Lipsius, Bodin és Botero magyar olvasója: Államtudomány, aforizmák és történelmi exemplumok Révay Péter műveiben [A Hungarian reader of Lipsius, Bodin and Botero: Political science, aphorisms and historical examples in the works of Péter Révay] (original) (raw)

In: Bene, Sándor (szerk.): Magyar sztoikusok : Tanulmányok az újsztoicizmus magyarországi történetéről. Budapest, Gondolat Kiadó, 2024) pp. 259-269. In the 16th century, writers concerned with the functioning of the state and its laws considered history to be the main object of study of the state, as well as its wellhead, its ’raw material’, and, to a large extent, they tried to establish general rules concerning the state and especially the power of princes on the basis of the study of historical texts. This conviction is clearly evident in the works of Machiavelli, Guevara, Guicciardini, Bodin, Botero, Daneau, Lipsius. Péter Révay (1568-1622), the scholarly Hungarian crown custodian, knew most of these writers well and embraced their approach and methods. In his Histories of the Crown and of the Kingdom (Commentarius, De monarchia), the Lutheran magnate not only behaves as a ’historian’, but also constantly interprets his subject according to the taste of the time. This was manifested in the fact that he often inserted a general axiom, an aphorism, in connection with a historical event, which applied to the functioning of states, or contained an ’exhortation’ addressed to certain political actors (princes, courtiers, etc.). Yet it cannot be said that under Révay’s hand Hungarian history is transformed into a simple parable. The events of the past are assembled into a linear history, and do not lose their context when they are ’transformed’ into exemplars – rather, Révay merely amplifies the lessons that can be drawn from them, and incorporates them into one of the narratives that he operates throughout his work (princely power, the rights of the orders, the Turkish question, etc.). The subject of my paper, then, is Révay’s historical exemplars and aphorisms, which are interwoven throughout his historical work. I would like to examine, on the one hand, who among the abovementioned writers on the theory of the state, and in what way, influenced the Hungarian author. On the other hand, I would also like to examine the ’function’ and structure of Révay’s aphorisms, and how the message of these pithy aphorisms was influenced by the author’s religious and public status and offices, his denominational affiliation, and his resulting political views.