Miklós Jósika, was a Hungarian soldier, politician and writer.
Life
Miklós Jósika was born on in 1794 in Turda, a village in Central Europe's Pannonian Basin which was at the time under Hungarian control. He was the son of Baron Miklós Jósika and his wife Eleanor, and was brought up in circumstances of wealth and privilege. His mother Eleanor died in 1797, and Miklós was brought up by his paternal grandmother. As a young man he attended a course in legal studies at Klausenburg, graduating in 1811.
Military career
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.
Politics and writing
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 away. 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 Jósikas political views as liberal and aligned with those of writer Sándor Bölöni Farkas, who in turn was an advocate of British and American democracy. Together with other noblemen, Wesselényi and Jósika formed a faction in the Diet known as the "Moderate Conservatives", and more picturesquely as the "Pro-British League of Transylvanian Aristocrats." 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. 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. 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. Elements of Jósikas 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. Jósikas 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. 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.
Later years
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 gave power to the Radical Opposition, including Jósikas 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 from his birthplace of Turda.
