146. (Székely István) Szekel’ Estvan: Chronica ez vilagnac yeles dolgairol

Craccoba, 1559. Niomtatot Striykouiai Lazar Altal. (1)+217 fol(s). Title page replaced by copy. 84 leaves missing (the three unnumbered pages following the title page, 1-40; 46-47, 68-79, 94-95, 209-216, 218-237).
The first historical work published in Hungarian, and also the first world chronicle written by a Hungarian author. Little is known about the life of István Székely: he was born at the beginning of the 16th century, according to Péter Bod, "in Bentzéd, Udvarhelly-szék". From 1529, he studied at the University of Krakow, returning home to become a schoolmaster first in Szikszó in 1538, then in Abaújszántó and Liszkán, later becoming parish priest in Szikszó, and finally a preacher of the Swiss Reformation in Gönc alongside Gáspár Károlyi. As a schoolmaster, he wrote several textbooks, and his "Calendarium" is the first printed calendar in Hungarian. The last known information about his life dates from 1563, when he was a pastor in Liszkán. He was one of the most significant scholarly writers of the first generation of reformers, and he wrote his works in Hungarian out of humanist motivation. His work, born out of the historical perspective of the Reformation, focuses primarily on presenting the Hungarian past. From the moment the Huns enter history, world history increasingly recedes into the background. His description is influenced by the Reformation and, in particular, by Hungarian and Székely national consciousness, naturally in the spirit of the nobility of his time. In his chronicle, the history of the Hungarian people is an integral part of world history, which he discusses from the creation of the world until 14 November 1558. In addition to important world historical events, the chronology lists curiosities, beliefs, and news of local significance in annalistic order, and even provides its readers with cultural history facts, or "historia literaria". He proclaims the Hun-Hungarian identity and considers the Hun Empire to be the first glorious era of Hungarian history, with Attila as the first Hungarian king. However, he considers the Hunyadi period to be the heyday of the nation, and its most significant figure to be King Matthias, the "second Attila". Székely devotes a great deal of space to the cult of the Hunyadis, writing about Matthias with undivided admiration, highlighting his successes as an empire builder, his erudition, wit and humanity. To illustrate this, he draws on contemporary oral tradition, recording one of the anecdotes, or "truffles", that later served as the basis for tales about King Matthias. Among his sources on world history, in addition to several chronologies, an important place is occupied by Johannes Carion's German "Chronica", written with the collaboration of Melanchthon and intended as a representative world history of the Reformation, and Sebastian Münster's famous "Cosmographia". He took the historical material on Hungary's past from János Thuróczy and the humanist Bonfini's work, published a few years earlier, but he did not simply compile and translate the Latin texts he used, but selected and adapted them according to his own principles. The publication was produced in Krakow, which at the beginning of the 16th century was the centre of the Central European Renaissance and a significant printing centre in European terms. Lazarus Strikoviensis' (also known as Lazarz Andrysowic) workshop was the successor to the Vietor printing house, where the first printed Hungarian text saw the light of day. Due to an error originating from Albert Szenczi Molnár, at the beginning of the 20th century, the literature assumed that it had also been published in 1558. Even so, it is an extremely valuable piece, albeit fragmentary (its significance in cultural history is also proven by its facsimile edition).
In remains of a contemporary binding with wooden boards; traces of leather covering and metal clasps. Edges of several leaves frayed from damp; five leaves (41–44, 127) with some loss of text. Preliminary and terminal leaves lightly stained.
RMNy 156.; RMK I 38.; Székely István: Krónika ez világnak jeles dolgairól. Krakkó 1559. Facsimile edition, with study by Rabán Gerézdi, MTA Institute for Literary Studies, 1960, p. 46.
 
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