18. storočie

The present study traces the history of Summer Theatre in Bratislava, a matter long overlooked in current research, through a source-based and comparative approach enabling the art form to be viewed as a space of both popular culture and social control. In a time when Enlightenment thinking saw theatre as a tool for educating the populace and building loyalty to the regime, theatre for non-elites gradually became a form of entertainment no longer tolerated. The sensitivity of authorities to any hints of prohibited expressions or ridicule is evident in the sources.

This paper examines family violence in the 18th century Transylvania with a focus on two major themes: child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. The topic will be explored based on records and documents produced by secular and ecclesiastical courts. The primary goal of the current study is twofold—to analyze the legal consequences of family violence and to investigate the construction of the narratives surrounding these trials.

Property disputes have always been one of the main reasons of misunderstandings and conflicts among family members. Big conflicts among the family of Pálffy members were caused by the testament of Palatine János Palffy and the consequent property division. The author analyzes the correspondence between Károly Pál Pálffy and Rudolf (I.) Pálffy, and offers a portrait of the complicated family relationships during the long-lasting conflict.

The phenomenon of nepotism belongs to the almost unknown aspect of the Hungarian county administration, although familial and personal ties represented crucial elements of political culture in the early modern period. State and local offices became ideal places for applying such personal ties and relations into practice. The state maintained a neutral attitude towards nepotism until the first half of the 18th century and no intervention was made against it in the county administration.