Életmód és művelődés Veszprém megyében a 16-18. században (Veszprémi Múzeumi Konferenciák 10. 2000)
Gelléri Gábor: Francia útleírások Magyarországról a hódoltság utolsó szakaszától a Rákóczi-szabadságharcig
Gábor Gelléri SOME FRENCH TRAVEL DOCUMENTS ON HUNGARY FROM THE END OF TURKISH OCCUPATION TO THE RÁKÓCZI UPRISING The present study focuses on an interesting and important turning point of Hungarian history and also that of Western Europe's attitude towards Hungary, from the point of view of travel literature. Since the closing decades of the Turkish occupation, Hungary is not anymore an inaccessible travel goal - scientists and ordinary travelers join the continuously present soldiers and diplomats travelling in the territory of Hungary. From this time on to the Rákóczi uprising, we can assist to a kind of rediscovery of a somewhat 'forgotten' country. This time we turn our attention to two French documents unknown to the critics, one coming from the sixties of the 17 century, the other from the end of the century. We analyze in a parallel way the documents and their possible background. This background is meant in many ways: historic, literary and also that of the ars apodemica, the travel philosophy, whose development is very important for the understanding of contemporary travel texts. Probably the most important theorist of this is Justus Lipsius, who opposes in his work utilitas, usefulness to voluptas, joy. The first traveler, anonymous, seems to be a young aristocrat on his Grand Tour d'Europe, this classical educational travel form transformed into a quest for easy adventures by the end of the 17 th century. Some elements of this brief text show a French 'salon' background, other, horror or miraculous elements have literary parallels in baroque literature. The geographical description of the country is quite schematic, while the political parts seem to be based on contemporary French vision of the Hungarian-Hapsburg relationship. This young aristocrat is very much interested in the relationship of the two sexes in Hungary, which is, by that time, a rather unusual matter in travel texts about Hungary. 51
