Antal Szerb

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Hungary is often mentioned in the old English zoological books too. E.G. Topsell's Historie of Four-Footed Beastes, 1607, the famous "Elizabethan Zoo", knows about a Hungarian beast called Vncken, "which dwelleth in holes of the earth as conies do, the outward proportion whereof is like a weasel... it is reported that the breathing thereof vppon the face of man is venomous and pysonfull..." What kind of animal can that be? Maybe the toad the German name of which is Unke.
In this connection we could quote the book of John Baptist Merin, translated into English and printed in 1732. This Frenchman visited the mines of Hungary in 1615. He asks the miners whether they had seen any demons. They answer they see them sometimes, they come in the shape of little black children, but they want only to talk, they don't do any harm to the miners.
Historical books about Hungary were not very numerous in the England of those times. The most remarkable among them is The Generall Historie of the Turkes, by Richard Knolles, 1603. It gives a very extensive account about the Hungarian Turkish wars (the book has 1151 pages in folio!). Its chief sources as for Hungary are Bonfinius and especially Paulus Jovius, whose great work about the Turkish wars has been translated into English first in 1546. Such a book is Florus Hungaricus, translated from Latin in 1664.
There are some facts about Hungarian history in The Negotiations of Sir Thomas Roe in his Embassy to the Ottoman Porte from the Year 1621 to 1628. For the historian of literature this book is as far interesting as it has been published by the printer Samuel Richardson, the author of Pamela.
The seventeenth century was the age of the tractates, called True Relations. True Relations is generally the beginning of the title of those small pamphlets, flying-leafs which were the principal means of news service in those prae-journalistic times. In the infinite multitude of these "true relations" we found some relating to Hungary. I give the long title of one, from the title you can know everything about it: Strange fearful and true news, which hapned at Carlstadt in the Kingdome of Croatia, Declaring how the Sunne did shine like Bloude nine dayes to gether and how two Armies were seene in the Ayre, the one encountring the other And how also a Woman was deliuered of three prodigious sonnes, which Prophisied many strange & fearfull things, which should shortly come to passe, All which happened the twelfth of June last, 1605. The pamphlet has been translated from the Dutch.
Much akin to this genre are the broadsheet ballads and political songs of the seventeenth century-there are some of them that mention Hungary or Hungarians. In the Bagford and Roxburghe Collection you find ballads celebrating Christian victories over the Turks in Hungary, some of them are mocking Thököly who as a rebel was not very popular with the Tories, the authors of these ballads and songs. There is a Scots ballad in the Roxburghe Collection about Joan of Naples and Andrew of Hungary, its political point is against Mary Stuart.
The Princes of Transylvania, the two George Rákóczis, but particularly Gabriel Bethlen play a great part in the political writings, further the gazettes and other primitive newspapers of the age. According to the testimony of these the English public in the 17th century took very great interest in the happenings in Hungary, admired Hungary's heroic resistance against the Turks, as protestants they were all for the princes of Transylvania in their national revolts against Catholic and Imperial power. In the 18th century, when Hungary entirely lost its independent role in the theatre of the world, the interest of English public entirely disappears, among the political songs of the 18th century I didn't find but two which mention Hungary.
A particular literary genre of the 17th century is that which could be called Theatrum: a compilation of all kind of anecdotes, facts, both historical and geographical, illustrating the greatness, the infinite variety and the infinite restlessness of the world. These compilations are very characteristic expression of what we call after German patterns "barokk világérzés."¹ The most beloved such writings were those of the Spaniard Mexio, the Treasurie of auncient and moderne times, translated into English in 1613. This book was followed by many English ones of the same kind such as: Beard's Theatre of God's Judgements, wherein is represented the admirable Justice of God against all notorious sinners, great and small etc, 1648, Clark's Mirrour or Looking-glasse For Saints and Sinners, 1654, Camerarius' The Living Library has been translated from the Latin in 1621. Such works were further Robert Burtons's ones: not only the well-known Anatomy of Melancholy which does not refer to Hungary, but also his Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement and Mercy, 1682, and the Unparalleld or the Matchless Actions and Passions of Mankind. Now these compendious works have a great deal of curious references to Hungarian history and show quite well which events of Hungarian history occupied some place in the imagination of Western nations. It is rather funny that the best known Hungarian in Old England seems to be that László Kerecsényi, commandant of the fortress of Gyula, who treacherously handed the fortress over to the Turks but as a result he was put by the Turks into a barrel with nails in its side and was rolled down from a hill. This was an exemplary judgement for high treason and very popular in these times.
The English travellers who came to Hungary and wrote about their experiences, are more or less known. The most serious of them was Edward Browne whose Brief Account of some Travels in Hungaria, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Friuli has been published in 1673. Professor Szekfü² in his Hungarian History often refers to this work. Less reliable but funnier is the work of the Scotsman William Lithgow, The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and painefull Peregrinations of nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the most famous Kingdoms in Europe, Asia and Affrica, etc, published in 1632. Lithgow came to Hungary in 1616. He goes into traditional ecstasies about the fertility of Hungarian soil, but has no high opinion about Hungarian character. "The Hungarians haue euer beene shiftuous, treacherous and false, so that there one brother will hardly trust another, which infidelity among themselves and distracted deceitful governours was the chiefest cause of their overthrow and subiection vnder Infidels... There is a great Gentry in this Kingdome, but untravelled abroad, farre lesse mannerly at home, being luxurious and ill taught, and damnably given to that Masculine misery, the whole Southern World is defiled with." He has his own reasons to be unsatisfied with Hungary, he was twice robbed and barely saved his life.
But the funniest and most unreliable traveller was Captain John Smith. C.J.S. is one of the names which mark the beginning of literary history in North America. In the later part of his adventurous life, C.J.S. abandoned participation in actual adventures for the more passive, but apparently more lucrative role of describing them. It was then that he wrote the work which contains interesting references to Hungary: The True Travells, Adventures and Observations of C.J.S. /1630/.
According to the anonymous historian who gave this account, C.J.S. came to Hungary in 1601 and he joined the army of the Duke of Mercury, i.e. The Duc de Mercoeur, the French nobleman who came to fight against the Turk. C.S. distinguished himself during the siege of several towns in Hungary by inventing and using light signals with great success. But the most interesting part of his adventures is his sojourning in Transylvania, during the reign of the Prince Sigismund Báthory. The Transylvanian army under the command of Moyses Zachel /Székely Mózes/ was besieging the fortress of Regall. The Turks in order to beguile the tedium of the siege, send a message to the commander of the Transylvanian army "that to delight the Ladies, who did long to see some court-like pastime, the Lord Turbashaw did defie any Captaine, that had the comand of a Company, who durst combate with him for his head."
The Christian captains drew lots as to which of them should answer to the challenge of the Turbashaw, the lot fell upon Captain Smith. Smith luckily killed his adversary and carried away his head as a trophy and offered it as a present to Moses Székely. Afterwards he killed in duel another Turk named Grualgo who came to take revenge for his bashaw and then a third one, called Bonny Mulgro, whom he had challenged. Moses Székely embraced him before the whole army and presented him with a beautiful and well-harnessed horse, with a scimitar i.e. a Turkish sword and a golden belt worth 300 ducats. Some time later Prince Sigismundus visited the camp, in order to pass his glorious army in review. He was greatly pleased to hear how wonderfully C.S. had fought the heathen and to reward him he presented him with a coat-of-arms including the three Turkish heads and with a patent of nobility, furthermore with his own portrait and an annuity of 300 ducats.
Now the patent of nobility that C.S. received from S. Báthory was a matter of lively discussion in later years. A Hungarian scholar Lewis Kropf investigated the matter and stated that it is an impudent forgery. Any Hungarian, even if he is not an expert, will see at first glance that even supposing that S. ever got a patent of nobility from Sigismund Báthory the text given in his book could never be the authentic one. The Prince of Transylvania never was Earle of Anchard, Salford and Growenda, however beautiful and romantic the names of these non-existing earldoms may sound.
But how is it possible in that case that this document was certified by the Garter King-of-Arms in London? Concerning this problem I have learned that Kropf informed Mr. Eugene Pivány, the renowned expert of Hungarian-American relations, that the official of the London College of Arms who entered the document in the register, was subsequently imprisoned for the forgery of documents, his certification may therefore not be considered authentic.

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We publish here the typed and unpublished English text by Antal Szerb, found by András Beck in 2007 in an antiquarian bookshop. While this is an unedited manuscript and likely to contain errors of fact or grammar, we felt there is no need to overburden it with notes and have kept corrections to a minimum.

¹ barokk világérzés-the Baroque sense of the world.

² Gyula Szekfü (1883-1955), the most influential historian of the inter-war period.