Hungarian Consequences of the Toleration Missions to Bohemia and Moravia around 1800

Abstract

It is a well known fact to Hungarian and Czech historians that after Joseph II’s Edict of Toleration of 1781 the Protestants in Hungary and in the Bohemian lands established a fruitful reciprocal collaboration. In the early days, most of the new pastors were Hungarians who came within the frameworks of the „Bohemian mission“: mostly Hungarian early-career pastors rushed to support the revival of the suffering Bohemian and Moravian Reformed communities.2 After the turn of the century, this strategy was abandoned and instead, Bohemian-Moravian students came to study at the Hungarian Reformed Colleges. In this way, this cross-border relationship between Central and Eastern Europe was preserved for decades and has permanently shaped the identity of Calvinists in both countries until now. Whereas the missionary work of the Hungarian pastors in Bohemia and Moravia has been amply researched,3 the impact of their missions on Hungary has been largely