Philipp Hochbaum, An der Zeitenwende – Der Temeschwarer Kongresses von 1790
At the Turn of an Era – The Temeschwar Congress from 1790
In the late eighteenth century, the poly-ethnic Orthodox community of the Habsburg Empire has been characterized by an increase in the shift of loyalties. Both Serbs and Romanians still considered the Metropolis of Sremski Karlovci and their common, artificially created and confessionality-based “Illyric Nation”, the main recipient of their common loyalty. In order to define its legal position in Hungary and thus in the Habsburg empire, an assembly was held in Temesvar in August 1790. Some of the postulations then showed that emerging national identities began to spread among the Orthodox (officially not ethnically defined as “Illyrians”) leading to an emerging loyalty shift towards new national concepts based on ethnicity. Furthermore, these were also promulgated by social strata outside clerical structures, such as the still emerging bourgeoisie or the nobility whose representatives were also aiming towards a broader participation within the Hungarian legal system. An imperial decree marked the official end of the Orthodox discrimination in comparison to the Roman-catholic and Greek-catholic church that was complained about before on the Temesvar assembly. Trying to integrate the “Illyrians” in the legal system, the Hungarian diet granted them civil rights and a broader political participation. Its further promise of religious freedom indicates that the Orthodox community was still officially perceived beyond ethnic characteristics, in order to prevent ethnicity-motivated disintegration within Hungary, despite of its emerging inner rifts grounded in ethnic criteria. Thus the 1790 assembly and the following years represent a transition period in terms of national identity, its mutual perception and its promulgating groups.
Keywords: history of the Habsburg Empire, poly-ethnic Orthodox community of the Habsburg Empire, the Temeschwar Congress from 1790, „Illyric Nation”, national identity
- Bešlin, Branko, Evropski uticaji na srpski liberalizam u XIX veku, Novi Sad; Sremski Karlovci: Izdavačka knjižarnica Zorana Stojanovića 2005.
- Bocşan, Nicolae; Lumperdean, Ioan; Pop, Ioan-Aurel, Etnie şi confesiune în Transilvania: Secolele XIII – XIX / Ethnos and confession in Transylvania: Centuries 13-19, Oradea: Fundaţia „Cele Trei Crişuri” 1994.
- Bocşan, Nicolae, “The Hierarchical Separation between the Romanian and the Serbian Orthodox Churches 1864 – 1871”, in: Crăciun, Maria, Church and society in Central and Eastern Europe, Cluj-Napoca: European Studies Foundation Publishing House 1998, S. 207 – 218.
- Gavrilović, Nikola, “Jurisdikcija karlovačke mitropolije nad pravoslavnim Rumunima u Banatu, Krišani i Erdelju”, in: Temišvarski Zbornik, Jg. 1, 1994, S. 63 – 79.
- Gavrilović, Slavko; Petrović, Nikola, Temišvarski sabor 1790, Novi Sad; Sremski Karlovci: Institut za izučavanje istorije Vojvodine, Istorijski Arhiv PK SK Vojvodine 1972.
- Haselsteiner, Horst, Die Serben und der Ausgleich. Zur politischen und staatsrechtlichen Stellung der Serben Südungarns in den Jahren 1860 –
1867 / The Serbs and the settlement. On the political and constitutional standing of the Serbs south of Hungary during 1860-1867, Graz;
Köln; Wien: Böhlau 1976. - Haslinger, Peter; Puttkamer, Joachim von, “Staatsmacht, Minderheit, Loyalität – konzeptionelle Grundlagen am Beispiel Ostmittel- und Südosteuropas in der Zwischenkriegszeit” / “State power, minority. loyalty – conceptual fundaments in the case of Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe in the interwar period”, in: DIES. [Hrsg.], Staat, Loyalität und Minderheiten in Ostmittel- und Südosteuropa 1918–1941 / State power, loyalty, minority in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe 1918-1941, München: Oldenbourg 2007, S. 1 – 16.
- Hopf, Claudia, Sprachnationalismus in Serbien und Griechenland. Theoretische Grundlagen sowie ein Vergleich von Vuk Stefanović Karadžić und Adamantios Korais / Linguistic nationalism in Serbia and Greece. Theoretical fundaments and a comparison of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Adamantios Korais, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 1997.
- Hroch, Miroslav, In the National Interest. Demands and Goals of European National Movements of the Ninetheenth Century: A Comparative Perspective, Prag: Karlsuniversität, Philosophische Fakultät 1996.
- Milin, Miodrag, Interferenţe culturale între poporul român şi popoarele din spaţiul Iugoslav între secolele XVII-lea şi începutul secolului al XX-lea. Perspectivă politică-culturală în secolul al XIX-lea / Cultural interferences between Romanian people and the peoples of the Jugoslavian area between the 17th and the eearly 20th century. Political-cultural perspective in the 19th century, Cluj-Napoca: Eigenverlag 1988.
- Nedelcea Cotescu, Diana, Biserica Românească din Serbia / Romanian Church in Serbia, Craiova: Fundaţia Scrisul Românesc 2006.
- Popović, Dušan, Srbi u Vojvodini. Knjiga druga. Od karlovačkog mira 1699 do Temišvarskog sabora 1790, Novi Sad: Matica Srpska 1959.
- Smith, Anthony D., Nationalism. Theory, Ideology, History, Malden: Polity Press 2007.
- Turczynski, Emanuel, Konfession und Nation. Zur Frühgeschichte der serbischen und rumänischen Nationsbildung / Confession and nation. An early history of the Serbian and Romanian nation formation, Düsseldorf: Schwann 1976. .D iese Arbeit wurde durch die finanzielle Unterstützung des Sektorenbetriebsprogramms zur Personalentwicklung 2007-2013 ermöglicht, welches vom Europäischen Sozialfonds im Rahmen des Projektes Nr. POSDRU/107/1.5/S/77946 mitfinanziert wird: „Die Promotion: eine erfolgreiche Laufbahn in der Forschung”
