The culture of Hungary held Neo-Latin literature in a unique place, which was closely
tied to the special status of the Latin language in the country. Latin was not only
encouraged for cultural, scientific, or diplomatic purposes, but it also served as
the language of public life until 1844. As a result, a significant part of Hungarian
literaturę was written in Latin, even in the nineteenth century. The language of the
first comprehensive works on the history of Hungarian literature—the manuals of the
so-called historia litteraria tradition—was also Latin. In this paper, an exploration
is made of how the Neo-Latin tradition appears in the handbooks on the history of
Hungarian literature published since the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is
investigated whether authors reflect on the Latinity of a particular cultural segment
in Hungary, whether they consider it as part of the national literature, and if so,
in what framework and with what methodology they attempt to present and process it.
The first handbook examined is the first (Latin) lexicon dedicated to Hungarian literature,
Specimen Hungariae Literatae, virorum eruditione clarorum natione Hungarorum, Dalmatarum,
Croatarum, Slavorum atque Transylvanorum, vitas, scripta, elogia et censuras ordine
alphabetico exhibens, published by Dávid Czvittinger in 1711. The latest compendium
investigated is the Magyar irodalom (The Hungarian literature), edited by Tibor Gintli,
published in 2010 Together with the volumes published in the intervening period, a
three-hundred-year history of Hungarian Neo-Latin Studies is presented based on a
review of nearly fifteen literary history manuals and five literary lexicons. The
context of changes is reflected upon, such as the relationship with the development
of academic disciplines, the relationship with the change in the concept of the nation,
and the methodological context, including the interaction with positivist, and other
research methodologies. In the view of the author, the historical overview of Hungarian
Neo-Latin studies may be considered a paradigmatic example not only for Hungary but
also for the Central and Eastern European region.
