CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Karman, Gabor |
|---|---|
| Title | A 17th Century Odyssey in East Central Europe: A Biography of Jakab Harsanyi Nagy |
| Summary | This PhD thesis is a biography of a 17th century petty nobleman from Transylvania, Jakab Harsanyi Nagy, who fulfilled a variety of roles in his rather adventurous life. Visiting student at Western European universities. Rector of the distinguished College of Nagyvarad, accused of Puritan sympathies. Scribe at the Greater Chancellery of the Principality of Transylvania. Interpreter and diplomat at the Transylvanian embassy in Constantinople. Captive in the dreaded fortress of the Seven Towers. Chancellor of Mihai Radu, Voievod of Wallachia. Secretary of an exiled Voievod of Moldavia, Gheorghe Stefan, his representative at the Diet of Hungary and a member of the retinue during his journey to Muscovy. Diplomat at the court of the Crown of Sweden. Court Counselor of the Elector of Brandenburg and promoter of the Hungarian students in Berlin. Author of the only Early Modern treatise on the Ottomans written by a Hungarian. The first part of the dissertation (chapters I–IV) offers a detailed reconstruction of Harsanyi’s activities. Through his person, an analysis of the contexts in which he lived – some of which have received meager attention so far from earlier historiography, such as the micro-societies of the Transylvanian embassy at the Sublime Porte or the court of exiled Romanian Voievods – became possible. His contribution to 17th century Oriental Studies is also analyzed in this part of the thesis. The second part (chapters V–VI) is dedicated to analysis of Harsanyi’s writings from the perspective of questions related to his identity. First, his self-fashioning is described along two major elements: the “bureaucrat” (that is, the faithful, diligent and humble servant of the various princes under his career) and the intellectual (his attempts to gain higher prestige through an emphasis on his Latin education and intellectual skills). Connected to this, his adherence to Puritanism – a general assumption in the earlier historiography – is also put under scrutiny and inferences are traced between his rhetoric and debating methods and those of the contemporary Puritans in Hungary. Lastly, the question of Harsanyi’s attitude towards the Turks in his writings is addressed. The difference between the image of the Turk in the Colloquia and the one drawn by his diplomatic correspondence is explained through changes in the circumstances in international affairs, in his authorial position as well as in his political agenda. |
| Supervisor | Péter, Katalin |
| Department | History PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/hphkag01.pdf |
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