Mihály vajda magyar secretariusairól
About the Hungarian Scribes of Voievod Mihai of Wallachia

Summary/Abstract: This study is about the work of a special group of what best could be described as ”offi ce-holder intelligentsia”, the Hungarian secretarians of Voievode Mihai of Wallachia during the period of his reign between 1593–1599. (After this period the Voievode mainly used scribes of the Transylvanian princely chancellery.) After close examination I’ve been able to distinguish the handwritings of four scribes so far. The fifth is a person who occasionally helped out with secretarial work for the Voievode. As a result of Voievode Mihai’s dealings in international politics most of his surviving Hungarian letters are to be found at their Habsburg Addressees in Vienna and Innsbruck. This study is an attempt to reconstruct the work and life of those secretarians whom we know by name. First of all János Rácz, whose life ended so tragically and his secretary colleague, Lukács Brassay. Also try to draw a portrait of János Darahi, a secretarius-courier.

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