On 10 November 2025, Viktor Kanász, research fellow of the Fraknói Research Group, delivered two lectures in Nagykanizsa on the Vatican sources of the town’s history.
In the morning, at the Zalai Public Collections Professional Days held in the Thúry György Museum (programme available here), he presented a Vatican pen-and-ink drawing of the 1664 siege of Kanizsa, outlining its historical background together with the related reports found in the correspondence of the papal nuncios. He went on to analyse how the drawing fits into the series of already known visual sources and what kind of iconographic message it conveys. In concluding his lecture, he emphasised that this visual source, along with the nuncial reports, clearly demonstrates that—besides the sieges of 1600, 1601 and 1690—the news of the 1664 siege was also followed with vivid interest in Rome. In addition to delivering his presentation, he also chaired the Late Medieval and Early Modern section.
That afternoon, at the invitation of Edit Kocsis, he gave—now for the second time since 2021—a lecture in the “Military History Evenings” series at the Zsigmond Móricz Cultural Centre, entitled From the Fortress to the Church: Vatican Sources for the History of Kanizsa. The full-house audience first received an overview of the history of research in the Vatican Archives and of how such work is carried out today. He then presented, in chronological order, the Vatican—and other related—archival sources that concern Kanizsa.
Among other topics, he discussed medieval Roman pilgrimages, László Kanizsai's audience with the pope, the nuncios’ reports on Kanizsa, and offered a detailed account of the sieges of 1601, 1664 and 1690, the papal troops involved, and the background of subsidies and diplomatic efforts. He outlined how the Franciscans and Jesuits attempted to provide pastoral care in Kanizsa and its surroundings during Ottoman rule. Turning to the twentieth century, he presented the Holy See’s documents connected to the establishment of the parishes of Felsőváros and Kiskanizsa, which primarily reflect negotiations between the bishop of Veszprém and the local Franciscans. He also addressed when, and under what circumstances, a nuncio visited Kanizsa.
In closing, he stressed that a reliable history of Kanizsa cannot be written without taking into account the Vatican sources, alongside the collections in Budapest and Vienna.
KanizsaTV (13:17-től)
