Martin Schwartner

* Késmárk. March 1, 1759 – † Pest, August 15, 1823 / statistician, historian, university professor ; ; His father was a wealthy merchant. He completed his secondary education in his hometown and in Bratislava. He studied history, statistics and diplomacy at the University of Göttingen. In 1781 he returned to his homeland and worked as a tutor for the children of Baron László Prónay, the chief of Csanád. From 1784 he was a teacher at the Késmárk and from 1786 at the Sopron Evangelical Lyceum. In 1788, Emperor Joseph II appointed him professor at the Department of Diplomatic Studies (“diplomatic”) and Heraldry at the University of Pest and also made him the keeper of the library. He worked in this capacity until his death. One of his prominent students was the legal historian and historical writer Tivadar Botka (Barsendréd). His main work is Statistik des Königreichs Ungern, which was first published in 1798, but two further, expanded editions were also printed, and a French translation of the second edition was even published in 1816. In this book, he combined the descriptive method of German university statistics with the analytical trend of English political arithmetic. It is the first work that systematically discusses the population and economic conditions of Hungary at that time. Schwartner left his 12,000-volume library to the Keszmárki Lyceum, along with a 15,000-forint foundation, and offered another 15,000 forints for the marriage of poor girls from Keszmárki. Other known works: Introductio in artem diplomaticam praecipue hungaricam, 1790, De Scultetiis per Hungariam quondam obviis, 1815.