Wolfgang Lazius the Forgotten Court-Historian of Ferdinand I

As court historian to Ferdinand I, Wolfgang Lazius (151465) was going to produce his monumental Latin compendium of the history of Austria from the Roman conquest to his own time, entitled Rerum Austriacarum Decades. Some parts of this voluminous work were never completed, other chapters relating to the early centuries are of little relevance to modern scholarship. The situation is quite different, however, with the Fifth Decas, which was completed in its entirety, and which can rightly be regarded as an invaluable source on events in the Hungarian Kingdom 154056. Lazius wrote about the siege of Buda (154142) as an eyewitness, and as a court historian he had access to many sources which have now been partially lost. Although he was Austrian by birth, his work as the historian of King Ferdinand can rightly be interpreted as a continuation of the most famous Hungarian court historians, Jnos Thurczy and Antonio Bonfini, and his immediate predecessor Caspar Ursinus Velius. It is almost incomprehensible thatwith the exception of a few pagesit was never printed, and that neither Hungarian nor Austrian historiography made use of it. The publication of the work in its original language is therefore an internationally significant undertaking, since the years 154056 are not only a turning point in Hungarian history, but also the years of the birth of the Habsburg monarchy (so called Donaumonarchie), and thus a rich source of data not only for Hungarian historians of the early modern period, but also for Austrian and other scholars. It is therefore essential that the edition be published in the original language, with annotations in German/English, comprehensible to international scholarship. The second undertaking of the project is a monograph on Lazius work as a historian in a broader context. Lazius was a major figure of 16th-century Viennese humanism, whose diverse activities have attracted the attention of many scholars. However, the study of his work as a historian has been largely neglected, not least because his texts were only available in manuscript form. The monograph being produced in the framework of this project aims to fill this gap.

As court historian to Ferdinand I, Wolfgang Lazius (1514-1565) was going to produce his monumental Latin-language compendium of the history of Austria from the Roman conquest to his own time, entitled Rerum Austriacarum Decades. Some parts of this voluminous work were never completed, while other chapters relating to the early centuries are of little relevance to modern scholarship. The situation is quite different, however, with Dec. V, which is of a specifically historical nature and was completed in its entirety, and which can rightly be regarded as an invaluable source on events in Hungarian Kingdom between 1540 and 1556. Lazius wrote about the sieges of Buda (1541-1542) as an eyewitness, and as a court historian he had access to many sources which have now been partially lost. As the historian of King Ferdinand, although he was Austrian by birth, his work can rightly be interpreted as a continuation of the most famous Hungarian court historians, Jnos Thurczy and Antonio Bonfini, and his immediate predecessor Caspar Ursinus Velius. It is almost incomprehensible that, with the exception of a few pages of the text, it remained entirely in manuscript, and that neither Hungarian nor Austrian historiography made use of its data. The publication of the work in its original language is therefore an internationally significant undertaking, as the years between 1540 and 1556 were not only a turning point in Hungarian history, but also marked the birth of the Habsburg Monarchy on the Danube, Thus, it offers a rich source of information not only for Hungarian historians specialising in the early modern period, but also for Austrian and other researchers studying the Habsburgs. For this reason, it is essential that the edition be published in the original language with notes that are accessible to the international academic community. The partial results of the project have been presented at several international conferences and published studies on the origin and context of Lazius's work in English, German and Hungarian. However, the most important result of the project is that the Fifth Decas of Lazius's main work, Rerum Austriacarum Decades have been made available in digital form, and the core of the work, Rerum Pannonicarum Libri IV have also been published in print in the prestigious Publikationen der Ungarischen Geschichtsforschung in Wien (PUGW) series by the Collegium Hungaricum in Vienna. The latter publication is the first to present the Latin text of the work in print, with detailed German annotations and an monography-like introductory.