Bálint Balassa
Baron Bálint Balassa de Gyarmath et Kékkeő (or Bálint Balassi , born October 20, 1554 in Zólyom (sl. Zvolen, German Altsohl), today in Slovakia ; † May 30, 1594 in Esztergom (German Gran)) was an important one Hungarian poet of the Renaissance period . He also wrote poetry in Slovak . He was the first author of Hungarian erotic poetry and the founder of modern Hungarian poetry .
Life
Bálint Balassa came from a noble Hungarian noble family. The evangelical preacher Péter Bornemissza was his tutor, who also aroused his interest in literature at an early age. From 1565 he attended school in Nuremberg . Balassa received an excellent education and soon mastered 8 languages. In addition, he received military training and took part in battles against the Turks with his father . The family belonged to the part of Hungary loyal to the Habsburg castle at that time.
Bálint also fought for the Habsburgs, but was taken prisoner by the Transylvanian Prince Stephan Báthory . When he became king of Poland , Báthory took the captured poet with him to this land. Only in 1577 could Bálassa return to Hungary. Here he led countless lawsuits that drove him out of his fortune. He also led a very dissolute life with ongoing love affairs. In 1578 he met Anna Losonczi, the wife of the Banus of Croatia Christoph Ungnad († 1587), to whom he wrote love poems.
From 1579 to 1582 he did military service as a cavalry officer at the castle in Eger . Here he married Krisztina Dobó for material reasons. After a dispute, this marriage was declared invalid. These events, along with other crises, contributed to Balassa converting to Catholicism and now also composing poems with a religious content. In 1588 the love for Anna Losonczi, who had meanwhile been widowed, flared up again, but met with no response. Some beautiful poems were written on the occasion.
In the fight against the Turks, on the side of the Habsburgs, Balassa was badly wounded during the siege of Esztergom and died there.
Works
Bálint Balassa is the first real poet of the Hungarian language . He took on models from the neo-Latin Renaissance poets Marullus, Angerianus and Janus Secundus and made adaptations in the Hungarian language. Many of his poems were intended for musical performance. In 1589 Balassa collected his poems in a handwritten volume that was only printed after his death. The majority of the lyrical work consists of love poems, alongside poems with a military and religious content. Balassa also wrote a play, Beautiful Hungarian Comedy, in Hungarian, an adaptation of an Italian model.
- Poems. German selection, Budapest 1984
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Balassa, Bálint |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Balassi, Bálint |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hungarian poet of the Renaissance period |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 20, 1554 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zvolen (German old sole), today Slovakia |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1594 |
| Place of death | Esztergom (German Gran) |