Leibniz’s Correspondence with Christobal de Rojas y Spinola about the Reunion of Denominations in Hungary

Abstract

This article deals with Christobal de Rojas y Spinola’s missions in Hungary, from the perspective of his correspondence with Leibniz. It uses source materials from the Leibniz Archives in Hanover and critically revisits the well-known sources. It shows that Rojas’s and Leibniz’s different views resulted from their divergent interpretations of the objectives of the reunion in terms of of religious politics on the one hand and of the Hungarian political community’s autonomy within the Habsburg Empire on the other hand. From the point of view of Leibniz studies, the article contributes to the subject of the Hanover polymath’s East European orientation. It sheds new light on Rojas y Spinola’s efforts by showing that for him the internal debates within the Catholic Church rather than the opposition of the Protestants seemed to be the confessional reunion’s principal obstacle.