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“Houd moed: Kijk naar Nederland. / Kijk naar zijn vorstin! Je bent niet langer wees.”: Het “Hongaarse raam” in het Nederlandse koninklijke paleis
151-187Views:37“Do not lose heart: Look at The Netherlands. / Look at its queen! You are no longer
orphaned.”: The Hungarian window in the Dutch royal palace During a festive gathering on 21 December 1923 in the Dutch Royal Palace of Noordeinde in The Hague, a small group of delegates from the Hungarian-Dutch Society from Hungary presented a stained-glass window as a gift to Queen Wilhelmina for the 25th anniversary of her ascension to the Dutch throne. The magnificent stained-glass window in Art Nouveaustyle (202 x137 cm) made by Miksa Róth and Sándor Nagy, with an unconventional representation of the queen was given to her as a token of gratitude for the relief project arranged for children after the First World War. According to the information of the National League of Child Protection, between 1920 and 1930 28,563 Hungarian children from impoverished families were taken to the Netherlands for a holiday with Dutch foster parents. The window is kept today on the first floor of the west wing of the Palace, but the event and its significance is largely forgotten in the historiography of Hungarian ‒ Dutch relations. In this article, the pieces of the puzzle concerning the artistic object itself, the historical circumstances of the gift-giving, the intermediaries and the symbolic message are assembled, to reveal the working and complexity of cultural transfer. It is argued that the metaphor of Queen Wilhelmina, as the mother of the Hungarians, articulated on different levels of symbolic representation and communication can be seen not only as a sign of gratitude. This image should also be understood as an unspoken wish that the apolitical objectives of the relief actions would also indirectly support a political agenda, and that the personal and institutional contacts would lead to greater understanding of the Hungarian efforts to moderate the excessive punishment under which the country was suffering as result of the Treaty of Trianon. -
„De Stefanuskroon niet Habsburgsch”: Alternatieven voor de oplossing van de Hongaarse ‘koningskwestie’ en de Nederlandse pers, 1919–1921
77-107Views:83Following the election of Miklós Horthy as Regent and the dethronement of Charles IV, a special public law situation developed in Hungary, during which the state form of the country remained, in fact, but no one had become authorized to occupy the Hungarian royal throne. The fact that a kingdom existed without a monarch in the heart of contemporary Europe served as an almost constant topic for the political and gossip columns of the domestic and international press, and also earned itself a prominent place among the conversation topics in the rather extensive network of European aristocracy. The importance of the Hungarian problem in the post-‘Great War’ period was also indicated by the lively interest taken by the diplomatic corps of some countries of the continent. Of course, many organizations and individuals tried to win their own ideas in the chaotic situation after the Trianon Treaty and get the Hungarian crown for their candidate or for themselves. This study attempts to introduce the Dutch press narratives in connection with the Hungarian ‘royal question’ between 1919 and 1921. During these years because of the fragile post-war Hungarian internal political situation this problem was at its most acute, and when most of the „candidates” and self-candidates for the Hungarian throne emerged. The paper also looks at the background to some of the motivations behind the candidates and how the news was spread in the international press of the time. The issue raised is of particular interest for the Hungarian-Dutch relations for two reasons. On one hand, there was a fundamental mutual sympathy between the two countries during this period. On the other hand, both countries were monarchies at the time, the public perception of a monarchical state about the predicament of another country with a similar form of government can tell us a lot about the public opinion of the time.
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Koning Sigismund en zijn gevolg in de Lage Landen – Nederlanders in Hongarije*
23-63Views:38The 1378 Great Western Schism gave a new direction to the Luxemburgs’ traditional pro-Valois politics. The House of Luxemburg took an abrupt turn away from the French orientation, who adhered to the obedience to the Avignon pope and were seeking for new partners. At the beginning of the 15th century, even amidst the Orléans-Armagnac vs. Burgundy antagonism, Sigismund had quite good contacts with the duke of Burgundy, probably stemming from their co-operation of the crusade of Nicopolis in 1396, the Flemish participation of which the article also investigates. Sigismund came closer to Burgundy at the Council of Constance, even though they had taken an opposite stand in important issues such as the inheritance of Brabant and Luxemburg. The Luxemburgs themselves also had possessions in the Low Countries, because in the 14th century the dynasty, besides Luxemburg, also owned the Duchy of Brabant and Limburg. In the 15th century, partly because of the Burgundians gaining substantial territories, they partially opposed their rights, thereby bringing forth conflicts within the Low Countries. The article explores the relations of the House of Burgundy with the provinces of the Netherlands, especially the county of Flanders and the Flemish cities. When it comes to ‘Burgundian’ contacts, it is fundamentally taken as relations with the Low Countries, particularly Flanders. The study examines the relationships that Sigismund maintained with the political figures of the Low Countries, especially the counts of Holland and Zeeland from the House of Wittelsbach, the duke of Gelderland and Juliers/Jülich asd well as the bishops of Utrecht and Lüttich/Luik. I also wish to shed light upon contacts beyond the scene of ‘high politics’. Although we can not speak of daily relations between Hungary and the provinces of the Low Countries, there were complex contacts. Hundreds of Flemish knights took up the Cross against the Ottomans and fought at Nicopolis, the campaign of which was also funded by 24 Attila Bárány the citizens of Flanders. A range of cities embraced a rather independent political track when supplied the Emperor with ships. Flemish or Dutch craftsmen built a river flotilla for Sigismund. Relations can be come across in the clergy: Dutch masters of theology and medicine were active in Hungary, most peculiarly contributing to the development of the university in Óbuda.
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De tuinman, de geldschieter, de koelie-werver en de mandoer: Vier portretten van László Székely en de Delische Kunstkring
101-117Views:168The Hungarian planter László Székely was active as a painter on Sumatra during the first decennia of the 20th century. In 1923 he painted four portraits of people from the planters’ community: The Mandoer, The Moneylender, The Toekang-kebon and The Koelie recruiter, which appeared in the weekly paper De Zweep. In this article I will give an overview of the cultural life in Deli and place Székely’s work in this context. Furthermore, I will explain the uniqueness of Székely’s portraits, using the theory of the English cultural historian Peter Burke.