Schultheisz Emil: Traditio Renovata. Tanulmányok a középkor és a reneszánsz orvostudományáról / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 21. (Budapest, 1997)
20. The contacts of the two Dees and Sir Philip Sidney with Hungarian physicians
Z^oo¡ scientist and mathematician and also the earliest follower and most consistent representative of the Copernican systems in England. 9 It is not known how much time Dee spent in Hungary. However, it seems certain that his visit was quite long. He returned to England, but in 1583, after some interesting antecedents, he again appeared in Hungary, this time with his son Arthur, later a famous physician, who at that time was but five years old. This second journey —about which we know considerably more than about the first—is connected with a colourful but somewhat adventurous figure of Hungarian history: Albert Laszky. Albert Laszky was the son of the Polish-born Jeromos Lasky, voivode of Transylvania and seigneur of Késmárk (Kezmarok, now in Slovakia). Albert Laszky inherited a huge fortune after his father's death and when he married György Serédy's widow, he rose among the ranks of the wealthiest Hungarian noblemen. However, he piled failure upon failure both in his political activity and in his private life. When István Báthory, Prince of Transylvania was elected to King of Poland, Laszky organized resistance. Upon this the king occupied Albert Laszky's castle in Poland in no more than five days and Laszky was compelled to flee to his estates in Hungary. Here he got into serious financial troubles owing to his extravagance; he was forced to mortgage the castle of Késmárk, after which, as István Weszprémi writes —"he left for England, for London 1 0 to which many years earlier his uncle, the bishop János Laszky had also emigrated. In London he joined hands with two alchemists , Edward Kelley and John Dee. They both promised Laszky that he would get hold in the near future of the whole of Poland, Moldavia and Wallachia and would be richer than King Croesus had been. Upon this Laszky invited Kelley and Dee to Hungary, who were pleased to accept the invitation, especially Dee, who had practised his craft of alchemy in Hungary already earlier in 1563 for a long time and to the great admiration of a number of people... "". The laboratory was opened in 1584 in Albert Laszky's castle at Szepeshely (north Hungary, today in Slovakia), however the prolonged experiments did not yield the expected results, so the two Englishmen hurried on to Prague, to the court of Emperor Rudolf King of Hungary. Data about the years that followed are rather contradictory. Edward Kelley tinged gold from mercury before the Emperor's eyes, which aroused general astonishment. He was given nobility by the Emperor at once and Kelley gave in to the entreaty to stay. When, however, 9 Dampier, W. C: A History of Science. Cambridge, 1966. 112, 144. 1 0 The outstanding Hungarian guest was most heartily welcomed in the court of Queen Elisabeth. He excelled with his eminent education. At the University of Oxford he entered into a controversy with Giordano Bruno the great Italian philosopher. Cfr. Sza ĥmárÿ, L. op. cit. 362—363. 1 1 "...Londinum ergo in Angliám deproperat, quo iam multis antea annis patruus, Johannes Laszky, Praepositus Gnaesnensis, et postea Episcopus Weszprimiensis, religiosam, fundandae Ecclesiae Presbyterianae caussa, susceperat peregrinationem. Iniit ibidem societatem duorum virorum chrysopoeorum, Edward¡ Kelley, et l¤ĥaññ¡s Dee anno 1583. Adept¡ hi duumviri Laszkyo promittunt, eundem propediem integra P¤i¤ñ¡a, M¤ đau¡a, Valach¡a etc. potiturum, ¡mm¤ ipso Croes¤ dit¡orem futurum: ¡lle hos in patriam ¡ñų¡tat; lubentes aduolant. Johannes Dee pot¡ss¡mum, qui ante iam anno 1563 in Hungaria artem transmutand¡ metalla, non sine mųit¤ rum admirat¡one d¡u multumque agitau¡t, ¡mm¤ Max¡miliano quoque Imp. et Reg. Hungar¡ae M¤ñodem suam, h¡eroglyph¡ce, mathemat¡ce, mag¡ce, cabbal¡st¡ce, anagog¡ce expl¡catam, Antverp¡ae anno 1564 ¡mpressam, inscñps¡t et Pos¤ñ¡¡ ob ų ¡ . Ann¤ 1584 in Castello Laszkyano Collegium alchemist¡cum asper¡tur, in aurea hac arte Laszkyus fideliss¡me omnium turpiter, v fieri adsolet, đe ų ¡đųr. Haec M. Bel¡us in Prod rom. Hungar. pag. 82, 92, 93 item in Not. Hung. Tom. I. Moreñ in Diction, in voce Dee Georg¡ųs Matth¡ae in Consp. Histor. Medic, chronol. pag. 614 et Miscellan. Groning. Tom. III. fasc. I. et alibi." Weszprémi, I. op. cit. 186—187.
