CHAPTER TEN THE HUNGARIAN ROOTS OF A BOHEMIAN HUMANIST: JOHANN JESSENIUS A JESSEN AND EARLY MODERN NATIONAL IDENTITY1 Kees Teszelszky From the point of view of national identity one of the most intriguing fi gures at the early modern Habsburg court was Johann Jessenius a Jessen (Jeszenszky, Jesenský, 1566–1621). He was born in the Silesian town of Breslau (present-day Wrocław in Poland) and is described in diff erent sources as a member of the Polish, Bohemian or Ger- man nation, but he presented himself in his own works as an eques Ungarus (Hungarian knight).2 During his lifetime he acted as doctor, academic, historian and politician in Hungary, Bohemia and Austria. He studied in Padua, Wittenberg and Leipzig, where he wrote several infl uential books in which he displayed his knowledge of his various areas of interest.3 As a writer he promoted neo-Platonic ideas at the Habsburg court in Prague and Vienna and wrote an important work 1 Th is article is a revision of a part of my dissertation, Kees Teszelszky, De sacra corona regni Hungariae. De kroon van Hongarije en de ontwikkeling van vroegmod- erne nationale identiteit (1572–1665) [De sacra corona regni Hungariae: Th e crown of Hungary and the development of early modern national identity (1572–1666)] (Gron- ingen: University of Groningen, 2006); http://irs.ub.rug.nl/ppn/295012633. 2 On the life and work of Jessenius, see László Mátrai, ed., Régi magyar fi lozófu- sok XV–XVII. század [Ancient Hungarian philosophers from the 15th till the 17th century] (Budapest: Gondolat, 1961), 48–49; Josef Polišenský, Jan Jesenský-Jessenius (Prague: Impresum, 1965); Nicolette Mout, Bohemen en de Nederlanden in de zestiende eeuw [Bohemia and the Netherlands in the sixteenth century] (Leiden, Universitaire Pers Leiden, 1975), 78; László Ruttkay, Jeszenszky János (Jessenius) és kora 1566–1621 [Johann Jessenius (Jeszenszky) and his age] (Budapest: A Semmelweis orvostörténeti múzeum és könyvtára, 1971), 18–88; Robert J. W. Evans, Rudolf II and his World: A Study in Intellectual History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973, 21984), 136–38; László András Magyar, “Jessenius,” in Péter Kőszeghy, ed., Magyar művelődéstörténeti lexikon [Hungarian lexicon of cultural history] (Budapest: Balassi, 2005), 4:446–48. 3 A German translation of the work of Jessenius on surgery, Institutiones chirur- gicae, published in 1601, was still in use hundred years aft er his death; see Magyar, “Jessenius,” 447. 316 kees teszelszky on this subject.4 He was a good friend of the Danish court astronomer Tycho Brahe, the court historian Jacobus Typotius and many infl u- ential intellectuals and politicians in the Habsburg Empire during the reign of Rudolf II (1572–1612) and Matthias (1608–1618).5 Jessenius became the rector of the university in Prague and showed himself a Bohemian patriot. His political activities on behalf of the Bohemian estates aft er 1616 led to his cruel execution in 1621 at the orders of Emperor Ferdinand II. Th e work which will be analyzed here is Jessenius’ description of the coronation of Matthias of Habsburg as king of Hungary. Th is event took place in the then Hungarian capital Pozsony (present-day Bratislava in Slovakia) on the 19th of November 1608.6 Th e work con- sists of two parts: a detailed account of the actual coronation ceremony, and a chronological overview of all the kings who ruled the Hungarian kingdom. In his description of the ceremony the author justifi es Mat- thias’ ascension to the throne by giving a “diagnostic” analysis of the history of Hungary and thereby stresses his own Hungarian roots. Th e political context of Jessenius’ book Because of the political, intellectual and personal background of this “Hungarian” knight or Bohemian intellectual, this work is particularly interesting from the point of view of early modern national identity. How does Jessenius represent himself as a Hungarian and how does he represent the Hungarians? How is this image constructed; which medical, historical and philosophical elements does he use to shape 4 Iohann. Iessenii a Iessen, Zoroaster nova, brevis veraque de universo Philoso- phia (Witebergae, 1593). On Jessenius’ early modern magical humanism, see György E. Szőnyi, “Scientifi c and Magical Humanism at the Court of Rudolf II,” in Eliška Fučíkova et al., eds., Rudolf II and Prague (London: Th ames and Hudson, 1997), 224–25. 5 Evans, Rudolf II and his World, 136–38. 6 Johannes Jessenius, Regis Ungariae, Matthiae II. coronatio; Johan: Jessenio a Jessen, Regio Medico, Descriptore. Adiecta, regni, regumque Pannoniae, brevis Chronographia (Vienna, 1609), OSZK Régi Magyar Könyvtár (RMK), III 1071; Johannes Jessenius, “Der Königlichen Majestät zu Ungarn / Matthiae des Andern dieses Nahmens / Krö- nung,” in András Vizkelety, ed., Wolfh art Spangenberg Sämtliche Werke (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1982), IV/2:261–316. I have used the latter edition. Th e manuscript of this work can be found in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Codex 8790..