The Correspondence of Andreas Dudith and Peter Melius and the Background of Their Dispute

Abstract

In 1571, Andreas Dudith, ex-bishop of Pécs and humanist diplomat well-known throughout Europe who was living at the time in Cracow, and Debrecen’s Calvinist bishop Peter Melius had a heated debate. After introducing the three letters which document their conflict, I attempt to outline what triggered the – at first glance surprising – anger that the letters reveal. The two men had different reasons for their animosity. Melius, who had been fighting relentlessly against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity for years, was extremely irritated by the fact that the reports about Dudith’s sympathy for the antitrinitarians turned out to be true. On the other hand, Dudith, who had already been excommunicated by the Catholic Church because of a marriage he had entered into, was disgruntled because his Calvinist friends and acquaintances had made it clear that they would no longer tolerate his unorthodox views, and his arguments for religious tolerance and against inter-Protestant strife had fallen on deaf ears. After examining the historical context of their brief correspondence, I present an annotated translation of the three letters, which were previously unavailable in Hungarian.