Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPálffy 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 Gèza Pálffy'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." . . . Pálffy 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 Pálffy 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 Pálffy'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, Pálffy'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 *
Pálffy 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 Pálffy illustrates the rich- ness of Hungarian political, demographic, economic, and cultural devel- opments.
-- Georg B Michels - University of California * Hungarian Studies Review *
Table of ContentsList 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 Mohács: 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 Rákóczi Uprising, 1703–1711
Glossary
List of Rulers and Highest Dignitaries
Select Bibliography (Monographs and Collected Studies)
Name Index
Place Index
