Kasza Péter (szerk.): Stephanus Brodericus - Epistulae (Bibliotheca Scriptorum Medii Recentisque Aevorum, Series Nova XIV., Argumentum Kiadó - Magyar Országos Levéltár, Budapest, 2012)
On the Correspondence of István Brodarics
war that afflicted the country. To this end, he negotiated with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in Naples, and played an active role in preparing the Peace of Várad in 1538. He was a member of the delegation that asked for the hand of Polish Princess Isabella Jagiello for Szapolyai in 1539. King John rewarded him for his diplomatic services with the bishopric of Vác in 1537. Brodarics, besides his diplomatic activities, maintained excellent relationships with several eminent scholars and Humanists of the time. He exchanged letters with Erasmus, corresponded with historian Paolo Giovio in Italian, and was a close friend of Miklós Oláh, Piotr Tomicki, and Andrzej Krzycki. Numerous illustrious poets such as Caspar Ursinus Velius and Georgius Logus offered their poems to him. ON THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ISTVÁN BRODARICS Even though the literary fame of Brodarics is based mainly on his work on the Battle of Mohács, an unequalled source, and he wrote no other historical work besides Historia verissima, he left a large number of letters behind, and these justify placing him among our great Humanist letter writers. The only question is whether or not we should treat the letters as part of his literary activities. Or, to put it differently, are these Humanistic letters, or “only” letters of a Humanist? The question seems all the more justified by the fact that editor Sándor V. Kovács devotes an entire chapter to Brodarics in his work Magyar humanisták levelei which gives an overview of two centuries of the practice of Humanistic correspondence in Hungary, yet in the foreword he maintains that Brodarics’ style does not really follow the traditional Humanistic practice of letter writing. Consequently, he speaks about some kind of break or turn with regard to letters by Brodarics. V. Kovács interprets Brodarics’ different style, his essential leanness, at a European level, as a consequence of the spreading of Lutheran Reformation. Namely, Luther, in his Table Talk, had condemned the magniloquent rhetorical chatter of Humanistic letters and contrasted them with his ideal of puritanical letters that focus on facts and information to be conveyed. V. Kovács says that it is this Lutheran principle of practicality that permeates letters by Brodarics. To the inevitable question, how does a Hungarian Catholic high priest get under the influence of Luther, his answers lies in Brodarics’ connections that are strongly coloured by Protestantism. He means, on the one hand, Tamás Nádasdy, whom he sees as one of the main correspondents of Brodarics, and who is well-known as one of the first supporters of Protestantism in Hungary. On the other hand, he means the influence of the Humanistic circle of Cracow, which was also an Erasmian centre, and which was, in his view, some kind of forerunner of Protestantism due to the Rationalism and religious tolerance of Erasmus. Even though we can agree with some of the observations of V. Kovács about the style of letters by Brodarics to a certain extent, still, if we accept and try to explain the factuality of Brodarics’ letters, perhaps we find the reasons elsewhere. In my opinion, the special characteristics of the letters can be traced back to three factors: the life 21
