Körmöczi Katalin szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum 3 - From the End of the Turkish Wars to the Millennium - The history of Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries (Budapest, 2001)
ROOM 10. Hungary in the 18th Century (Gábor Németh)
three privileged "nations" (the Hungarians, Saxons and Szeklers). In 1765, Maria Theresia raised it to the status of a grand duchy, headed by a gubernium and a diet. Beneath a painting of Charles III (111140), by an unknown master of the time, there are medals commemorating events connected with his reign. Beside them, visitors can see a printed copy of the laws passed by the Diet of 1722-23; this contains the text of the Pragmatica Sanctio. An oil painting (Fig. 10) by an unknown master depicts Maria Theresia in her royal regalia. The queen's accession to the throne was followed by the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740— 48), started by European powers opposed to the succession through the female line. The queen's main support in the face of the attack launched by a Franco-Bavarian alliance and King Frederick II of Prussia proved to be the Hungarian Estates. At the Diet of Pozsony (Bratislava) in 1741, they offered their "lives and blood" ("Vitam et sanguinem pro rege nostro!"), as well as the necessary military assistance, to save their monarch and the empire. The queen, inexperienced in government and just twenty-three years of age when she ascended the throne, proved to be one of the great Habsburg rulers. With the help of Chancellor Kaunitz, her main advisor, she endeavoured to introduce social and political reforms. Attempts to limit noble rights proved unsuccessful however, and in 1767 a measure to regulate serf services and compulsory labour ran into opposition. Maria Theresia's government therefore disregarded the Diet and introduced the reforms by decree. In addition to educational, ecclesiastical, welfare and other reforms inspired by the Enlightenment, there were also measures intended to curtail the country's political independence and to distort its economy. Of the administrative reforms, the most significant was the tariff system introduced in 1754, which was unfavourable for Hungary. During her rule, though, the conflicts remained hidden. The queen cultivated her links with Hungary carefully. The proHabsburg aristocracy, the bodyguard of nobles created by her, and the Theresianum, established in Vienna to train highranking state officials, all served to draw the Hungarian ties tighter. Maria Theresia's policy of protecting the serfs played a part in the development of the myth of the good empress and in deepening loyalty to the Habsburgs in a country which was now prospering. Around the oil painting which shows the queen in Baroque regal pomp are copper engravings referring to her initial foreign policy difficulties and to her close ties with the Hungarian nobility. Examples are the copper engravings depicting the homage of the Hungarian Estates at the Diet of Pozsony in 1741 and showing the queen requesting the help of the Hungarians at the time of the War of the Austrian Succession. A picture featuring the nations at war with each other leads through to the time of the Seven Years' War. Commemorative medals and objects for personal use recall the time of Maria Theresia, who is remembered throughout Europe as the "Queen of the Hungarians". In chronological order, the commemorative medals are as follows: Maria Theresia's coronation as queen of Hungary (June 25, 1741) and the monarchical partnership of Maria Theresia and her husband, Francis of Lorraine (Francis of Lorraine ruled jointly with the queen from 1740 onwards, and from 1745 was Holy Roman emperor,
