Hungary’s Dioceses and Bishops (1804–1918). Institutional History and Biographical Lexicon I–IV, eds. Zsófia Szirtes, Péter Tusor, Rupert Klieber, Budapest 2025 (xxvi+832 pp. + [90] pp. annotated black-and-white and color image supplement).
The first phase of the "Bischofslexikon 1804–1918," a mega-project of the Fraknói Research Group initiated within the framework of the MTA Lendület pProgram and spanning multiple funding cycles, was completed at Pentecost 2020. The results of this extensive international research collaboration are presented in an impressive volume published by Duncker & Humblot in Berlin: Die Bischöfe der Donuaumonarchie 1804 bis 1918. Ein amtsbiographisches Lexikon, edited by Rupert Klieber, Volume I: Die röm.-kath. Kirchenprovinzen Gran, Kalocsa, Erlau im Königreich Ungarn, with contributions from Péter Tusor, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2020 (xviii + 661 pages). Further details on the research’s international dimension are available here, along with presentations in Budapest, Rome, and Vienna. The research focus of the Fraknói Research Group is diocesan history, which, in studying the "long 19th century," also incorporates fundamental Vatican research findings. The project itself originates in Rome, whether considering the role of its initiator, Campo Santo Teutonico rector Erwin Gatz († 2011), or the Vatican archival roots of the decade-and-a-half-long collaboration with chief editor Rupert Klieber.
The second phase, i.e., the Hungarian-language edition (Püspöklexikon 1804–1918), was largely completed by Christmas 2023. This Hungarian lexicon is a revised and expanded edition. While in the case of the German lexicon, the ultima manus belonged to the Viennese chief editor, Professor Rupert Klieber, in the present edition, it is the individual article authors who hold that final authority. To metaphorically reflect the milieu of the Dual Monarchy, one might say that while the German version 1.0 was shaped by Vienna, the Hungarian 2.0 edition was shaped by Budapest—following mutual professional consultations. The research project and its results can only be fully evaluated and understood with reference to the Hungarian edition. During the editing process, Professor Klieber, with the assistance of his colleagues, undertook an enormous effort to standardize, revise, and expand the lexicon entries with new archival and printed sources, as well as German scholarly data. In the vast majority of cases, Hungarian authors and editors continued their work using the materials developed by Klieber, with texts translated back from German by Zsófia Szirtes. The results of Klieber’s editorial work were generally retained, though in some biographical entries, the original perspective of the authors prevailed more strongly. In the Hungarian edition, the authors are solely credited with their respective entries. Regarding diocesan descriptions, Klieber’s clearly delineated statistical analyses are directly cited from the German edition. This two-stage research concept evolved interactively between Vienna and Budapest over the course of what has become an almost longue durée project, reaching its final form in 2018–2019. The necessity of updating the lexicon entries before the Hungarian edition was largely dictated by the extended time span of the research itself. (Details on the textual work are provided in an introduction introduction by Zsófia Szirtes, the chief editor of the Hungarian edition.) The bibliographic data reflect the state of research as of 2023. Every effort was made to correct the inevitable errors of the first German edition, a common challenge in such large-scale scholarly undertakings. (The detailed Errata & Corrigenda for the German edition will be made available online following the publication of the corrected Hungarian edition.)
For the articles authored by Slovak scholars on Upper Hungarian dioceses, we have followed Professor Klieber’s recommendation to translate their German versions, limiting our intervention to data verification and bibliographic expansion. This decision was made because Slovak authors made only partial use of the—mainly older—Hungarian historiography. The critical reading of Slovak interpretations, which often diverge significantly from Hungarian historical perspectives, is left to the knowledgeable Hungarian readership, with the exception of the introductory sections for two dioceses. The professional discussions conducted through Vienna regarding our shared history, which is perceived and interpreted in almost entirely different ways by Hungarian and Slovak scholars, remain an issue yet to be addressed in detail. It is an extremely significant achievement that in 2020, the centenary of the Trianon tragedy, we succeeded in ensuring that the prestigious international volume published in Berlin—despite certain tendentious, one-sided statements—presents Hungarian history fundamentally as Hungarian history. That is, it is largely free from the regrettably frequent attempts to retroactively project the present status quo into the past or to historically justify it. Achieving this goal required numerous compromises, and in the process, we inevitably faced failures as well—such as our request regarding the historical presentation of the Dioceses of Nyitra and Besztercebánya (Nitra and Banská Bystrica). The depiction of these two dioceses in the German edition remains, to put it mildly, one-sided. (See the historiographically intriguing editorial documentation, specifically the letter sent to Vienna on March 5, 2019, point 4)
This extensive research project has not been supported by hundreds of millions in ERC funding. Nevertheless, its significance for understanding and interpreting Central European history has been recognized and highly esteemed at the highest levels of international scholarship, from Joachim Bahlcke to Andreas Gottsmann and Thomas Winkelbauer. (Additional reviews and presentations can be found here.) Beyond the initial funding secured by Erwin Gatz, the project was realized solely through the support of the Österreichisches Wissenschaftsfonds (Austrian Science Fund) and the MTA Lendület Program, as well as a small fraction of the Fraknói Research Group’s budget from 2017–2024. In the first phase, during 2024, the Introduction by the project’s most distinguished author, † Gábor Adriányi, along with individual diocesan studies, will be published separately in electronic fascicles (e-fasciculus). These will include the complete set of episcopal biographies for each diocese. Following the structure of the German edition, bishops who served in multiple dioceses are listed under their final diocese.
After the publication of the individual diocesan studies, the full volume will be released upon the conclusion of the Fraknói Centenary on February 26, 2025.
The Hungarian edition is the result of teamwork by Editor-in-Chief Zsófia Szirtes, as well as Péter Tusor and Rupert Klieber, who were joined earlier by István Fazekas and András Forgó. The editorial tasks were carried out by Zita Lőrincz. Special thanks go to Margit Balogh for the diocesan introductions and her useful advice. We also thank Adrienne Tengely for the careful professional proofreading and bibliographic augmentation of the entries on Slovak authors, the rewriting of the entries on Eger and Szatmár, and Tamás Véghseő for the review and update of all (!) Greek Catholic entries. The Greek Rite Roman Catholic dioceses (V.) will be published in a separate volume. Thanks are also due to all the contributors from Székesfehérvár, Szombathely, Pécs, Szeged, Eger, and Nyíregyháza; from Gyulafehérvár, Kolozsvár, Marosvásárhely; from Upper Hungary/Slovakia, Transcarpathia; and, of course, from Vienna and Budapest. Among the authors, Gheorghe Gorun from Nagyvárad, László Bura from Szatmárnémeti, as well as Balázs Csíky, a researcher at the Fraknó Research Group, who was awarded the Bolyai Scholarship, and the late Gábor Adriányi, unfortunately, did not live to see the completion of the full Bishop Lexicon. According to Adriányi Gábor's own statement made during the proofreading phase, his introductory study to the lexicon is his final published work.
The Bishop Lexicon 1804–1918 marks the beginning of a project with a historical dimension spanning millennia, undertaken by the Fraknói Research Group, the Moravcsik Gyula Institute, and the Collegium Professorum Hungarorum. Following the example of the German research led by Erwin Gatz, a biographical lexicon of Hungarian bishops from 1001 to 1993 will be created. The planned volumes are as follows: Bishop Lexicon 1918–1993; Bishop Lexicon 1711–1804; Bishop Lexicon 1605–1711; Bishop Lexicon 1526–1605; Bishop Lexicon 1458–1526; Bishop Lexicon 1302–1458; Bishop Lexicon 1001–1302. In preparation for the anniversary of the Battle of Mohács, the manuscript of the lexicon for the Hunyadi–Jagelló period is nearing completion. See the report by Editor-in-Chief Tamás Fedeles on this and the entire project.
The complete volume, with an index and other apparatus, can be downloaded here.
