Folia Theologica 16. (2005)
Pál Bolberitz: The Beginnings of Hungarian Philosphy (The Reception of Nicholas of Cusa in the work of "De homine" by Peter Monedulatus Csokas Laskoi)
14 P. BOLBERITZ Great Miracle of Nature and His Essential Parts", Wittenberg, 1585) was written in Latin, since Latin was the scientific language of his age. The first chapter of his work was published first in Hungarian translation by Laszlo Mátrái in 1961 (circa 3 and a half pages) in the book of "Ancient Hungarian Philosophers of the 15-17th Centuries"20 in the serial of "National Library". The work on 439 pages is available - according to my investigation - in one copy in the collection of the National Széchényi Library, called as "Old Hungarian Library", in the Library of the Vatican and the Library of the University of Halle (where the library of the Wittenberg University was placed), or earlier one copy had been preserved in the Presbyterian Library of Sárospatak. The time and place of birth for Laskoi is uncertain21, nevertheless he is known to have a comprehensive Eurolovved by the philosophical part, consisting of two parts. The first part is about the human soul, the second part is about the human body. The first book includes 12 (twelve) chapters, while the second book contains 4 (four) chapters. Laskoi wrote some other works in the subject of theology, and religious controversies, which had been published in Wittenberg, too, but our study deals only with his philospohical work. 20 Cp. Régi magyar filozófusok, XV-XVIII. század (Old Hungarian Philosophers), 15-18th centuries, The Series of National Literature sorozat). Gondolat Publisher, Budapest, 1961. Laszlo Mátrái did not translate the first chapter of Laskoi ’s „De homine” in its full length, only a few extracted parts of it. The book of Laskoi ’s titled as „De homine” was first translated into Hungarian by the author of this study, Dr. Pal Bolberitz, except the „Epistola dedicatoria”, the preface of the book. (The publication of the manuscript is in process.) 21 The date of birth of Peter Csókás Laskoi is unknown. The place of birth of him is diputed by the scholars, too. According to certain opinion the place of Laskoi’s birth Lasko (Laska) in Baranya county, and this seems the most probable, since his name includes a referring to an origin from Baranya (Barovius), however a few think that he was born in the village of Lasko, being situated at that time in the territory of the recent Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen county. Otherwise the bibliography in Hungarian about him provides a detailed information about his personality, career and oeuvre. Cp. J. SZINNYEI, The Life and Works of Hungarian Authors (Magyar írók élete és munkái), 7 [1900] 798-800.; (Hungarian Encyclopedia of Literature (Magyar Irodalmi Lexikon) 2 [1965] 17 and (The Bibliography of the History of Hungarian Literature to 1772 (A magyar irodalomtörténet bibliográfiája 1772-ig), Budapest, 1972. 319. o. Laskoi’s book „De homine is available recently in Hungary in the Széchényi National Library’s collection of Old Hungarian Literature Országos Széchenyi Könnyvtár OSZK RMK in the book signed and registered as 111. 744. (439 pages, 20 unpaged folios), furtherly in one copy in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in Eger (the
