Der Aufbau des Bibliothekssystems im Königreich Ungarn und im Großfürstentum Siebenbürgen im neuen Reichsrahmen (1686/1690–1815)

Abstract

The Kingdom of Hungary and the Grand Duchy of Transylvania were integrated into the Holy Roman Empire during the 18th century and accordingly, this shaped its institutional system. There were many obstacles to the creation of the “Empire-conform” library system. After 150 years of Ottoman rule, the country had to be rebuilt physically. It also had to build new Church and state centers, while the wars against the Turks continued, until the end of the 18th century. Public life was burdened by the anti-Protestantism of the Habsburg emperors, since, at the end of the 17th century, two-thirds of the country's population were Protestants. By the end of the 18th century this proportion had dropped to one-third. (At the same time, the Protestant institutional system was also dismantled.) In other words, the library system was built twice in a century and a half and demolished again to create a new system. In summary, however, it can be concluded that a library system conforming to that of the Habsburg Empire was established in the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania during the century following the end of the Ottoman rule.