The protagonists of the studies were not ordinary persons. Some became known to their contemporaries as statesmen, politicians and religious leaders, others — as intellectuals: poets, historians, authors of secular and religious treatises, political projects, etc. these spheres were rarely separated in Hungary of that period. All these very different people, ranging from statesmen to ordinary clerks of the Treasury, were similar in that they were outstanding personalities and ready to make their own decisions. Most of them wrote/said/made a personal statement in some way. The majority of their written statements remain unpublished and have been found in Hungarian and Austrian archives — and these unexpected discoveries tell their own exiting stories. The archival search was not blind. In some cases, I started with archontology and then proceeded to prosopography and personal history. For example, to trace social and political activities of Hungarian nobles on all levels — local (in the counties) and national, that is, in the Diet, and in the administration — in the Hungarian Treasury, Chancellery, Royal Judiciary, etc., I have made lists of these nobles, and have focused on those who distinguished themselves on both levels and in all three spheres.
The study of the world of the Hungarian nobility, reflected in the portraits of its members had some unexpected results. My understanding of certain historical topics have changed — including the relationship between the central power — the Austrian Habsburgs at the time — and the Hungarian nobility, as well as the policies of the Habsburgs in Hungary. I reconsidered the conclusions made in my earlier works as biased and onesided: in these, I followed approaches traditional for Hungarian and Russian scholarship and saw this relationship and these policies negatively as the oppression of the Hungarians by the Hapsburgs who ignored the interests of their Hungarian subjects, and the demarches of the Hungarian estates — positively, in the context of struggle for the freedom of the nation against the foreign dynasty.
However, personal histories show that these relations were more complex: these were not limited to conflict, but also implied shared tasks, mutual interests and thus led to compromise between the parties involved. Coexistence within one composite monarchy meant not only struggle, destruction and rejection but also creativity; its fruitfulness and effectivity is demonstrated by the four centuries-long history of the so-called Danubian monarchy shaped by the Habsburgs in Central Europe.
Studies selected for this book are part of a wider study of social and political history of the Hungarian nobility in the XVIth— XVIIth centuries. A good deal has already been done; I hope this project will be completed.