John Thuróczy, Stephen Werbőczy, Anthony Tatai

King Matthias
Werbőczy: Tripartitum 2.
Thuróczy Chronicle
John (János) Thuróczy

He was born around 1435 to a common noble family in the county of Túróc in the Felvidék. Since he was a literate man, he got into the royal court relatively early, where he became the clerk of the court office from 1467. From 1470 he was the clerk of the convent of Ság (a place of authentication), then he assisted Stephen Hásságyi, the chief judge of the country. Between 1486 and 1488 he became judge master in Thomas Drági's smaller chancellery. Between 1475 and 1488 he worked on his historic book continuously, and soon after its publication he died. The completed work was first published on 20 March, 1488 in Brünn, with a dedication to Thomas Drági, then in the same year, on 3 June, it was published again in Augsburg at the request of a book seller at Buda, called Theobald Feger, and it was dedicated to king Matthias. The Augsburg edition was made in two versions, in one of them the parts which would have hurt king Matthias's Austrian subjects were left out. The Chronica Hungarorum shows the transition between medieval history books and humanist historiography.

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Stephen (István) Werbőczy

He was born to a common noble family in the county of Bereg around 1460, and died in 1542. According to family traditions he started his career as a lawyer. He worked in a smaller chancellery with the help of Stephen Báthori, the judge of the country. He became the guard of the archives of this chancellery in 1483. Around 1492 he enrolled in the university of Cracow, where he received a thorough humanist education; he studied Latin, Greek and probably German. He must have been interested in literature, as he dealt with the edition of Janus Pannonius's poems, and he had a very good relationship with the humanists of the university of Vienna. His education, retoric and political skills helped him in his great career. In 1512 he became a judge master, in 1514 a personnel clerk, in 1525 the palatine of the country. He was the leading figure of the party of the common noblemen in the Jagello-age. He was against the Lutheran reformation, and in 1521 he tried to persuade Luther himself to withdraw his teachings. The laws enacted after the Dózsa peasants' revolt were attributed to him. From 1526 he was John Szapolyai's chancellor, and in 1541, when it was occupied by the Turks he became the chief judge of Buda. His Triple book ('Tripartitium opus iuris consuetudinarti inclyti regni Hungariae'), which was in Latin, was published in 1517 in Vienna at his own expense, as his superiors persuaded the king not to enact them.

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Anthony (Antal) Tatai

He enrolled in the university of Vienna in 1467, where he received a master's degree. He was the preacher of the Budaszentlőrinc monastery, then in 1487 he became vicarius generalis of the order.

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