Brigitta Schvéd, Research Assistant at our Institute, will give a paper on 8 October 2026 at an international academic conference in Budapest marking the 350th anniversary of the birth of Ferenc Rákóczi II. The three-day conference, entitled The Society of Prince Francis II Rákóczi: European Princes, Statesmen, Diplomats, Military Leaders, and Hungary at the Beginning of the 18th Century, will take place between 7 and 9 October 2026. It will explore the political, diplomatic, military, and intellectual contexts of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Europe through the age and European networks of Rákóczi. Particular attention will be devoted to the normative frameworks of contemporary political thought, the European balance of power, transformations in warfare, and the culture and practice of peace-making.
Brigitta Schvéd will present her paper, entitled The Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the European Balance of Power in Early Eighteenth-Century English Political Discourse, on 8 October as part of Panel 3. Her presentation examines how the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Hungary, and Rákóczi’s War of Independence were represented in early eighteenth-century English political discourse in the context of contemporary debates on the European balance of power. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which English political media situated the Hungarian conflict within broader discussions surrounding the War of the Spanish Succession, the East-Central European position of Habsburg power, and the political equilibrium of the continent. The paper forms part of our colleague’s wider research into the representation of Rákóczi’s War of Independence in English political media and the political language of the “balance of power” in the early eighteenth century.
The conference is organised by the Institute of Historical Studies of the Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Loránd University, and the Institute of History of the ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities. The first two days will be held at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University, while the final day will take place at the French Institute in Budapest.
Further information about the conference, including the full programme and registration, is available on the event page of the Institute of History, ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities.