Miklós Jósika

In 1812 Jósika obtained a commission in a cavalry regiment of the Hungarian army, which was engaged in a campaign in Italy as part of the Sixth Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars. He was present at the second battle of the Mincio River in February 1814, serving under Austrian command against French and Italian troops, and was elevated to the rank of lieutenant. Promoted to captain in March 1814, he remained in active service until Napoleon's defeat later that year. In 1815 he took part in the campaign in France, and from 1816 to 1818, he was stationed in Vienna.[1]

Jósika's tomb at the Házsongárd cemetery.

In 1817 Jósika became engaged to Elizabeth Kállay of the Kállay family. He resigned his army commission in 1818 and returned to Hungary where he and Elizabeth were married. Their relationship quickly soured, and Jósika eventually left his wife in Budapest and relocated to his father's estate in Szurdok, more than 250 miles (402 kilometres) away.[1] There he took up politics; having succeeded to his father's title of Baron, he took part in the legislative debates of the Transylvanian Diet in 1834 where he aligned himself with the anti-Habsburg opposition headed by Baron Miklós Wesselényi.

Historians describe Jósika's political views as liberal and aligned with those of writer Sándor Bölöni Farkas, who in turn was an advocate of British and American democracy.[2][3] Together with other noblemen, Wesselényi and Jósika formed a faction in the Diet known as the "Moderate Conservatives",[3] and more picturesquely as the "Pro-British League of Transylvanian Aristocrats."[2] Their central political stance was to call for parliamentary reform to enhance democracy while preserving the role of the Crown. In this they stood in opposition to the more conservative pro-monarchy majority, and to the "Radical Opposition" headed by lawyer, and later Regent-President of Hungary, Lajos Kossuth.[3]

In addition to politics Jósika turned his hand to writing, producing more than 60 romance novels between the early 1830s and 1854. His first work, Abafi, was published in 1836.[4] The book is a morality tale, describing a fictional knight in the service of Tranyslvanian prince Sigismund Bathory. Over the course of the book the eponymous hero transforms his life from one of debauchery to public respect and promotion, before sacrificing himself in battle to protect his prince. It was Josika's best-selling work, and was an inspiration to inventor Nikola Tesla, among others, who credited it with setting him on the path to mental self-discipline.[5] Elements of Jósika's liberal political philosophy were evident in his casting of the characters, and the work remained popular among socially progressive Hungarians into the early twentieth century.[6]

Jósika's literary achievements garnered him substantial societal recognition in Hungary. In the late 1830s he was elected as a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and of the Kisfaludy Society, a prominent literary group of which he became director in 1841 and vice-president in 1842. His political pursuits continued; in 1847 he appeared before the Transylvanian Diet as a representative for Szolnok to unsuccessfully advocate for a formal union between Transylvania and Hungary. Influenced by his political allies, he also converted to Protestantism.[1] In 1847 he procured a divorce from his wife Elizabeth, whom he had not seen for many years. Once this was obtained Jósika immediately entered into an engagement, and then marriage with Baroness Julia Podmaniczky, a fellow writer and member of an influential Hungarian family.[1]

The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 gave power to the Radical Opposition, including Jósika's erstwhile political foe Louis Kossuth. Jósika closely associated himself with the new government, and was rewarded with appointments to a restructured Hungarian Upper House and to the committee of national defence. The counter-revolution of 1849 was therefore unwelcome, and Jósika and his wife were forced to flee to Dresden. They never returned to Hungary, relocating instead to Brussels in 1850 where Jósika returned to writing romance novels under a pseudonym. In declining health, he returned to Dresden in 1864 and died there on 27 February 1865. His body is interred in the Hajongard cemetery in Cluj-Napoca, around 20 miles (32 km) from his birthplace of Turda.[1]

• Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691057767.
• Isbell, John Claiborne (2008). "Romantic novel and verse romance, 1750-1850". In Gillespie, Gerald; Engel, Manfred; Dieterle, Bernard (eds.). Romantic Prose Fiction: A Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages. John Benjamins. ISBN 9789027234568.