Charter and members of the Lesegesellschaft of Pest
Keywords:
Lesegesellschaft, free masonry, Zur Großmuth, Jacobinism, membership list, charter, University in Pest, Ferenc Verseghy, Kálmán Benda
Abstract
The Charter of the Lesegesellschaft of Pest (Budapest) was preserved in the manuscript legacy of the Hungarian poet, Ferenc Verseghy (1757–1822). This document is not unknown for researchers: it was referred to in the three-volume-work of the historian Kálmán Benda (1957). However it does not mention the fact, that the source text includes not only the text of the Charter but the member list as well. The current study publishes the aforementioned source text and aims to present the functioning of the Lesegesellschaft and to highlight the connections identified during the review of the member list.
