Katalin Sinkó
Árpád Versus Saint Stephen
Fifties Cultural Policy in British Diplomatic Dispatches
Referring to Francis Joseph as "another Árpád" was a favourite conceit of the rhetoric associated with the millennial celebrations of 1896. These were held to mark a thousand years of Hungarian history in the Carpathian Basin after Árpád's conquest of the country. The second thousand years were then spoken of in terms that allotted the role of a "second Árpád" to Francis Joseph, Hungary's Habsburg ruler (Fig.1).
This political sleight of hand was designed to suggest that the Habsburg emperor was a legitimate as well as national ruler. However, this legitimacy during the first twenty or so years of his rule is somewhat in doubt. He was not crowned until 1867, the year of the Compromise; even after that a significant portion of the Hungarian lesser nobility continued to deny his legitimacy in particular, and that of the Habsburgs in general.
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The figure of Saint Stephen represents the following notions as listed below, not in any order of importance:
Catholicism, universalism—because Stephen was the founder of a Christian kingdom of West-European type; the West—because the state and culture which evolved as a result of his efforts connected the Hungarian nation to the Western culture of Europe; royalty—because he broke the ancient Hungarian tribal traditions and established a more advanced, feudal system; multinationalism—because he stressed in his will that "a nation consisting of a single language and single culture is weak"; imperialism—indicating both the multi-national state and its integration into the Habsburg empire; sainthood—because of the specific cult attached to his figure; law-giving—because he issued the first laws in Hungary.
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Árpád bears the following characteristic associations: pagan princehood—because he came to power owing to the will of the nation rather than through the "creation" of the clergy; legitimacy due to his arms—because his rule was legitimized by the occupation of the country; paganism—because he maintained the ancient faith of the Hungarians; the East—because he represented the origin and continuity of Hungarian cultural traditions rooted in the ancient homeland; homogeneity of the nation—because the notions attached to him do not comprehend national minorities; national independence—because his personality recalls the Hungarians' self-reliance, and perseverance and their struggles to defend their own.
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is on the staff of the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. She has published widely on the national and political aspects of art and the emergence of art institutions.
