RARE EARLY WORK ON HUNGARIAN 16TH-CENTURY HISTORY

FUMEE, MARTIN.

Histoire des troubles de Hongrie. Contenant la pitoyable perte & ruine de ce Royaume, & les guerres aduenuës de ce temps en iceluy, entre les Chrestiens & les Turcs

Paris, Sonnius, 1594.

8vo. In contemporay vellum with yapp edges with title in contemporary hand to spine. Light soiling to extremities and a small tear to the vellum on the spine. Small worm-tract affecting last two leaves, otherwise a fine copy. (4), 369, (26) ff.


Exceedingly rare first edition of Fumée’s work on the Hungarian history from the Battle of Mohács and the death of Louis II in 1526 up until the truce between the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and the Ottoman sultan Murad III.
The present work not only presented a narrative history of the sixteenth-century wars in Hungary but also included a geographical description of the region.

Fumée explicitly dedicates his history "to you (the French people) and to no other." After vividly portraying the brutality of warfare in Hungary, Fumée urges French readers to contemplate the destructive nature of war. He prompts them to reflect, stating, "When you see the ruins and great desolations of a beautiful and rich country, you see your own at present reduced to an identical state."

Fumée draws direct parallels between the sufferings of Hungary and France, both seen as enduring divine punishment. In his conclusion, he asserts, "it seems that we are in a worse condition than Hungary is in." Hungary thus serves as a reminder to the French people of the shared hardships stemming from religious disunity, political turmoil, and civil warfare that continued to afflict both kingdoms.

'Martin Fumée, squire of Mary le Chastel, a high-ranking French aristocrat, based his desciption of the battle of Mohács on the work of István Brodarics (1470-1539), De conflictu Hungarorum cum Turcis ad Mohacz, Cracow, 1527, who in the company of the ill-fated Louis II (1506-1526) was eye-witness to the destruction of the Hungarian army by the Ottoman forces in 1526. Fumée's main source for events following the battle was probably Ascanio degli Hortensii' (Horvath p.26).

Order-nr.: 60631


DKK 25.000,00