Petrőczi Éva: Holt költők társaságában. A Puritanizmuskutató Intézet és a Medgyesi Pál Puritán Kiskönyvtár emlékére - Nemzet, egyház, művelődés 9. (Sárospatak, 2014)
James I. and Hungary
PETRŐCZI ÉVA: HOLT KÖLTŐK TÁRSASÁGÁBAN he original intention of this presentation was only to offer a „bunch” of carefully chosen samples of 17th-century Hungarian texts, prose and poetry as well which reflect the figure of James, England’s Solomon in a Hungarian mirror. But a conference is a scholarly meeting, a chance to throw light upon the mutuality of the connection of remote, different nations. Therefore - instead of the simple plan of an „in medias res” enumeration of early modern Hungarian literary works, in which king James appears, let us start with a short survey about the not less interesting question: „What did king James, his court and his closer circles know about Hungary?” The first person worth being mentioned here is a Scottish writer-adventurer-traveller, William Lithgow who was loitering along the world for nineteen long years - he visited Hungary in 1616. A letter of recommendation (or a general royal passport) was given to him by King James. But Lithgow’s vivid world-chronicle, The Totall Discourse of Rare Adventures and Peregrinations was published only in 1632, so, of course, the king couldn’t read the fruits of these travel-experiences, including a chapter on Hungary and Transylvania.248 In other words: Lithgow’s work — of course — could never reach the much earlier deceased king, but the letters of Sir Henry Wotton, his ambassador to Venice and a member of the king James-John Donne-Henry Wotton „poetical league” were known to him. Donne’s salutary poem, a double flattering, addressed to the king and to the “freshly anointed” ambassador at the same time, entitled To Sir Henry Wotton at His Going Ambassador to Venice, underlines the strength of the James-Wotton relationship: „A taper of his torch, a copy writ/From his original, and a fair beam/ Of the same warm and dazzling sun, though it/Must in another sphere his virtue stream...”249 Returning to historical spheres: the Turkish invasion, this „sweet use of our adversity” called not only the continents, but also England’s attention to Hungary. In the rich Wotton-correspondence it seemed to be a Leitmotif. The other historical fact which was bringing England and Hungary more together was the treaty of alliance between James I and the Protestant Union dated from March 28, 1612 — that’s why in Wotton’s letters our region 248 More about Lithgow see: Fest Sándor, 2000, 238-240. 249 Donne,John 1896,41-42. 116
