Szőcs Péter Levente (szerk.): Complexul Memorial Ady Endre. Ghid (Satu Mare, 2020)
Roots
ROOTS “From a geographical point of view, I come from Szilágy / Sălaj region, the former Partium, which is nor Transylvania, nor Hungary. Similarly, my social background is nor from the lower, nor from the upper classes. It is from a family of lower nobility which, despite its efforts, barely survived over a thousand years. During the old times, according to the old written sources, we were a prestigious and wealthy family, but since the 15th century we were impoverished and ended up being “seven plum tree owners". The pride in our souls, worth of many horsepower, shows the fact that if we had been more skillful, we could have been a true dynasty. The ancestors on my mothers side were all priests, scholars and poets, Calvinists from the beginning of Protestantism. My grandfather on my mothers side was the priest of the village Mecenţiu, where I was born, while my father came from the interior of Sălaj region.” Ady Endre: Autobiography. Nyugat, 1st of June 1909. “Firstly, I wanted to begin my so-called autobiography with a strict logic and to regress from today back to my birthday, an event which is not really that important. At my age, however, people become coward, and do not dare to revolt against the old rules. Therefore, I will begin with the moment of my birth. It was on the 22nd of November 1877, in Mecenţiu, Sălaj County. The village is a small settlement in the valley of the Ér/ Ier River, on the border of the former counties of Middle Szolnok and Sătmar. My father, Lőrinc Ady, came from Lompirt, Sălaj County, shortly before my birth. He married the orphan girl of the Calvinist priest of Mecenţiu, who was adopted by her uncle, an owner of a small estate there. My mother s family was an old family of Protestant priests, my grandmother on my fathers side descended from the Visky family and was the daughter of a Transylvanian Calvinist priest and my grandfather, Ady Dániel, was the administrator of the Wesselényi family and a landowner in Lompirt. The Ady family is one of the oldest families of Sălaj, though it is not really so important to mention, and it had its ancient residence at Od, or Ad, today Diósad / Dioşod, descending from the Gut-Keled family. The family lost its wealth rather fast, and, starting with the 16th century, there remained only a few family members who were nobles or landowners, the majority of them living in the state of poor nobles, close to that of serfs." Ady Endre: Autobiography. Dekameron, I, Az Érdekes Újság, September 1913. Familia Ady în 1891 / Az Ady család 1891-ben / The Ady family in 1891 (F. Csorba Csilla: Ady. A portrévá lett arc. Budapest, Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum, 2008. p. 39) 11
