Name Vilmos Fraknoi | Role Expert | |
 | ||
Died November 20, 1924, Budapest, Hungary | ||
Vilmos Fraknoi (February 27, 1843 – November 20, 1924) was a Hungarian historian. He was an expert in Hungarian ecclesiastical history.
Contents
Life
Vilmos Fraknoi (originally Vilmos Frankl) came from a Jewish family of Urmeny (today Mojmirovce, Slovakia). He studied Roman Catholic theology and philosophy, and was ordained a priest in 1865. He followed a successful ecclesial career: became canon of Nagyvarad in 1878, titular abbot of Szekszard in 1879 and titular bishop of Arbe in 1892.
Fraknoi began studying Hungarian history at an early age. He published his first work in 1868, at the age of 25, about the life of Peter Pazmany – the greatest figure of Hungarian Counter-Reformation – in three volumes. He wrote about other famous Catholic personalities, like Janos Vitez and Tamas Bakocz, the Renaissance archbishops of Esztergom, works written in 1879 and 1889.
In 1875 Fraknoi was appointed guardian of the Hungarian National Museum. He became the supervisor of all Hungarian museums and libraries in 1897. From 1870 onwards Fraknoi was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and held important positions in the Hungarian academic life. Fraknoi established the Hungarian Historical Institute in Rome.
Work
As a historian, Fraknoi was revered for his knowledge of the Hungarian-related documents in the main European archives, especially the archives of Rome, Vienne, Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Krakow, Hague and Copenhagen. He was a member of several international scientific societies.
Fraknoi was the editor of several important series:
His other famous works are about King Louis II of Hungary (1878), the age of the Hunyadis and Jagiellos (1896), Istvan Werboczy (1899) and Ignac Martinovics (1921).