„Sieur Secretaire du Palatin d’Hongrie…”, The role and place of István Gyöngyösi, the „Hungarian Ovidius” in the Court of Murány and in the Wesselényi-conspiration
Abstract
The research related to the 350th anniversary of the Wesselényi conspiracy’s launch and its reprisal is the genesis of this paper. The poet István Gyöngyösi’s (1629/1630–1704) earliest known missilis from 1664 is being analysed regarding history and literary history. Taking the poet’s well documented procuratorship of Vienna and his administrative work into consideration, the next subchapter interprets the diplomatic report of Jacques Bretel de Grémonville, knight of the Order of Malta and French resident of Vienna (1664–1671), in which the secret of Wesselényi (“Sieur Secretaire du Palatin d’Hongrie) and the confidential negotiations with him are mentioned. By re-analysing and re-organising the already known data, the parallel examination of the hearing techniques endeavours to understand the Hungarian Ovidius’s role in the feudal coup. Analogies of the aristocratic court depict Gyöngyösi’s chamberlain position and duties within the court of Murány. His colleagues conducting similar duties in the palatial administration are also accounted for. Based on the cross-check of various roles and secretarial characters and on the further examination of the participation in the coup, the suspicion is becoming stronger that the palatial secretary who negotiated with the French resident was the poet himself. The observations, new data and aspects found through the identification of the “Secretary of Hungary’s Palatine” appearing in the dépêche-s of Gremonville highlight the biographical details enquiringly researched since the Piarist András Dugonics (1740–1818) yet led one astray. They try to recover the information that was lost after the detachment of the historiographical facsimile of Ung and was regarded valuable for more than a century yet being false. They contribute to the insertion of poet István Gyöngyösi’s oeuvre, who was studying at the university of Nagyszombat and was relieved from his “apostate Protestant” past, into the homogenous framework of the Jesuit/Baroque/Catholic culture in the early modern period. Along with the palatine himself, all leading officials of the court of Murány acquired their basic knowledge in the Jesuit educational institution. The results of the paper help to re-evaluate the career of the poet that was judged earlier as contradictory. Consequently, his political, noble/national character shaped based on his works is beginning to be linked to the factual historical figure rather than a fictive one considering his numerous, previous biographical data.
