Károly Lajos Eötvös was an authority on ecclesiastical (canon) law and 1889 saw the appearance of his work Az egyházi közigazgatás kézikönyve (A Handbook of Church Administration). The publisher promised a map prepared by the author, provided there were enough subscribers for the work. In the event it was the bitter and divisive political debates following the Wekerle-government’s church reforms that ensured the publication of Eötvös’s administrative map of the church in Hungary.