H. Szilasi Ágota - Várkonyi Péter - Bujdosné Pap Györgyi - Császi Irén (szerk.): Agria 50. (Az egri Dobó István Vármúzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2017)
Verők Attila: „...ciszternák, csűr, magtár és feredőház... " Az etnográfiai gondolkodás korai megnyilvánulása Johannes Honterus Rudimenta cosmographica (1542) című munkájában
Attila Verők EARLY MANIFESTATIONS OF ETHNOGRAPHIC THINKING IN RUDIMENTA COSMOGRAPHICA (1542) BY JOHANNES HONTERUS There are very few Transylvanian Saxon travellers, explorers or scientists in the history of ethnography in the Carpathian Basin who conducted ethnography-related observations and research or penned such descriptions before 1772, the birth of ethnography as a discipline. According to the latest research, alongside the Dominican priest, Georgius de Hungária (1422?-1502) who was of Transylvanian Saxon origin, the humanist and Lutheran reformist, Johannes Hontems (1498-1549) was also a Transylvanian Saxon who carried out ethnography-related observations and recorded them in writing. My study wishes to shed light onto a segment of his oeuvre which has so far been overlooked in the literature: examining the ethnographic references found in his work Rudimenta cosmographica, which has been published over a hundred times in Europe. This connection is not even mentioned in the comprehensive summary of the history ofHungarian ethnography. While it acknowledges Georgius de Hungária in a few lines, it does not even list Hontems among the discussed contributors in spite of the fact that the work of the latter is just as, if not more valuable than his compatriot’s. His writing is a true Hungaricum, because his observations not only cover his travels in Western Europe, but also closer to home, in and around Brassó (Brasov), thus painting a true picture of his homelands material and intellectual culture. This would definitely make him worthy of being included among the first Hungarian ethnographers, since the above work is a clear attempt to begin and promote ethnographic thinking. His booklet, the subject of my study, was originally written as a textbook and the dissemination of a new mentality and a new approach, stemming from the intention to educate, must have been very efficient, so its impact must be acknowledged in the cultural history of Hungary. 128
