Arts and Humanities

Abstract

The present study introduces the role played by the Hungarian Heritage House in applied ethnography and the folk art revival. It is the first such study to review their antecedents over the past 70 years, the evolution of the institutional background, and activities of varying emphasis (research, teaching, certification) in the fields of folk dance, folk music, and folk handicrafts. The second part of the study evaluates professional tasks in the context of the organizational framework of the Hungarian Heritage House, which was founded in 2001, highlighting the internal relationships among activities embedded within the historically developed structure. The study then goes on to describe the intermediary role of the institution in relation to the practical use/usefulness of basic ethnographic research in terms of: (a) knowledge transfer — the utilization of basic ethnographic research in trainings and courses; and (b) digitization — ensuring wide access to ethnographically authentic archive folk music and dance recordings as the socialization of basic ethnographic research; and (c) research activities within the scope of applied ethnography and existing and potential cooperation with the academic sector. By way of conclusion, the study outlines pressing tasks in the field of applied ethnographical research that are crucial to the everyday, practical work of folklorism. These tasks include delineating the image (i.e., concept) of folk art and folk tradition in the Hungarian Heritage House; clarifying the terminological issues that affect the profession as a whole; creating a professional historical archive of folklorism; organizing a regular forum for critical discussion; and rethinking the cultural context and function of the folklore revival in light of the present-day challenges.

Abstract

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972) was originally focused on nature conservation and built heritage. The immaterial aspect of the worldwide heritage discourse arrived at a turning point in 2003, when the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted. The definition of the intangible cultural heritage provides essential frames for a wide range of interpretations. The UNESCO concept focuses on inclusive, representative and community-based traditions which are contemporary and living at the same time. In this sense, the intangible cultural heritage conception is based on the fundamental dichotomy of tradition and modernity. For the communities concerned, a new perspective for living traditions is the process from tradition to heritage. There are four essential features of this process: participation, consciousness, organization and valorization. They can make a difference between tradition and heritage. The Hungarian model for the implementation of the UNESCO Convention is based on a bottom-up system, where the heritage bearers themselves initiate the nomination process for the National Inventory. It is based on their strong commitment to their heritage and it relies on their involvement and participation. In this paper, three case studies from North-East Hungary (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County) represent different ways of “creating a heritage.” The various patterns are closely related to the ideas of identity, community cohesion, tourism, local economy and the preservation of living traditions.

Bortnyik and the “Workshop”. The graphic design work of Sándor Bortnyik (1893–1976) and the “Hungarian Bauhaus”. In the Hungarian and international art history literature, Sándor Bortnyik is primarily known as an avantgarde artist attached to the circle of the MA (Today/Hungarian Art) periodical established by Lajos Kassák. Less well known is his role in the emergence of modernism in Hungary after 1925. From the very start, his painting and printmaking developed in parallel with and in interaction with his graphic design work. Having spent time in the milieu of the Bauhaus in Weimar between 1922 and 1924, upon his return to Hungary he continued to work not only in painting and printmaking, but also in book art and advertising, as well as photography, toy and furniture design, theatre work, and animation. The transcendence of the boundaries between genres, and even between branches of the arts, and the mutual influence between traditional art problems and processes and new media, are among the characteristic and still influential aspects of the modern culture of objects and visuality that were brought about by the twentieth-century avantgarde movements, and which continued in their wake. The work produced by Bortnyik, who believed that art played a role in shaping society, evolved in this spirit. His private graphic design school, the “Workshop” (in Hungarian: Műhely), was the representative in Hungarian visual culture of the Bauhaus concept of practice-based art training and functionalism, which fed off the ideas of Constructivism. The study provides a brief overview of the later development of his career, and his turn away from the genre of graphic design towards the direct communication of social, and later ideological content in painting and in printmaking.

This is a monographic study of the art of István Nagy, a painter of Transylvanian origin, whom his contemporaries also called the “Hungarian Van Gogh” due to his insociable nature and spectacular colours. István Nagy really had Van Gogh as kindred spirit, but his unique, nowhere classifiable and extremely prolific oeuvre consists mainly of a series of pastels, which not long ago for the first time managed to be collected in a monumental oeuvre catalog. The nearly 600-page album, edited by Tamás Kieselbach, provides an insight into the life of this strange, reticent, poor painter wandering in the mountains of Transylvania, who, like the composer Béla Bartók, created an independent formal language from his folk collection. In his fantastically coloured wild pastels and monochrome black charcoal drawings, he captures the ornamentation of the landscape and the closed world of ordinary peasants, which grew into a monumental one, in the footsteps of Millet and Seurat, but also utilizing the lessons of Hungarian modernism.

This contribution explores a remarkable but very much understudied late medieval roadside monument, the so-called Croix Couverte near Beaucaire in the eastern Languedoc. not only is it one of the earliest extant structures erected in the novel Flamboyant Gothic style, it can also be conclusively linked to the patronage of Jean de Valois, Duke of Berry from 1360, and resident as Lieutenant du Roi at Beaucaire from 1382 to 1384. This study investigates the Croix within several rings of inquiry, which gradually widen as the discussion proceeds, beginning with its local context, and proceeding with a detailed examination of the monument’s place within several architectural traditions (roadside furniture, covered crosses especially; ciboria and honorific baldachins). In order to better comprehend its cutting-edge design, the Croix is then positioned within broader (micro-)architectural trends around 1400, a period often referred to as the age of International Gothic. The final part is devoted to some of the architecturally themed miniatures in Jean de Berry’s famous book of hours, the Très Riches Heures, which reflect and refract many of the broader themes of this study, including the “signing” of landscapes through roadside monuments; the simultaneous control and sanctification of certain locales; and the late medieval fascination with turriform and ciboriform structures in the framing of both the sacred and the political.

Johann Lucas Kracker: New finds. The paper provides additional information and corrections to the author’s Kracker monograph published in Budapest in 2004/2005. In addition to archival data and results of research in Moravia, she introduces some re-discovered works from Eger, drawings from the Móra Ferenc Museum of Szeged, and defines twelve Baroque drawings in Debrecen’s Déri Museum as works by Kracker.

Three depictions of Mary of Burgundy seated on horseback were made soon after the duchess’s death.

The drawn copy of a lost work by Hugo van der goes commemorates the negotiations held in Trier in 1473 between frederick iii and Charles the Bold, when they made their first agreement on joining their children in marriage. The composition is strikingly reminiscent of the theme of The Meeting of the Three Living and the Three Dead; the high-born female rider arriving behind Maximilian is Mary of Burgundy, depicted after her death. The man confronting the riders with their mortality probably refers to Charles the Bold (d. 1477). The original work was likely to have been commissioned by Maximilian sometime between the death of the duchess and that of the painter, that is between March and December 1482.

Like the drawing, the allegorical poem completed in 1483 by olivier de La Marche is a commemoration of the recently deceased dukes and duchess of the House of Burgundy. for the edition of the poem published by the Brethren of the Common Life in gouda, the drawing associated with Hugo van der goes was utilised to illustrate the chapter on the death of Mary of Burgundy.

The protagonist of The Meeting of the Three Living and the Three Dead in the manuscript known as the “Berlin Hours of Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian of Austria” is Mary of Burgundy, who died in a riding accident. i refute all the arguments suggesting that the miniature preceded the duchess’s death. The double letters “M” on the harness of Mary’s horse (which are also found several other times in the book of hours) refer not only to the names of the ducal couple, but also to words associated with death. The miniature itself was probably commissioned by Maximilian, after his wife’s death. With its softer brushwork, the decorative frame around the miniature – as well as the entire recto of folio 221 – was probably made when the manuscript was in the possession of Margaret of Austria. The personification of Death differs from the verso in many respects (scale, background, style); iconographically it can be considered an afterthought. The green parrot and golden dove in the left margin are also afterthoughts. The two birds appear in the Épîtres de l’Amant vert (1505), the consolatory poem composed for Margaret by Jean Lemaire: one bird was the mother’s favourite, the other her daughter’s favourite; both ended their lives in the mouths of dogs (which had been barking on the verso of folio 220 for a few years before). Here and now, in the margin of the recto of folio 221, the birds representing the souls of mother and daughter are inhabitants of Paradise. The protagonist in the verso of folio 158 of the London rothschild Hours – the image is a copy of the Berlin Meeting – is the commissioner of the manuscript, and also the owner of the Berlin manuscript: Margaret of Austria, identifying with and commemorating her mother Mary of Burgundy. The depiction facing it in the recto of folio 159 alludes to the series of events (the two funerals) that followed the death of Margaret’s husband, Philibert ii, with a proleptic depiction of st. nicolas’s Church in Brou (their future common tomb). Besides the riding ladies, the illustrations of the office of the Dead in the Berlin and London Hours share numerous similarities.

In recent years, international research has turned with renewed attention to the Hungarian early renaissance and the art patronage of King Matthias Corvinus. indeed, it was in Hungary that italian renaissance art first appeared outside the italian peninsula. in 1476, he married Beatrice, daughter of Ferdinando d’aragona (Ferrante), who brought to Buda a love of books and music she had inherited from her grandfather, alfonso d’aragona. the work of Beatrice’s brother, giovanni d’aragona, previously known mainly from thomas Haffner’s monograph on his library (1997), is presented here from the viewpoint of his influence on Matthias’s art patronage. Ferrante’s children, alfonso, Beatrice, and giovanni were educated by outstanding humanist teachers. giovanni acquired many church benefices, and when Pope sixtus iv created him cardinal at the age of twenty-one, he made a dazzling entrance to rome. John was – together with Marco Barbo, oliviero Carafa, and Francesco gonzaga – one of the principal contemporary patrons of the College of Cardinals.

On 19 april 1479 the pope named him legatus a latere to support King Matthias’s planned crusade against the Porte. giovanni went from rome to Hungary via Ferrara and Milan with two noted humanists in his retinue: the encyclopedist raffaele Maffei (volaterranus) and Felice Feliciano, bookbinder and collector of roman inscriptions. He spent much of his eight-month stay in Hungary with Matthias and Beatrice, no doubt exerting a significant influence on them, particularly in the collecting of books. Matthias appointed his brother-in-law archbishop of esztergom, the highest clerical office in Hungary. leaving Hungary in July 1480, giovanni returned to rome via venice and Florence, where lorenzo de’ Medici showed him the most valuable works of art in his palace. giovanni was appointed legate to Hungary again by sixtus iv in september 1483, and – together with Francesco Fontana – he stayed in Buda and esztergom between october 1483 and June 1484. the royal couple presented him with silver church vessels, a gold chalice, vestments, and a miter.

Giovanni’s patronage focused on book collecting and building. He spent an annual sum of six thousand ducats on his library, and his acquisitions included contemporary architectural treatises by alberti and Filarete. it was around the time he was in Buda – between 1479 and 1481 – that the first large-format luxury codices were made for Matthias and Beatrice by the excellent Florentine miniaturist, Francesco rosselli. in rome, giovanni (and Francesco gonzaga) employed the Paduan illuminator gaspare da Padova, and his example encouraged Matthias and Beatrice to commission all’antica codices. anthony Hobson has detected a link between Queen Beatrice’s Psalterium and the livius codex copied for giovanni: both were bound by Felice Feliciano, who came to Hungary with the Cardinal. Feliciano’s probable involvement with the erlangen Bible (in the final period of his work, probably in Buda) may therefore be an important outcome of the art-patronage connections between giovanni and the king of Hungary.

A passion for building was something else that giovanni shared with Matthias. He built a palace for himself in the monastery of Montevergine and another near Montecassino, of which he was abbot. He also built the villa la Conigliera in Naples. Matthias’ interest in architecture is much mentioned in antonio Bonfini’s history of Hungary, but only fragments of his monumental constructions, which included the renaissance villa Marmorea in the gardens to the west of the royal Palace of Buda, have survived.

Giovanni and Matthias also had a connection through the famous Milan goldsmith Cristoforo Foppa (Caradosso), whose workshop was located in giovanni’s palace in rome. after his patron’s death in autumn 1485, he attempted to sell a – subsequently famous – silver salt cellar he had been unable to complete. it may also have been at the Cardinal’s recommendation that Matthias invited Caradosso to Buda for a several-month stay in 1489/90, during which he made silver tableware and possibly – together with three other lombardian goldsmiths who were there at the time – the lower part of the magnificent Matthias Calvary.

Further items in the metalware category are our patrons’ seal matrices. My research has uncovered two smaller seals, both with the arms of the House of aragon at the center, that belonged to giovanni d’aragona. one, dating from 1473, is held in the archives of the Benedictine abbey of Montecassino. the other was made after he was created cardinal in late 1477 (it is held in Hungarian National archives). He also had an elaborate prelate’s seal matrix made in the early renaissance style, of which impressions survive on the documents in the archivio apostolico vaticano and the esztergom Primatial archive. at the center of the mandorla-shaped field, sitting on a throne, is the virgin Mary (Madonna lactans type) together with two intervening standing saint figures whose identification requires further research. Beneath it is the cardinal’s coat of arms crowned with a hat. it may date from the time of Caradosso’s first presumed stay in rome (1475–1479), suggesting him as the maker of the matrix, although to my knowledge there is no further evidence for this. the seals of King Matthias have been thoroughly studied, and the form and use of each type have been almost fully established.

Giovanni d’aragona was buried in rome, in his titular church, the Dominican Basilica of santa sabina. Johannes Burckard described the funeral procession from the palace to the aventine in his Liber notarum. Matthias died in the vienna Burg, a residence he had only just taken up, in 1490. His body was taken in grand procession to Buda and subsequently to Fehérvár Basilica, the traditional burial place of Hungarian kings. the careers of giovanni and Matthias, full of military, political and ecclesiastical accomplishments, were thus both cut short. the great works of art they engendered, however, mark them out as highly influential patrons of renaissance art and humanist culture.

Around 1808–1810, during his time in Madrid, the Danish Ambassador Edmund Bourke may have purchased the painting of St. Bartholomew the Apostle by El Greco which later appears in the 1821 inventory of the Esterházy collection. The Scottish-born George Augustus Wallis was one of the earliest enthusiasts of El Greco; this is proven by a letter he wrote to William Buchanan in 1808, in which he describes the then-unknown Spanish master. The knee-length figure of St. Bartholomew is closely connected to the so-called Study of a Head in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, which is a fragment of a painting of St. Bartholomew likewise originating from a series of Apostles.

Abstract

The texts of Zsuzsa Bánk (being born in Germany to Hungarian parents, so growing up bilingually, writing in German and having at least one character with a Hungarian background performing in each of her works) explore affiliations. This is perhaps best seen in the volume of stories The Hottest Summer. With the present contribution, it was my aim to examine spatial concepts in this volume as concepts of belonging.

Kālidāsa’s nāṭakas, namely the Abhijñānaśākuntala and the Vikramorvaśīya are undisputedly among the greatest works of Sanskrit literature. Thus it is not surprising that there have already been many excellent literary interpretations focusing on these works. My aim is not to augment this list, but instead I intend to shed some light on the less-investigated political message of these dramas. In other words, I am attempting to re-read Kālidāsa’s plays as pieces of political theatre.

The paper constitutes part of a long-range series aiming, step by step, to identify the Afro-Asiatic heritage in the etymologically little explored lexicon of Omotic (West Ethiopia), a branch displaying the least of Afro- Asiatic traits among the six branches of this ancient macrofamily.

Among the recent archaeological finds in Tuyuq are several Old Uighur texts related to Tantric practices in the cave monasteries in the Mongol time. A fragment from Cave 24 preserves an unidentified text related to the Mahākāla rites, which has not been attested before. A fragment from Cave 54 provides us a new kind of manuscript of the Baxšï Ögdisi, which is different from the previously identified manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan. Another fragment from Cave 57 preserves a list of dates that can be identified as the days on which the lamp-lighting ceremony influenced by Chinese tantric Buddhism should have been held. Three wooden tablets with Uighur texts probably belong to guest monks or donors. These materials provide precious new information on the ritual and daily life of the Uighur Buddhist community in Tuyuq.

The Precious Scroll of Watermelons (the earliest known manuscript is dated 1867) is a representative example of narrative texts used in the scroll recitation practices of southern Jiangsu since the nineteenth century. It uses a subject widespread in folklore to propagate belief in Bodhisattva Guanyin, a popular Buddhist deity, and thus it combines indoctrination with didacticism and entertainment. A comparison of several variants of the Precious Scroll of Watermelons (falling in between 1867 and 1989) demonstrates the evolution of its functions and cultural meaning in the modern practice of precious scrolls recitation, taking ‘telling scriptures’ of Changshu as an example.

Although tar smearing was a means of revealing acts of adultery and prostitution to the Ottoman society and officials, the opinion of neighborhood residents also gained importance in determining the legitimacy of these allegations. However, beyond its use as a tool of declaring acts of adultery, this was gradually exploited by malicious neighbors to slander each other. Through an exhaustive analysis of Konya court records between 1645 and 1750, this study attempts to examine the extent to which people used tar smearing as a duty under ‘social responsibility’ to stop social evils like adultery, and to what extent was it exploited as a means of a slanderous tool.

In Turkic, hendiadys has an important place as a method that is used for the emphasis of an expression. In addition to Old Turkic inscriptions, hendiadyses, which are often used in Old Uyghur texts, still survive in contemporary Turkic languages. In this article, the hendiadys of yogun yolpa i.e. ‘unmannerly, cumbersome, rude, ugly’ which appears only once (hapax legomenon) in Old Uyghur texts, and never in works from other periods, will be studied in comparison to examples from contemporary Turkic languages. The etymology of the two words yogun and yolpa which form the hendiadys will be investigated. The first element of the hendiadys, yogun, ‘intense, rude, rough, ugly’ has already been the subject of various studies. The other element of the hendiadys, the word yolpa, which does not appear in any other text, is analysed in this article.

While the subject of the Venetian espionage in the Ottoman empire has received scholarly attention, no attempt has been made to study the baili’s intelligence-gathering activities on Safavid issues in a systematic way. Through the close scrutiny of baili dispatches and other relevant materials of the Venetian State archives, this paper examines the role of the Venetian diplomats in Istanbul in information-gathering on the Safavids. It demonstrates that the baili used various techniques, particularly gifting, bribery, and information exchange with the Ottoman officials in order to collect and transmit to Venice a wide range of information on Ottomans’ arch-rivals, the Safavids.

Abstract

The present paper provides an overview of the ways in which Hungarian language issues in Slovakia have been handled from the 1990s to the present, discussing language cultivation, language planning and language management, and summarizing, on the basis of contemporary articles and studies, how the theoretical principles of these directions of research are implemented in the Slovakia Hungarian practices of handling language issues, and, on the other hand, how practical actions of problem handling contribute to theoretical frameworks of shaping language. These results are viewed in their historical contexts throughout the paper, and, at the end, the continuation of earlier processes is also traced in today’s linguistic research.

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the Q-particle də in Sinhala wh-questions and polar questions. Previous approaches propose a two-legged semantic dependency: (i) the lower leg projects a set of alternatives and (ii) the upper leg forms a choice function dependency. The contribution of the present paper is two-fold. First, it presents novel empirical data on complex questions with islands that pose a serious problem for this architecture when applied to polar questions. Second, it develops a new proposal that maintains a common meaning for the Q-particle in the two question types while avoiding this empirical problem. The key insight of the new analysis is to liberalize the upper dependency leg as to pass up a focus value that can later combine with different operators: with the Q-operator in wh-questions and with the squiggle operator in polar questions.

Abstract

In this paper, I investigate the distribution and semantic behavior of various proportional quantifiers (PQs) in Polish. Based on novel evidence including corpus data, I conclude that Polish PQs do not constitute a uniform category, but rather can be divided into four distinct classes based on the following properties: i) (in)compatibility with numerals and measure words, ii) (in)compatibility with approximative modifiers, iii) (in)compatibility with cumulative predicates and iv) (non)occurrence of spatial integrity effects. I propose that such a typology results from an interplay between more primitive semantic notions. In particular, the data call for combining degree semantics with a mereotopological approach to the meaning of PQs.

Abstract

Der Aufsatz beschäftigt sich mit der Rezeptionsgeschichte der Gedichte Albrecht von Hallers im Ungarn des 18. Jahrhunderts. Als Grundlage für die Untersuchung dienen die Haller-Zitate in zeitgenössischen Stammbucheinträgen. Mit dieser Frage setzten sich zwar sowohl deutsche als auch ungarische Forscher schon früher auseinander, jedoch, wie im vorliegenden Aufsatz behauptet wird, unter Anwendung einer gewissermaßen falschen Methode. Es wurde nämlich in diesen früheren Arbeiten nicht näher darauf eingegangen, ob das Zitat gegebenenfalls einer sekundären Quelle entnommen wurde. Dieser Ansatz führte jedoch zu falschen Schlussfolgerungen. Vorliegender Aufsatz versucht, die aus sekundären Quellen stammenden Zitate von jenen aus dem „Original“ zu unterscheiden. Es wird festgestellt, dass die in Stammbucheinträgen im 18. Jahrhundert zu lesenden Haller-Zitate überwiegend aus nachweislich sekundären Quellen herzuleiten sind. Je „berühmter“ ein Autor war – diesen Eindruck gewinnt man anhand des Korpus –, umso mehr zitieren ihn die Zeitgenossen aus indirekten Quellen.

In 1913 László Éber wrote a paper about the rood screen of the baroque cathedral of Vác. He was the first who revealed that sixteen pieces from the renaissance-style carved stone elements of the rood screen were made in the late medieval period. the stone material of the pieces is marl of the Buda region. there were other stone carvings masoned in the cathedral: four dividing pillars of this balustrade, other two with Jagellonian signs from red marble and two tables with the coat of arms of Miklós Báthori (bishop of Vác, 1474–1506). The balustrade elements can be seen in the baroque cathedral thought to be in strong connections with some dividing pillars from Buda castle. there were two ideas about the dating of the Vác balustrade: either they were made during the reign of King Matthias corvinus or after his death during the Jagellonian era. In 1992 árpád Mikó discovered a barrel on the backside of one pillar, which is one of the emblems of King Matthias. there is another important question: what was the original finding place of the pillars? Éber wrote, that it is plausible that Miklós Báthori was the order of the balustrade and it was stood in the medieval cathedral of Vác, which was destroyed during the Ottoman era. is it possible that they came from the site, which now laid under and around the baroque Franciscan church and monastery in Vác? I examined the written sources from the 18–19th centuries and it turned out, that there is no information about it.

On the other hand, there are several other renaissance fragments from Vác, most of them were also made of marl of the Buda region. the fragments kept by the local museum came into light by archaeological excavations between 1912 and 2019, on the site where the medieval episcopate laid. From the first time, researchers (based on Éber) wrote that the findings stand close to the ones in the cathedral’s rood screen. Most of them are well known – we could say – because tibor Koppány published every known piece in 1994. He wrote about a few other balustrade fragments too, but his descriptions are very short, and we can see drawings of only ca. one-third of all pieces. so i decided to see the original fragments and found that those small pieces kept by the museum don’t come from that balustrade can be seen today in the cathedral.

The most important difference is the shaping of the baluster’s foot rings. they are divided: there is a vertical section and after that, the ring widens into a curved form. Furthermore, the image field of the dividing pillars framed in a more complex mode. On the image fields probably tapes, garlands, trophies were carved, but there is not any intact one, only very small pieces, which came to light in every corner of the site. so the balustrade’s original place couldn’t be determined certainly. nevertheless, because of the fine surfaces of the carvings, i think the balustrade stood inside, maybe in the medieval cathedral, perhaps in the chapel of saint nicolaus where Miklós Báthori was buried.

Among the early renaissance-style pieces known from the medieval Hungarian Kingdom, there are a few analogies. First of all, we can see the very same solution on the foot rings of the Jagellonian era dividing pillars from Hungarian red marble in Vác. they belong to a group of red marble carvings: the other elements of this group can be found in Buda and esztergom. Furthermore, from the marl of the Buda region stone material i know only one other example where the baluster foot rings are similar: the gallery of the castle chapel in siklós. so i think we can say certainly that the „new” balustrade fragments from Vác were made during the Jagellonian era.

East of the n–S reach of the Danube in Hungary, even east of the Tisza one can only sporadically come across relics of the renaissance stylistic period – certainly in close correlation with the events of the general mediaeval and early modern-age history, apart from the geographic situation. That explains why the exposure of new architectural details in the ground-floor space of the “Puszta Tower” of Fegyvernek built in the second half of the 15th century and only known so far for its facades already assessed in 1872. The imprint and fragmentary remains of the wall articulating architectural elements defined lately as remains of a pair of facing sedilia allude to the quondam representative interior of the room, and the details can be interpreted as an example of the coexistence of the gothic and the renaissance in Hungary.

The “find” is new proof of the existence of momentous buildings prior to the Ottoman occupation and also of the chance for research to explore their remains. The short account is a preliminary report on a partial result of excavations going on in Jász-nagykun-Szolnok County.

King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1458‒1490), son of the “Scourge of the Turks,” John Hunyadi, was a foremost patron of early Renaissance art. He was only fourteen years old in 1470 when he was elected king, and his patronage naturally took some time and maturity to develop, notably through his relations with the Neapolitan Aragon dynasty. In December 1476, he married Beatrice, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon, who brought to Buda a love of books and music she had inherited from her grandfather, Alphonse of Aragon.

I studied the work of Beatrice’s brother John of Aragon (Giovanni d’Aragona), previously known mainly from Thomas Haffner’s monograph on his library (1997), from the viewpoint of his influence on Matthias’s art patronage. John was born in Naples on June 25, 1456, the third son of Ferdinand I of Aragon. His father, crowned king by Pope Pius II in 1458 following the death of Alphonse of Aragon, intended from the outset that he should pursue a church career. Ferdinand’s children, Alphonse (heir to the throne), Beatrice, and John were educated by outstanding humanist teachers, including Antonio Beccadelli (Il Panormita) and Pietro Ranzano. Through his father and the kingdom’s good relations with the papacy, John acquired many benefices, and when Pope Sixtus IV (1471‒1484) created him cardinal at the age of twenty-one, on December 10, 1477, he made a dazzling entrance to Rome. John was — together with Marco Barbo, Oliviero Carafa, and Francesco Gonzaga — one of the principal contemporary patrons of the College of Cardinals.

On April 19, 1479, Sixtus IV appointed John legatus a latere, to support Matthias’s planned crusade against the Ottomans. On August 31, he departed Rome with two eminent humanists, Raffaele Maffei (also known as Volaterranus), encyclopedist and scriptor apostolicus of the Roman Curia, and Felice Feliciano, collector of ancient Roman inscriptions. John made stops in Ferrara, and Milan, and entered Buda — according to Matthias’s historian Antonio Bonfini — with great pomp. During his eight months in Hungary, he accompanied Matthias and Beatrice to Visegrád, Tata, and the Carthusian monastery of Lövöld and probably exerted a significant influence on the royal couple, particularly in the collecting of books. Matthias appointed his brother-in-law archbishop of Esztergom, the highest clerical office in Hungary, with an annual income of thirty thousand ducats.

Leaving Hungary in July 1480, John returned to Rome via Venice and Florence, where, as reported by Ercole d’Este’s ambassador to Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici showed him the most valuable works of art in his palace, and he visited San Marco and its library and the nearby Medici sculpture garden.

In September 1483, Sixtus IV again appointed John legate, this time to Germany and Hungary. He took with him the Veronese physician Francesco Fontana and stayed in Buda and Esztergom between October 1483 and June 1484. The royal couple presented him with silver church vessels, a gold chalice, vestments, and a miter.

John’s patronage focused on book collecting and building. He spent six thousand ducats annually on the former. Among his acquisitions were contemporary architectural treatises by Leon Battista Alberti and Filarete, which he borrowed for copying from Lorenzo’s library. They were also featured in Matthias Corvinus’s library, perhaps reflecting John’s influence. Around 1480, during his stay in Buda (approximately 1478‒1480), the excellent miniaturist, Francesco Rosselli made the first few large-format luxury codices for Matthias and Beatrice. Both Queen Beatrice and John of Aragon played a part of this by bringing with them the Aragon family’s love of books, and perhaps also a few codices. The Paduan illuminator Gaspare da Padova (active 1466‒1517), who introduced the all’antica style to Neapolitan book painting, was employed in Rome by John as well as by Francesco Gonzaga, and John’s example encouraged Matthias and Beatrice commission all’antica codices. He may also have influenced the choice of subject matter: John collected only ancient and late classical manuscripts up to 1483 and mainly theological and scholastic books thereafter; Matthias’s collection followed a similar course in which theological and scholastic works proliferated after 1485. Anthony Hobson has detected a link between Queen Beatrice’s Psalterium and the Livius codex copied for John of Aragon: both were bound by Felice Feliciano, who came to Hungary with the Cardinal. Feliciano’s probable involvement with the Erlangen Bible (in the final period of his work, probably in Buda) may therefore be an important outcome of the art-patronage connections between John and the king of Hungary.

John further shared with Matthias a passion for building. He built palaces for himself in the monasteries of Montevergine and Montecassino, of which he was abbot, and made additions to the cathedral of Sant’Agata dei Goti and the villa La Conigliera in Naples. Antonio Bonfini, in his history of Hungary, highlights Matthias’s interest, which had a great impact on contemporaries; but only fragments of his monumental constructions survive.

We see another link between John and Matthias in the famous goldsmith of Milan, Cristoforo Foppa (Caradosso, c. 1452‒1526/1527). Caradosso set up his workshop in John’s palace in Rome, where he began but — because of his patron’s death in autumn 1485 — was unable to finish a famous silver salt cellar that he later tried to sell. John may also have prompted Matthias to invite Caradosso to spend several months in Buda, where he made silver tableware.

Further items in the metalware category are our patrons’ seal matrices. My research has uncovered two kinds of seal belonging to Giovanni d’Aragona. One, dating from 1473, is held in the archives of the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino. It is a round seal with the arms of the House of Aragon at the centre. After being created cardinal in late 1477, he had two types of his seal. The first, simple contained only his coat of arm (MNL OL, DL 18166). The second elaborate seal matrix made in the early Renaissance style, of which seals survive in the Archivio Apostolico Vaticano (Fondo Veneto I 5752, 30 September 1479) and one or two documents in the Esztergom Primatial Archive (Cathedral Chapter Archive, Lad. 53., Fasc. 3., nr.16., 15 June 1484). At the centre of the mandorla-shaped field, sitting on a throne with balustered arm-rest and tympanum above, is the Virgin Mary (Madonna lactans type), with two supporting figures whose identification requires further research. The legend on the seal is fragmentary: (SIGILL?)VM ……….DON IOANNIS CARDINALIS (D’?) ARAGONIA; beneath it is the cardinal’s coat of arms in the form of a horse’s head (testa di cavallo) crowned with a hat. It may date from the time of Caradosso’s first presumed stay in Rome (1475‒1479), suggesting him as the maker of the matrix, a hypothesis for which as yet no further evidence is known to me. The seals of King Matthias have been thoroughly studied, and the form and use of each type have been almost fully established.

John of Aragon was buried in Rome, in his titular church, in the Dominican Basilica of Santa Sabina. Johannes Burckard described the funeral procession from the palace to the Aventine in his Liber notarum. Matthias died in 1490 in his new residence, the Vienna Burg, and his body was taken in grand procession to Buda and subsequently to the basilica of Fehérvár, the traditional place of burial of Hungarian kings. The careers of both men ended prematurely: John might have become pope, and Matthias Holy Roman emperor.

(The bulk of the research for this paper was made possible by my two-month Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts [CASVA] of the National Gallery of Art [Washington DC] in autumn 2019.) [fordította: Alan Campbell]

The study surveys the investigations carried out since the publication of the author’s Kracker monograph (Budapest, 2004, in German 2005), and rectifies certain data and the oeuvre catalogue in the book at several loci. New findings are mainly contributed by the Czech Republic: Václav Mílek and Tomáš Valeš explored archival data in Nová Riše and Znojmo, which add to the currently elaborated register entries studied in Vienna and to a lesser extent in Jászó (Jasov, SK). The latter shed light on the network of social relations of the known family of artists, and lead – by virtue of Johann Lucas Kracker’s sculptor father and sculptor stepfather – from Johann Lucas Hildebrandt via relatives employed in the court to the circle of the provincial chief architect Franz Anton Pilgram. The painter got married in Znojmo in the summer of 1749, where he settled, presumably helped by his painter brother-in-law many years his senior, Dominic Clausner; perhaps it was he who mediated him to the Premonstratensians. Based on archival data, Tomáš Valeš attributed two upper pictures of the Capuchine high altar to Franz Xaver Karl Palko from among so-far defined Znojmo works of Kracker, while Petr Arijčuk has discovered several ensembles of paintings convincingly attributed to Kracker in the Moravian region. These works display the strong influence of Paul Troger.

The Pauline church of pilgrimage at Sasvár (Šaštin, SK) was renovated by favour of the Habsburgs; its fresco decoration was entrusted to Viennese court artists: the figure painter of the composition signed by Joseph Chamant was Joseph Ignaz Mildorfer. In the summer of 1757 Kracker delivered two (signed) altar pictures for the pair of chapels in the middle and, in my view – contradicting somewhat the Mildorfer monograph – decorated their lateral walls in grisaille and on the ceilings of the first pair from the sanctuary he painted frescoes of hovering angels. Portraits by Kracker are also known from this period: the imaginary portrait of King of Hungary Béla IV, preserved by the Fáy family since the suppression of the Premonstratensian monastery in Jászó, has recently been identified by researcher of the family genealogy Tünde Fáy. A fine bust of a Moravian noblewoman signed in 1751 has cropped up in Rome’s art trade.

Kracker arrived in Eger from Jászó in the autumn of 1764, only for an occasion. His first job was to decorate the bishop’s private chapel in Eger: the fresco of the resurrected Christ perished in the 19th century. Its only visual trace is a water colour copy signed in 1816 and inscribed by Franz Hauptmann, which was rediscovered after long latency and put on display in 2017 by Petra Köves-Kárai. In 1767 Kracker was working for the Premonstratensians in Geras again from Znojmo: in that year he signed the fresco of the parish church of nearby Japons and decorated that votive chapel at Elsern (the frescoes of the latter perished during reconstructions). Sharing the opinion of Wilhelm Georg Rizzi, the book of 2004 disputed that the presbytery ceiling of Japons was Kracker’s work and thus it was included as the work of Paul Troger in the monograph of the Tirolean painter published in 2012. However, the sources published by Rizzi in 2011 are not convincing enough; the homogeneity of the decoration suggests the authorship of Kracker in all four bays, I think.

The largest increment has been added to Kracker’s graphic oeuvre. Thanks to Tamás Szabó, we know increasingly more of the historical provenance of the Szeged collection of drawings, including the key role of a Szeged painter Ferenc Joó’s studies in Eger. He also directed attention to Joó’s friend from Tiszafüred, painter and graphic artist Menyhért Gábriel who also studied in Vienna and copied works in the archiepiscopal gallery in Eger, and to his estate in Debrecen. That latter contains 144 sheets. Amidst the engravings and 19th century drawings the baroque drawings clearly emerge as a separate group, most of which – 12 compositions – proved to be by Kracker. In addition to the first sketch of the Jászó high altar, the St Sophia praedella picture of the St Anne side altar in the Minorite church of Eger can be accurately identified; an Assumption picture is conditionally associated with the high altar picture of 1774 in the parish church of Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica, SK). No models of the St Augustine and St John Nepumecene drawings are known, and another two sheets together with a sheet in Szeged lead to the altar pictures in the church of Olaszliszka, but they must have been painted after Kracker’s death, in his workshop. A coherent series copied the ceiling fresco of the refectory in the Praemonstratensian monastery of Geras, painted by Troger in 1738. The quality of draughts-manship is outstanding, coming close to the model.

Together with the baroque drawings, some old copperplate engravings also got into the museums of Szeged and Debrecen. It cannot be excluded that they can also be traced to Eger and they might have been pieces of Kracker’s collection. No inventory survives of Kracker’s estate but when his pupil Johann Zirkler died, a great amount of drawings and prints were inventoried which he might have inherited from his master. For lack of concrete correspondences this provenance cannot be proven, but in another way – by defining the graphic antecedents to Kracker works – we have compiled a virtual collection of the painter’s models. The revised catalogue of Johann Lucas Kracker’s drawings is appended to the study.

To continue my previous papers, I wish to present and try to elucidate the new makers’ marks and mark variants found in private collections and the art trade. The time interval is again the 18–19^th centuries. The first to be mentioned are the twin capital cities Buda and Pest, as well as Óbuda. In Buda, new data have been found about Franciscus Mechthler, in Pest about Carolus Schmidt and Menyhárt Boll, in Óbuda of Fülöp Adler. This is followed in alphabetic order by several cities of the Hungarian Kingdom. Arad (Arad, R), Balassagyarmat, Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica, Neusohl, SK), Eger (Erlau), Esztergom (Gran), Győr (Raab), Igló (Spišská Nová Ves, SK), Kassa (Košice, Kaschau, SK), Kismarton (Eisenstadt, A), Liptószentmiklós (Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš, SK), Losonc (Lučenec, Lizenz, SK), Miskolc, Nagybecskerek (Zren­ janin, SR), Nagykanizsa (Großkirchen), Nagyszeben (Si biu, Hermannstadt, R), Rimaszombat (Rimavská Sobota, Großsteffelsdorf, SK), Selmecbánya (Banská Štiavnica, Schemnitz, SK), Szatmárnémeti (Satu Mare, Sathmar, R), Szentendre, Temesvár (Timişoara, Temeswar, R), Tolna, Zágráb (Zagreb, Agram, HR). The weight of new infor­ mation varies by settlements. In some places only a new version of the known hallmark was found, there are places where new goldsmiths were come across or new biographic data were found of known masters. Finally, I enumerate the goldsmiths’ works in Hungary which display Viennese city mark imitations in addition to the makers’ marks. The article is accompanied with a diagram of 117 goldsmiths’ marks.

Wholly new aspects have lately enriched the research of the Buda library of King Matthias Corvinus, Bibliotheca Corvina. the library – in the last years of its history – is regarded as a self-contained new entity. Research has adopted a far more complex approach than earlier, including the differentiation of the Buda scribes, the recognition of the text critical work of the humanists and of course the activity of the book-binders. Of particular importance are the new investigations of Edina Zsupán, who has managed to prove that several important Corvina manuscripts were copied in Buda. they include the ransanus codex (Budapest, OSzK, Cod.Lat.249), the Beda Venerabilis Codex (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 175), the philostratus (Budapest, OSzK, Cod. Lat. 369) and the Averulinus corvinas (Venezia, Bibioteca nazionale Marciana, Lat. VIII. 2 [-2796]), as well as the nagylucse psalter (Budapest, OSzK, Cod. Lat. 369) adapting to the corvinas in all respects. the material of the folios of each is a more roughly finished Central European parchment and the copiers could be identified on the basis of the individual features of their handwriting. However, no names can be attached to them for the time being.

Unexpectedly, a datum was found in a diploma in which a certain Nicolaus, alias scriptor librorum serenissimi Mathiae regis can also be read about. the datum was found in a formularium, so the information about the missilis is defective, but the protagonists can be identified. the letter was written to archbishop cardinal tamás Bakócz who was in rome at that time (1512–1514), and the writer of the letter was probably the bishop of Gyulafehérvár Ferenc Várdai (1513–1524), who asked that in view of the merits of magister senis, he should kindly try and get a papal promissory deed for some church stipend for his frater germanus, magister Nicolaus alias scriptor librorum serenissimi Mathiae regis. this magister senis, the only person actually named in the letter, is Filippo Sergardi (philippus de Senis) (1466–1536), a cleric with lots of curial stipends born in Siena. He visited Hungary as a member of cardinal pietro Isvalies’ legation (1500–1503). He established close relations with the cardinal and archbishop of Esztergom tamás Bakócz and other Hungarians. this nicolaus was his relative, who used to be the scribe of King Matthias’ books.

The connection between the letters of Pliny the younger – first of all his descriptions of villas – and renaissance architecture is well known. In Hungarian scholarship Rózsa Feuerné tóth pointed out that in describing the palaces of Buda, Visegrád and Esztergom, Bonfini also used Pliny’s terminology. It is, however, strongly questionable that the adoption of the terminology also meant practical connections of construction between Pliny’s accounts and the Hungarian buildings, as the art historian hypothesized.

The paper is meant to provide addenda to this problem with the help of a concrete source, a Pliny codex of János Vitéz, which is annotated throughout in Vitéz’ hand. the focus is on the two most important texts, the description of Pliny’s villa in Laurentum (II.7, V.6), with an intention to explore whether inferences could be made from the paratexts by the high priest’s hand. the unfolding picture suggests a theoretical impact in the first place: apparently, what the Hungarian high priest particularly highly appreciated in the accounts was the formulation of space for the ideal humanist way of life, for absorbed studying. Library, bath, covered corridor, heated room, garden, quiet studies – these captured Vitéz’ attention during reading the text. the villa at Laurentum thus mainly epitomized a space as the venue of the ideal humanist life in Vitéz’ interpretation, serving otium, psychic and intellectual re creation. It is noteworthy that Bonfini lists the same elements – library, covered corridor, bath, garden – in his account of Esztergom castle in connection with János Vitéz, while it is only an unanswered question based on this source and our current knowledge of the Esztergom residence whether the Pliny studies of the lord of the castle did contribute to the high priest’s constructions or not. At any rate, the careful annotation of the Pliny text supports a positive answer to this assumption.

Abstract

The contemporary musealization of Latvian design objects or the inclusion of high-quality examples in the Latvian National Museum Holdings began in 2005. Established three years later in 2008, the Latvian Design of the Year Award has since then attracted attention to this field, prompting further theoretical discourse. The publicly available narrative on 21st century Latvian design often points out the strong influence of local crafts and ethnic cultural heritage. An important impetus in contemporary, ethnically conscious design is the culture of the Song and Dance Celebration, within which the outfits of festival participants are created. This article identifies the application of traditional Latvian crafts in the works of Latvian artists and designers, visualizing the ideas and forms of ethnic identity. The analysis focuses on the general context of Latvian design: institutions supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Latvian Design of the Year Award and FOLD, the digital magazine of creative industries. Sources used include opinion articles and the public messages of companies. To facilitate theoretical understanding of the topic, it was important to take into account the theory of national identity and the museum narrative as well as the history of European design, especially at the turn of the 20th/21st centuries. It should be noted that the history of applied art and design in Latvia during the 20th century is still in the research stage. A historical insight into the construction of the Latvian traditional craft narrative, which began at the end of the 19th century, is also provided so as to promote greater comprehension of Latvian design. Essentially, it is a narrative of national identity, deliberately constructed through the craft practices, raw materials and compositional techniques characteristic of peasant culture.

Abstract

The basic goal of ecovillages is to create a sustainable lifestyle and community. Many residents of Hungarian ecovillages consider traditional peasant culture the example of an ecological lifestyle; for them, traditional peasant ecological knowledge and practice is an important reference point. Therefore, the pursuit of ecological ideology and an eco-conscious, sustainable way of life naturally leads ecovillagers to peasant material culture. In this study, I present the revival of handicraft heritage in rural eco-communities. I provide an insight into how traditional artifact-making activities come to life, how the old tools of Hungarian peasant culture are used, collected, and copied, and I present the place and interpretation of these old trades and their masters in these communities. The study is based on my ethnographic-anthropological research conducted in Hungarian ecovillages since 2007.

Abstract

Plovdiv was the first Bulgarian city to become the European Capital of Culture for 2019. One of the leading projects in this campaign was focused on the renovation of Kapana (“The Trap”) – a historical district in the urban center. The project for upgrading Kapana was one of the first activities in the implementation of Plovdiv's candidacy: Kapana - a creative industries district was a long-term public policy initiative that attracted audiences and representatives of creative industries from Plovdiv, the country and abroad, providing a favorable and stimulating environment. The main focus of research is on the concept of “creative industries,” which has been instrumental in developing the field of arts and crafts in the district, contributing to the festivalization of culture. Based on a material gleened from long-term fieldwork, the paper presents contemporary case studies of folk arts and craft designs recently found in the territory of Kapana (2018–2019). Two examples of handicraft heritage are presented in greater detail: Adriana & Robert Atelier founded in 1995 as a family business, producing 100% leather hand-embroidered women's belts with metal buckles [chaprazi/pafti], men's belts, leather bags and other accessories with traditional folk ornaments. The second case explores the modern application of carpentry in the context of antique furniture restoration and the reproduction of antiques.

Abstract

This paper is based on the assumption that there was a well-articulated idea behind the rapidly spreading phenomenon of theft after the formation of collective farms in Transylvania during socialism: people thought that what they were doing was not wrong because the real culprit was the socialist state that deprived them of their control over their lands. Had that not happened, they would still be their own masters, existentially complete, and should the supremacy of this state cease one day, they would once again be who they were before. This idea vitalized their expectations and hopes as a sacred aura. After 1989, these hopes came true temporarily, and partially, but, as it turned out, the peasant order imagined as existential completeness did not return. After joining the EU, the generation that went through socialization owning and cultivating their own land and then lived awaiting and hoping as collectivist peasants had to realize that it was all wrong: the new system brought its own shortcomings, frustrations, and disappointments as their world lost its sacredness.

Abstract

The present study proposes an analysis of the conceptual apparatus that may facilitate the description and interpretation of the changes that have taken place in Transylvanian villages and ruralities over the past quarter century. The central question is: what is left of the village after these changes? Respectively, was this change superficial or has it affected the deeper strata as well? I argue that we are talking about a structure in which some strata have been radically transformed while others have remained unaffected. This led to the production of numerous ways of life that proved to be resilient. In the changing and diversified space of ruralities, there are several mentalities and tendencies that are parallel and simultaneously different temporalities that either complement or eliminate each other. Sometimes they coexist peacefully, other times they are in constant conflict with each other.

Due to the expansion of the human issues to the text, various manifestations of emotionality are structured or hidden, unconscious movements and subjective reactions to the world are revealed in the text. The individual becomes the basis for the development of the typology of the emotional images. Such images become public, turn to the carriers of genre, and form narrative matrices. The text becomes a particularly sensitive field, a tuning fork, which allows the readers to correlate their own emotions with previous, already experienced, and tested literature. Endowed with powerful cultural and historical meanings, built up and enriched in the perspective of epochs, emotions become a fluid basis for comparisons of human images at the transcultural and transnational levels. They form the tertium comparationis, within which there are a selection and birth of new images of emotion, and thus, the properties of artistic writing, measurements of the sensibility of the text to extraneous trends and inclusions, modern approaches to the interpretation of the tradition. As a result of this longevity, the world of emotions is internalized into history as a memory of the past, which lives in the present and has its internal temporality and cultural stage. However, there is always a constant “theoretical” excess in the variety of manifestations of sensibility, which serves as the basis for their comparisons, assimilations, and distributions. It has no historical layers; it is the criterion and measure of the meeting of even distant images and models on the border, in the field of tertium comparationis.

The study of the emotional world of the work involves correlation with the circulation of ideas, worldviews, and aesthetic forms in the melting pot of culture. In this semiotic device, the theory of cultural transfer is formed. It allows going beyond local comparative studies to the level of globalization expansion of objects of interpretation. The founder of transfer analysis M. Espan’ formulated this methodology as the output of literary criticism on the other side of comparative. P. Kulish’s prose is a very interesting phenomenon in the context of this theory. The author resorted to a special technique of intertextual interaction, palimpsest as “embedding” and too sensitive attitude to tradition, rethinking at a cultural distance in fundamentally different historical and literary conditions.

Die Zeitschrift Kmetijske in rokodelske novice, herausgegeben von J. Bleiweis, spielte bei der Entwicklung der einheitlichen slowenischen Schriftsprache Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts eine bedeutendere Rolle als bisher angenommen. Sie prägte die Kulturentwicklung im slowenischen Sprachraum langfristig; als Publikationsorgan stand sie allen Slowenisch schreibenden Autoren zur Verfügung, für Leser stellte sie eine kleine Schreibschule sowie eine Motivation zum Lesen slowenischer Texte dar.

Zu ihren kulturell äußerst bedeutenden Leistungen zählen die Stärkung und Fortentwicklung des Slowenentums, die Unterstützung des politischen Programms des Vereinten Sloweniens, die Ausgestaltung einer einheitlichen slowenischen Schriftsprache und Etablierung einer einheitlichen slowenischen Schrift (slovenica), die Ablehnung von Sprachideen der illyrischen bzw. panslawischen Bewegung, mit der Zeit ebenso die Festlegung von so genannten neuen Formen, abgesehen davon, dass diese vom Herausgeber Bleiweis zunächst als Widerspruch gegen „unserer reinen“ und „verständlichen“ slowenischen Sprache erklärt wurden.

Bleiweis Bemühungen um die Durchsetzung des Slowenischen in Amt und Bildung resultierten in der Ausgestaltung entsprechender funktionaler Varietäten; diese umfassten die allgemeinsprachliche Kommunikation in „häuslicher Umgebung“, den Sprachgebrauch in der Publizistik, die fachsprachliche Ausprägung als Ergebnis der Übersetzung des Grundgesetztes (Državni zakonik) sowie die Literatursprache, dies vor allem durch die Veröffentlichung der Poesie von France Prešeren.

Zur breiten Anerkennung und Hochachtung von Bildungswesen, Zeitschriften und Büchern trug die Zeitung wesentlich bei. Ihr Herausgeber Bleiweis verstand sie zwar als „Bildungsblatt für einfaches Volk“, jedoch wurde die Zeitung auch zum politischen Periodikum für gebildete Leserschaft. Sie stand im Zentrum der slowenischen Renaissance und förderte öffentliche Diskussionen über alle relevanten Fragen des Slowenentums jener Zeit, insbesondere über sprachliche, kulturpolitische und literarische Fragen.

J. Bleiweis’ newspaper Kmetijske in rokodelske novice (Agricultural and Artisanal News), also known simply as Novice (News), played a key role in the creation of a unified Standard Slovenian language by bringing together all Slovenian writers and providing readers with a means to learn about writing and encouraged the reading of Slovenian texts.

The newspaper built on the sense of Slovenian affiliation and the idea of the United Slovenia by reinforcing the unified Standard Slovenian language and unified Slovenian writing called slovenica, rejecting the Illyrian movement and Pan-Slavicism, later somewhat less convincingly with the adoption of new forms that Bleiweis initially established as a defiance against “our pure” and “comprehensible” Slovenian language.

Bleiweis’ efforts to establish the use of the Slovenian language in schools and public life made it possible for the Slovenian language to achieve four-part perfection regarding its functional varieties, i.e. expanding from its basic practical and communicative “home environment” to the public sphere, where it functioned easily in journalism, took on the fully-fledged role of a specialist language in the translation of Državni zakonik (the official collection of national rules and regulations) and that of an artistic language also used in Prešeren’s poems published in Novice.

As a result of Bleiweis’ Novice, schools, newspapers, and books in Slovenia were able to gain public acclaim. Despite the editor maintaining that Novice was an “educational journal for a simple people”, it was in fact also a political newspaper that suited intellectuals; it was at the heart of the Slovenian national revival and, as such, opened a public discussion about all the important issues of Slovenism, particularly regarding language, culture, politics, and literature.

In the paper, the phenomenon of diminutive contronymy in the Ukrainian language is investigated. Being a type of polysemy, the contronymy is assumed as a universal semantic category with peculiarities in expressive means and in pragmatic functioning across languages. Contronymy is a defining attribute of diminutives in numerous languages.

The present paper highlights the main causes for the occurrence of opposite meanings in the semantic structure of Ukrainian diminutives and reveals the range of potential ‘positive’ / ‘negative’ connotative semes within a single diminutivized word.

Axiological ambiguity of the concept ‘smallness’ is considered to be the main cause for the occurrence of diminutive contronymy. The phenomenon of contradictory meanings within the category of diminutiveness is explained first of all by the fact that the notion ‘smallness’ potentially may be regarded with endearment, affection, tenderness, etc., on the one hand, and with disrespect, derogation, depreciation, etc., on the other hand. Other factors of the occurrence of opposite meanings in the semantics of Ukrainian diminutives are determined as well: a) contextual pejorization or meliorization of the meaning of the diminutive, b) euphemization, c) social inconsistency in the assessment of an object marked with a certain diminutive, d) pragmatic goals of the addresser.

The text-based analysis has testified that in the Ukrainian language, diminutives with usually positive connotations occasionally may undergo semantic changes depending on the context. Often enough, contextual contronymy of the noun is caused by the adjective.

Diminutives denoting unfavourable, difficult, frightful objects and phenomena are considered as contronyms which are culture-specific for the Ukrainian language. In the paper, euphemization is regarded to be the main factor for the emergence of this type of contronyms.

Both types of Ukrainian diminutive contronyms (with denotative semantic polarity ‘small’ / ‘large’ and with connotative semantic polarity ‘positive’ / ‘negative’) are analyzed in the work, drawing on Ukrainian literary texts. The pragmatics of diminutive contronymy in the Ukrainian language is outlined as well. The pragmatic use of diminutive contronyms is connected with the expression of positive or negative attitudes, mitigating, irony, sarcasm, etc.

The study has manifested that the phenomenon of contronymy in the Ukrainian language is observed not only in the semantics of diminutivized nouns but also in diminutivized adjectives and, consequently, in diminutivized adverbs as well. The contronymy of the diminutivized adjectives and adverbs relates to formal means (simple or cumulated suffixes and reduplication) and is identified as a potential to express both decreasing and increasing in the gradation of quality.

Povijest hrvatske latinične grafije je iznimno bogata i istraživačima pruža brojne zanimljivosti, mada je dosad bilo objavljeno veoma malo djela o toj temi. Prvi takav pokušaj je bio Maretićeva povijest latiničke grafije (Maretić 1889). Svakako treba istaknuti rad Milana Moguša i Josipa Vončine (Moguš–vončina 1969) koji je u mnogočemu ispravio Maretićeve pogrešne tvrdnje. Također u posljednje vrijeme je bilo objelodanjeno nekoliko radova o povijesti latiničke grafije u Hrvata (Kapetanovič 2005, Farkaš–Ćurak 2016, Farkaš 2019). Kad se govori o istraživanju hrvatske latinice, nikako ne smijemo zaboraviti doprinos Lászla Hadrovicsa. On je bio jedini koji se usredotočio na detaljniji prikaz dvojnog razvoja latinice u Hrvata od samih početaka. U ovom ćemo radu ići njegovim tragovima, budući da je cilj našega rada predstavljanje dvojne tradicije hrvatske latinice i onog kulturnopovijesnog konteksta koji je okarakterizirao razvoj hrvatske grafije.

U razvoju latinice crkva je imala najvažniju ulogu. Crkva je bila i središte pismenosti u srednjem vijeku. Iz toga slijedi da izgovor određenih latinskih glasova je utjecao na razvoj grafije pojedinih nacionalnih jezika. U slučaju hrvatskog jezika sve to je još posebnije, budući da na južnom dijelu Hrvatske nalazimo jak talijanski i mletački utjecaj, a na sjevernom je dijelu, što naime poklapa s Zagrebačkom biskupijom, očit jak mađarski utjecaj. Južna je tradicija pratila talijanski način izgovora latinskih glasova, što je utjecalo i na razvoj latiničke grafije. S druge strane nalazimo mađarski način izgovora lat. /s/, tj. [ʃ], [ʒ] na sjevernom području. Ova dva sustava su stoljećima karakterizirali hrvatsku latiničnu grafiju, međutim od kraja XVI. stoljeća je bilo više pokušaja za primjenu mješovitog sustava, a jedino je bilo to uspješno u slavonskoj grafiji XVIII. stoljeća.

The history of the Croatian Latin-script orthography is remarkably rich and contains several interesting facts for the researchers; however, only a handful of writings have been published in this matter. The first work written in the topic is Maretić’s history of orthography (Maretić 1889). It is also important to mention the study by Milan Moguš and Josip Vončina (Moguš–vončina 1969), in which they corrected several false statements written by Maretić. Recently, a few more papers on orthographic history have been published (Kapetanovič 2005, Farkaš–Ćurak 2016, Farkaš 2019); nevertheless, it is necessary to point out the work by László Hadrovics, the only researcher in the subject who paid great attention to the dual tradition of the Latin-script orthography in the Croatian language. Following the steps of Hadrovics, the main goal of this paper is to present which cultural historical reasons determined the development of the dual tradition of the Croatian Latin-script orthography as well as to introduce the use of graphemes in detail.

The church played an important role in the development of the Latin script. During the Middle Ages, the church counted as the centre of the literacy, thus it is obvious that the ecclesiastical Latin pronunciation defined the evolution of the individual national languages’ orthographies. From this point of view, the Croatian is a special case, as in the Middle Ages, the Southern Croatian areas were strongly affected by the Italian, more precisely by the Venetian language, while in the northern areas, overlapping the Archdiocese of Zagreb, a strong Hungarian impact can be observed. The southern orthographic tradition follows the Italian pronunciation, i.e. the spelling is also based on the current Italian orthography. Nevertheless, in the northern areas, the Latin /s/ phoneme is pronounced in a Hungarian way, as [ʃ] or [ʒ]. The two orthographic systems were in use side by side over the centuries; nonetheless, since the end of the 16th century, there were several attempts to create a “mixed” system, which was successfully carried out only in the 18th-century Slavonian orthography.

Ana Katarina Zrinska (rođ. Frankopan) značajna je spisateljica hrvatskog baroka. Njezini otkriveni pjesnički tekstovi koncem prošloga stoljeća pridonijeli su revalorizaciji čitavoga životnog djela. Obitelj Zrinski posjedovala je izuzetno lijepo ukrašen rukopisni primjerak gatalice (Sibile), na čijoj unutarnjoj strani nalazimo vlastoručne bilješke same Ane Katarine Zrinske kao vlasnice te nadalje jedan tajanstveni rebus. Prema mojoj interpretaciji grofica je na dan nadnevka 2. travnja 1670. pokušavala tražiti odgovor putem gatalice na pitanja kakva će sudbina zadesiti njenog supruga (Petra Zrinskog) i brata (Frana Krstu Frankopana) koji su za par dana krenuli na svoj kobni put u Beč. Poznata je činjenica da je hrvatska Sibila zapravo prijevod mađarske Fortune, a ova opet prijevod poljske Fortune. Temeljitu usporedbu triju gatalica zasada nitko nije izvršio.

Hrvatsku je Sibilu prvi put objelodanio Ljudevit Ivančan (1906), najnovije je Zvonimir Bartolić (2007) objavio faksimil i transkribirani tekst te napisao opširniju studiju i dodao tumač riječi. U mađarskim i hrvatskim kritičkim izdanjima ima više nedostataka, među inim netočnog transkribiranja, krivih tumačenja nekih riječi, sintagmi.

U svome radu usporedbom upitnih mjesta poljske, mađarske i hrvatske gatalice pokušavao sam popraviti, dopuniti, odnosno razriješiti proturječnosti u kritičkim izdanjima hrvatske i mađarske gatalice, a u studiji sam na osnovi potpunih hrvatskih i poljskih strofa iznio svoje prijedloge za dopunu riječi i izraza u mađarskoj Fortuni, nadalje protumačio i, ako je bilo potrebno, korigirao riječi i sintagme koje nisu bile ili su bile krivo interpretirane u mađarskom i hrvatskom kritičkom izdanju, a na kraju sam preko nekih zanimljivih konkretnih primjera pokušao objasniti razlike između mađarskog i hrvatskog teksta.

Posebno sam poglavlje posvetio pitanju nejedinstvene versifikacije hrvatske Sibile, napose posveti Siromahom, iznimno točnom i majstorski složenom samostalnom tekstu pisanom dvostruko rimovanim simetričnim dvanaestercima. Premda je u hrvatskoj književnopovijesnoj znanosti danas opće prihvaćena teza kako je Sibila prijevod više osoba (zna se, naime, da su u čakovečkom dvorcu Zrinskih djelovali dijaki), temeljitu filološku analizu nitko nije izvršio.

Na osnovi usporedbe mađarske i hrvatske gatalice ovo stajalište čini nam se nepobitnim, primjerice sa značenjem iste mađarske riječi (marha u značenju ‘imovina’) u jednom je slučaju prevoditelj bio načisto, a u drugom ju pak nije uspio protumačiti, stoga je izostavljena u prijevodu. Neujednačeno oblikovani pjesnički tekst same gatalice s jedne strane, s druge pak strane iznimno lijepo i brižno sastavljena posveta (Siromahom) idu u prilog istoj tezi.

Ana Katarina Zrinska Frankopan is an important woman writer of Baroque Croatian literature, whose poems unearthed towards the end of the last century shed new light on her entire work. The Zrinski family owned a special ornate manuscript fortune teller book (Sibila), the inner cover of which contains handwritten entries and a rebus from the Countess. According to my interpretation, on the day of the entry (2 April 1670), the Countess tried to get an answer from this book about the fate of her husband (Petar Zrinski) and her brother (Krsto Frankopan), who left for Vienna a few days later. It is a well-known fact that the Croatian Sibila was translated from the Hungarian Fortuna and the Hungarian from the Polish Fortuna. An accurate philological comparison of the three fortune teller books has not been done by anyone so far.

The Croatian Sibila was first published by Ljudevit Ivančan (1906) and then more recently by Zvonimir Bartolić (2007) in a facsimile with a full modern transcribed version of it, including a study and a gloss. There are several shortcomings in the critical editions of the Hungarian and Croatian fortune teller books, such as inaccurate transcriptions, misinterpretations, and omissions. In this study, the author makes an attempt to fill the aforementioned lacunae and resolve the contradictions in the texts published by Zvonimir Bartolić and Géza Orlovszky by carefully comparing certain passages in the Polish, Hungarian, and Croatian fortune teller books.

In the present paper, based on the available full Croatian and Polish verses, the author proposes to replace the missing words and expressions in the given verse of the Hungarian version of Fortuna. He also interprets and corrects words that are not interpreted or misinterpreted in the Hungarian and Croatian critical editions, and finally tries to find an explanation for the differences between the Hungarian and Croatian texts using several interesting examples.

In a separate chapter, the author deals with the somewhat inconsistent poetic text of the Croatian Sibila, and discusses in more detail the highly accurate, twice-rhyming, halved twelve separate text written Siromahom i.e. ‘For the Poor’. Although it is now believed in Croatian literary studies that Sibila is not the work of one but of several translators (it is a known fact that there were many copyists working at the court of the Zrinski family in Čakovec), no one has proved this.

After an accurate comparison of the Hungarian and Croatian fortune teller books, it is quite apparent that the above statement is true, as the author’s analysis revealed that, for example, one translator knew the obsolete meaning of a given Hungarian word accurately (‘cattle’ in the sense of property), whilst the other did not, as it is missing from his translation. This is also supported by the uneven wording of the verses, which is particularly striking in the case of the poetic text of the extremely demanding dedication entitled Siromahom.