József Eötvös

Who was József Eötvös?

József baron Eötvös de Vásárosnamény was a Hungarian writer and statesman, the son of Ignacz baron Eötvös de Vásárosnamény and Anna von Lilien, who stemmed from an Erbsälzer family of Werl in Germany.

He received an excellent education and also spent many years in western Europe, assimilating the new ideas both literary and political, and making the acquaintance of the leaders of the Romantic school. On his return to Hungary he wrote his first political work, Prison Reform; and at the diet of 1839–1840 he made a great impression by his eloquence and learning. One of his first speeches warmly advocated Jewish emancipation. In 1842 he married Ágnes Rosty, daughter of Adalbert Rosty.

Eötvös disseminated his progressive ideas in the columns of the Pesti Hírlap, as well as in his novels The Village Notary - one of the classics of Hungarian literature - Hungary in 1514, and the comedy Long live Equality! The February Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was the complete triumph of Eötvös's ideas, and he held the portfolio of public worship and instruction in the first Hungarian ministry. Eötvös, Ferenc Deák and István Széchenyi represented the pacific, moderating influence in the council of ministers, but when the premier, Lajos Batthyány, resigned, Eötvös retired for a time to Munich during the War of Independence. Yet he continued to serve the cause in his influential writings, for example Influence of the Ruling Ideas of the 19th century on the State.