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This article describes some aspects of Pedro Barrantes Maldonado’s life, an Extremaduran hidalgo linked with the family of the field marshal Bernardo de Aldana, who were involved in the Hungarian Wars during the reign of Emperor Charles V. Throughout this research work we will study the origins of his warrior lineage and his role in the imperial policies. In addition, his fondness for Genealogy and History made Barrantes a real chronicler of his time who also wrote the so-called Itinerary of the Day of Hungary. Last, their children recalled their deeds to achieve a “hidalguía”, the lowest rank of the nobility, which allowed them to consolidate their social ascent.
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Using as pretext a document signed by Emperor Charles in April 1528, ordering a payment to bishop García de Loaysa, of the Council of Indies, for a sum advanced by him to aid the King of Hungary in his struggle against the Turks, we have tried to depict the early Spanish military aid that Ferdinand of Habsburg received in the eve of the siege of Vienna in 1529. The Spanish companies were made of young men like the 700 archers of Medina del Campo. Many were relatives, siblings or children of Comunero rebels that had fought Emperor Charles in Castile between 1520 and 1522, young men without future in the Kingdom that saw in the war against the Turks an opportunity to continue the Spanish Reconquista against Islam. For them, the King of Hungary, was their Spanish Prince, the sole Habsburg grandson of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, that had been born and educated in Spain. They would prove in Vienna their loyalty to King Ferdinand fighting with upmost courage the enemies of Christianity and Western Civilization. Their Crusade was in the Danube and their aim was to vanquish the Ottomans and end their rule in the Hungarian realm. The tragedy of Mohács was similar to that of Guadalete when the last Goth King of Spain, Roderic, died in battle against the Muslims in 711.
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The paper aims to present how Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur (1558–1602), after a political and military career, reached the decision to leave the Kingdom of France and to join the anti-Ottoman fights in Hungary. Descendant from the cadet branch Vaudémont of the house of Lorraine, his political career began with the marriage of his half-sister, Louise de LorraineVaudémont, to Henry III of France. His own marriage with Marie de Luxembourg, Duchess of Penthièvre, brought him the hereditary right to the crown of the Duchy of Brittany. It was a key position, so, in this sense, it is especially interesting to see that in 1582 the King appointed the Duke of Mercœur to the governorship of Brittany, and privileged him to the Prince of Dombes. During the wars of the Catholic League the political map of Brittany became divided, but Nantes declared definitely for the League as indeed did the province’s governor and became one of the most important opponents of the succession of Henry IV to the crown of France. The discussed period illustrates how the last Leaguer holdout was led to submit himself to the King in 1598 and was compelled to enter into the service of the Emperor Rudolf II in 1599. The paper also reveals the existence of Duke of Mercœur’s hand-written heritage, his memoirs on fighting in Hungary, so far completely unknown to researches, preserved in the Archives of the Château of Chantilly, France.
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This study was born from the common thinking of several professionals. As experts specialized in certain areas, authors have long been concerned with the challenge, that the studies about the so-called “Castle Sieges Period” (1550–1552) — as part of the national pantheon — are focusing just on the Hungarian heroic legends. Our historiography already explored in a detailed way the Hungarian military events in the years under discussion, but remained debtor with a cardinal question: what is the international context of the happenings in Hungary in the middle of the 16th century? Is it possible to study that independently from the History of Europe? The failure of the Hungarian unification of 1550–56 can be treated as a local matter? Our writing attempts to shed light on the fact that in the middle of the 16th century not only the Habsburg–Valois dynastic conflict was in strong correlation with the Ottoman military expansion in Hungary, but also a number of significant or less significant European powers were involved in the fightings as part of dynastic alliances systems. Thus, for various reasons, but in a coherent manner, there were many fronts from Germany through the Mediterranean and Italy to the Persian Gulf, which had direct or indirect influences on each other. The Hungarian Kingdom was just one of these, and everything that happened in the Carpathian Basin can only be understood from this broader European and Mediterranean perspective.
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Few unpublished letters in the Archivo General de las Indias (Seville, Spain) puts in global perspective the Ottoman threat and expansion in Hungary. Also demonstrate that the Habsburg rulers both in Central-Eastern Europe and Spanish Empires had a far more unlimited and unified concept about their Empire, regardless of geographical distances and boundaries. In 1529, 8 years after falling of Tenochtitlán, in a very early phase of the colonization of Mexico, prior to the foundation of Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535) and just three years after the battle of Mohács (1526), the Habsburg administration in Castile asked for aid from few preeminent personalities of the first colonial administration in Mexico, including well known conquerors like Pedro de Alvarado, to protect Hungary against the Ottomans. This request can be considered as part of the dynastic finance system with the purpose of providing support to Ferdinand I, king of Hungary and Bohemia. Charles V persistently strived to help his younger brother using very different ad-hoc sources like founds from the Netherlands, debts of Venice or England, aids offered by the Castilian Cortes, including potential incomes from the new Colonies. The study shows the broad context of these financing steps.
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The Spanish years of the life of Magellan are extremely well documented, as they are associated with the first circumnavigation of the terrestrial globe, one of the most remarkable events of the sixteenth century. The same is not true of the period prior to 1517, spent in Portugal and its overseas territories. This study points to the obscure side of the great navigator’s career, trying to draw a synthetic, informed and updated picture of Magellan’s biography before his arrival in Spain. The paper presents the various voyages of Magellan, his relations with the Portuguese ruler and Spanish merchants. In 1516 King Manuel I of Portugal turned down Magellan’s request for a higher salary. Consequently, the Portuguese sailor left Portugal for all and went to Seville
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When assessing Magellan’ role, the first issue to be examined is the very offer he made to the Spanish court. The possibility of reaching the Spice Islands through the Pacific Ocean, that is, by constantly navigating on waters that had been allotted to Spain by the Treaty of Tordesillas, was a direct implication of Magellan’s conviction. It was this discovery with which he turned to King Charles I of Spain. The paper examines the relations between Magellan and the King, the difficulties encountered during the preparations of the expedition, and the composition and provision of the crew. Before the departure from Seville, there was one last but indispensable thing to do. On 24 August 1519 Magellan had his last will recorded in the royal palace. It is a proof that a new life had started in Castle for both himself and his progeny.
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Before the great Portuguese discoveries, the only references to the Maluku Islands come from Javanese, Malaysian and Chinese literature; their earliest mention in Arab literature is already contemporaneous with the age of Portuguese expansion. Having listed the references, the author presents the first Portuguese expeditions for the conquest of the Islands. It was in all probability the information of Francisco Serrão that gave to Magellan the idea of reaching Maluku from the West. The aim of Magellan’s expedition was to prove that by the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 the Maluku Islands, known previously as Spice Islands, fell into the Spanish sphere of interest. For the Spanish court, which wanted to gain access to the far-eastern spices, Magellan’s plan came at the best possible moment.
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The chief goal of Magellan’s voyage was to find a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, as well as a sea route which would give access from the North to the production area of the spices. Having reached the area, the next thing to do was to map the return journey, thereby establishing a Pacific commercial route. After a brief description of the difficulties encountered by Magellan on his way, the paper explores the attempts of the Trinidad and some of the ships to return through the waters of the Pacific. The return voyage to America was first successfully completed in 1565, and in the following years the spice route of Spain was definitively established.
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Magellan took no chronicler of his own for the great voyage. Nor was it customary to do so. Yet those who survived the voyage and returned from the circumnavigation of the globe, in some form did report about the extraordinary journey. Some of them testified in an official form before judges, others in the course of those Spanish–Portuguese negotiations which were destined to determine the geographical position of the Maluku Islands. Many put information to writing as part of their work in the fleet. Still others drafted letters, while others boasted about their deeds to their mates who, in turn, hurried to fix them by way of the written word. Having surveyed the sources, the author concludes that not only are the testimonies coming from the participants of the voyage limited in number, they also frequently contradict each other.
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The author formulates, in five units, such interdisciplinary, sometimes apparently provocative, hypotheses about Maximilianus Transylvanus and his work which may eventually shed new light on a well-known author and his opus, the De Moluccis insulis. The paper examines the origins of the Humanist writer, the reception of his works, and his relationship network. Maximilianus Transylvanus can safely be regarded as the connecting point of three networks; by way of family ties he was also linked to Magellan’s business circle. In his writings he defended Magellan against the accusation of high treason. As he wrote, Magellan “moved to Spain, for he had suffered great injustice at the hands of the Portuguese King”.
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Thomaz, Luís Filipe Reis: O drama de Magalhães e a volta ao mundo sem querer. Seguido de um museo do descobrimentos: porque não? Lisboa, Gradiva, 2018. 124 p. (Trajectos, 114.)
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The basis for the analysis indicated in the title was constituted by the biographical data of 36 chamber councillors and revenue administrators of Upper Hungary, which have been collected according to the same criteria, and are consequently suitable for statistical analysis. On the basis of the latter, the possibilities and limits of the professional rise of chamber officials were examined. At first, I have established the offices held by the councillors prior to their joining the Hungarian Chamber. Secondly, the possibilities of advancement within the Chamber were explored, with special regard to which initial positions enabled their holdes to eventually become councillors or presidents, to what percent of the officials managed to ascend the professional ladder, to the limits of this rise, and to the possibilities of “jumping over” certain steps. Finally, I explore the question of how many among the councillors continued their career outside the Hungarian Chamber, thereby offering the opportunity of advancement to others. See Database on 259–286 pages.
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During its expansion, the Ottoman Empire conquered countries and peoples one after another. Their elites had different reactions to the conquest: they either fled or made their compromises, finding a place for themselves in this empire “above nations”. This was true to the Aranits of Albania as well: after several failed rebellions one half of the family fled to Italy, while the other half became Muslims and took on leadership positions in Albania as Aranids. One branch of the family tried to find their fortune on the Hungarian frontier and managed to rebuild their position of power with great success. A prominent member of the family, Mahmud settled in Szolnok, and the city remained the headquarters of the family. While he “only” reached the position of sanjak bey, his protégé, Sehsuvar, who was a member of the clan but was of Hungarian origin, succeeded in becoming a pasha; and his son, Bektas acquired the most important position of the region, the title of Beylerbey of Buda. This is an especially remarkable feat considering that it happened during the final years of the long war at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Ottomans managed to improve their previously quite unfavourable results. However, Bektas was slain during a raid, and to our knowledge this spelled the end of the family’s sharply ascending career in Ottoman Hungary.
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In the north chapel of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia) stand the tombs of Izabella Jagello (1519–1559), widow of King John I of Hungary, and their son János Zsigmond (John Sigismund) (1540– 1571), elected Hungarian king János II, and the first prince of Transylvania. This article describes how these two tombs may have been made in Gyulafehérvár by an as yet unidentified stone carver. The carver was more skilled in carving architectural elements than sculptures, and relied on as yet unidentified models, but in part undoubtedly Polish. Their identification may clarify when the tombs were made. If the dating of 1571-1572 is confirmed, the Gyulafehérvár tomb of the first Prince of Transylvania will be one of the earliest depictions of Polish winged hussars.
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Ferenc (Francisco) Egri was captured in 1596 and became a galley slave in the Ottoman Empire. He and his companions, under the leadership of István Missigrádi (or Vissigrádi or Visegrádi, a person yet to be identified) took control of their ship in the Mediterranean, owned by the sanjakbey of Midilli (Lesbos), part of the Eyalet of the Archipelago. Sixty people of the sanjak-bey were killed and the rescuers released a number of Christian prisoners. Egri then served in Spanish Habsburg service for several decades in the navy of the Kingdom of Naples. He received a yearly payment, granted by Philip III, king of Spain. When he returned home in 1640, he requested a yearly pension from Emperor Ferdinand III. Several privy counsellors, including the president of the Privy Council, the count of Trauttmansdorff examined in Vienna the documents and the information Egri had provided, before the Emperor granted him the favor, via the Hungarian Chamber in Pozsony (Pressburg, Posonium). The story, with multiple fictional elements, reappeared two times in Hungarian popular journals in the 20th century. The paper includes the edition of two documents: the despacho real of Philip III about the yearly payment and a very short biography, probably written by Egri himself.
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