The "Bischofslexikon 1804–1918," an extensive megaproject initiated by the Fraknói Research Group under the MTA Lendület Program, saw its first phase completed at Pentecost in 2020. This research, conducted through broad international cooperation, was published in an impressive volume by the Berlin-based publisher Duncker & Humblot: Die Bischöfe der Donuaumonarchie 1804 bis 1918. Ein amtsbiographisches Lexikon, edited by Rupert Klieber, with contributions from Péter Tusor. The first volume covers the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces of Gran (Esztergom), Kalocsa, and Erlau (Eger) in the Kingdom of Hungary (Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 2020, xviii + 661 p). Additional details and the research's international dimension include presentations in Budapest, Rome, and Vienna. This project places the Vatican-based foundational research on diocesan history within the focus of the Research Group’s inquiries, with the "long nineteenth century" as a pivotal period of study.
The project's second phase, which produced a Hungarian-language version ("Püspöklexikon 1804–1918"), concluded the main work in time for Christmas 2023. This Hungarian lexicon represents a revised and expanded new edition. In contrast to the German version, for which the Vienna-based editor Rupert Klieber had the final say, the Hungarian entries were authored by individual writers. Reflecting the milieu of the Dual Monarchy, one could say figuratively that while the German 1.0 edition followed Vienna’s perspective, the Hungarian 2.0 edition reflects Budapest’s stance—achieved through professional collaboration. Therefore, the research project and its outcomes can only be fully evaluated and interpreted when considering the Hungarian edition. Details of the textual work are provided by Zsófia Szirtes, the chief editor of the Hungarian edition, in her introduction.
During the editing process, Professor Klieber and his team extensively revised and standardized the entries with a unified concept, integrating new archival and printed sources and data from German scholarly literature. Hungarian authors and editors largely built upon this material using the translated text by Zsófia Szirtes. Klieber’s revisions were generally retained, though the original viewpoint of the Hungarian authors remained stronger in certain biographies. The Hungarian edition entries are attributed solely to the Hungarian authors, while Klieber’s distinct statistical analyses appear directly in the diocesan descriptions. This two-step research model evolved interactively between Vienna and Budapest, becoming finalized around 2018–2019. The project’s extended timeframe justified updates before the Hungarian edition's publication.
For the diocesan entries from the Felvidék (Upper Hungary, nowadays: Slovakia) region, the German version is used in translation, with emphasis placed on verifying data and enhancing the bibliography. Slovak authors mainly referenced older Hungarian literature only partially, and we leave the critical reading of Slovak interpretations, which often differ greatly from Hungarian historiography, to informed Hungarian readers. The time has not yet arrived to delve into the profound academic discussions on shared history held between Hungarian and Slovak colleagues in Vienna. Despite numerous compromises and setbacks, such as requests to address the histories of the dioceses of Nyitra and Besztercebánya, the 2020 publication ultimately presented Hungarian history fundamentally as Hungarian, even amid one-sided assertions.
This extensive research project has not been backed by ERC funding in the hundreds of millions. Nonetheless, its findings and their importance in advancing the understanding of Central European history have been recognized and highly esteemed by the international scholarly community, with accolades from scholars such as Joachim Bahlcke, Andreas Gottsmann, and Thomas Winkelbauer (further reviews and discussions available here). Beyond the seed funding provided by Erwin Gatz, the project was realized solely through grants from the Austrian Science Fund (Österreichisches Wissenschaftsfonds) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Lendület Program, along with a fraction of the Fraknói Research Group’s budget from 2017 to 2024.
In the first stage, during 2024, the Introduction by the project's most notable contributor, the late Gábor Adriányi , along with individual diocesan entries, will be published in separate e-fascicles. Each of these fascicles includes biographical entries for every bishop within the respective diocese. The printed volume, structured after the German edition with bishops appearing under the last diocese they served, will be published digitally (e-lib) and in print following the release of all e-fascicles, planned for 2025.
As of Epiphany 2024, the entries for dioceses including Székesfehérvár, Győr and Pannonhalma have been made available through Open Access. Subsequent entries include Pécs, Szombathely, Vác, Veszprém, then Nagyvárad, Erdély, Csanád and Kalocsa-Bács; Szatmár, Eger and Esztergom and now the Upper Hungarian dioceses (Besztercebánya and Nyitra as well as Rozsnyó, Kassa and Szepes) are also publicly accessible as of St. Martin’s Day. The Hungarian edition is the result of the collaboration between the chief editor, Zsófia Szirtes, and Péter Tusor and Rupert Klieber, with previous contributions from István Fazekas and András Forgó. Zita Lőrincz undertook the copyediting tasks, ensuring consistency and accuracy throughout the text. Special thanks are extended to Margit Balogh for her work on the diocesan introductions and her valuable advice. Additional recognition goes to Adrienn Tengely for meticulously reviewing and enhancing the bibliographies of the Slovak authors' entries, rewriting the entries for the dioceses of Eger and Szatmár, and to Tamás Véghseő, who reviewed and updated all (!) Greek Catholic entries. The Greek Rite Roman Catholic dioceses (Volume V) will eventually be published as a separate volume.
Gratitude is also due to all contributors from Székesfehérvár, Szombathely, Pécs, Szeged, Eger, and Nyíregyháza, as well as from Gyulafehérvár, Kolozsvár, and Marosvásárhely; and from Slovakia, Carpathian Ruthenia; as well as from Vienna and Budapest. Among the contributors, Gheorghe Gorun from Nagyvárad, László Bura from Szatmár, and Balázs Csíky—a Bolyai scholarship holder and member of the Fraknói Research Group—along with the late Gábor Adriányi, sadly did not live to see the completion of the entire Püspöklexikon. According to his own statement during the proofreading stage, Adriányi’s introductory study for the lexicon was his final publication.
The Püspöklexikon 1804–1918 also marks the beginning of a project with a millennial historical dimension by the Fraknói Research Group, the Moravcsik Gyula Institute, and the Collegium Professorum Hungarorum. The upcoming volumes will cover distinct historical periods, with the Hunyadi-Jagellonian era nearing completion as the Mohács anniversary approaches. See Tamás Fedeles, editor-in-chief, for news about this and the whole project.