Kasza Péter (szerk.): Stephanus Brodericus - Epistulae (Bibliotheca Scriptorum Medii Recentisque Aevorum, Series Nova XIV., Argumentum Kiadó - Magyar Országos Levéltár, Budapest, 2012)
1535
Dominationem, nunc etiam eidem diligenter commendo, velit id pro perpetuis meis 5 obsequiis facere.2 [2.] Nova nunc sunt haec. Nuntius3 serenissimi regis, domini mei clementissimi rediit ex Babilónia a caesare Turearum, quem in reditu reliquit. Mitto ad Vestram Dominationem his inclusum exemplum litterarum regiarum ad locumtenentem suum, dominum Pestheny4 et ad me datarum.5 Idem nuntius narrat miranda de successibus 10 Turearum imperatoris. Verendum esset principibus Christianis, si saperent, vel si iam tandem ex tam diuturno veterno vellent evigilare, et invigilandum esset eis simul cum pontifice Romano,6 ne caesar Turearum iam capta Babilónia Assiriorum veniat ad capiendam hanc, quam non nostri tantum temporis scismatici,7 sed multi etiam viri magni ritum ecclesiae Romanae sequentes iampridem Babiloniam nominare coepe- 15 runt. Inter quos vir doctissimus et idem optimus Franciscus Petrarcha, quid in vulgari suo carmine de ea praedixerit, ex libro sonettorum sive epigrammatum eius exscriptum casu his diebus a me ibi repertum Vestrae Dominationi mitto.8 Quod vaticinium illius ante annos ducentos factum utinam ne temporibus nostris adimpleatur. [3.] Negotium pacis, in quod ego fueram interpositus, adhuc pendet. Exspecto nunc 20 novas commissiones a rege meo, si reges nostri (nam uterque Hungáriám habet) sapient, concordabunt. Sin minus, Deus solus novit, quid erit de nobis et finaliter de omnibus istis regnis. [4.] Ego in episcopatu meo Quinqueecclesiensi patior extrema tam per hostes, quam etiam per nostros. Sed sit utcumque, necesse est multa me pati cum patriae calamitate, et 16 /lost tic del. hac suprascr. ca.- This letter is lost. Probably Tomicki did not get it either, because he writes to cantor of Cracow Stanislaw Borek on 13 March that he has not received several letters from Brodarics recently: Scripsimus litteras nostras ad dominum Brodericum, episcopum Quinqueecdesiensem, cptas in munus vestras mittimus et postulamus a vobis, ut illas certum nocti nuntium Budam ad illum perferendas curetis. Scribit enim nobis multas se ad nos dedisse litteras, quarum nullae hactenus sunt nobis redditae. (See AT XVII, 216.) •' János Szalánczi. 4 Gergely Pestheny. Constable of Buda. 5 These attachments have not been preserved. 6 Pope Paul III. 7 Brodarics’ comments on Reformation are scarce. This remark is important because it makes his view of followers of the Reformation clear: he sees them as heretics. s The attachment is lost. Trencsényi, in the article that published the letter, says the parallel between Rome and Babylon comes up in four sonnets of Petrarch, these are no. 114, 117, 137, and 138. He correctly says that the motif of Babylon appears in passing in sonnets 114 and 117, while it is central to the line of thought in sonnets 137 and 138. Trencsényi’s view is that Brodarics might have sent the bleakest one to Tomicki: sonnet 138, which prophesies destruction of Babylon. (See Tri-ncsi-nyi-Waluapfi-l Imre, Petráivá szonettje Brodarics levelében. Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények, 1957, 227-229.) Trencsényi’s ideas can be supplemented with the fact that, besides sonnets 137 and 138, no. 136 is also commonly counted among the Avignon sonnets. In this, the identification of Rome with Babylon does not appear but lashing out against corruption of the papal court in Avignon is evident. Furthermore, it is possible that Brodarics sent several sonnets to Tomicki. He only says in the letter that he sending what Petrarch wrote on the subject of Rome- Babylon in vulgar language, i.e. in Italian. 443
