Esztergom Évlapjai 2000

RÓNAY Gábor: Egy német zsoldos Esztergom-vidéki és budai kalandjai 1686-ban

Gábor RÓNAY THE ADVENTURES OF GERMÁN MERCENARY IN BUDA AND THE SURROUNDINGS OF ESZTERGOM IN 1686 !n the Year of Grace 1686, the Germán mercenary Johann Dietz went to the „Turkish wars" in Hungary with the Brandenburg artillery regiment as a barber-surgeon. His regiment took part in the liberation of Buda and in his memoirs he recorded in graphic detail his experiences on Hungárián soil. In the introduction to his „Memoirs of a Mercenary", written in his old age, Master Dietz describes himself as „Surgeon in the Army of the Great Elector and Barber at the Royal (Prussian) Court" and assures his readers that „I am relating certain things that have befallen me, and which I myself have beheld with these eyes of mine, yea, and for the most part have had to experience and endure them." And he recounts how much he had to endure in the „Turkish wars, the Arctic Ocean and in Germán cities and countryside among soldiers, robbers, peaceful citizens, young maidens and Ghosts." Clearly, he knew nothing about the ideological causes or strategic reasons of the „Turkish wars" before he stepped on Hungárián soil at Esztergom in the Spring of 1686. Germán mercenaries going into battle were not exactly famed for overflowing with the milk of humán kindness. But Master Dietz had common humanity and an eye for the details of ordinary life. His description of the devastated countryside around Esztergom and the plight of the common people reflects the true cost the Magyars had to pay for being at the cutting edge of East and West in the heart of Europe. Although somé of the incidents described are probably somé -what coloured in recollection, Master Dietz nevertheless provides an invaluable source material for the social and physical conditions of war-torn Hungary during the final onslaught on the entrenched Turks at the end of the 17* century. A well-worn of his 173 quarto-page memoirs is housed on the shelves of the Royal Prussian Library in Berlin. It has yet to be translated into Hungárián. 56