Petercsák Tivadar - Berecz Mátyás (szerk.): Tudomány és hagyományőrzés - Studia Agriensia 26. (Eger, 2008)

VÉGVÁR ÉS KULTÚRA A 16. SZÁZADBAN - SARUSI KISS BÉLA: Murány szerepe a reformáció terjesztésében

Béla Sarusi Kiss

MURÁNY’S ROLE IN THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION

With the benefit of those written sources in which they are mentioned this paper attempts to focus on the activities of the priests who were in service at Murány (Murán, Slovakia) during the course of the 16th century. The Protestant faith that spread rapidly in Hungary during the 16th century also reached the castles defending the Catholic Habsburgs’ domains from the Turks. In Murány the castellans appointed by the kings invited Protestant priests to serve the spiritual needs of the soldiers serving in the fortresses. The priests’ wages were recorded along with those making up the garrison. In the case of Murány we find, courtesy of an 18th century document, evidence of priests, such as Cyprianus Fried (1569-1578) and Johannes Romanovianus (1594-1596), also taking part in spreading their Protestant beliefs among the local population. This is something we have yet to find occurring elsewhere.

Apart from their religious duties the castle priests had to administer the castle’s finances, authenticating receipts and vouchers. Religious life at the castle went into temporary decline in 1602 when the fortress was pawned. Its fortunes returned when the Széchy family reimbursed the pledge.

The paper also makes mention of Hans Demschwam’s alleged links with 16th century humanist intellectuals and Murány, which István Monok’s researches have proved to have been based on unfounded claims.

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