Vilmos Fraknói was a Hungarian historian. He was an expert in Hungarian ecclesiastical history.

Life

Vilmos Fraknói (originally Vilmos Frankl) came from a Jewish family of Ürmény (today Mojmírovce

Mojmírovce

Mojmírovce is a village and municipality in the Nitra District in western central Slovakia, in the Nitra Region.-Geography:The village lies at an altitude of 140 metres and covers an area of 19.863km²...

, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

). He studied Roman Catholic theology and philosophy, and was ordained a priest in 1865. He followed a successful ecclesial career: became canon of Nagyvárad in 1878, titular abbot of Szekszárd

Szekszárd

Szekszárd is a city in Hungary and the capital of Tolna county. By population, Szekszárd is the smallest county capital in Hungary; by area, it is the second smallest -Location:...

 in 1879 and titular bishop of Arbe in 1892.

Fraknói began studying Hungarian history at an early age. He published his first work in 1868, at the age of 25, about the life of Péter Pázmány

Péter Pázmány

Péter Pázmány de Panasz was a Hungarian philosopher, theologian, catholic cardinal, pulpit orator and statesman. He was an important figure in the Counter-Reformation in Royal Hungary. He worked to convert Protestants back to Catholicism in Hungary.His most important legacy was his creation of the...

 – the greatest figure of Hungarian Counter-Reformation

Counter-Reformation

The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...

 – in three volumes. He wrote about other famous Catholic personalities, like János Vitéz

János Vitéz (archbishop)

János Vitéz was the Hungarian archbishop of Esztergom and a prominent humanist, diplomat, Latinist, mathematician, astrologist and astronomer....

 and Tamás Bakócz

Tamás Bakócz

Tamás Bakócz was a Hungarian archbishop, cardinal and statesman.In sources in Croatian, Tamás Bakócz is also referred under the name Toma Bakač....

, the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 archbishops of Esztergom

Esztergom

Esztergom , is a city in northern Hungary, 46 km north-west of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom county, on the right bank of the river Danube, which forms the border with Slovakia there....

, works written in 1879 and 1889.

In 1875 Fraknói was appointed guardian of the Hungarian National Museum

Hungarian National Museum

- History:The Hungarian National Museum is said to have been founded in 1802 when Count Ferenc Széchényi set up the National Széchényi Library. This would then be followed a year later by the donating of a mineral collection by Széchényi’s wife. This led to the creation of the Hungarian National...

. He became the supervisor of all Hungarian museums and libraries in 1897. From 1870 onwards Fraknói was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...

, and held important positions in the Hungarian academic life. Fraknói established the Hungarian Historical Institute in Rome.

Work

As a historian, Fraknói was revered for his knowledge of the Hungarian-related documents in the main European archives, especially the archives of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Vienne

Vienne

Vienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.- Viennese history :Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou,...

, Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

, Hague and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

. He was a member of several international scientific societies.

Fraknói was the editor of several important series:

• Értekezések a történettudományok köréből ("Historical Dissertations")
• Magyar Országgyűlési Emlékek ("Sources of Hungarian Parliamentary History")
• Monumenta Vaticana

His other famous works are about King Louis II of Hungary (1878), the age of the Hunyadi

Hunyadi

Hunyadi may refer to:* Hunyadi family, a Hungarian noble family from the Middle Ages* John Hunyadi, a Hungarian general and Regent-Governor of the Kingdom of Hungary* Laszlo Hunyadi, a Hungarian statesman* Matthias Corvinus , King of Hungary...

s and Jagiellos

Jagiellon dynasty

The Jagiellonian dynasty was a royal dynasty originating from the Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century...

 (1896), István Werbőczy

István Werboczy

István Werbőczy or Stephen Werbőcz was a Hungarian jurist and statesman who first became known as a scholar and theologian of such eminence that he was appointed to accompany the emperor Charles V to Worms, to take up the cudgels against Martin Luther.He began his political career as the deputy of...

 (1899) and Ignác Martinovics

Ignác Martinovics

Ignác Martinovics was a philosopher, political adventurer, and a leader of the Hungarian Jacobin movement...

 (1921).