Aristocratic Libraries as Mirrors of Social and Cultural Identities: The Intellectual Network around Jozef Esterházy’s Library in his Čeklís Manor in the 18th Century

Abstrakt

The study focuses on the phenomenon of aristocratic libraries as cultural centres and repositories in social history and the history of book culture. Aristocratic libraries reflected the social status, erudition, political ambitions, religious beliefs, and values of their owners. Research into them makes it possible to trace not only the dissemination of scientific and literary knowledge but also the processes involved in the reception and formation of European learning, intellectual networks, contacts with both domestic and foreign milieux, and the construction of cultural identities. Provenance evidence, dedications, ex-libris, loan records, and preserved correspondence reveal contacts between members of the nobility, scholars, church dignitaries, and officials. The library thus emerges as a hub of communication and of politico-intellectual networks. The authors present their research on aristocratic libraries through the example of the library of the prominent politician and provincial judge of the Kingdom of Hungary Jozef Esterházy at his manor in Čeklís (present-day Bernolákovo in Slovakia). Their aim is to contribute to a broader reflection on the history of book culture while at the same time expanding the perspectives within the study of the history of knowledge. In the context of the intellectual network that developed around Jozef Esterházy’s library, the study also highlights the connections between Hungarian (in the historical sense) and Polish historical and scholarly traditions.