Századok – 2012

KÖZLEMÉNYEK - C. Tóth Norbert: Egy legenda nyomában. Szapolyai János és ecsedi Bátori István viszonya 1526 előtt II/443

SZAPOLYAI JÁNOS ÉS ECSEDI BÁTORI ISTVÁN VISZONYA 1526 ELŐTT 463 scholarly works which were based on them, with an exclusive focus on the relationship between Szapolyai and Bátori. In a next step, the charter material, more objective by its very nature, is presented and analysed. The author examines in detail the periods which the two magnates spent in their respective offices, for Szapolyai as voevode of Transylvania, and Bátori as ispán of Temes and captain of the southern marches, led the two most important, and neighbouring, frontier regions of the kingdom. One of the most important, and by no means surprising, conclusions of the inquiiy is that the two men cooperated in an exemplaiy manner in the defense of the southern marches. Moreover, this cooperation manifested itself not only in the military sphere but also in the political one. The study examines the informal talks about the filling of the palatinate which took place after the death of palatine Emeric Percnyi and before the general assembly which elected his successor (end of April 1519), and the role that Szapolyai played in these. The picture which emerges from our sources proves beyond doubt that the palatinate of Bátori was not contrary to the ambitions of Szapolyai. Finally, the study proves that in the known baronial leagues of the period, in case both Szapolyai and Bátori were involved, they always stood on the same side. In view of the cumulative results of the inquiries which the author has carried out in several partial areas, he thinks that it is high time to abandon the traditional view according to which domestic policy in the kingdom of Hungary in the years before Mohács was enirely dominated by the acute conflict between John Szapolyai and Stephen Bátori. The reason for their rather biased presentation by the chroniclers in the 16th and 17th centuries was the projection of their ulterior political course into the pre-Mohács period. For after 1526 the two men stepped on divergent paths, and thanks to the consecutive coronations of John Szapolyai and Ferdinand of Habsburg as kings of Hungary they indeed became political opponents.