosity they are both busie in discouering or inuenting vices in each other. The Hungarians are louers of horses; and haue excellent good ones; they are curious in their armes and attire, euen to delight and pompe. They had rather fight on horse-baeke then on foote. They are most greedy of honours, and haue a great ambition to bee feared by others. By imitation of the Italian arts and dispositions, they are thought to haue learned the Italian vices, and to perpetrate their wicked reuenges with the same arts, and the like maliciousnesse. You would suppose them most easie men to embrace friendship; but whether it be true or false none can be better judges then they themselues which enter into those friendships; seriously considering to be beloued: or whether that Nation so skilfull in taking of aduantages, doe pretend friendship, the better to perpetuate some intended mischief.

From the 1640s, England turned more and more inside (due to the Civil War and the era of the Commonwealth) and concentrated on internal problems. Thus, they became less interested in external matters and curiosities. The interest towards Europe and Hungary revives only after the Restoration (1660).

IV. The Effects of English Literature on Hungary until the Reform Age

IN THIS SECTION, we will cover:

the revival of interest in English culture in the second half of the 18th century the role of Vienna as a mediator Hungarian aristocrats visiting England on Grand Tours Hungarian poets studying, imitating and translating English works the most important English artists influencing Hungarian literature (Shakespeare, Milton,

Pope, Young, MacPherson)

To discuss this topic, one has to refer first to the basic link between England and Hungary in the modern period, that is, Protestantism. Since the 1630s, there had been regular contacts between the two countries. The role of Transylvania in this process was invaluable. As John Milton, the famous poet put it, “Nor is it nothing that the grave and frugal Transylvania sends out yearly (…) not their youth but their staid men to learn our language and our theologic arts.”

Some famous Transylvanian personages deserve to be mentioned from this period: Szepsi Csombor Márton, Ádám János, Hunyadi János (professor at Grasham College), Jászberényi Pár, Haller Gábor, Bethlen Miklós.

After the Austrian occupation of Hungary (1699), severe restrictions were imposed on foreign travels and the chances of Anglo-Hungarian contacts became very limited. A slow revival began from about the 1760s on (see above).

What about the effects of English literature? What was known in Hungary from the English masters? First and foremost, one has to mention the translation of religious literature. In this respect, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), a great 17th-century conduct book deserves to be mentioned. This book was translated relatively late into Hungarian (in 1777). First there was a general indifference towards literary works (works of fiction, poetry and drama); for instance, Milton’s essays were popular, but his great epic, Paradise Lost, was practically unknown.

What gave great impetus to the development of cultural relations was the flow of ideas through the transmission of Vienna. Everything that reached Hungary from English culture went through the filter of the educated Austrian circles. This was facilitated by the end of the Seven Years’ War (1763), which made Austria and England allies. English culture began to influence the Austrian learned elite more and more – at the expense of the French influence. In the 1770s, England aimed at isolating Austria from its former ally, France. The Anglo-Austrian relationships were the strongest during the era of the French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars (1789-1815).

It is also true that these Viennese circles were not only or not especially interested in works of literature. Their scope of interest was more practical and it included works of economics, trade, law,

the constitution. The spirit of the Enlightenment helped to spread these ideas. The name of Friedrich Wilhelm Taube is important here; he was interested in the new English ideas of economics. His widow later organised an English literary club of which anyone could be a member who spent at least half a year in Vienna. Széchenyi Ferenc, (Sz. István’s father) was also the member of this club.

As a result, by the 1780s, the French taste in Vienna is pushed into the background by the new interest in English intellectual life. The role of Joseph Retzer was crucial in this: he published the first English-language anthology in Vienna, in which he collected 225 English poets.

As for Hungary, the attention was also turning towards England, mainly thanks to certain Enlightened noblemen, such as

Széchenyi Ferenc: his interest was raised by the English orientation in Vienna. He started his journey (the “Grand Tour”) in 1787. He spent only a few days in London, because he was more interested in industrial and agricultural centres, such as Yarmouth, Norwich, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow. He brought home a lot of new agricultural machines. He met the famous economist, Adam Smith. His interest in England also greatly influenced Széchenyi István, his son.

Reviczky Károly: a well-known name in English scientific circles. Uri János: the librarian of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Vay Miklós: the elected member of the Royal Society who studied, during his two-year stay,

the experimental methods of agriculture and brought home a lot of new equipment. He was the first to plan a permanent bridge between Buda and Pest.

Berzeviczy Gergely: visited England in 1787 for two months. His chief concern was economy, and he also met one of the most famous economists of the age, Adam Smith.

Esterházy Miklós: the supporter of sciences and arts; in 1803 he brought home a steam engine.

Esterházy Pál Antal: the Hungarian ambassador to England until 1842, the Queen’s personal favourite.

Grassalkovich Antal: he was interested in agriculture and gardening; he studied English gardens, which became popular in Hungary also.

Brunswick Ferenc: he modelled his Marosvásárhely country house on English patterns. The Teleki family: Teleki Mihály, the chancellor of the Transylvanian prince, Apaffy Mihály,

supported Protestant students in travelling to Belgium and England; other members of the Teleki family were also keenly interested in English institutions and innovations.

From the late 18th century, a study trip to England (not a theological one, but one focusing on more practical matters like inventions, economy, architecture) becomes something like an unwritten tradition among the Hungarian nobility.

In Hungary, several institutions and media helped to cherish this interest in England. Newspapers and magazines wrote about the life, the living conditions and the customs of England (for example in the magazine Hasznos Mulatságok). Among scholars, it became an important field of investigation to compare the similarities between the two countries, especially regarding their ancient constitutions (the Magna Charta and the Golden Bull). This also served, of course, to counterbalance the German influence. According to Csokonai, the famous Austrian diplomat, Anton Kaunitz maintained that “only

the English and the Hungarian possess any national character” (see a note in the second Canto of Csokonai’s Dorottya: “Jusson eszedbe, édes magyarom! a halhatatlan Kaunitznak ama mondása, hogy nemzeti charaktere csak az anglusnak és a magyarnak van.”)

The leading figure of literature were also increasingly interested in transmitting the achievements of English literature to Hungary. Some poets of the age, such as Péczeli József and Pálóczi Horváth Ádám began to learn English. Kis János had a role in popularising the leading essayists of the period, such as the earl of Shaftesbury, Samuel Johnson, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Edvi Illés Pál began to imitate the English ballad form, which is also going to influence Arany János, among others, later. The Kassai Magyar Társaság, a literary society, also embraced this new interest. Batsányi János translated James MacPherson’s Ossian poems, Baróti Szabó Dávid wrote odes in the similar style and Kazinczy Ferenc also knew the most popular English poets. During his imprisonment, Verseghy Ferenc mastered the English language perfectly simply by copying English poems and plays. In Transylvania, Döbrentei Gábor called his contemporaries’ attention to English literature and maintained that

“óhajtandó, hogy ifjaink közül sokan adnák magukat az anglus nyelv tanulására, s ezen magas lelket lehellő, sok eredetiséggel teljes literature munkái fordításával a nemzetnek mutatnák meg, hogy az anglus lélek az a szunnyadozó magyaréban, mely atyafiságra gerjeszthet”

These were the changes that prepared the ground for the reception of the achievements of English literature. (1) Milton’s epic Paradise Lost (1667) was one of the most important works that permeated the Hungarian cultural consciousness at this time. As has been mentioned above, the English works did not arrive directly in Hungary, but through French or German translations. The French version was published in 1729 by Dupré de Saint-Maur and it was the basis of Bessenyei Sándor’s translation (Bessenyei György’s brother). The translation came out in Kassa, in 1796. (Note: these were prose translations or rather adaptations.)

Why were translations and the rendition of this particular work important? First, the goal at that time was to polish (and, in fact, create) literary Hungarian, a kind of language that could be fit for the cultivation of literature and sciences too (see: “language reform movement” – nyelvújító mozgalom). Secondly, Milton’s epic, the grandiose account of man’s fall, was a powerful work of Puritan ethics; Milton became a kind of Protestant hero among Calvinist intellectuals.

Recently, it turned out, however, that Bessenyei was not the first one to translate Milton’s epic. The first full translation was carried out by Szilágyi Sámuel, Jr., the son of the famous Debrecen professor (see above) in 1792. Szilágyi Sámuel Jr. was a lawyer. Forty-seven translations are recorded by him, mostly legal, economic and theological works. Then why did his translation not reach a wider public? His friend, Kazinczy Ferenc explained it with his “natural shyness.” On the other hand, as it turns out from the manuscript, Szilágyi did not even intend to publish it. The very fact, however, that within four years, two full translations of Milton’s epic were done, shows the force of Anglo-Hungarian cultural contacts.

If we compare the two translations, Bessenyei’s one is clearly superior. Szilágyi’s style is clumsy, heavy, repetitious and redundant at places. Let us see one example.

Milton: Thus with the Year  Seasons return, but not to me returns  Day, or the sweet approach of Ev'n or Morn,  Or sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose,  Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;  But cloud in stead, and ever-during dark  Surrounds me, from the chearful waies of men  Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair  Presented with a Universal blanc  Of Natures works to mee expung'd and ras'd,  And wisdome at one entrance quite shut out.

[See handout for translations.]

(2) Mention must be made of the most important poet of the Classical period, Alexander Pope. He first exerted his influence in Hungary with his moralising and philosophical poems (“Essay on Man”), and its famous lines became famous very quickly: “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, / The proper study of mankind is man.” Bessenyei’s thoughts reflect these ideas: “Az embert fedezd fel s erkölcséről ítélj.” Elsewhere he declared: “Vezessétek … elméinket a szép tudományoknak és a bölcsességeket fényes napjára, hadd lássuk meg ott: Micsoda az ember!” Pope’s poem was adapted from French by Bessenyei himself with the title “Az embernek próbája.” At the beginning of the 19 th century, another aspect of Pope pushes into the foreground, the satirical-comical poet. It is well known that Pope’s comic epic poem The Rape of the Lock greatly influenced Csokonai’s Dorottya, avagy a Dámák diadala Farsangon.

(3) Lastly, the third important work that influenced the Hungarian writers was the collection of poems written by the Scottish poet James MacPherson, the so-called Ossian poems (Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books, together with Several Other Poems composed by Ossian, the Son of Fingal, translated from the Gaelic Language), published in 1761. The first complete translation was made by Kazinczy Ferenc, but the poems also had an effect on the other members of the Kassai Magyar Társaság, Batsányi and Baróti. They were mainly captured by the sweet, sentimental and melancholic tone of the poems which were all connected to ideas of patriotism. As Kisfaludy Sándor put it in one of his poems: “Szeretek én Ossiannak / komoly magas lelkével / fellengzeni, s hazájának / eltelni agg képével, / s viadalmi csatájában / s hárfájának bús hangjában / Árpád hajdan-korában / lelni szíven honjában.” Virág Benedek writes the following: “Melly tűzbe hoztad szívemet, oh Magyar / Hazánk szerencsés Bárdusa! Nemzetünk / Díszére termett Oszsziánunk, / Mennyei hangozatú poétánk!” Csokonai produced the following lines in 1801: “Hadd zengjem Ossian lantján hérosba szállt lelkedet / Mely a mulandók sphaeráján már feljül emelkedett.” Arany János, a half a century later, still refers to Ossian after the failed war of independence: “Mit van mit tennem? Olvasni tán? / Maradj, Homér, fénydús egeddel / maradj te most, Jer, Osszián, / ködös, homályos énekeddel.” (“Ősszel”, 1850) Here the melancholy tone of the Ossian poems do not refer to lofty patriotism, but to calm pessimism.

The space of the lecture does not allow for covering all the aspects of literary influences. Mention must be made of two other authors, besides Milton, Pope and MacPherson, who were equally popular: Shakespeare and the sentimental poet Edward Young. Needless to say that both of them

also greatly influenced Hungarian poets, who translated and imitated them. To return to Bessenyei György, he claims in one of his letters: “Lisez Milton, Shakespeare, Young et vous verrez, comment la raison humaine peut devenir à la fois majesteuse et terrible.” (“Read Milton, Shakespeare and Young and you will see how the human mind can become majestic and terrible at the same time.”) Speaking about the development of the literary English language as an example, he asks the question: “De következik-e onnan, ha akkor [Hódító Vilmos korában] az Anglus nyelv tsekély vólt, hogy most ne tsudálhassuk benne Miltont, Shakespeart, Joungot, Poppét?”

As for novelists, suffice it to remark here that the most popular ones in this age were Samuel Richardon, Laurence Sterne and Walter Scott.

[for more details, see: Fest Sándor: “Angol irodalmi hatások hazánkban Széchenyi István fellépéséig.” – Skóciai Szent Margittól a Walesi bárdokig, pp. 302-375.]

V. “Anglomania” in Hungary in the Nineteenth Century

IN THIS SECTION, we will cover:

the term “anglomania” and “anglophily” in 19th-century Hungary their various manifestations in the three discussed periods “anglomania” as present in Hungarian customs, architecture, literature and language

Several English travellers noted in the nineteenth century that the Hungarian were absolutely enthusiastic about everything that was English, and sometimes (together with us) referred to this phenomenon as “anglomania.” Sometimes, in fact, this enthusiasm reached the levels of some uncritical “mania”, but it is safer to talk about widespread “anglophily” (the preference for English things) instead. We can safely divide the phases of “anglomania” into three periods: 1790-1820; 1820-1849; 1850-1900.

In the period between 1790-1820 (and of course even before that, since 1699), Hungary was under the rule of a conservative Habsburg government maintaining anachronistic feudal order, censorship, especially after the outbreak of the French revolution. However, there were signs of lively contact with English cultural life.

A number of English literary works translated into Hungarian grew significantly (from other European languages as well). In 1790, several pamphlets appeared comparing the British and the Hungarian constitutions (the “Magna Charta” and the “Golden Bull”), naively stressing their similarities.

In the early decades of the 19th century, Hungarian language newspapers and periodicals started printing short items about inhabitants, poets, scholars of England. London was seen as “the wonder of the world” (first called this by Csokonai).

The role of Hungarian aristocrats was very important, especially of those who belonged to the Vienna circles, because they could get passports to the West (hg. Esterházy Miklós, gr. Grassalkovich, Brunswick, the three Teleki brothers, Festetics György, Széchenyi Ferenc and so on). They became ardent propagandists of British civilization. Some examples: Sándor István published his observations in two little volumes, in 1791 and 1793. Széchenyi Ferenc made a 4-month tour in 1787, although his diary is still in manuscript form. Most of these noblemen went to England to study agriculture, industry, trade and political economy.

The sudden appearance of English gardens – or as it was called at the time, the picturesque garden – is an excellent example as a variation of “anglomania.” The English garden is a type of natural-appearing large-scale landscape garden with its origins in the English landscape gardens of the 18th century. The European “English garden” is characteristically on a smaller scale and more filled with “eye-catchers” than most English landscape gardens: grottoes, temples, tea-houses, belvederes, pavilions, sham ruins, bridges and statues, though the main ingredients of the English garden in England are sweeps of gently rolling ground and water, against a woodland background with clumps of trees and outlier groves.) Only the very rich could afford it. The first English gardens were established in the 1770s, or in some instances former gardens were transformed into English ones. Examples: Hédervár, Tata, Csákvár, Martonvásár, Kismarton (now in Austria), Orczy-kert and Margit-sziget in Budapest. Nearly 200 English gardens were built up to the second half of the 19 th century.

English gardens and picturesque gardens

Experiments with the new “English type” agriculture also began. The Hungarian agriculture definitely needed improvement, and so there were attempts to implement, for example, Jethro Tull’s and Arthur Young’s methods by Mitterpacher Lajos, Nagyváthy János and Pethe Ferenc (see also the establishment of Georgikon, an Agricultural College in Keszthely by Festetich György). However, there were considerable difficulties since before the liberation of the serfs in Hungary (1848) any kind of modernization was doomed to fail.

The most spectacular field of cultural impact is the area of loan words. The English words borrowed before 1820 often came through German or French mediators. Most of the words denoted concepts that were unknown in Hungarian, for instance,

a) Textile goods: flannel, kasmir, tartanb) Food/drink: pudding, whiskey, bifsztekc) Transport: dokk, turistad) Habitation: hall, parke) Sport: tenisz, zsokéf) War: shrapnel, torpedo, ultimatumg) literary products: magazin, pamphlet, humor, utópiah) Government: kabinet, civil, lista, büdzsé, verdikti) Social life: gentleman, farmer, klub

The second main period of the so-called “anglomania” is the Reform Age (1820-1848). Already in the 1820s, the relaxation of the rigorous Austrian censorship could be seen. The Parliament (the “diéta”) was more often convened. The promise of a change could be felt, a transition from rigid, obsolete feudal order to a middle class, bourgeois world of civil liberties and capitalistic economy.

The English travellers of the period noticed the incipient “anglomania” in Budapest. Mrs. Gore, John Paget (who settled down in Transylvania), George Gleig, Miss Julia Pardoe all realised this enthusiasm. As John Paget mentioned, “There’s scarcely an event in English life, a folly of London fashion or an invention of British industry, which does not find admirers and commentators among the Hungarians of respectable degree.” The sentiment is well expressed by one of Vörösmarty’s short poems entitled “Miss Pardoe emlékkönyvébe”:

“Mit kérjünk, születendő nép, magas Anglia tőled?Harci szerencsét vagy békei műveidet?Adj példát honn s künn jót tenni az emberiséggel, S e kis nép nyomodon küzdeni s élni tanul.”

There were several more practical aspects of the English influence: English books and periodicals kept coming in noticeable quantities. British manufactured goods could be bought. Pictures of eminent British politicians or writes decorated residences (engravings by Sir David Wilkie, Sir Joshua Reynolds, George Henry Harlow, Francis Wheatley). English sports – including riding, boxing, tennis – were introduced. Even learning the English language was on the uptake. English governesses arrived to educate the children of wealthy families.

The situation, however, outside Buda and Pest were quite different. According to Mrs. Gore, “the provinces still remain in the state of mental and moral degradation.” Arany János, who wanted to learn English and translate Shakespeare, had to wait half a year for the Debrecen fair to buy a copy of Shakespeare’s Richard II and King John that is, the only works available at that time, there being no bookshop in Debrecen in 1842!

The role of Széchenyi István cannot be underestimated in the Reform Age. At the age of 24, returning from England, he stressed some minor things that should be introduced in Hungary:

1. Rotary caps on chimneys2. Double doors swinging on both directions and closing automatically3. rectangular oven-pans for bread4. Coal-gas lighting of streets and home5. Water closets

But, he emphasized that E. pattern must not be imitated servant-like. Under Széchenyi’s influence many Hungarians came to look on Great Britain as the perfect country. Hence the younger generation’s compulsive need to study E. language, social and economic development, dreaming of adopting them in Hungary.

Travelling to Great Britain assumed the character of a “pilgrimage” since a prolonged stay in England meant a promising career in Hungary. Nearly all important noblemen and politicians of the Reform Age made shorter or longer tours in Britain (Wesselényi Miklós, Eötvös József, Dessewffy Aurél,

Pulszky Ferenc, Irinyi József, Andrássy Gyula, Bölöni Farkas Sándor, Szemere Bertalan, Toldi Ferenc, Gorove István, Tóth Lőrinc) and they produced highly enjoyable travel diaries, such as

Szemere Bertalan: Utazás külföldön (1840) Tóth Lőrinc: Uti tárca (1844) Gorove István: Nyugat (1844) Irinyi József: Német-, francia- és angolországi uti jegyzetek (1846) – banned and

printed in Germany Erdélyi János: Uti levelek (1844-1845)

These writers were highly qualified intellectuals and were critical of anglomania. That is, they saw the negative sides of Britain, too.

“Anglomania” resonated in literature as well. Sometimes it appeared as a topic for literary caricature, which targeted real anglomaniacs, who blindly imitated things just because they were English. In A falu jegyzője (1845) by Eötvös József, we find a minor character, Bántornyi Jakab, who anglicises his name (calls himself James) and rebuilds his house in the English style. He is the example of a servile imitator, and concentrates only on external features. It is undeniable, however, that the English fashion in architecture was an existing phenomenon. Noblemen who could afford it often pursued the hobby of rebuilding of redecorating houses in a Gothic revival style. Examples: Oroszvár Castle (gr. Zichy-Ferraris Emánuel), Nagyugróc (Alois Pichl), Vép (Count Erdődy – this building was later stripped of its sham English externals), Bonchida (Bánffy family), Martonvásár (the Brunswicks), Csopak villa (Bishop Ranolder). Let us also mention the building of the Hungarian Parliament (1882-1902), which was probably inspired by Sir George Gilbert Scott’s 1872 design for the Berlin Reichstag (and the Westminster in London, of course).

Oroszvár Castle (Rusovce, Slovakia)

Nagyugróc Castle (Vel’ké Uherce, Slovakia)

Bonchida (Bontida, Romania)

Martonvásár

Linguistic borrowings in the period:a) Politics: koalíció, konzervatív, kolonizál, reformer, radikális, republikánusb) Sport: sport, boksz, tréning, derbi, meccsc) Food, drink: löncs, tószt, bárd) Literature: romantika, szentimentálise) Agriculture: farm, prérif) Commerce: patent (szabadalom), licensz, menedzserg) Textile: worsted, plédh) Physics, mathematics: logaritmusi) Journalism: riporterj) Home: komfort, veranda, panoráma+ the proverb “Time is money.”

After the War of Independence of 1848-49, severe restrictions were imposed on Hungary. In fact, the Austrian government introduced military dictatorship (the “Bach era”). After the dictatorship of 1850s, interest reawakened in 1860s, but different in character and direction than before. On the one hand, it had a broader social basis (not limited to aristocrats anymore). On the other hand, it was subdued in force and vigour, and did not have a character of a “mania.”

An important change took place. Now even conservatives began to be interested in English politics and admired the Tory party. England was looked upon by the Hungarians as a quasi-arbiter in Hungarian constitutional matters. For instance, the resolutions of the 1861 Pest diet (parliamentary session) were sent to every single member of the two houses of Parliament in England. Count Zichy

Antal wrote the history of England in two volumes (1867) and György András published profiles of eminent British politicians in the early 1870s.

The translation of seminal works of English scholars and scientists. Thomas Babbigton Macaulay (historian, politician) was elected member of the Hungarian Academy in 1857, John Stuart Mill (economist) in 1868, and Charles Darwin in 1872.

The English influence could be felt in the everyday lives of the families as well. English-origin names given to children, for instance Artúr, Edgár, Oszkár, Malvin, Viktória, Edit. The fashion of sailor suits for middle class scholarship and girls as a kind of uniform. The fashion was borrowed probably by Victorian royal children and grandchildren at a time when “Jack Tar” (a common English term used to refer to seamen of the Merchant or Royal Navy, particularly during the period of the British Empire) was a national hero, the symbol of the formidable royal navy.