The Battle of Mohács (1526), Ottoman themes and literary depictions of historical events in works of older literature

Institute of Slovak Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak National Library, Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and Eötvös Loránd University invite you to an international academic conference titled The Battle of Mohács (1526), Ottoman themes and literary depictions of historical events in works of older literature, to be held on September 17, 2026, at the Institute of Slovak Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

About the conference

The conference marks the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Mohács 1526 an event that profoundly shaped the political, cultural, and religious history of Central Europe. It examines how the battle and the Ottoman expansion were reflected in literary texts from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, and analyses their role in shaping collective memory and cultural paradigms. The conference builds on the international colloquium Historical Events in the Coordinates of Premodern Literature 2025 extending its key questions to the Battle of Mohács as a supra regional historical event.

Thematic areas

1. Literary representations of the Battle of Mohács and Ottoman themes
Genre, poetic, and rhetorical forms of representation in sixteenth century texts and discourse

2. Mohács and the Ottoman expansion in early modern literary culture
Reflections from the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth century reinterpretations across cultural and confessional contexts

3. The historical event as a literary motif: genre, discourse, and communication
Modes of literary processing of historical ruptures rhetorical strategies and their political and social functions

4 Literature, memory, and the formation of collective identity
The role of literary texts in constructing historical memory, images of “ and the “ and notions of “ and “ as well as regional and confessional identities

5. Methodological and interdisciplinary approaches to literary representations of historical events
Perspectives from literary studies, historiography, religious and cultural studies approaches of memory studies, imagology, discourse analysis, and cultural transfer

Further information
The conference languages are Slovak, Czech, and English Papers should be 15 minutes (max 20 minutes) Revised contributions will be considered for publication in the journals Slovenská literatúra and Kniha.

Organising Committee
Martin Braxatoris, Institute of Slovak Literature SAS
Jana Cabadajová, Slovak National Library
Matouš Jaluška, Institute of Czech Literature CAS
Róbert Kiss Szemán, Eötvös Loránd University
Stanislava Knapčoková, Slovak National Library
Ivona Kollárová, Institute of History SAS
Lenka Rišková, Institute of Slovak Literature SAS
Daniela Škulová, Slovak National Library
Oľga Vaneková, Institute of Slovak Literature SAS
Timotea Vráblová Institute of Slovak Literature SAS

The event is supported by the VEGA project No 2 0063 25 Functions and Intentionality in Older Slovak Literature.