Resources, Records, Reforms

DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 RESOURCES, RECORDS, REFORMS: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MONASTIC POLICIES IN THE KINGDOM OF HUNGARY UNDER MARIA THERESA AND JOSEPH II Katalin Pataki A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the Central European University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Budapest, Hungary CEU eTD Collection 2019 Supervisor of Dissertation: Dr. László Kontler DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 Copyright Notice and Statement of Responsibility Copyright in the text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies by any process, either in full or part, may be made only in accordance with the instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European Library. Details may be obtained from the librarian. This page must form a part of any such copies made. Further copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the written permission of the Author. I hereby declare that this dissertation contains no materials accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions and no materials previously written and/or published by another person unless otherwise noted. CEU eTD Collection DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 iii to Mirjam CEU eTD Collection DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 iv Acknowledgements “It was a dark and stormy night.” Exactly as it must be when a young researcher decides to go on new adventures after the completion of her master’s thesis. Dr. Sándor Papp, my supervisor at the University of Szeged made me enthusiastic about my profession and I was eager to remain on track, even if there were no immediately appearing opportunities to continue my studies. The aforementioned storm and the trees that fell on the tracks of the train that was taking me to Germany in September 2008, were very real, but also symbolic obstacles. Nevertheless, the cooperation between Ulrich Stevens, the director of my host institution, the regional monument care office of Rheinland and Uwe Steinberger, the coordinator of the Jugendbauhütte of Duisburg solved the problems resulting from the delays of my train and added an unexpected, but very beneficial curve to my career path. Their work enabled the employment of young volunteers in monument care and created a setting that saved me from getting lost – not only as a newcomer in a foreign country, but also as a future scholar. However, when I finally arrived on the aforementioned dark and stormy night to the guest house created from the gate tower of the former Benedictine Abbey of Brauweiler in the outskirts of Cologne, none of us had thought that I was right at the beginning of an even more adventurous journey that will last for more than a decade and maybe even longer. CEU eTD Collection I am grateful to my former colleagues at the monument care office not only for the languages skills that later enabled me to read the sources of my dissertation, but also for the ability to look at buildings, objects, maps or inventories – the most common traces of dissolved monasteries – with an eye that looks for the people who used to use them. I am especially thankful to Elke Janßen-Schnabel and Heinrich Walgern, whom DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 v I assisted in their project on monument care areas. Elke’s empathy for both the objects and the people she works with and her talent for handling the traces of the past in their complexity, were exemplary and formative for me. Another wonderful opportunity for learning presented itself in the person of Berthold Schleisiek, the librarian of the institution, who fed my mind and soul with literature both of professional and personal interest, including a book on the history of the former Benedictine abbey in which I lived and worked – my very first reading on the topic of my thesis. After my return to Hungary, where I started working in the local museum of Hatvan, there was no monastery on the horizon – for the first sight. But Kálmán Varga’s research on the monastery of Máriabesnyő quickly proved me wrong and made me realize that the architectural core of the Town Hall of Hatvan hides the walls of a former Capuchin monastery closed down during the reign of Joseph II. Its detailed inventory was recorded at the occasion of its dissolution. Kálmán Varga offered a copy of the inventory to the museum and, simultaneously, an opportunity for me, to broaden my paleographical skills. His encouragement and enthusiasm for the history of the Capuchins helped me to find a research topic that simultaneously enabled me to pursue my interest in architectural heritage and to satisfy the demand for qualitative studies on local history. I am grateful to the former director of the museum, Ágota H. Szilasi, who supported my ambitions, and to the wonderful group of volunteers led by Péter Kiss, CEU eTD Collection who overtook several time-consuming duties in the museum and enabled me to devote time to my research. Imre Máté Jónás patiently deciphered the historia domus of the monastery for me and he gradually armed me with the skills and self-confidence without which I would not have been able to investigate sources in Latin. DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 vi What started with a local case study, gradually broadened into a more comprehensive research on the monastic policies of Joseph II in the Hungarian Kingdom. This would not have been possible without the professional guidance of Márta Velladics, whose studies and expertise on the material culture and personnel of the dissolved monasteries provide a unique opportunity for Hungarian-speaking researchers to orientate themselves in the maze of the extremely rich archival legacy of abolished religious orders. I am also grateful to Krisztina Kulcsár, the referee of the archives of the Hungarian Royal Locotenential Council in the Hungarian National Archives, whose suggestions and patient explanations were essential for me to understand how the sources I look for were produced, transmitted and preserved, so that I could gradually broaden my interests in the era of Maria Theresa and include reports and files that informed about the operation of non-dissolved monasteries. Equipped with skills and sources, I applied to the master’s program of the Central European University in 2012, where I became the student of a wonderful supervisor, László Kontler. His guidance and encouragement enabled me to complete my thesis on the monastery pharmacies of the Hungarian Kingdom despite of the extremely fragmented sources and helped me to progress towards my doctoral studies. He trusted my judgment and accepted my decision when I shifted the focus of my dissertation from eighteenth-century pharmacies to a more general study of CEU eTD Collection ecclesiastical records. He was always available when I needed good words in any format and for any reason: he supplied me with elegantly chosen vocabulary for my texts, with inspiring conversations on difficult questions and with recommendations for DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 vii my applications. He saw the darkest and stormiest moments of the evolution of my dissertation and emphatically helped to overcome the moments of crisis. During my studies at the Central European University, my work was also largely shaped by the courses offered by the professors both of the Department of History and the Department of Medieval Studies. I am particularly grateful to József Laszlovszky, whose expertise on medieval monasteries helped me to look at my topic in a broader time frame. By promoting the usage of GIS in historical and archeological research, he called my attention to a tool with which I could maintain my initial interest in spatiality. I also owe special thanks to Tijana Krstic and Tolga Esmer for teaching me the essentials on the concepts of confessionalization and the history of everyday life. My knowledge on the international context of the topic of my dissertation was largely broadened by the consultations with Alfred Rieber who gave me the first inputs to consider the Habsburg policies in a comparative perspective. The support I received from my fellow students was not less formative. Several drafts of various parts of this dissertation were read by Emese Muntán. Her excellent ice breaking skills and growing expertise on related topics saved many of my thought experiments from being discarded and helped me immensely in the first years of my doctoral studies to produce the critical mass of texts that served as the core of my dissertation. Many times, the challenge of keeping pace with her was my very best CEU eTD Collection source of motivation to leave the obstacles behind and move on – both literally and figuratively. The shared space of the Ph.D. lab unavoidably created bonds with the colleagues with whom I spent several working and not-so-much-working hours there. Even if I left DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.06 viii Budapest in 2016 to embark on my peregrination supported by various fellowships, I could remain in contact with a half-real, half-imagined space dedicated to learning and writing. It definitely started with the atmosphere of the PhD lab, but its essence was the presence of my friend, Dejan Lukić. He was the basis of my ability to adjust to constantly changing living and working environments. If I felt like moving out from my rather uncertain comfort zone, I could always count on Ágoston Berecz. He challenged me and taught me to argue for my opinion instead of “speaking in brackets”. He found me books I was not brave enough to look for due to the limits of my language skills. He guided me into libraries, museums and galleries and other sites of learning I would not have discovered by myself.

Load more