Antal Molnár

Antal Molnár (born 21 October 1969) is a Hungarian historian and ecclesiastical historian specialising in the history of the Ottoman Hungary and the Balkans in the 16th and 17th centuries. He is a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

Early life and education

Antal Molnár spent his childhood in Sárosd (Fejér County, Hungary). He completed secondary school at the Benedictine High School of Pannonhalma. After a year of military service, he gained admission to the Faculty of Arts at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 1989, studying Latin and History as a member of the Eötvös József Collegium. During 1993 and 1994 he spent a year in Paris as a student of the École Normale Supérieure with a French government scholarship, and in 1994 he obtained a D.E.A. (MA) degree in history at the University of Paris IV - Sorbonne. In the next two years (1995-1996), he graduated from Eötvös Loránd University as a lecturer in History and Latin language, and then completed his doctoral studies in Szeged and Paris. He achieved a doctoral (PhD) degree in Literary studies at the Attila József University of Szeged in 1999 and at the University of Paris IV - Sorbonne in 2002. Between 2000 and 2004, he completed a Turkish degree at ELTE, where he also habilitated in 2007. Between 1998 and 2000 he worked as an assistant professor at the Institute of History of the Péter Pázmány Catholic University, He has worked at the Institute of History of Eötvös Loránd University first as an assistant professor since 2000 and then as an associate professor since 2009. From 1995 to 1996, he lectured at the Historians’ Workshop of Eötvös Collegium, which he then went on to lead between 2002-2005. In addition to his university work, he has been a senior researcher at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2005, and between 2010-2011, he was the head of the Department of Early Modern History. From 1997 to 2011 he also worked as an archivist at the archives of the Hungarian Province of the Society of Jesus. Between 2011 and 2016, he was the director of the Hungarian Academy in Rome. He returned to work at the Institute of History of the Research Centre for the Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as a senior researcher in 2016. He was appointed as the director of the Institute on 1 January 2019, and continued to work as an associate professor at the Institute of History of Eötvös Loránd University. As of 1 January 2020, he has been promoted to scientific advisor at the Institute of History of the Research Centre for the Humanities, which he continues to lead as director. Because of structural changes, the Research Centre for the Humanities is now a part of the Eötvös Loránd Research Network (ELKH). Antal Molnár was appointed as the Deputy Director General of the Research Centre for the Humanities on 1 January 2021. He has been a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences (Pontificio Comitato di Scienze Storiche) in the Vatican since 22 February 2021.

Academic career

The focal points of his research are the early modern history of the Catholic Church and the history of the Ottoman Hungary and the Balkans in the 16th and 17th centuries. He has published 18 independent volumes (including four with co-authors, two in English, one in Italian, one in German and one in French) and more than 200 studies as well. The most important result of his research so far is the diversified presentation of the Ottoman Hungary’s relations in the Balkans: the Franciscans of Bosnia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the merchants of Ragusa, and the complex system of the Holy See missions’ organisation and operation. In addition, he was the first in Hungarian research to use the international model of denomination organisation in a Hungarian local example of Gyöngyös and its agglomeration through their ecclesiastical history in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thus, he significantly contributed to the utilisation of the international models about the early modern era in a creative way to examine the 20th century history of the Jesuit order: professional critics considered the exploration and reinterpretation of Béla Bangha's (1880–1940) religious life based on previously completely unknown archival material a paradigm shift. The number of references to his scientific work exceeds 1,800, of which about 300 are from foreign authors. The impact of his work is indicated by his publications in 53 Hungarian and 47 foreign journals (English, German, Italian, Belgian, Austrian, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Croatian, Kosovan, Montenegrin, Romanian, Spanish, Serbian and Slovak). Since 1993, he has received numerous scholarships for archival research abroad, and has completed several research projects in Italian, Croatian, Slovakian Serbian and Austrian archives. He was granted a János Bolyai Research Fellowship between 2000-2003 and 2007-2010, and the György Békésy Postdoctoral Fellowship from 2003 to 2006. He is actively involved in the academic public life. Between 2008 and 2011 he was the secretary of the Historical Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and he is its vice-chairman since 2018. He was a member of the Bulgarian - Hungarian History Commission and the Publication Committee of ‘OTKA’ (Young Researchers’ Excellence Programme). He is a member of the editorial boards of six Hungarian and five foreign journals, the founder and series editor of the Bibliotheca Academiae Hungariae – Roma, seven volumes of which have been published by the Roman publishing house Viella. As a result of his efforts coordinating cultural and academic initiatives while working as the director of the Hungarian Academy in Rome, a number of cultural events (about 50 exhibitions, 100 concerts, theatre and film programs) and scientific events (10 international conferences, about 50 book presentations and roundtable discussions) were organised and opened by him between 2011 and 2016.

Selected works
  • Katolikus missziók a hódolt Magyarországon I. (1572–1647). Bp., Balassi Kiadó, 2002. 587. [Humanizmus és Reformáció 26.]
  • Püspökök, barátok, parasztok. Fejezetek a szegedi ferencesek török kori történetéből. Bp., METEM, 2003. 120. [METEM Könyvek 41.]
  • A katolikus egyház a hódolt Dunántúlon. Bp., METEM, 2003. 213. [METEM Könyvek 44.]
  • Tanulmányok az alföldi katolicizmus török kori történetéhez. Bp., METEM, 2004. 189. [METEM Könyvek 45.]
  • Mezőváros és katolicizmus. Katolikus egyház az egri püspökség hódoltsági területein a 17. században. Bp., METEM, 2005. 322. [METEM Könyvek 49.]
  • A bátai apátság és népei a török korban. Bp., METEM, 2006. 172. [METEM Könyvek 56.] (2. kiadás /változatlan utánnyomás/: 2008.)
  • Le Saint-Siège, Raguse et les missions catholiques de la Hongrie Ottomane 1572–1647. Rome–Bp., Római Magyar Akadémia, 2007. 431. [Bibliotheca Academiae Hungariae – Roma. Studia I.]
  • Elfelejtett végvidék. Tanulmányok a hódoltsági katolikus művelődés történetéből. Bp., Balassi Kiadó, 2008. 280. [Régi Magyar Könyvtár. Tanulmányok 9.]
  • Lehetetlen küldetés? Jezsuiták Erdélyben és Felső-Magyarországon a 16–17. században. Bp., L’Harmattan, 2009. 286. [TDI Könyvek 8.]
  • Egy raguzai kereskedőtársaság a hódolt Budán. Scipione Bona és Marino Bucchia vállalkozásának története és dokumentumai (1573–1595). Eine Handelsgesellschaft aus Ragusa im osmanischen Ofen. Geschichte und Dokumente der Gesellschaft von Scipione Bona und Marino Bucchia (1573–1595). Bp., Budapest Főváros Levéltára, 2009. 433. [Források Budapest Közép- és Kora Újkori Történetéhez 2. Quellen zur Budapester Geschichte im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit 2.]
  • Bangha Béla SJ emlékezete. Bp., Távlatok, 2010. 400. [Társszerző: Szabó Ferenc.]
  • A zágrábi püspökség és a magyarországi katolikus egyház a 17. században. Bp., 2012. 115. [METEM Könyvek 77.]
  • Kalmárok és káplánok az Oszmán Birodalomban. Források és tanulmányok a balkáni és hódoltsági katolicizmus történetéhez. Bp., METEM, 2013. 320. [METEM Könyvek 80.]
  • A Falconieri-palota, Róma. Budapest, Balassi Intézet–Balassi Kiadó, 2016. 212 (dvd melléklettel) [Társszerző: Tóth Tamás]
  • Palazzo Falconieri, Roma. Budapest, Balassi Intézet–Balassi Kiadó, 2016. 212 (dvd melléklettel). [Társszerző: Tóth Tamás]
  • The Falconieri Palace in Rome. Budapest, Balassi Intézet–Balassi Kiadó, 2016. 212 (dvd melléklettel). [Társszerző: Tóth Tamás]
  • Chiese e nationes a Roma: dalla Scandinavia ai Balcani. Secoli XV–XVIII. A cura di Molnár, Antal–Pizzorusso, Giovanni–Sanfilippo, Matteo. Roma, Viella, 2017. [Biblioteca Academiae Hungariae – Roma. Studia, 6.]
  • Confessionalization on the Frontier. The Balkan Catholics between Roman Reform and Ottoman Reality. Roma, Viella, 2019. [Interadria. Culture dell’Adriatico, 22.] 268.
  • Magyar hódoltság, horvát hódoltság. Magyar és horvát katolikus egyházi intézmények az oszmán uralom alatt. Bp., BTK Történettudományi Intézet, 2019. [Magyar Történelmi Emlékek. Értekezések]

Awards
  • 2002: Klaniczay-díj
  • 2003: Palládium díj
  • 2004: Talentum Akadémiai Díj
  • 2006: Szakály Ferenc-díj
  • 2011: Mestertanár Aranyérem
  • 2011: Premio „San Giacomo della Marca”
  • 2019: Premio Roma 2019

References
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