The scope of the seminar was to discuss how the RICHES project and its network including cultural heritage projects can provide insights to support evidence-based policymaking in Europe. The seminar included political updates by representatives from the European Commission, the presentation of policy recommendations from the RICHES project and a Round Table discussion involving major stakeholders.

The first issue of World History (Világtörténet) for 2016, a thematic issue dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours) has been published. The present volume, edited by Marianne Sághy, contains multidisciplinary studies which reflect the new directions of the Martin-research on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Saint’s birth at Savaria (modern Szombathely in Hungary). Attention is mainly focused on the hagiographical work of Sulpicius Severus, its late antique socio-religious background, and the examination of the early expansion (fourth to tenth centuries) of the cult, for these aspects have received little scholarly treatment in Hungarian so far. The impresarios of Saint Martin’s international cult were bishops, poets, kings, nuns, emperors and monks: each of them was attracted by a different element in the multifaceted personality of Martin, and the feature emphasised most varied from period to period, and from soldier to bishop, mystic to missionary. Saint Martin has remained the symbol of apostolic poverty and first monasticism for later Christian generations. It is hoped that these studies will not only contribute to a better understanding of the portrayal and cult of Saint Martin, but also give new momentum to Hungarian research of late antique hagiography.

The first issue of Historical Review for 2016 has been published.

Péter Erdő’s study aimed at exploring the possible divergences and defects of the process with regard to the contemporary state of the canonization process. It was seeking answer to the question whether the process itself, in terms of its whole course and final result, was in keeping with contemporary prescriptions. László Szabolcs Gulyás’ essay explores the content of the customary law and its practical application in the market towns of northeastern Hungary in the late middle ages. The purchase, exchange, mortgage, alienation and bequest of real estate, as well as their offer to ecclesiastical institutions as pious donation was a general phenomenon in late medieval Hungarian market towns. Free disposition of various pieces of property – plots, houses, arable, mills, pasture, and before all vineyards – was an everyday and widely accepted occurrence. Supervision of real estate trade was a basic duty of the town council, a task it discharged on the basis of the town’s own customary law. Tamás Goreczky’s paper is primarily concerned with the internal and foreign affairs of Russia in the 1880s with a particular focus on one of the influential political phenomena of the decade, Pan-Slavism. The paper provides an overview of the Pan-Slavic movement and its politicians in the aforementioned time span, predominantly based on the reports of István Burián, the Austro-Hungarian consul general in Moscow. Gusztáv D. Kecskés’ study summarises what the Swiss authorities did in order to secure the reception of the refugees, the ways in which the local society reacted to the crisis, and the results that were yielded by the efforts. The conclusion of the author is that while the Swiss response perfectly fits into the general policies of the West, some local characteristics can also be grasped. He regards as the chief feature of success Cold War opposition and the determined governmental will which derived therefrom.

Culture in Eastern Europe before 1989 meant more than socialist realism and dull propaganda art. An alternative cultural scene flourished despite the controls of socialist regimes, and its diverse practices included non-conformist avant-garde art, civic initiatives for unofficial education and publication, underground punk and rock bands, alternative ways of life and even novel religious practices. COURAGE (“Cultural Opposition – Understanding the CultuRal HeritAGE of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries”) is the first international research project that tackles this rich and colourful legacy of cultural opposition in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe by exploring and comparing collections on cultural opposition.

International conference was held in Budapest, organized by the Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences on 5–6 April, 2016, titled “The Representations of Power and Sovereignty in the Kingdom of Hungary and the Spanish Monarchy in the 16th–18th centuries”.

COURAGE – Connecting Collections

Cultural Opposition – Understanding the Cultural Heritage of Dissent in the Former Socialist Countries

This issue examines the history of enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe in the processes of adaptation. The histories of enterprises thus are not themselves the focal point of inquiry. Rather, they are of interest in relation to the events that took place when an enterprise was compelled, because of changes in the economic, political or social milieu, to adapt or transform itself, making changes to its business policies, personnel policies, production structures, marketing practices, supply sources, etc.  See more at http://www.hunghist.org/

This issue covers a wide range of topics, including the underexplored origins of the Hungarian labor service in the mid-1930s, the ideologically charged reception of the first major trial focusing on the Holocaust in the early 1960s, the history of human emotions, the “cold” history of a bureaucracy, the economic motivation and involvement of local perpetrators, and the specific experiences of Hungarian Jewish ghetto dwellers in various ghettos and slave laborers in an unfamiliar and inhospitable metropolis. Free for download at http://www.hunghist.org/index.php/issue-current/79-hhr-issue/314-volume-4-issue-3

The fourth issue of World History (Világtörténet) for 2015, a thematic issue dedicated to the topic of the Russian Empire edited by Zoltán Sz. Bíró has been published. In the past decades there has been an increased interest in the imperial aspect of the Russian history among the Russian researchers, resulting valuable scholarly works on this topic. The editors of the journal World History decided to dedicate a thematic issue to this topic, too, partly to give insights into the themes, methods, and results of the Russian research, and partly to present the recent results of the Hungarian research connecting to the Russian Empire. Our studies focus on the political and economic relations of the imperial center and the border areas, on the organization system of the life of nations, peoples and legal status in the empire, and on certain forms of mediating imperial ideology.

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The fourth issue of Historical Review for 2015 has been published.
Boglárka Weisz’s study is a thorough analysis reexamining and questioning the thesis that he emergence of the treasurer’s office in the Hungarian Kingdom in 14th century could be explained by an increase in the competences of the magister tavarnicorum. Veronika Tóth-Barbalics’ paper examines the selection, functions and activities of the leading functionaries of the Upper House of the Hungarian parliament, applying the methods of biography and prosopography. Barna Ábrahám’s essay aimes to give an overall picture of the situation, frameworks and possibilities of Slovak press during the First World War. Zsuzsanna Varga examines the land reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe after 1944 in a chronological order with attention to different aspects, e.g. the social groups which were deprived of their landed wealth, the beneficiaries, the arable lands, regional differences, the procedure itself etc. Dániel Bácsatyai’s study tries to demonstrate that the prologue of the Illuminated Chronicle - a remarkable artefact of 14th century Hungarian historiography - contains a lengthy quotation from pope Boniface VIII’s decretal collection, the Liber Sextus, which might shed some light upon the author’s learning. The aim of András Vadas’ paper is to draw attention to the complexity of the regulations and customs regarding the construction of water-mills on rivers in medieval Hungary. Orsolya Manhercz’ study examines the circumstances of the visit of Austrian emperor (and Hungarian king) Francis Joseph to Hungary in 1852, characterizing the great emphasis on the evocation of the Hungarian revolution and fight for independence of 1848–1849 and the ambivalence caused by the contrasting emotions evoked by the revolution and the consequent events.
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The third issue of World History (Világtörténet) for 2015, a thematic issue dedicated to the topic of „The Great War and the Balkans” edited by László Bíró has been published. As recently new interpretations have appeared in the literature and the earlier debates regarding the role and responsibility of the small states in the outbreak of WWI have deepened further, the editorial board has decided to publish a thematic issue on the connection between the Balkan peninsula and WWI. We did not intend to outline a summary or synthesis, which task cannot be assigned to a journal with limited space, but rather to emphasize certain problems and focus on debated questions, like state-building in the Balkans; international peace-keeping and the powers; the responsibility of nations states and their willingness to contribute to the settling of international relations; instruments of enforcing economic interests; the aims of cultural penetration and dissemination and humanitarian aid.

How did participants perceive and interpret the violence of war and their own roles in it?  Why did they write about their experiences afterwards? What kinds of survival strategies did peasants, citizens and nobleman develop amidst the everyday experiences of brutality, devastation and death? How was extreme cruelty remembered, and how was war experienced? How did reality and mythology (about the extreme brutality of the enemy, for instance) blend in individual memory and in the cultural memories of communities?

Gabriella Erdélyi
Special Editor of the Thematic Issue

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