Történeti Tanulmányok 22. (2014)

Petrovics István: Capystranus: An anonymous English epic poem printed in London in 1515

CAPYSTRANUS: AN ENGLISH EPIC POEM available sources John of Capistrano during his recruiting visited only the counties Baranya, Bács, Bodrog, Csanád and Csongrád lying near Nándorfehérvár.21 The problems shown above lead us to a most important question, namely to what extent does the poem reflect reflects the historical reality. But before we answer this, we have to describe its structure and content briefly. As mentioned earlier the text reconstructed by William A. Ringler, Jr. contains 579 lines divided into five sections. The first section contains 59, the second 103, the third 164, the fourth 209 and the fifth 46 lines.22 In the first section, after the obsecration to God the poet states that he wants to speak to those who like not the simple stories but those of brave knights, who fought for Jesus Christ. In the following we read about Charlemagne and how gloriously he recovered from the pagans the relics of Christ’s sufferings: the spear, the crown of thorns, and the nails used for his crucifixion. In the second section the author tells us how the Turks took Constantinople in 1453, and how they demolished the city walls by their cannons. It is also mentioned that during the fight the streets of Constantinople run red with blood and many of the besiegers died. The poem describes in detail the cruelty of the Muslims, who spared not even the priests and churchmen. In the third section appears Capistrano of whom the author of the poem speaks with great admiration. The poet states: there were only a few monks like Capistrano, who by recognizing the enormous evil visited the Holy Father on his own volition. Capistrano begged the pope on his knees for help to save the Kingdom of Hungary. For the friar it was clear that the aim of the Ottomans was to conquer Hungary. Capistrano warnings the pope, that if the town and castle of Nándorfehérvár fell, all of Hungary will fall. (‘Ifhe win the royal city/All Hungary is farion '). (We must note here that the author of the poem uses not the Hungarian Nándorfehérvár or the Slavic Belgrad/Beograd name of the town but the slightly deformed German form, Grecuswissinburgh.) Capistrano’s begging and persuasion reached its aim. The Holy Father was extremely touched by Friar John’s pleading and assured him of his complete support: he issued a bull, made a flag which he consecrated, blessed Capistrano three times and also gave him money. Capistrano started to recruit crusaders and collect gold and silver as a financial foundation of the undertaking. The first part of the fourth section is about 21 Gábor Barta, Nándorfehérvár 1456. Budapest, 1986.217.; Kulcsár, Kapisztrán, 186. 22 Ringler, „Capystranus”, 131-139.

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