Habsburg Rulers as Hungarian “National” Kings in György Pray’s Work Entitled Historia regum Hungariae stirpis Austriacae

The Historia regum Hungariae, the three-volume work by György Pray (1723–1801), Jesuit historian, was published in 1801. The third volume of the Historia discusses the historical events until the end of the reign of Maria Theresa, 1780. In addition, this first volume had already been published separately before the first two ones with the title Historia Regum Hungariae stirpis Austriacae in 1799. The last decade of György Pray’s life, as well as the fairly intricate story of the creation of the Historia are now adequately explored and documented, in spite of the fact that no modern edition or translation of the historical work has been issued so far. However, there still exist unsettled questions deserving elaborate answers. What could discourage Pray from accomplishing his original goal, writing something completely dedicated to the state and constitutional history? Furthermore, exactly what kind of ideas and historical perspectives does this work represent, especially in the case of the third volume portraying the Habsburg rulers as Hungarian kings? Did Pray serve only imperial interests? Also, was he able to square the aulic perspective with the ‘national’ sentiment?