Pelbart of Timisoara

Pelbartus Ladislaus of Temesvár ( lat. Pelbartus Ladislai de Timisoara , clothes. Temesvári Pelbárt , rum. Pelbartus de Timisoara ) (* around 1435 in Temesvár ; † 22. January 1504 in Buda ) was a Franciscan , preacher and author of extensive Bible commentaries and collections of sermons in late medieval kingdom of Hungary . As is customary in monasteries and among scholars, he wrote in Latin ; his works, which were printed in rapidly following editions from 1498, were known in Hungary and throughout Europe. The numerous editions of his works, which continued to be published in Latin and also in Hungarian translations after his death, were for a long time among the “classics” of sermon literature. Pelbart's writings are still a scientifically significant source of Hungarian literature from the late Middle Ages .

Life

Pelbart was born around 1435 in Temesvár, which at that time belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. He enrolled as Pelbartus Ladislai de Temesvar in 1458 at the University of Krakow and passed the theology examination there in 1463. After further studies he became a master of theology and then left Krakow in 1471. He is mentioned in 1483 in documents of the Franciscan convent in Buda , the capital of the kingdom, where he taught the sentences of Petrus Lombardus and exegesis of the Old and New Testaments. In this year, the publication of his sermons in Latin began and in his first work, Stellarium coronae Mariae Virginis , he laid out the number symbolism of the Revelation of John in sermons on Marian feasts in twelve books with a total of about 300 sermons . He also wrote a commentary on the Psalms and the extensive sermons with more than 500 other sermons. His works were very well known and from 1498 onwards they were printed in rapid succession in several editions as incunabula , primarily in Haguenau in Alsace .

Pelbart died in Buda in 1504. Aureum sacrae theologiae rosarium , his last work, was completed by his pupil Oswald von Lasko . Editions of Pelbatt's works translated into Hungarian were published from 1510. It can be assumed that Pelbart's mother tongue was also Hungarian, as there are more frequent passages in his Latin works whose construction can be traced back to Hungarian. His father's name could have been Ladislaus . However, Pelbart's exact life dates and the records relating to him cannot be interpreted with certainty.

Style and meaning

Pelbart wrote lively and vivid texts, which underline their scholastic statements with numerous quotations from the Bible and ancient literature . The texts also include legends and traditions from the Hungarian folk race as well as instructive short stories. Furthermore, Pelbart gives his readership advice on the structure and presentation of a captivating sermon, whereby he also points out the need to pay attention to the prior knowledge of the listeners during the presentation and to choose appropriately simple and short examples. He substantiates his rhetorical suggestions with references to comparable instructions from ancient writers such as Cicero . Pelbart makes these references to antiquity mainly in a medieval way of thinking. He also found a pictorial language and a closeness to the people that often distinguished members of his order and made them popular. Nevertheless, even with Pelbart, the thinking of Renaissance humanism can be recognized to some extent . Pelbart's work and its dissemination in print form is an example of the fact that at the time of Pelbart, under the influence of the Hungarian Queen Beatrix of Aragón , a center of the Renaissance emerged in Hungary and ideas of the new epoch could spread. The Europe-wide importance of Pelbart's works was then first recognized by foreign publishers and their printing was carried out abroad due to a lack of capacity in Hungary.

Pelbart's work influenced other Hungarian writers who immediately followed, sometimes adopting parts of it; Pelbart's works remained widely known. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Hungarian historian Miklós Istvanffy highlighted Pelbart as an important scholar and writer. Both the Latin and the Hungarian translations of the works, which were printed from 1510, still make Pelbart an important representative of Hungarian literature of the late Middle Ages .

Works

• Stellarium coronae beatae Mariae virginis (sermon texts for Marian feasts)
  • Stellarium coronae beatae Mariae virginis . Hagenau 1498 ( digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf )
  • Stellarium coronae beatae Mariae virginis . Hagenau 1502 ( digitized version )
• Expositio Psalmorum (Commentary on Psalms)
  • Expositio compendiosa et mysticum complectens libri Psalmorum , Strasbourg, 1487, Hagenau 1504 and 1513
• Sermones (collection of sermons)
  • Sermones Pomerii de tempore I. (Pars hiemalis). Hagenau 1498
  • Sermones Pomerii de tempore II. (Pars Paschalis). Hagenau 1498
  • Sermones Pomerii de sanctis I. (Pars hiemalis). Hagenau 1499
  • Sermones Pomerii de sanctis II. (Pars aestivalis). Hagenau 1499
  • Sermones Pomerii quadragesimales (de vitiis). Hagenau 1499
  • Sermones Pomerii quadragesimales (de praeceptis Decalogi). Hagenau 1499
    • The first prints of the Sermones in Hagenau were soon followed by numerous other new editions and new editions in other locations

• Aureum sacrae theologiae rosarium iuxta quattuor sententiarum libros
  • Aureum sacrae rosarium theologiae (Book 1). Hagenau 1503
  • Secundus liber rosarii theologiae . Hagenau 1504
  • Tertius liber rosarii theologiae . Hagenau 1507
  • Quartus liber rosarii aurei . Hagenau 1508 (with Osualdus de Lasko)
    • The first prints of the Aureum sacrae theologiae rosarium were followed by other editions in Venice in 1586 and 1589, among others

literature

• Mihaela Sandor: Pelbartus de Timisoara . In: Dictionar al scriitorilor din Banat , Timisoara 2005, pp. 579–581 (Romanian)
• Temesvári Pelbárt . In: Új Magyar Irodalmi Lexicon 3. Budapest 1994. S. 2071 (Hungarian)
• Christine Gack: The works of Pelbart of Timisoara (after 1430–1504) in the Tübingen University Library: a research report . In: Banatica 1991/3, pp. 75–86 (German)
• Gabriel Adriányi:  Pelbart of Timisoara. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 174-178.
• Kenan B. Osborne, OFM: The History of Franciscan Theology . New York 1994 (English)
• ZJ Kosztolnyik: Some Hungarian Theologians in the Late Renaissance . In: Church History. Volume: 57/1 (1988) (English)
• Gabriel Adriányi: Pelbárt of Temesvár (approx. 1435-1504) and his Trinitarian sermon templates . In: M Böhnke, H. Heinz (ed.): In conversation with the three God , Festschrift W. Breuning. Düsseldorf 1985, pp. 276–284 (German)
• L Sajo: Catalogus incunabulorum, quae in bibliothecis publicis Hungariae asservantur (Catalog of the incunabula in Budapest). Budapest 1970 (Latin)
• ZJ Kosztolnyik, Pelbartus of Temesvar: a Franciscan Preacher and Writer of the Late Middle Ages in Hungary , In: Vivarium 5/1967. Pp. 100–110 (English)
• Franklin H. Littell (Ed.): Reformation Studies . Richmond, Virginia 1962 (English)
• Lajos Katona: Temesvári Pelbárt Példái (The examples of Pelbárt of Temesvár). Budapest 1902 (Hungarian)
• Cyril Horváth: Temeswári Pelbárt és beszédei (Pelbart of Timisoara and his sermons). Budapest 1889 (Hungarian)

Web links

• Literature by and about Pelbartus de Themeswar in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Pelbart von Timişoara  in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gabriel Adriányi: Pelbárt of Temesvár . In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) Vol. VIII. Herzberg 1995, columns 174-178
2. ↑ Nikolaus Istvánfy: Nicolai Isthvanfi Pannonii Historiarum de rebus Ungaricis libri XXXIV, Cologne 1622