Ludwig Thallóczy

Ludwig Thallóczy
Ludwig Thallóczy's grave at the Kerepesi cemetery in Budapest
Native name Thallóczy Lajos
Born 8 December 1857[A]
Košice, Austrian Empire
Died 1 December 1916 (aged 58)
Herceghalom, Austria-Hungary
Resting place
 Kerepesi cemetery in Budapest
47°29′44.77″N 19°5′26.11″E / 47.4957694°N 19.0905861°E
Nationality Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary
Ethnicity Jew[1]
Awards

Lajos Thallóczy, (Also, Ludwig von Thallóczy, Ljudevit Taloci, born Lajos Stommer) (8 December 1857 in Košice – 1 December 1916 in Herceghalom) was a historian, archivist and high public servant. He was mysterious person of Austro-Hungarian monarchy who played very significant role on Balkans. Because of his mentors Gyula Andrássy and especially Benjamin Kallay he became inevitable counselor in all Balkan affairs even to the emperor Franz Joseph himself, to ministers and to the government of the empire.[2] He was also a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Biography

Bosnia

Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered in 1889 based on Thalloczy's proposal

Thallóczy became interested in heraldry in period when scientific circles became interested to select "right" coat of arms for Bosnia and Herzegovina.[3] His main interests were Bosnian history, especially genealogy, heraldry and biographies of prominent individuals from its medieval period. Supported by Thallóczy's selective use of tendentiously interpreted sources aimed to satisfy the political aspirations of the empire by representing a historically connected fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary the government imposed his proposal for the official coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1889.[4] He introduced ethnically neutral yellow and red combination of colors to confront "misuse of Serbian and Croatian colors".[5] He was referred to as the 'creator of Bosnia'.[6]

Thallóczy was transferred to Vienna at the request of Benjamin Kallay. He was in charge for cultural and educational issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He published numerous Cyrillic and Latin charters, and also works about the duke Hrvoje Vukčić, history of Jajce and numerous other, Bosnia-related, subjects, with the main findings published in the book Studien zur Geschichte Bosniens und Serbiens im Mittelalter, published in Munich and Leipzig in the year 1914.

Albania

Before the First World War Austria-Hungary was significantly interested in Albania because of the political and military plans it had on Balkans and sent its scholars to investigate it.[7] Partly because of this interest Thallóczy was employed within Austria-Hungary administration with title of court counselor to create one work on popular history of Albanians and one textbook.[8][9] Together with Milan Šufflay and Konstantin Jireček he wrote two volumes of his monumental work Acta et diplomata res Albaniae mediae aetatis illustrantia (English: Documents and Diplomatic Affairs illustrating the Middle Ages in Albania) published in 1913 and 1918. Controversial Serbian historian Milorad Ekmečić credits him with having designed the 14th-century flag and coat of arms of Albania (the black double-headed eagle on a red banner).[10][11]

While some circles in Italy had plans to establish closer connection of Montenegro and Northern Albanian Catholics under their leadership, Thallóczy was one of the promoters of the plans of Austria-Hungary for strengthening the otherness between them and confronting Albanians and Slavs. The aim was to counter advances of Serbia and Montenegro on Adriatic coast. In December 1897 Thallóczy stated that it is necessary to take actions to prevent population of Albania being attracted to Montenegro.[12] According to Fan Noli Thallóczy proclaimed that opinions about Skanderbeg's Serbian descent are legends.[13]

Serbia

During World War I he was civil counselor of the military administration in occupied Kingdom of Serbia.[14] Thallóczy died in a train accident while returning from the funeral of the emperor Franz Joseph II.

Bibliography

See also

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ^ In almost all encyclopedias and works on Thallóczy is written that he was born in Budim in 1854 which was his official year of birth until his death. It was later discovered that he was in fact born in 1857 in Košice (modern day Slovakia). He himself forged his year of birth to meet the requests for getting the scholarship in Russia.[15]

Citations

  1. ↑ Tibor 2009, p. 217
    Рођен је као Лајош Штромер (Strommer, јеврејског порекла)
  2. ↑ Tibor 2009, p. 217
    ......u mnogočemu zagonetna ličnost monarhije ... igra isto tako zna čajnu ulogu kao i u naučnom životu. Pomoću svojih 'mentora' grofa Đule Andrašija starijeg, a posebno Benjamina Kalaja, postao je nezaobilazni savetnik u balkanskim odnosima i samom vladaru Franji Josifu, zajedničkim ministrima i Vladi Mađarske.
  3. ↑ Filipović 2010, p. 174
    izvjestan broj radova posvjetio je problematici bosanske heraldike. Njegov se interes za tu temu javio kada su se širi naučni krugovi počeli intenzivnije baviti analizom heraldičkih izvora i to sve u svrhu rješavanja pitanja odabira "pravog" zemaljskog grba za Bosnu i Hercegovinu.
  4. ↑ Filipović 2010, p. 175
    Svojim selektivnim pristupom raspoloživim izvorima kao i njihovom tendencioznom interpretacijom Thalloczy je ponudio ideju blisku ugarskoj državnoj tradiciji i političkim aspiracijama.... Upravo je ovo Thalloczyjevo rješenje...poslužilo vlastima da postupe po njegovom prijedlogu
  5. ↑ Filipović 2010, p. 177
    ...njegove nacionalno neutralne boje, žuta i crvena, trebale su "učiniti kraj zloupotrebama sa srpskim i hrvatskim bojama."
  6. ↑ Bánffy, Miklós; Thursfield, Patrick (2003). The phoenix land: the memoirs of Count Miklós Bánffy. Arcadia. p. 5. must be counted Lajos Thalloczy, the eminent historian, creator of Bosnia and a trusted confidant of the dead emperor.
  7. ↑ Elsie 2012, p. 437
  8. ↑ Elsie 2012, p. 437
  9. ↑ Ekmečić, Milorad (1989). Stvaranje Jugoslavije 1790-1918 2. Prosveta. p. 453. Историчар Талоци, ангажован у управи са титулом дворског саветника, преузео је на себе да изради једну попу- ларну историју Албанаца и једну читанку.
  10. ↑ Ekmečić, Milorad (2000), "Historiography by the Garb Only", Response to Noel Malcom's book Kosovo, a short history : scientific discussion on Noel Malcolm's book "Kosovo, a short history" (Macmillan, London 1998, 492), 8th October 1999 18, Belgrade: Institut of History of the Serbian Academy of Sciences, ISBN 9788677430207, OCLC 48938551, He organized the design of the national insignia, such as the coat of arms and the flag. A red banner with the doubleheaded black eagle was selected. In the Sarajevo "State Archive" is preserved even the bill by which a painter in Vienna in 1897 was paid 15 florins "für Ausführung des Wappens sammst Fahne". Contemporary Albanian historians (Luan Maltezi) are wrong in believing that the flag and coat of arms are stemming from mediaeval times.
  11. ↑ "Balcanica" 22. Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti, Balkanolos̆ki Institut. 1991. p. 115. ... unsigned, written by Thalloczy,.... national coats-of- -arms were designed ....
  12. ↑ Clayer, Nathalie (2007), Aux origines du nationalisme albanais: la naissance d'une nation, Karthala, p. 528, ISBN 978-2-84586-816-8, Certains milieux italiens continuaient à envisager un rapprochement entre le Monténégro orthodoxe et le Nord albanais catholique, sous leur propre houlette. En revanche, l' Autriche-Hongrie, qui cherchait à contrer l'avancée serbe et monténégrine en direction de l'Adriatique, avait tout intérêt à renforcer les altérités « albanais >> versus « slave >> et « catholique >> versus « orthodoxe >>. En décembre 1897, l'un des promoteurs du nouveau plan d'action austro-hongrois en Albanie, Ludwig von Thalloczy, affirmait qu'il fallait agir contre l'attraction du Monténégro. Il donnait l'exemple de la littérature populaire serbe qui "avançait" dans les montagnes du Nord, dans les régions de Spuz et de Podgorica, et diffusait une sorte de croyance albano-slave à travers la figure de Skanderbeg présenté en guerrier slave.
  13. ↑ Noli 1947, p. 20
  14. ↑ Filipović 2010, p. 175
    Na inicijativu Benjamina Kallaya, ministra financija, premješten je u Beč gdje postaje državni savjetnik i direktor arhiva zajedničkog ministarstva financija. Obavljao je i dužnost referenta za kulturne i školske poslove u Bosni i Hercegovini a tokom prvog svetskog rata bio je civilni savjetnik Vojne uprave u okupiranoj Srbiji
  15. ↑ Tibor 2009, p. 217
    ... Талоци рођен 1857. године и то не у Будиму него у данашњој Кошици).... Годину рођења је променио због тога што је само тако могао добити могућност за студијско путовање у Русију (пошто у време расписивања конкурса није имао довољно година).

Literature

He referred to claims that Skanderbeg was of Serbian descent as legend.Noli, Fan Stilian (1947), George Castrioti Scanderbeg (1405–1468), International Universities Press, OCLC 732882

External links

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