Tolerierte Ketzerei oder kulturelle Rezeption? Hallische Druckwerke in den Bibliotheken der Siebenbürger Sachsen im 18. Jahrhundert
Tolerated heresy or cultural reception? Prints from Halle in 18th century Transylvanian Saxon libraries

Summary/Abstract: The importance of the East German Halle an der Saale city in the intellectual history of the Carpathian Basin and especially that of Transylvania has not been a question under debate for a long time in academic circles. The Halle-Hungarian relations have been examined in various fields (e.g., history of church, religion, literature, education, economy and medicine). Although the fields of studies listed have different research focuses, they meet in one point for sure, since books and archival records are needed for the research in which the examined texts are found. However, this fact is nothing new. It is a remarkable and inexplicable phenomenon though, that the results of basic research in book history have not been applied to a greater extent in the above mentioned historical disciplines lately. The author has worked for fourteen years in Transylvanian archives and libraries, where he dealt with the exhibition of 16-18th century prints. This activity was completed by another long-term research – the work carried out in the Franck Foundations’ (Franckesche Stiftungen) historical collection in Halle (which approximately means 13.000 portraits, 3.000 maps and views, 100.000 old books). The publishing of the identified and exhibited Hungarica and Transylvanica documents is still in process in the form of catalogues. The author has chosen a reverse order, for he makes an attempt to find the traces of Halle prints in Transylvanian Saxon libraries, as well as an answer to the question of why Halle publications dominate in the Transylvanian collections revealed so far. Is the tolerance in Transylvania of pietism, the non-conformist denominational–intellectual stream stemming from Halle that is behind the phenomenon or are we rather the witnesses of the cultural influences of Halle in the Carpathian Basin? The issue is complex; doubts and questions have arisen in connection with it.

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