Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T01:28:07.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - In the Shadow of the Crescent Moon

Hungary and Transylvania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2024

By
Béla Vilmos Mihalik
Edited by
Henry A. Jefferies  and
Richard Rex
Henry A. Jefferies
Affiliation:
Ulster University
Richard Rex
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526 the kingdom of Hungary was divided into three parts: the north and west came under Habsburg rule, the east formed the new principality of Transylvania while the rest was occupied by the Ottomans. That division created a favourable environment for the spread of the Reformation. The new religious ideas had already spread quickly to Hungary after 1517 with merchants and students from the German-speaking communities of the royal free cities being among the first to adopt and disseminate them. Even the royal couple, King Louis II and Queen Mary of Habsburg, showed a receptiveness to the Reformation through their relationship with Prince George of Brandenburg. However, after Mohács 75 per cent of Hungary’s medieval parishes collapsed and different variants of Protestantism won wide support across all three areas into which the former kingdom was divided. Antitrinitarianism also gained many adherents in those parts of Hungary that were not subject to the Habsburgs. Between the Catholics, Protestants and Antitrinitarians, as well as the substantial Orthodox Christian communities in the region, and the Muslims in Ottoman areas, Hungary became remarkably multi-confessional. However, the Catholic Church retained enough support across all three areas to form the basis of a remarkable renewal under Habsburg auspices in the seventeenth century.

Keywords

AntritrinitarianismBáthoryCatholicism,CalvinismConfessio PentapolitanaHungaryKisIstván SzegediLutheranismMerchantsMohácsOlahusNicolausOrthodox ChristianityOttomansReformationTransylvania
Type
Chapter
Information
Reformations Compared
Religious Transformations across Early Modern Europe
 , pp. 80 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

Ács, Pál, Reformations in Hungary in the Age of the Ottoman Conquest, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balázs, Mihály, ‘Tolerant Country – Misunderstood Laws. Interpreting Sixteenth-Century Transylvanian Legislation Concerning Religion’, Hungarian Historical Review 2 (2013), 85–108Google Scholar
Bernhard, Jan-Andrea, Konsolidierung des reformierten Bekenntnisses im Reich der Stephanskrone. Ein Beitrag zur Kommunikationsgeschichte zwischen Ungarn und der Schweiz in der frühen Neuzeit, 1500–1700, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015Google Scholar
Csepregi, Zoltán, ‘The Evolution of the Language of the Reformation in Hungary, 1522–1526’, Hungarian Historical Review 2 (2013), 3–34Google Scholar
Fata, Márta and Schindling, Anton (eds.), Calvin und Reformiertentum in Ungarn und Siebenbürgen. Helvetisches Bekenntnis, Ethnie und Politik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1918, Münster: Aschendorff, 2010Google Scholar
Fata, Márta and Schindling, Anton (eds.), Luther und die Evangelisch-Lutherischen in Ungarn und Siebenbürgen. Augsburgisches Bekenntnis, Bildung, Sprache und Nation vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1918, Münster: Aschendorff, 2017Google Scholar
Fata, Márta, Forgó, András and Haug-Moritz, Gabriele (eds.), Das Trienter Konzil und seine Rezeption im Ungarn des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, Münster: Aschendorff, 2019Google Scholar
Molnár, Antal, ‘La Réforme en Hongrie. Une “curiosité” de l’histoire universelle?’, Histoire Economie et Société 2 (2023), 65–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Péter, Katalin, Studies of the History of the Reformation in Hungary and Transylvania, ed. Erdélyi, Gabriella, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wien, Ulrich et al. (eds.), Die Unitarier in Siebenbürgen, Wien-Köln-Weimar: Böhlau, 2013Google Scholar
Wien, Ulrich (ed.), Common Man, Society and Religion in the 16th Century: Piety, Morality and Discipline in the Carpathian Basin, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×