Background

Ferenc Pulszky was born in Eperjes, now Presov on 17 September 1814.

Education

He studied law and philosophy at the high schools of his native town and Miskolcz.

Career

He travelled abroad, England particularly attracted him, and his book, Aus dem Tagebuch eines in Grossbritannien reisenden Ungarns (From the Diary of a Hungarian Travelling in Britain) (Pesth, 1837) gained for him the membership of the Hungarian Academy.

Elected to the Reichstag of 1840, he was in 1848 appointed to a financial post in the Hungarian government, and was transferred in like capacity to Vienna under Esterhazy. However, he was suspected of intriguing with the revolutionists, Pulszky fled to Budapest to avoid arrest. Here he became an active: member of the committee of national defence, and when obliged to fly the country he joined Kossuth in England and with him made a tour in the United States of America. In collaboration with his wife he wrote a narrative of this voyage, entitled White, Red, Black (2 vols. , London, 1853). He was condemned to death (1852) in contumaciam by a council of war. In 1860 he went to Italy, took part in Garibaldi's expedition to Aspromonte (1862), and was interned as a prisoner of war in Naples. Amnestied by the emperor of Austria in 1866, he returned home and reentered public life. He was in 1867–1876 and again in 1884 a member of the newly reformed Diet of Hungary, where he joined the Deak party.

Among his writings are Die Jacobiner in Ungarn (The Jacobins in Hungary) (Leipzig, 1851) and Életem és korom (My Life and Times) (Pest, 1880), and many treatises on Hungarian questions in the publications of the Hungarian Academy of Pest.

Achievements

• He was president of the literary section of the Hungarian Academy, and director of the National Museum at Budapest, where he became distinguished for his archaeological researches. He employed his great influence to promote both art and science and Liberal views in his native country.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Die Jacobiner in Ungarn; Zweiter Band (German Edition)

    ( Nineteenth Century Collections Online: European Literat...)

Politics

Pulszky was one of the most cosmopolitan nationalists in 19th century Hungary. In the 1840s Pulszky was a reformer, partaking in the Hungarian independence movement, and he full-heartedly supported Kossuth, joining him in his opposing the conservative Vienna government.

Personality

Ferenc in his adulthood spoke six languages: Hungarian, English, German, French, Italian and Slovak.

Connections

Ferenc Pulszky having married Theresa Walter, the daughter of a rich Viennese banker with a large dowry given to him.

Wife:

Theresa Walter

colleague:

Lajos Kossuth