Ioannes Pannonius levele: egy irodalmi vagy irodalomtörténeti fikció nyomában
Letter of Ioannes Pannonius: In the Footsteps of a Literary, or Literary Historical Fiction

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the letter and identity of Ioannes Pannonius, who had a philosophical theological dispute with Marsilio Ficino. The main question is, was he a work of Ficino’s fiction or a real person? After the presentation of three hypotheses which have tried to identify the unknown Hungarian correspondent, the paper argues against them and tries to outline a fragmentary biography of a real person based on the little information we have. Considering his Florentine studies, he might have been born around 1440. His identification as János Váradi is false, and although Pajorin’s hypothesis of János Vitéz Jr. is much more plausible, there are at least as many arguments against it as there are for it. Nevertheless, that he was an invention of Ficino is the least likely. The most probable scenario is that behind the name, there is instead a lower-ranking clergy man or even a literate, chancery official.

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