Petrőczi Éva: Holt költők társaságában. A Puritanizmuskutató Intézet és a Medgyesi Pál Puritán Kiskönyvtár emlékére - Nemzet, egyház, művelődés 9. (Sárospatak, 2014)

István Czeglédi, the Martyr-Preacher of Kassa and a Faithful Student of the Netherlands

PETRŐCZI ÉVA: HOLT KÖLTŐK TÁRSASÁGÁBAN

the realistic details of shipping culture also appear on its pages. Of course, we know that Deventer is not a seaside town, but being largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, the harbour of which was capable of accommodating ships and its being a member of the mighty Hanseatic League, all these facts could raise István Czeglédi’s interest in creating very specific metaphors. Some examples concerning this water-near milieu: “I know, my Lord, that your Words are like the sea, in which the great Whale is swimming, and the poor sheep is afraid; please, still the winds in order to save my tottering soul and do not let your week Halcyon bird who tries to propagate amongst dangerous heaps of ice

...”301 The reasoning is typical of our 17th-century religious prose: the elements of the biological reality (whale) are mixed with legends (Halcyon).

My next example of Czeglédi’s continuous remembering the Netherlands is taken from a funeral oration of a Transylvanian aristocrat, Ferenc Rhédei. Its title is: Enoch’s Daily Togetherness with God. We find in this text no less than ten metaphors taken from waterside culture, though the deceased person, count Rhédei was born and lived in a hillside area. Just like our author, who, in the area of his birth, the Highlands of Hungary, couldn’t have any shipping experiences. No doubt, he remembered the years of his peregrination in Deventer (where ships were also built) when he praised Ferenc Rhédei with the following words: „He was like an ark, well-glued from outside and inside; his serving God with his Faith and deeds (with his inside and outside) was sparkling likewise

.’302

Our first proof of Czeglédi’s gratitude and perpetual interest towards Holland can be found in his most duel-like anti-Catholic book, entitled The Fall ofDagon. In this extremely sarcastic work he argues against the Catholic high mass and several superstitions, in prose and also in mock-heroic poetical interludes. Without any over-ridden national pride, we can say that in some of its parts his work is nearing the artistic level of Alexander Pope’s genius. This book was written as an answer to Ferenc Gorup’s - he was the

301 Ibid., 58. - In Hungarian: „Ismerem, Uram, hogy a’ te igid, ollyan, mint a tenger, melyben a’ nagy Ceth hal úsz, a’ szegény Bárány csüggedez; fenyics meg azért a’ szeleket, hogy mikor ebben eveczkél tántorgó lelkem, ne borittassék el veszedelmes jeghek közöt tenyészni igyeksző Halcyon gyenge madarad...”

302 In Hungarian „Bárka, melyet, mind kívül, belül, megenyvezének; ünéki-is, külső belső isteni szolgálattya, Hiti által, igy tündöklic vala.”- Czeglédi István 1668,149.

140