Political, Cultural, Religious and Economic Transformations in the 15th and 16th Centuries
International Conference
27th – 28th February 2025, Debrecen

Conference Report from Nicholas Paul Tayler

This conference delved into a significant period in European history: the transition from the medieval to the early modern era. The specific experiences of Hungary, Poland, Italy, the Baltic East, and the Balkans were profoundly shaped by their proximity to the expansionist Ottoman Empire and geographical location.

Political centralisation and dynastic shifts typified this transformative period, with Katharina Kemmer (University of Würzburg) discussing power dynamics in Europe at the turn of the 15th – 16th centuries, emphasising Habsburg success in achieving territorial gains in the Burgundian Netherlands, the County of Burgundy/Franche Comté and the states described as the ‘Habsburg Monarchy,’ Spain, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Several researchers concentrated on the Teutonic Order, including Adam Szweda (Nicolaus Copernicus University), who examined how the Order instrumentalised the Ottoman threat to obtain diplomatic advantages in their negotiations with the Polish King. The Order was increasingly unwilling to fulfil its pledge to provide military support to the Polish Kingdom. Krzysztof Kwiatkowski (Nicolaus Copernicus University) concentrated on a specific Grand Master’s policy, Frederick Duke of Saxony, who was deeply embedded in the Holy Roman Empire, leading him to adopt a more assertive policy toward the Polish Jagiellonians, with a war with Poland seeming increasingly likely. Two speakers considered the Jagiellonians themselves. Attila Bárány (University of Debrecen) explored the Western diplomacy of Jagiellonian Hungary, asking whether Jagiellonian kin adopted a common approach, operating as Western diplomats suggested as a dynastic block, or merely as a ‘conglomerate of crowns.’ He challenged the traditional narrative that considered the post-Matthias Corvinus Jagiellonians as overseeing a period of decline. Alexandru Simon (Romanian Academy, Centre for Transylvanian Studies) examined the situation after the Peace of Bratislava (1491), whereby Hungary nominally had two kings, the Habsburg, Maximilian I, and the Jagiellonian, Vladislaus II. This presentation concentrated on the presence of representatives from Hungary at the Imperial Reichstag, with their influence over the dynastic agreements of 1515 and the political choices of 1526–1527. Individuals also negotiated shifting circumstances. Tomaš Sterneck considered the case of the Bohemian knight, Doudlebsky of Doudleby, who built up a massive loan business. Despite his unusual wealth, he continued to live as accustomed. Before his death, he bequeathed half of his estate to his relatives and the other half to the last generation of his lord’s family, the Lords of Rosenberg to whom he felt a profound gratitude.

Teutonic Order decline—previously mentioned—also manifested itself in other manners. Dieter Heckmann analysed the Order’s invaluable unbound records; numerous letters, invoices, official opinions and “journals” held at the Ducal Prussian Archive, one of Europe’s finest archives, Renger E. de Bruin described the Order’s declining influence in Utrecht, stressing the gradual nature of this transformation. The fiercely Catholic land commander, Jacob Taets van Amerongen, was a key figure resisting Protestantisation and sent knights to Hungary to assist the Habsburgs fighting the Ottomans, while the Dutch Provinces were allied with the opposing side.

A further main topic was diplomacy and adaptation to new realities. Suzana Simon (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts) depicted John Corvinus’s fractured loyalties after losing Hungary to Vladislaus II Jagiellon. John ended with three masters, Vladislaus II, Maximilian and the Republic of Venice, with the presentation examining the political ties of the lands governed by John and the Frangepans. Attila Györkös examined the impact of Charles the Bold’s death in Nancy in 1477 on Matthias Hunyadi’s diplomatic efforts. Having based his Western strategy on the Dukes of Burgundy in his struggle against the Habsburgs, Hunyadi now had to attract French support instead. László Gálffy (Karoli Gáspár University) presented another case of adaption to new circumstances. René of Anjou’s persona, part factual, part imaginary, blended the legendary attributes of a grand prince, King of Jerusalem, Sicily and Hungary while also suiting the needs of the new “unified” Kingdom of France.

Military innovations helped stem the Ottoman threat. Giampiero Brunelli Helmut (Pegaso Telematic University) examined papal bastioned fortification construction from the last quarter of the 15th century until approximately 1550, with bastioned fortifications alla moderna representing cutting-edge design. Europe’s first regular-shaped bastion fort was constructed at Nettuno, with the design secrets being passed down orally rather than in writing. Ilona Kristóf (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University) examined how the Ottoman threat was perceived by the Italian officials of the Bishop of Eger, Ippolito d’Este, and how a military response, a banderium, was assembled. An examination of the d’Este archival sources demonstrated how these efforts impacted on the episcopal budget. Zsolt Hunyadi (University of Szeged) investigated the relationship between the Hungarian Hospitaller Priory and its central convent in Rhodes. While it has been suggested that the Hungarian/Slavonian priory, also known as the Priory of Vrana, had broken away from the central administration, this presentation suggested that this could not have been the case, primarily due to exemptions offered to the Order’s knights, binding them into the overall institutional structure.

Economic and urban developments also played a vital role. Attila Tózsa-Rigó (University of Debrecen) examined to what extent the economic relationship between Central Eastern Europe and Western Europe was evenly balanced. While Western European historiography portrays a fundamental imbalance between the globalising West and peripheral Central Europe, the second half of the 15th century was characterised by surprisingly balanced economic relations, with the Central European exporters realising high prices for their agrarian and mining products. László Pósán (University of Debrecen) described two types of market towns in Hungary: urban settlements on the Great Plain that specialised in cattle raising and owned vast grazing areas and wine-producing settlements in the uplands. The turn of the 15th and 16th centuries and the Battle of Mohács saw few changes in the towns on the plains, with them developing further in an already familiar direction, while wine producers, forced to move from Syrmia due to Ottoman skirmishes, made the Tokaj wine region flourish, with its quality wines becoming more prestigious than its Syrmian antecedents. Upper Franconia offered an intriguing contrast, with Helmut Flachenecker explaining how asset usage reflected human existence and economic precautions. With no centralised authority, resource competition was concentrated in limited areas. Roman Czaja (Nicolaus Copernicus University) deepened our understanding of Poland’s mid-15th–16th-century urban development. While earlier historiography claimed that towns were characterised by a general loss of autonomy and subordination to state authority, Heinz Schilling questioned this view in connection with German towns, pointing out that they retained most of their medieval characteristics. Polish towns were characteristically highly multifaceted.

Networks, religious, intellectual and informational in nature played a significant role in the transformational processes of the era. Antal Molnár (HUN-REN Research Centre of Humanities) introduced us to a Catholic institution fully engaged in the social transformations of the 15th and early 16th centuries, the Observant Franciscans (Friars Minor), forming the ideological backbone of the struggle against the Ottomans, due to their Balkan roots. It was their highly developed organisational culture and literacy that helped them overcome the challenges of the era. Their adoption of Humanist thought meant that they not only helped preserve Catholicism in Hungary but also introduced modern intellectual thought to the country. Religious and intellectual transformations typified the period. Religious change, the Renaissance, and Humanism introduced new intellectual currents, challenging medieval scholasticism and Catholic dominance. Protestantism encouraged students to choose distant universities in line with their confession, a process known as peregrinatio academica. Réka Bozzay (University of Debrecen) described Hungarian university selection strategies and increased institutional choice. Csenge Timár (University of Debrecen) examines Girolamo Priuli’s diaries, a merchant family diarist who became a banker and member of the Great Council of Venice. While less known than Marino Sanudo, his works operate as a valuable control source, personally evaluating, among other things, the financing of Vladislaus II’s army in Hungary in preparation for the Ottomans. Márton Szovák (National Széchenyi Library/University of Debrecen) used Marin Sanudo’s diaries to analyse changes in Venice’s information networks and the speed at which information on such events as the Siege of Belgrade (1521) and the Battle of Mohács (1526) spread to the republic.

Finally, the era was also characterised by scientific and cultural transitions. The scientific transition between the medieval and the early modern era was mirrored in the field of astronomy by the transition between university instruction based on De sphaera by the Englishman Johannes de Sacrobosco and the Aristotelian De caelo, whose theoretical foundations hindered the transition towards the new Copernican world. Jürgen Sarnowsky provided an overview of this challenging process. Geographical discoveries inevitably led to new representations of physical reality. While some depictions resembled reality, others depicted an imaginary world, such as Putsch’s map, Europa regina. Aleksandar Uzelac (Institute of History, Belgrade) described the (re)discovery of an earlier version of the map than the Paris version of 1537, dating from 1534, now kept at the Retz Museum in Austria. Between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period, an increasingly bureaucratic world, resorted to greater variety in the use of wax colours used for seals, including the wider use of cheaper green wax. Ádám Novák and Sándor Ónadi presented the new database, “Seals of 15th Century Polysigillic Charters,” under the auspices of DE TKP “The Place and Image of Hungary in Medieval Europe.”

Special thanks also go out to Déri Museum, and János Angi the Museum Director, who gave the participants such a warm welcome and provided a perfect venue, the Ceremonial Hall, for this fascinating conference.

Pictures from the two days of the conference available here.

Videos of the conference sessions are available on the research group’s YouTube channel by clicking on the links.

Tayler, Nicholas Paul

ORCID: 0000-0001-7340-8945