Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.56.25
History of a Villain: how did Croatian Historiography Portray Ban Khuen? (Summary)
Filip Šimetin Šegvić
orcid.org/0000-0003-0613-1178
Abstract
The paper examines important assessments of various Croatian historians on the long-lasting regime of Count Khuen-Héderváry, viceroy/ban in Croatia-Slavonia (1883-1903). During several phases the reasons for the long-term negative interpretation of his political legacy and activities in Croatia-Slavonia are questioned and analysed. Such negative interpretations are reflected in the works of Croatian historians, publicists, politicians as well as other scholars who influenced historiography continually. The paper analyses the specific conditions under which a paradigm shift in historiography gradually and slowly occurs, that is, a mild deconstruction in the assessment of the period and a change in the perception of the Khuen-regime itself. Divided into several chronological units, the paper examines early historiography, historiography from 1918 to 1945, then historiography after 1945 and up to the political changes of 1990/1991, as well as from the 1990s to the present day. Relevant works are taken into account, primarily reviews and syntheses of Croatian history that present the overall results of the historiography of that time, as well as other monographs and professional research that present a influential interpretation of Khuen’s rule in the period from 1901 to the most recent works in Croatian historiography. Special attention is paid to the daily press during the regime of Khuen-Héderváry (both oppositional and regime, because this media also participated in creating a negative image of the ban (both the go¬verning and oppositional press).Analytically, elements are found that have passed from criticism of the oppositional press (that is, the sphere of politics), through historians and others, into the sphere of historiography, marking the beginnings of the image of Ban Khuen that would later be transmitted through historiography. In addition to analysing the portrayal of Ban Khuen-Héderváry, the paper also takes into consideration parallelly related controversies in the form of two important figures who are usually viewed as the faces of the regime: Izidor Kršnjavi and Hermann Bollé. The paper concludes with the latest historiographical achieve¬ments that provide a more balanced account of the regime of Khuen-Héderváry.
Keywords
historiography, Khuen-Héderváry, perception of ruler, end of the century, trends, cultural history
Hrčak ID:
330302
URI
Publication date:
22.12.2024.
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