Bálint Balassi

{{Short description|16th-century Hungarian poet, writer, soldier}} {{eastern name order|Balassi Bálint}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} [[File:Balassi2.jpg|right|thumb|Bálint Balassi]] [[File:Balassi Bálint kk.JPG|thumb|Balassi Bálint statue at the [[Kodály körönd]] in [[Budapest]]]]

'''Baron Valentinus Balassa de Kékkő et Gyarmat''' ({{langx|hu|Gyarmati és kékkői báró Balassi Bálint}}, {{langx|sk|Valentín Balaša (Valaša) barón z Ďarmôt a Modrého Kameňa}}; 20 October 1554 – 30 May 1594) was a [[Renaissance]] lyric poet. He wrote in nine languages: Latin, Italian, German, Polish, Turkish, Slovak, Croatian, Magyar and Romanian.<ref name="Nemeskürty">István Nemeskürty, Tibor Klaniczay, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PbdiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22native+Hungarian%22 A history of Hungarian literature], Corvina, 1982, p. 64</ref> He is the founder of modern slovak [[lyric poetry|lyric]] and [[erotic poetry]]. He lived at Kingdom of Hungary, a multinational state in Central Europe.

==Life== Balassa was born at [[Zvolen]] the Captaincy of Cisdanubia and Mining Towns in the Kingdom of Hungary (today Slovakia). He was educated by the reformer [[Péter Bornemisza|Peter Bornemisza]] and by his mother, the highly gifted [[Protestantism|Protestant]] zealot, Anna Sulyok.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Balassa, Bálint|volume=3|last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain |page=240|short=1}}</ref> He went to school in [[Nuremberg]] since 1565.

His first work was a translation of [[Michael Bock]]'s ''Wurtzgärtlein für krancke Seelen'' (Little Herb Garden for Sad Souls), (published in [[Kraków]]), to comfort his father while in Polish exile. On his father's rehabilitation, Valentinus accompanied him to court, and was also present at the coronation [[Diet (assembly)|diet]] in Pressburg (today's [[Bratislava]]), capital of [[Royal Hungary]] (Uhorsko) in 1572. He then joined the army and fought the Turks as an officer in the fortress of [[Eger]] in North-Eastern Hungary. Here he fell violently in love with Anna Losonczi, the daughter of the captain of [[Timișoara|Temesvár]], and evidently, from his verses, his love was not unrequited. But after the death of her first husband she gave her hand to Kristóf Ungnád.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Naturally Balassa only began to realize how much he loved Anna when he had lost her. He pursued her with gifts and verses, but she remained true to her pique and to her [[marriage vows]], and he could only enshrine her memory in immortal verse.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1574 Valentinus was sent to the camp of [[Gáspár Bekes]] to assist him against [[Stephen Báthory of Poland|Stephen Báthory]]; but his troops were encountered and scattered on the way there, and he himself was wounded and taken prisoner. His not very rigorous captivity lasted for two years,<ref name="EB1911"/> during which he accompanied Báthory where the latter was crowned as [[List of Polish monarchs|King of Poland]]. He returned to Hungary soon after the death of his father, Joannes Balassa.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Limited |first=Alamy |title=Johannes balassa hi-res stock photography and images |url=https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/johannes-balassa.html |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=Alamy |language=en}}</ref>

In 1584 he married his cousin, Krisztina Dobó, the daughter of the commandant, [[István Dobó]] of [[Eger]]. This became the cause of many of his subsequent misfortunes. His wife's greedy relatives nearly ruined him by legal processes, and when in 1586 he turned [[Catholic]] to escape their persecutions they slandered him, saying that he and his son had embraced Islam.<ref name="EB1911"/> His desertion of his wife and legal troubles were followed by some years of uncertainty, but in 1589 he was invited to Poland to serve there in the impending war with Turkey. This did not take place and after a spell in the [[Collegium Hosianum|Jesuit College]] of [[Braniewo|Braunsberg]], Balassa, somewhat disappointed, returned to Hungary in 1591. In the 15 years war he joined the Army, and died at the siege of [[Esztergom]]-[[Víziváros]] the same year as the result of a severe leg wound caused by a cannonball.<ref>[http://mek.oszk.hu/02000/02042/html/8.html Lóránt Czigány: A History of Hungarian Literature / Bálint Balassi]</ref> He is buried in [[Hybe, Liptovský Mikuláš District|Hybe]] in today's [[Slovakia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Haľama |first=Slavo |title=UHORSKÝ ROD BALAŠOVCOV 2 |url=http://www.hramokaplus.eu/uhorsky-rod-balasovcov-2.html |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=HraMoKaPlus |language=sk-SK}}</ref>

Balassa's poems fall into four divisions: hymns, patriotic and martial songs, original love poems, and adaptations from the [[Latin]] and [[German language|German]]. His manuscript was circulated for generations but never printed until 1874, when [[Farkas Deák]] discovered a copy of them in the Radványi library. Balassa was also the inventor of the [[strophe]] which goes by his name. It consists of nine lines '''a a b c c b d d b''', or three rhyming pairs alternating with the rhyming third, sixth and ninth lines.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Family tree== The family tree of the Balassi family:<ref>{{cite book|editor=Ágnes Kenyeres|title=Magyar életrajzi lexikon (1000–1990)|volume=I.|year=1967|publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó|chapter=(A-K)}}</ref> {{Tree chart/start}} {{Tree chart| BF |y| PO | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | SB |BF=Ferenc Balassa|PO=Orsolya Perényi|SB=Balázs Sulyok}} {{Tree chart| |,|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|.|}} {{Tree chart| BI | | BM |y| TA | | BZ | | BJ |y| SA | | SS |y| DI | | SK |y| BG |BI=Imre Balassa|BM=Menyhért Balassa|BJ=János Balassa|SA=Anna Sulyok|BZ=Zsigmond Balassa|SS=Sára Sulyok|DI=[[István Dobó]]|SK=Krisztina Sulyok|BG=György Bocskai|TA=Anna Thurzó}} {{Tree chart| | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | |,|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.| |!|}} {{Tree chart| | | | | BB | | BI | | | | | | BBÁ | | BF | | DD | | DF | | DK |!|BB=Boldizsár Balassa|BI=István Balassa|BBÁ='''Bálint Balassi'''|BF=Ferenc Balassi|DD=Damján Dobó |DF=Ferenc Dobó|DK=Krisztina Dobó}} {{Tree chart| | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|.|}} {{Tree chart| HK |~| BI | | HG |~| BO | | BM | | BF |~| BJ | | PH |~| BK | | BE |~| BÁ |BI=[[Stephen Bocskay|István Bocskai]]|HK=Katalin Hagymássy|HG=Gábor Haller|BO=Ilona Bocskai|BM=Miklós Bocskai|BF=Kristóf Bánffy|BJ=Judit Bocskai|PH=György Palocsai Horvát|BK=Krisztina Bocskai|BE=Erzsébet Bocskai|BÁ=Kristóf Báthory}} {{Tree chart/end}}

==Literary award== The [[Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award]] is an annual Hungarian literary award founded by [[Pal Molnar]] in 1997, and presented to an outstanding Hungarian poet, and to a foreign poet for excellence in translation of Hungarian literature, including the works of Balassi.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.balassi.eu |title=Balassi Kard Művészeti Alapítvány |access-date=18 October 2021}}</ref>

==See also== {{portal|Poetry}} *[[Balassi Institute]] *[[Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award]] *[[Pal Molnar]], founder of the Balint Balassi Memorial Sword Award

==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links== * Homepage of Balassi Sword [http://www.balassi.eu www.balassi.eu] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTJ7QMkkrkI In Praise of the Border Warriors (Egy katonaének)] (YouTube video)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balassi, Balint}} [[Category:Hungarian male poets]] [[Category:Hungarian erotica writers]] [[Category:1554 births]] [[Category:1594 deaths]] [[Category:People from Zvolen]] [[Category:16th-century Hungarian poets]] [[Category:16th-century Hungarian nobility]]