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The Hungarian Roots of a Bohemian Humanist: Johann Jessenius a Jessen and Early Modern National Identity

Teszelszky, Kees (2010) The Hungarian Roots of a Bohemian Humanist: Johann Jessenius a Jessen and Early Modern National Identity. In: Whose Love of Which Country? Composite States, National Histories and Patriotic Discourses in Early Modern East Central Europe. Studies in the History of Political Thought (3). Brill, Leiden - Boston, pp. 315-332. ISBN 9789004182622

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Abstract

From the point of view of national identity one of the most intriguing figures at the early modern Habsburg court was Johann Jessenius a Jessen (Jeszenszky, Jesenský, 1566-1621). He was born in the Silesian town of Breslau (present-day Wroclaw in Poland) and is described in different sources as a member of the Polish, Bohemian or German nation, but he presented himself in his own works as a eques Ungarus (Hungarian knight). During his lifetime he acted as doctor, academic, historian and politician in Hungary, Bohemia and Austria. He studied in Padua, Wittenberg and Leipzig, where he wrote several influential books in which he displayed his knowledge of his various areas of interest. As a writer he promoted Neo-Platonic ideas at the Habsburg court in Prague and Vienna and wrote an important work on this subject. He was a good friend of the Danish court astronomer Tycho Brahe, the court historian Jacobus Typotius and many influential intellectuals and politicians in the Habsburg Empire during the reign of Rudolf II of Habsburg (1572-1612) and Matthias of Habsburg (1608-1618). Jessenius became the rector of the university in Prague and showed himself a Bohemian patriot. His political activities on behalf of the Bohemian estates after 1616 led to his cruel execution in 1621 at the orders of Emperor Ferdinand IV. The work which will be analyzed here is Jessenius’ description of the coronation of Matthias of Habsburg as king of Hungary. This event took place in the then Hungarian capital Pozsony (present-day Bratislava in Slovakia) on the 19th of November 1608. The work consists of two parts: a detailed account of the actual coronation ceremony, and a chronological overview of all the kings who ruled the Hungarian kingdom. In his description of the ceremony the author justifies Matthias’ ascension to the throne by giving a “diagnostic” analysis of the history of Hungary and thereby stresses his own Hungarian roots.

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: National identity, Political thought, Bohemia, Hungary, early modern period
Subjects: D History General and Old World / történelem > D3 Mediaeval History / középkor története
D History General and Old World / történelem > D4 Modern History / új- és legújabb kor története
D History General and Old World / történelem > DM Eastern Europe / Kelet-Európa
D History General and Old World / történelem > DN Middle Europe / Közép-Európa
D History General and Old World / történelem > DN Middle Europe / Közép-Európa > DN1 Hungary / Magyarország
Depositing User: Kees Teszelszky
Date Deposited: 29 Sep 2015 04:36
Last Modified: 29 Sep 2015 04:36
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/28870

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