Oldal 102 [102]
OCR
The theoretical hypotheses, from Oswald Spengler (1918)" to János Gyurgyák (2018)*°* were, of course, diverse. What the responses have in common, however, is that the period of the Ancien Régime," which, in my view, was more like Europe than the following little more than two centuries, is essentially marginally discussed in the case studies. The European ideology has been presented in many different ways, among which I want to highlight three major works (exhibition catalogues and studies) which were written before the semblence of the reality, at least conceptually,— brought about by the enlargement of the Common Market.** Meanwhile, primarily historians, intellectual historians, and cultural historians were well aware that the enlarged European Union was far from unified, not only in the sense that the Central European region had a different history from the more Western one, but also, and above all, in the sense that they interpreted this history, their own traditions, differently and wished to preserve them differently. And this defines their present-day European identity, with which they look at the intellectuals of the 17th and 18th centuries. Political autonomy, even if in many respects, especially economically, it can only be illusory, has produced a Eureka experience for the people of this region. This feeling is not only driven by the individual ambitions of politicians, but also exists at a society level. The reasons behind this can only be discovered and explained to the 21st century decision-makers through serious and in-depth historical research. Significant conferences,*”” and monumental volumes of studies“ were organised, but these also concentrated their responses on the 19th and 20th centuries. Collected volumes, selected thematically and written by experts from different regions of Europe on their own histories, reveal much more about the Europe that once existed as consensus Europaeus. Thus, a volume on religious memorial sites is controversial in its conception, ® or the one on the influence of Luther," but they are closer to the picture of the historical reality of Central Europe that I, and perhaps many others, have. Europe, I think, is rooted in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. #3 SPENGLER 1918-1922, In Hungarian: SPENGLER °2011. 464 GyurcyAK 2018. #5 "THE French Revolution, or rather the settlement of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna, could be the historical border of this period. In spiritual terms, however, and especially in terms of the history of philosophy, it is a renunciation of the theory of the four empires (translatio imperii), the latter being historically symbolised by the declaration of the German-Roman Emperor Francis II (1804) that he had become Emperor of Austria. One of the best didactic summaries of these views to date is Lotz 1936. For a summary of recent literature, see NOTARI 2015, 92-104. Ricci I. M.—Carassi—Cusanno, a cura di., Securitas.... 1996.; PLEssEN, hrsg., Idee Europa..., 2003. P1JAUDIER-FAUCHEREAU, dir., L'Europe des esprits..., 2011. #7 EBERHARD-LÜBKE, hrsg., Die Vielfalt Europas..., 2009., EBERHARD-LÜBKE, eds., The Plurality of Europe..., 2010. I note: Nobody from Hungary was at this conference, 3% of the participants were from Central Europe, so the “we will tell you how to understand it” effect is still alive today, because if one is rich, they are also smart (Reb Tevye sings about it, “if I were a rich man...”). FRANGOIS—SERRIER, sous la dir. de, Europa..., 2017.; FRANCOIS—SERRIER, eds., The European Way..., 2021. ANACHRONISTICALLY brings together memorial sites with commemorative communities: BAHLCKE— ROHDEWALD-WÜnscH, hrsg., Religiöse..., 2013. #0 BAHLCKE-STÖRTKUHL-WEBER, hrsg., Der Luthereffekt..., 2017. 46 a 468 469 100
