Ignác Martinovics

He was condemned to death for high treason and beheaded on 20 May 1795, along with count Jakab Sigray, Ferenc Szentmarjay, József Hajnóczy and others.

During his lifetime, Ignác Martinovics stated that his father was either a Serb tavern keeper or an Albanian noble in military service.

At this time, he was able to sleep very little, read books continuously to prepare to teach at various European universities, and he had to direct and organize the work of secret agent groups traveling with him.

Ferenc Gyurkovics, a professor of politics at the University of Pest, worked to organize a secret society to spread such ideas and also edited a revolutionary catechesis.

The new monarch, Emperor Francis II dismissed Martinovics and his boss, Ferenc Gotthardi, the former chief of the secret police, for these subversive acts.

However an unexpected event has radically changed his fate: He received a secret letter directly from the Paris Commune, the very center of the French Revolution, with such famous signatories like Maximilien de Robespierre, Saint-Just and Georges Danton.

The letter had a flattering style, which praised his scientific career and talents, however its main purpose was to convince him - as the "most capable person in Hungary" - to organize revolutionary movements and radicalize existing societies and groups in the name of "the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" in Hungary and other Habsburg ruled areas.

In his Oratio pro Leopoldo II Martinovics is explicit that only the authority that follows from a social contract should be recognized; he saw the aristocracy as the enemy of mankind, because they prevented people from becoming educated.

While both fiercely denounced the reign of Kings and Priests, the one addressed to the Reformers focused on freedom from the Hapsburgs and promised a continuation of the feudal system in contrast to the catechism addressed to the Equality Club which focused on philosophical ideas of "man" and "reason" while promising to abolish serfdom and end noble privilege.

More than 42 members of the republican secret society were arrested, including the poet János Batsányi and linguist Ferenc Kazinczy.