Janus Pannonius

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The Hungarian humanist, painted by a Renaissance artist, around 1470.

Janus Pannonius (Croatian Ivan Česmički , Hungarian Csezmiczei János, German Johannes Csezmiczei , Ivan or János von Čazma after his northern Croatian birthplace; born August 29, 1434 in Čazma ; † March 27, 1472 at Medvedgrad Castle near Zagreb ) was a scholar, humanist , diplomat and bishop.

Life

János von Čazma was probably the son of a Croatian nobleman. Little is known about his childhood. His mother Borbála Vitéz [pronunciation: "Witehs"] († 1463) was a sister of Bishop Johann Vitéz , since 1465 Primate of Hungary . After the death of his father, he sent him around 1447 to the school of Guarino da Verona at the court of Marquis Leonello d'Este in Ferrara, which was then famous as the center of humanistic art and culture . From 1454 to 1458 he studied law in Padua and after his doctorate in 'Canon Law' returned to Hungary, where he quickly made a career, first as a canon with his uncle in Wardein , then as a Hungarian poet at the court of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus . He did not want to let the experience he had acquired in Italy go unused and gave him a post in the royal chancellery. On November 5, 1459 he was made bishop of Fünfkirchen , with the Archbishop of Gran his mentor. On February 16, 1460 he received the diocese from Pius II. In 1465 he went to Rome as envoy on behalf of the Hungarian king in order to get papal support in the fight against the Ottomans.

With his uncle he joined a conspiracy against the king in 1471 because of his autocratic style of government and tried in vain to bring King Casimir of Poland to the Hungarian throne. He therefore had to flee to Croatia, where he died in 1472 at the age of 38 (his uncle died four months later under house arrest in Gran).

Janus Pannonius, as he called himself a humanist, wrote numerous poems and epigrams and distinguished himself as a translator of ancient authors. He was particularly impressed by the teaching of Plotinus. He wrote in Latin . Janus Pannonius designed his own grave inscription (translation): "Janus rests here, who was the first to bring the laurel-adorned muses from Helikon heights to the banks of the local Ister ." A bronze statue is located below the castle in Fünfkirchen. The biographer Vespasian da Bisticci explained that the Hungarian humanist distinguished himself both for his virtue and his erudition.

expenditure

  • István Borzsák, Ágnes Ritoók-Szalay (eds.): Iani Pannonii opera quae manserunt omnia. Balassi Kiadó, Budapest 2006 ff. (Critical complete edition)
    • Volume 1: Epigrammata.

literature

  • Marianna D. Birnbaum: Janus Pannonius - poet and politician
  • Darko Novaković: Jan Panonije kao prevodilac s grčkoga: filologija u službi politike ( Latina et Graeca , NS), 2004
  • Janus Pannonius: Lament about his sickness (March 1466) , in: Die Kultur des Humanismus (edited by Nic.Mout), Munich, 1998, pp. 356–7.
  • Vespasiano da Bisticci: The Bishop of Fünfkirchen from the Slavic Nation, p.197-201, in: Bernd Roeck (ed.) "Great men and women of the Renaissance", Munich, 1995.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl-Markus Gauß : In the forest of the metropolises , Vienna 2010, p. 109 f.
  2. ^ Vespasiano da Bisticci: Le Vite - reprint . tape 1 . Florence 1970.
predecessor Office successor
Miklós Barni Bishop of Fünfkirchen
1459–1472 		Zsigmond Hampó
personal data
SURNAME Pannonius, Janus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Fünfkirchen
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1434
PLACE OF BIRTH Čazma
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1472
Place of death Medvedgrad Castle