János Baranyai Decsi or János Csimor Baranyai Decsi ( Hungarian: ''Baranyai Decsi Csimor János'') is a Hungarian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

writer who lived in the 16th century. He lived in the

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

n court of Báthory Zsigmond.

Life

He was born in Decs in

Ottoman Hungary Ottoman Hungary () encompassed the parts of the Kingdom of Hungary which were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire from the occupation of Buda in 1541 until the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. The territory was incorporated into the empire, under ...

in 1560. His family name was Csimor. He belonged to the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

Church. He completed his studies in Tolna,

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

and Kolozsvár (now

Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

). In 1587, he travelled abroad accompanying the young Hungarian aristocrat, Ferenc Bánffy de Losoncz. The pair studied in

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

, where Bánffy was elected as rector. In 1590, they moved to

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. The family estate had been ruined by the Ottoman Turks. In 1592, he moved to Kolozsvár (now

), where the Duke,

Sigismund Báthory Sigismund Báthory (; 1573 – 27 March 1613) was Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602, and Duchy of Racibórz, Duke of Racibórz and Duchy of Opole, Opole in Silesia in 1598. His father, Christopher Báthory, ruled Transy ...

supported him. The following year, he moved to Marosvásárhely (now

Târgu Mureş Târgu (Romanian language, Romanian for "the market") starts off the names of several places in Romania: *Târgu Bujor *Târgu Cărbunești *Târgu Frumos *Berbești, Târgu Gânguleşti *Târgu Jiu *Târgu Lăpuș *Logrești, Târgu Logreşti *Tâ ...

) where he began working as a teacher, which he held until his death. He travelled a great deal, to Gyulafehérvár (

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; ; ) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the river Mureș (river), Mureș in the historical region of Transylvania, it has a ...

), to Kolozsvár (now

), and once even to

to be granted a higher degree.

History of Hungary 1592–1598

Baranyai was close to the official documents of the

n court, he mentions as informators Márton Pethe,

Demeter Naprágyi Demeter Naprágyi (''Náprágyi'', ''Napragyi'', ''Napraghy'' or ''Napragi''; 1564 – before 5 March 1619)Markó 2006, p. 115. was a Hungarian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who served as bishop of several dioceses. He was the Archbis ...

, Ferenc Dersffy, Sebestyén Thököly, László Hommonai, Miklós Czobor. He even interviewed the beg of Lippa (now Lipova) Mohamed in prison. His source for earlier periods is often

Antonio Bonfini Antonio Bonfini (Latin variant: ''Antonius Bonfinius'') (1427‒1502) was an Italian humanist and poet serving as a court historian in Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpat ...

. His relation to the Catholic duke was contradictory; on the one hand Baranyai needed the prince's support to finance his own work, but Baranyai often spoke out against what he perceived as the duke's crimes and impotence in military or political matters. He often quotes the facts without commentary. The work would copy

in its structure, written in the form of the ten decades of Hungarian history but Baranyai only wrote the tenth decade, which turned out to be similar. First editions are of Marton Kovachich 1798 and of

Ferenc Toldy Ferenc Toldy (born Franz Karl Joseph Schedel, August 10, 1805, in Buda - December 10, 1875, in Budapest) was a literary critic from the Austrian Empire and later Austria-Hungary. Biography As a small boy, he lived with his parents, Franz Schede ...

in 1866.

Works

*Hungarian translation of

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

's ''Catilina'', '' Iugurtha'' published in 1609 *Hodoeporicon *History of Hungary 1592–1598 *Poems in Latin and Greek *Thesis on the Hunnic-

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

n alphabet *Hungarian translation of

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, educationalist, satirist, and p ...

's proverb collection *Essay on the Hungarian Law "Syntagma institutinonum iuris imperialis ac Ungarici" published 1593 in

Kolozsvár Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

Literature

Baranyi Decsi János magyar historiája (1592–1598) Budapest 1981 Helikon translated from Latin by Kulcsár Péter

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baranyai Decsi, Janos Hungarian chroniclers 16th-century Hungarian historians