Tinódi Lantos Sebestyén

* Tinód, between 1505–1510 – † end of January 1556, Sárvár / significant figure of Hungarian epic poetry, the most outstanding singer of the 16th century ; ; His place of birth cannot be determined exactly, probably Tinód in Baranya County. Until 1542 he lived in Szigetvár at the court of Bálint Török. When Bálint Török was taken prisoner, he traveled the whole country as a wandering singer. In 1544 he was present at the university in Nagyszombat, in 1548 he lived at the court of Báthori in Nyírbátor. After that he lived in Košice, acquired a house here and raised a large family, from where he visited the scenes of major battles. In 1553 he went to Debrecen, then to Transylvania, to the court of Bethlen Farkas in Bonyha. He printed his Cronica in Kolozsvár in 1554. In 1555, he visited Tamás Nádasdy, and his death overtook him at his court. Tinódi Lantos Sebestyén worked in all genres of 16th-century epic. He mainly recorded the events of the battles with the Turks with chronicle fidelity based on direct impressions and experiences. Therefore, his historical songs are of historical source value (Transylvanian history, Battle of Egervár, The end in Timisoara about the death of István Losonczi, The fall of Buda, Szitnya, Léva, Csábrág and Murány's desires, The Szeged disaster, etc.). Other parts are biblical songs (Mrs. Judit, King David, Prophet Jonah), and beautiful stories with antique themes (Jason and Medea). In addition, he wrote verse pamphlets against violent officials and prisons (Court judges and key ditches, On various drunkenness). His works often provided subject matter and inspiration for later Hungarian literature, with Zsigmond Kemény, János Arany, Géza Gárdonyi, and Endre Ady drawing on his poetic histories. He is the first truly effective representative of Hungarian classical music. His 23 melodies of his own composition, which have survived in the Cronica, are the best of his 16th-century historical song production. ; ; Publications of his works: ; The complete works of Tinódi Sebestyén (edited by Áron Szilády, Régi Magy. Költők Tára, III., 1881), ; Tinódi Sebestyén's selected historical songs (edited for printing by Adolf Perényi, Bp., 1899), ; Tinódi Sebestyén's selected chronicler songs (ed. József Bartha, Pozsony – Bp. 1904), ; Selected works of Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos (edited for publication by László Bóta, Bp., 1956). ; ; Literature: ; Ferenc Toldy: The Life of Hungarian Poets (Bp., 1870), Lajos Dézsi: T. S. (1912), Bence Szabolcsi: Tinódi's Music (Bp., 1929, Centuries of Hungarian Music, I., Bp., 1959), János Horváth: In the spirit of the Reformation (Bp., 1953), T. Memorial Book (Sárvár, 1956), Tibor Klaniczay: Renaissance and Baroque (Bp., 1961), Béla Varjas: The Social Roots of Hungarian Renaissance Literature (Bp., 1982). ; ; ; ;