Reading Literacy and Reasoning Techniques

Mátyás Váradi’s readings in Transylvania and the Low Countries

Abstract

Born in Szeklerland and educated in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş) and Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), Mátyás Váradi spent three years from 1665 at universities in the Low Countries, in Leiden, Utrecht and Franeker. During his studies, he prepared and arranged his work Burning Torch for the press, in which he argued, in a form reminiscent of school disputations, for the antiquity and truth of the Reformed theology, deriving Catholic teaching from the heresies of the early Christian era.
A total of 306 references can be read on the pages of the work. By analyzing these, we can gain an insight into Váradi’s specific way of thinking and working method, on the one hand, and the other hand, we can get an idea of what basic works he relied on, and which of these can be assumed to have been acquired during his studies in the Low Countries.
Based on the references that can be resolved with absolute certainty, a 108-item bibliography can be reconstructed. This, of course, only indirectly refers to Váradi’s reading literacy, since it was determined not so much by the actual readership of the author, but by the specific character and reasoning of the work. This explains why authors of the Antiquity were omitted and the classics of Humanism and Protestantism were neglected.
The references to the Burning Torch follow the trends of Transylvanian culture. Váradi most often cited works that were available in Transylvania, even if they were not in common use. However, among the references, there are also three dozen works which, according to the surviving book lists, were not found in Transylvania and Hungary, or were extremely rare. During the peregrination in the Low Countries, therefore, Váradi greatly increased his readership in systematic and controversial theology, and to some extent in canon law and church history.
Of course, this overall impression can be further refined and nuanced by involving other types of sources, by analyzing references from contemporary authors.