Original scientific paper
Politics and Literature in the Elegies of Michael Verancius in 1528
György Palotás
orcid.org/0000-0002-6126-9607
; Department for Classical Philology and Neo-Latin Studies, University of Szeged
Abstract
This paper examines the interaction of the querela Hungariae topos and certain political commonplaces with the two less widely known elegies (Querela Hungariae de Austria and Alia querela Hungariae contra Austriam) of Michael Verancius, written in 1528. Mihály Imre in particular has tried to attend properly to this topos in his monograph (»Magyarország panasza«: A Querela Hungariae toposz a XVI—XVII. század irodalmában, Debrecen, 1995). In order to explain the context of Verancius’ poems, a survey of their classical antecedents (Ovid’s Heroides) and generic traits and metaphors (e.g. propugnaculum Christianitatis) is provided. However, the question arises: how could the genre of querela have been pressed into the service of politics? The second part of the paper offers an answer. Michael Verancius’ elegies provide an important insight into János Szapolyai’s difficult path in foreign politics, the ideological background of the Turkish–Hungarian alliance in 1528 and internal Hungarian political dissensions. This paper also highlights the importance of the genre of querela for Hungarian history in sixteenth century.
Keywords
Michael Verancius; János Szapolyai / Zápolya (King John I); querela Hungariae topos; elegy; propaganda literature; Turks; Cracow
Hrčak ID:
120313
URI
Publication date:
22.4.2014.
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