Agria 38. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2002)

R. Várkonyi Ágnes: Az egri győzelem és Európa

the Austrian Hereditary Provinces but also of the Papal State and the German electorates. This paper presents a map of Hungary from 1552 which can be related to the defence of Eger. The Regni Hungáriáé descriptio vera (The true description of the Kingdom of Hugary) shows Hungary as a uniform whole, with its bishoprics and economic features. A joint work of Wolfgang Lazius and János Sylvster, professors of Vienna, this was supported, among others, by the humanist prelate, Miklós Oláh, Bishop of Eger. The map, the only copy of which is to be found in the University Library of Basel, shows the Blessed Virgin Mary, the canonized Kings of Hungary, Saint Stephen and Saint Ladislas, as also the figures of Venus and Hercules and the texts of prayers intended to rally forces to fight against the Turks. This has a particular topical interest in 1552, because, as recent findings in Turkish studies have shown, it was at that time that after a glorious period of conquests a new phase in the history of the Ottoman Empire set in, that of a long, protracted phase of decline. The concluding chapter of this essay examines the historic significance of the defence of the fortress of Eger. Sultan Suleiman was motivated by a large-scale rational strategy in sending his forces to take Eger, the most important fortress in North-East Hungary. If he had succeeded, he could have seized the central town of the region, Kassa, and by doing so he would have separated the Kingdom of Hungary from the Principality of Transylvania, and could have had access to Poland , and turning to the West from there would have encircled Central Europe. The successful defence of the castle of Eger thwarted this plan of the Ottoman power, and gave new hope to the Christian world to the effect that the Turks could be defeated. 188