An international academic conference entitled Hungary and Europe at the End of the Jagiellonian Era was held at Gál Ferenc University in Szeged on 14 October 2026. The Fraknói Research Group was represented by Senior Research Fellow Gábor Nemes, who delivered a paper entitled Papal–Hungarian Relations before Mohács.
In his presentation, he explained that the Apostolic See, which possessed one of the most sophisticated diplomatic services of the period, was represented in Buda by a cardinal legate and a permanent envoy, while Italians dealt with Hungarian affairs in Rome for the most part. The Hungarian presence in Rome may be described as virtually comprehensive and continuous. At the highest level, within the College of Cardinals, the cardinal protector represented the Hungarian monarch, while Italians well versed in the labyrinthine workings of the Curia were primarily employed as envoys and agents. The Hungarian and Croatian envoys who visited the Eternal City were chiefly drawn from the ecclesiastical middle stratum and were distinguished by their humanist education. Without exception, they advanced within the ecclesiastical hierarchy after completing their diplomatic missions.
The papacy supported the Kingdom of Hungary in its struggle against the Ottomans not only through financial assistance and appeals for aid addressed to European rulers, but also by exercising its spiritual authority, for instance through the granting of indulgences. The Pope intervened on several occasions in shaping the internal balance of power in Hungary, seeking to bring figures firmly loyal to the Holy See into positions of influence in place of those whose actions had contributed to the kingdom’s internal difficulties. Overall, as emerged from the presentation, in a Europe in turmoil, beset by frequently shifting alliances with changing compositions and objectives and by the rapid spread of the Lutheran Reformation, it was the fate of Hungary, threatened with imminent catastrophe, that most strongly prompted the Pope to turn his attention towards the kingdom.
In addition to scholars from the University of Szeged, the conference also featured papers by academics from the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome (Università Pontificia Salesiana) and the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Kraków (Uniwersytet Ignatianum w Krakowie).
