Fraknói Centenary (1924–2024)
The prominent international event of the Fraknói centenary took place on June 6, 2024, at the Aventine headquarters of the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani, next to the headquarters of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. At the scientific conference titled Protagonisti e Collaboratori – Studiosi provenienti dall’Europa centro-orientale presso gli archivi della Santa Sede tra il 1881 e il 1918 (Protagonists and Collaborators - Researchers from Central and Eastern Europe at the Holy See Archives between 1881 and 1918), in addition to members of the Fraknói Research Group, Italian, Austrian, Czech, Polish, and Croatian researchers also gave presentations.
The symposium focused on Fraknói, his Hungarian colleagues, and historians from other nations of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy conducting research in the Vatican archives from the opening of the papal archives by Leo XIII until the end of World War I. Consequently, the conference examined the origins of the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae and Fraknói's Hungarian Historical Institute in Rome from a broader perspective and within a wider historiographical context. The studies from the presentations will be published as the second volume of Storia d'Ungheria – History of Hungary by Edizioni Sette Città in 2025. The international historiographical conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Vilmos Fraknói's death was organized by the Fraknói Vilmos Vatican Historical Research Group, the Moravcsik Gyula Intézet (HUN-REN BTK, Budapest), the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani (Rome), and the CESPoM Centro di ricerca CESPoM con sede all’Università degli Studi della Tuscia (Research Center at the University of Tuscia) (Viterbo).
The conference was opened by Gaetano Platania, president of INSR, and László Solymosi, professor emeritus and full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Class II – where Fraknói served as class secretary between 1873 and 1879. Solymosi's welcoming words were delivered by Katalin Nagy. The academician concluded his speech with the following thought: "Bernard, chancellor of the French school of Chartres, often said around the year 1100: 'We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, so we can see more and farther than they did.' You are walking in Fraknói's footsteps. I have no doubt that you will see and show more..." Afterwards, the main organisers of the conference, Matteo Sanfilippo and Péter Tusor, opened the conference (the latter's speech in Italian can be found here).
Among the Hungarian speakers, Katalin Nagy spoke first, summarizing the beginnings of Vilmos Fraknói's research in the Vatican Apostolic Archives. Fraknói's surviving research requests indicate that he was in direct contact with the Vatican as early as 1867. In addition to negotiations for organizing the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae project, Fraknói was able to begin his work in the Vatican Secret Archives between May 26 and June 15, 1881. His two requests found in the Vatican Apostolic Archives Prefecture demonstrate that from the outset, he focused exclusively on materials related to Hungary. The presentation offered the audience insights into the early years of the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae, primarily following Fraknói's work, which paved the way and established significant pillars of the relationship between Hungarian scientific life and the Holy See, still relevant today.
Péter Tusor's presentation addressed the foundation process of the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae, which began in 1881. Fraknói was the key figure, but many others assisted him, including Béla Tárkányi, known from hymnals, who accompanied him to Rome. In Hungary, Cardinal Lajos Haynald, Archbishop of Kalocsa, and Bishop Arnold Ipolyi of Besztercebánya led the project. Almost all Hungarian cathedral chapters and bishops supported the publication series. It included important Vatican sources such as the reports of nuncios from the years preceding the Battle of Mohács and the accounts of papal tax collectors, which contain the earliest historical mentions of many Hungarian settlements. Fraknói did everything to make the Monumenta Vaticana appear as a publication of the Apostolic See as well. The series became a lasting creation of Hungarian Catholicism and academic scholarship. Its acceptance among contemporaries was general, regardless of historical viewpoint, professional conviction, or worldview. With the creation of this series, Fraknói's Roman historical institute began its substantial operations. The organization of systematic Hungarian historical research in the Vatican, combined with other historiographical achievements, made him the most significant Hungarian historian of the era of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise.
Kornél Szovák briefly reviewed the state, methodology, and topics of Hungarian medieval research before Vilmos Fraknói's work. He noted that from the beginnings of Jesuit historiography, there was an interest in exploring sources in the Holy See's archives, and that targeted research often did not yield results (e.g., the Golden Bull). He assessed the significance of Theiner's Monumenta, comparing its quantitative and qualitative attributes with those of the Monumenta series founded by Fraknói. He highlighted the exploitation of Pope Boniface IX's bull registers as a significant example, which proved to be decisive for the development of 20th-century Hungarian medieval studies. Both this and Fraknói's oeuvre focused on post-Constance bull research and the formation of the medieval Hungarian ecclesiastical society's image. He also pointed out the new findings related to the documents of Papal Legate Gentilis and concluded by discussing the influential impact of Fraknói's biographical monographs on subsequent research.
Tamás Fedeles presented the role of László Fejérpataky in Vatican source exploration. The young historian joined the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae project in 1883 at Fraknói's request. He worked on documents related to Cardinal Gentilis de Monteflorum's activities in Hungary, which were published in 1885. During his second research trip to Rome (1885-1886), he worked on the Hungarian data from the 14th-century papal tax collectors' account books, a project started by Frigyes Pesty, resulting in a publication in 1887. Fejérpataky, along with Fraknói and others, was among the first to research the Dataria Apostolica archives, as detailed in his letters from Rome. From 1913 until his death in 1923, he actively participated in the Roman Historical Committee's work under the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His final work on Vatican sources was published posthumously, with his student Antal Áldásy compiling the notes and drafts into a manuscript that was published in 1926, three years after Fejérpataky's death.
Viktor Kanász discussed the life and Neapolitan research of Lipót Óváry. He outlined Óváry's involvement in Garibaldi's army and his subsequent settlement in Naples, where he began historical research in Neapolitan collections. This was significant as no Hungarian-related research had been conducted there before, and Óváry uncovered and published a large amount of important documents. One of the most important segments was the publication of diplomatic documents from the Farnese archives dating back to Pope Paul III. Although Óváry also conducted research in other Italian collections, such as in Venice and Florence, he never researched in the Vatican collections despite several attempts. However, he actively contributed to the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae project.
Gábor Nemes gave a presentation on József Lukcsics. The scholarly priest from the Diocese of Veszprém was tasked by Vilmos Fraknói with editing volumes III and IV of the Monumenta Romana Episcopatus Vesprimiensis, while also examining volumes of the Camera Apostolica archives and collecting Hungarian-related sources. These were eventually published in 2014 as volumes I/10 and I/11 of the CVH series.
Tamás Kruppa presented Endre Veress's role in exploring Hungarian memories in the Vatican and Italy. He emphasized that Veress's extensive published and unpublished oeuvre is indispensable for studying Hungarian-Italian relations. His document publications put the Principality of Transylvania on the map of domestic and international scholarship. Veress's achievements are notable as he conducted his research and publication efforts alone, without securing academic membership or a university chair. His document publications, the Fontes Rerum Hungaricarum and Transylvanicarum, effectively took over the roles of the Monumenta Vaticana Hungariae and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Monumenta Hungariae Historica series after World War I.
Foreign presenters reviewed the Vatican research of Theodor Sickel, Ludwig von Pastor, the Czech and Polish Roman expeditions, and several Croatian historians.
Videos in Youtube-channel, below
Pictures are available in Galery, below
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In addition to the conference, members of the Research Group continued their research at the Vatican Apostolic Archive, the Vatican Apostolic Library, and the notarial archives of the Archivio Storico Capitolino (Archivio Notarile Generale Urbano). As part of the Fraknói centenary, the Research Group laid a wreath on June 4 at the monument erected by their namesake in the Lateran Basilica (see here). Afterwards, the members went on a study trip to Viterbo, Caprarola, and Tuscia (see the gallery here).
