The library and readings of Miklós Oláh

Abstract

In the past decades many researchers explored successfully the traces of the library of Miklós Oláh (Nicolaus Olahus), the famous humanist, archbishop of Hungary. However, the majority of data are either archive mentions or library records that were made without handling the books. During the preparative research of this current lecture, we found 250 works that were once part of Miklós Oláh’s library. We can now form a view on Oláh’s deep and extensive (eruditive) intellectual hori-zon and his reading habits. The latter can also be analysed by Oláh’s marginal-notes written in his printed books.Handling of his books also gives the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of how his li-brary was growing. The notes of previous owners of Oláh’s books provide rich data to reconstruct the humanist archbishop’s network.