Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/ypn4ocdv09
Culture of Honour and Violence: Development and Reflection in the Case of “Parliamentary Butt Kick”
Filip Šimetin Šegvić
orcid.org/0000-0003-0613-1178
; Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Antea Tokić
orcid.org/0009-0003-7160-5963
; Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
On 5 October 1885, during a heated debate in the Sabor (Croatian Diet) regarding the transfer of archival materials from the National Archive in Zagreb to Budapest which caused the so-called “Archival affair”, an important incident occurred, firmly established in Croatian collective memory. Debate and uproar in the Sabor culminated when a parliamentary opposition member, Josip Gržanić, kicked Ban Károly Khuen-Héderváry in the posterior. In a period where such a severe violation of honour demanded satisfaction in the form of a (illegal, but nevertheless standard) duel, it may seem unclear why the ban did not demand satisfaction. In this paper, the aforementioned incident is taken as a starting point for questioning the longevity and/or change of concepts of honour and the mentality of the 19th century. By applying a socio-historical and anthropological analysis on the history of male honour, its social position and evolving concepts are explained, which leads to the explanation of the opposition’s celebration of the incident, as well as the efforts of the ruling party and the ban to cover it up. In the clash of the still-present culture of chivalrous honour (whose power could drive the disgraced ban from his position) and the power of Realpolitik, the latter takes precedent.
Keywords
honour; culture of violence; ban; “Parliamentary Butt Kick”; the nineteenth century
Hrčak ID:
302159
URI
Publication date:
17.5.2023.
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