Baranyai Decsi János
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Hungarian Renaissance writer from the 16th century. He lived in the Transilvanian court of Báthory Zsigmond.
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[edit] Life
He was born in the Hungarian Decs in the county of Tolna in 1560. His family name was Csimor. He belonged to the Calvinist Church.
He completed his studies in Tolna, Debrecen and Kolozsvár. In 1587 her started his peregrination abroad as a company of the Hungarian young aristrocate Losonci Bánffy Ferenc. First they studied in Wittenberg, where Bánffy even was elected as rector.
In 1590 they swaped to Strasbourg. The family house meanwhile was ruined by the Ottoman Turks in Hungary. In 1592 he moved to Kolozsvár, where the Duke, Báthory Zsigmond /Sigismund Báthory, supported him. Next year he moves to Marosvásárhely and start his job as teacher until his death.
From his home he travels to Gyulafehérvár, to Kolozsvár, and once even to Strasbourg to be granted a higher degree.
[edit] Works
Hungarian translation os Sallustius's Catilina, Iugurtha published in 1609
Hodoeporicon
History of Hungary 1592-1598
Poems in Latin and Greek
Thesis on the Hunnic-Scythian alphabet
Hungarian translation of Erasmus of Rotterdam's proverb collection
Essay on the Hungarian Law "Syntagma institutinonum iuris imperialis ac Ungarici" published 1593 in Kolozsvár
[edit] History of Hungary 1592-1598
Baranyai was close to the official documents of the Transylvanian court, he mentions as informators Pethe Márton, Napragyi Demeter, Dersffi Ferenc, Thököly Sebestyén, Hommonai László, Czobor Miklós. He even interrogates the beg of Lippa Mohamed in the prison.
His source for earlier periods is often Antonio Bonfini. His relation to the Catholic duke is full of contradictions, he wanted the support of the prince, his financing for his works, but Baranyai is always outspoken when it is about the crimes and impotence of the duke in military or political matters. He often quotes the facts without commentary.
The work would copy Antonio Bonfini in its structure, planned to be prepared in form of the ten decades of Hungarian history but Baranyai only wrote the thenth decade.
First editions are of Kovachich Marton 1798 and of Toldy Ferenc in 1866.
[edit] Literature
Baranyi Decsi Janos magyar historiaja (1592-1598) Budapest 1981 Helikon translated from Latin by Kulcsar Peter
