FROM THE MOTHERLAND TO EXILE: THE EXPERIENCE OF PROSECUTED LUTHERAN PRIESTS IN EXILE DURING THE 17TH CENTURY

The authoress deals with the situation when the considerable part of the Lutheran priests and teachers was exiled as the result of forced recatholisation. She tries to explain its causes, course and perception. In the 17th century various protestant groups (Anabaptists, the wave of exilians after the battle of Bila Hora) chose Hungary as a country of exile. After the disclosure of Palatine Wesselenyi's conspiracy the protestants, especially the educated elite (priests and teachers), were prosecuted on a large scale. Series of trials (1672-1674) aimed against supposed rebels led to the accusations and overall punishment. In this situation, exile was rather moderate form of penalty. In most cases exiled protestants left their country after signing the letter of renouncement, which was interpreted as renegation. The paper also deals with concequences of disagreement between this group of exilians and the protestants who were prisoned and sent to galleys to Napoli. Hereby the authoress focuses on the situation of exilians as reflected by the integrating society in Germany. The ambivalent situation forced Hungarians to explain the development in their own country and to defend their own theological attitudes. The analysis is mainly based on the sources little used before (as sermons, funeral speeches and memoirs). Its aim is to reconstruct the process of exile as an extreme situation which lasted for a long time: exilians were not able to integrate fully even in confessionally homogenous society (as for instance in Germany).