The image of Hungary and Transylvania in the time of the uprising of Prince Istvn Bocskai and the campaigns

of Prince Gbor Bethlen 16 !"16#6

This is a study of cultural geography in early modern Europe: of the manner, in which Hungary and Transylvania and its inhabitants were imagined, appropriated and manipulated in the Low Countries. It ta es as a sub!ect the "utch representation of Hungary and Transylvania and its inhabitants in the period of an uprising and several campaigns against Habsburg rule in Hungary and Transylvania, ta ing the political, religious and cultural developments in both territories into account. It e#amines how the idea of Hungary first entered the "utch imagination, how it evolved into a staple of political rhetoric, how it received a prominent place in "utch historiography and how it ultimately was implemented into the ways the "utch saw themselves in the world. This is therefore also a study about the ways the "utch imagined themselves as a people in relation to others and conceived the place of their $epublic in the world amidst other states. The %"utch& in this study formed an early modern community living in the territory of the Low Countries that was outstandingly urban and phenomenally literate. 'oreover, it was self(conscious, well informed and substantially open to the world outside the Low Countries. These people and their elite were responsible for a stunning political, economic and cultural e#pansion that started in the northern part at the end of the si#teenth century and pea ed around )*+,. -fter the truce with .pain in )*)/, it continued to compete with its 0lemish relatives and their Habsburg rulers in the south, by means of a cultural war. 1ver almost hundred years, the "utch in north and south produced an overwhelming amount of literature and art e#pressing their developing identity in chronicles, broadsides, newspapers, tracts, paintings and engravings, in which representations of Hungary, the Hungarians, their rulers and national symbols played a modest but remar able role. The "utch historian Emanuel van 'eteren presented a providentialist mirror to his readers when describing the successful Hungarian rebellion in his History of the "utch $evolt 2)*,34. The analogy has to prove the providential bac ground of both wars against catholic tyranny in favour of protestant religion. The political success of the Hungarian and the Transylvanian estates did also legitimate the political goals of the "utch estates. -s this wor was the most widely read history boo in the 5etherlands, it had an enormous and lasting influence on the development of the image of Hungary and Transylvania. In the wa e of the Thirty 6ears7 8ar, both sides in the north and the south of the Low Countries paid even greater polemical attention to Hungary, which now appeared as the central battlefield, where the outcome of the confessional conflict between Catholics and 9rotestants would be decided. The idea of a close relation between the political events in the 1ttoman Empire, Hungary:Transylvania and the 5etherlands was one of the pillars of the "utch(1ttoman diplomatic contacts, which began when Cornelis Haga was appointed as the first "utch ambassador in Constantinople in )*)/. The vast stream of "utch information about Hungary from the north was countered by prints from the .outhern 5etherlands inspired by the Habsburg propaganda. The -ntwerp printer -braham ;erhoeven 2)+<+=)*+/4 published a newsletter almost wee ly, often even illustrated, about Hungary and Transylvania, written from the Catholic Habsburg point of view. The purpose of these newspapers was not only to promote the Habsburg cause in Central

Europe in the north and the south of the Low Countries, but also to attract young 0lemish and 8alloon soldiers to ta e up the arms against the 9rotestants in the east, as happened earlier during the >ocs ai( uprising 2)*,?=)*,*4. The far distance, the 9rotestant character and its analogous history of revolt against the Habsburgs perfectly suited the purposes and polemics of the "utch $epublic and the Habsburg lands in the southern part of the Low Countries. It enabled the "utch and 0lemish to create an image of Hungary that matched the rhetorical imperative of the day: to produce a cultural construction based on a geographical entity that addressed the evolving ideological needs. The "utch operated a geographical discourse about Hungary that fitted into their ideology, which was e#pressed in the high and the low culture of the "utch @olden -ge.