² Cf. Burian, Dissertatio, p. 212; Jakab, Adat, p. 10.

³ v. supra, vol. i, 317–319.

⁴ Homo inconstantissimus, et quovis vobilior vertumno; Bod, Historia, i, 308.

⁵ For a characterization from an unsympathetic source, see the letter of Stephen Szántó, S. J., to his superior, Claudius Aquaviva, dated Kolozsvár, Sept. 1, 1581 two years after Dávid’s death. Francis Dávid was a man of very acute mind and tenacious memory, so familiar with Scripture that he seemed to have the Old and New Testaments at his tongue’s end. In disputes with Calvinists and Lutherans before the leading men of the kingdom he easily surpassed them all. It was his custom to explain Scripture by Scripture, and when a passage was cited against his heresy, he would at once bring forward other similar ones which seemed to support his view, and from these he gathered that the authority cited by his opponent was also to be understood in the same way. ’ Epistolae et Acta Jesuitarum in Transylvania, ed. Andreas Veress (Kolozsvár, 1911), i, 185 f; cf. also a Lutheran view cited by Burian, Dissertatio, p. 236 f.

⁶ Cf. F. Dávid, Elsö része az szent írásnak, etc. (First part of the Holy Scripturepreaching about God the Father) Gyula-Fejérvár, 1569, in the fifth sermon on II. Cor. xi; cf. Uzoni, Historia, i, 126.

⁷ Róvid útmutatás, etc. (Albae Juliae, 1567).

⁸ Cf. Uzoni, op. cit., i, 128.

⁹ It is said that at the Diet of Segesvár in the preceding year he spoke openly against the Trinity in the King’s presence, whereat the King only smiled. Cf. Jakab, Dávid, p. 54.

¹⁰ This statement refers of course only to the Reformed churches in Hungarian lands, where it was not until 1567 that the churches in eastern Hungary adopted the Helvetic Confession at Debreczen.

¹¹ Cf. Haner, Historia, p. 279 f; Bod, Historia, i, 399.

¹² Cf. Lampe, Historia, pp. 152–158. Károli soon left his post at Kolozsvár and became Rector of the Reformed school at Debreczen, where he later succeeded Mélius as Superintendent upon the death of the latter in 1572. He afterwards published an attack on Biandrata and Dávid, which was in turn answered by Sommer, his successor in the school at Kolozsvár. Cf. Petrus Carolinus, Brevis... Explicatio orthodoxae fidei de uno Deo et Spiritu Sancto adversus blasphemos G. Blandratae et F. Davidis errores (Witebergae, 1571) ; Joannes Sommerus, Refutatio scripti Petri Caroli, etc. (Ingolstadii-Kolozs­vár, 1582).

¹³ Mélius published against him his Az Aran Tamás hamis és eretnec tévelgésinec, etc. (The false and heretical error of T. A. ) Debreczen, 1562, which gives Aran’s theses in full. Cf. Boros, Sketches, p. 324; Kanyaró, Unitáriusok, pp. 56–60,

¹⁴ Cf. Uzonj, Historia, i, 232.

¹⁵ Cf. the published report, Disputatio prima Albana (Claudiopoli, 1566). This discussion, in which Mélius is said to have been considered victor, has often been confused with the much more important one two years later issuing in Dávid’s triumphal acclamation at Kolozsvár.

¹⁶ Cf. Uzoni, op. cit., 8, 232.

¹⁷ Catechimus Ecclesiarum Dei in natione Hungarica per Transylvaniam, etc. (Claudiopoli, 1566) ; including also the Sententia concors Pastorum, etc. The several items mentioned above are given at length in Lampe, Historia, pp. 147–162; and differently arranged and with a somewhat different text in Bod, Historie, i, 399–405.

¹⁸ Cf. Kanyaró, Unitáriusok, p. 61.

¹⁹ The documents in Égri’s case are given at length by Lampe, Historia, pp. 139–146, 164–217; cf. 219, 222; also Kanyaró, Unitáriusok, pp. 61–64.

²⁰ De falsa et vera unius Dei Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti cognitione, libri duo. Authoribus Ministris Ecclesiarum consentientium in Sarmatia et Transylvania (Albae Juliae, 1567). The mention of Polish ministers is significant, showing that Biandrata was in active communication with the Polish Brethren. Witness also Biandrata’s letter to the Polish churches, Jan. 27, 1568, in Stanislaus Lubieniecius, Historia Reformationis Polonicae (Freistadii, 1685), p. 229f.

²¹ It seems a fair conjecture that the first or critical part was largely the work of Biandrata. The second or constructive part may well have been compiled from the work of various authors. The eleventh chapter, Brevis explicatio in primum Ioannis caput, has lately been identified by Cantimori with Laelius Socinus’s Paraphrasis in Initium Evangelii S. Johannis. Cf. Enciclopedia Italiana, xxxi (1936), 1015.

²² The pictures were as follows: 1. A three-faced figure on an altar, with the inscription, ‘Janus bifrons was expelled from Rome, in order to set up a Trifrons over the world. ’ 2. Showing a two-headed God on an altar and the Holy Spirit descending in a halo of light (original in a chapel at Kraków). 3. Showing Father, Son and Holy Spirit being transubstantiated into the Host at the sacrament (from a tapestry at Rome). 4. Showing the three persons sitting side by side at table. 5. Showing the flesh of Christ actually descending from heaven. 6. Showing the Father seated, holding the crucified Christ, and above a dove. 7. Symbolically showing Stancaro’s conception of the Son mediating between the whole Trinity and men. 8. Representing the Trinity by a single ring adorned with three identical gems.

²³ Cf. Haner, Historia, p. 281 f; Benkö, Transsilvania, ii, 132 f.

²⁴ These pictures continued to scandalize the Trinitarians so much that when the government changed, every effort was made to have all copies destroyed that could be found, and unmutilated copies are extremely rare. The author has a photostatic copy of the book, and the pictures are well reproduced in Konrad Górski, Grzegorz Pawet Z Brzezin (Kraków, 1931), pp. 202–207. For further similar illustrations, see J. R. Beard, Historical and artistic illustrations of the Trinity (London, 1846).

²⁵ Cf. Lampe, Historia, pp. 176–178; Bod, Historia, i, 405–407.

²⁶ Debreczen lay beyond King John’s dominion. Cf. Biandrata’s letter of the same month given in Lubieniecius, l. c. supra; also Dávid’s Literae convocatoriae (Albae Juliae, 1568) convoking the synod next to be spoken of.

²⁷ The sources are given in two reports: one, subscribed by the Elders and Ministers of the (Unitarian) churches in Transylvania, entitled Brevis enarratio disputationis Albanae, etc. (Albae Juliae, 1568) ; the other by Caspar Heltai, one of the judges on the Trinitarian side, entitled Disputatio in causa sacrosanctae Trinitatis, etc. (Claudiopoli, 1568). The accounts agree in the main, but vary considerably in details, being influenced in choice and presentation of materials by the reporters’ sympathies. Two years later Heltai reprinted his text without change, but with a new preface in which he confessed his conversion to the views that he had formerly opposed, and acknowledged his especial obligation to Biandrata and Dávid for enlightening him. For detailed accounts, besides the two reports cited, cf. Pápai, Rudus, p. 155 f; Haner, Historia, pp. 28–287; Uzoni, Historia, i, 133–141; Bod, Historia, 1, 409–412.

²⁸ It is significant that only one speaker on the orthodox side was a Transylvanian; the others being either from the Hungarian counties or else Lutherans. Evidently the Calvinists in Transvlvania had almost entirely followed Dávid.

²⁹ Cf. Haner, op. cit., p. 286.

³⁰ Disputationem cum fervore orsi, decem dies non modestius continuarunt, et sine omni, qui in Ecclesiam Christi redundaret, fructu, clauserunt. Cf. Pápai, Rudus, p. 156.

³¹ “That faith is the gift of God, as St. Paul declared (Eph. ii, 8) had been a commonplace in Catholic theology, and was often emphasized by the reformers. The decree here gives it a new application by contrast with the policy of imposing faith (in the sense of belief) by force under penalty. The King repeats the saying at the next disputa­tion at Várad (see below).

³² Cf. Magyar Emlékek, ii, 267, 343. The edict is said to have passed the Diet unanimously. It is the moment of the climax of Dávid’s speech in favor of this measure that is represented in the painting by Aladar Körösföi-Kriesch which hangs in the town hall at Torda, and in photogravure has an honored place in multitudes of Unitarian homes in Transylvania. Cf. William C. Gannett, Francis Dávid (London, 1914).

³³ Cf. Jakab, Dávid, p. 128. The boulder is preserved as a sacred relic and stands, suitably inscribed, in the vestibule of the Unitarian church at Kolozsvár.

³⁴ The most important was De Mediatoris Jesu Christi Divinitate; including a reprint of a chapter on the restoration of the Church, from De operibus Dei of Cellarius of Basel. Cf. supra, vol i, p. 24. Details of these in Uzoni, Historia, i, 504 f; Károly Szabó, Régi Magyar Könyvtár (Early Hungarian Bibliography), Budapest, 1879, i, ii.

³⁵ Sebestyen Borsos, Krónika, in Erdélyi Történelmi Adatok (Data for Transylvanian history), ed. Imre Mikó (Kolozsvár, 1855), i, 27.

³⁶ Later known as Nagyvárad (Grosswardein). It was one of the most important cities in the King’s dominion,, though situated in one of the Hungarian counties outside of Transylvania proper. The call, together with the propositions for discussion and the opponents’ arguments, etc., are given at length in Lampe, Historia, pp. 224–263, and in Bod, Hsstoria, i, 413–424.

³⁷ Cf. Lampe, op. cit., p. 252.

³⁸ Cf. the official report (reprinted, Kolozsvár, 1870, ‘ed. Nagy and Simén), A Nagyváradi Disputatio. For further accounts, cf. Uzoni, Historia, i, 141–143 Jakab, Dávid, pp. 137–150; Biandrata’s contemporary letter to the Polish brethren, given by Theodor Wotschke in his ‘Zur Geschichte des Antitrinitarismus, ’ Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, xxiii (1926), 94 ff, dated Kolozsvár, Oct. 31, 1569.

³⁹ There appears indeed to have been yet a final disputation at Gyulafehérvár late in 1570. The only extant report of it is in a considerably dramatized account written by Palaeologus (cf. Uzoni, Historia, i, 580–599). After the debate at Várad Mélius had written to the King (cf. Lampe, Historia, p. 267) complaining that his opponents had interpreted the Scriptures arbitrarily, being ignorant of languages and of the original texts. A refutation of this charge is furnished in the present debate, in which Paruta and Sommer appear as accomplished linguists, defending their cause in the most earned manner.

Nicola Paruta was one of the early Antitrinitarians in the Venetian territory who, having to flee from the Inquisition, found refuge for many years among the Anabaptists in Moravia (it was at his house at Slavkov that Ochino died in 1564). He was later active in the early movement in Transylvania, where he collaborated with Biandrata in a confession published at Rádnoth on 1567. Johannes Sommer of Pirna near Dresden was called from Germany by Biandrata and Dávid in 1569 to succeed Károli as Rector of the Kolozsvár school where, with his learning and his fame as a poet, he greatly promoted their cause. He wrote in confutation of Károli (v. supra, p. 31, note 52), was distinguished as a Greek scholar, and held that the doctrine of the Trinity was drawn from the philosophy of Plato, and was thus of pagan origin. His theses to this end are preserved in Lubieniecius, Historia, pp. 234–238.

⁴⁰ Cf. Uzoni, Historia, i, 144 f.

⁴¹ For a complete list of Dávid’s writings, v. Szabó, Könyvtár, i, ii; Egyháztörténelmi Emlékek, pp. 24–80, appended to Jakab, Dávid; and some account of them in Uzoni, i, 237–241, 494–526, 551–564

⁴² Out of a total of about 350 pages, some 265 are a reprint, with occasional rearrangement of matter, and some omissions, of about 180 pages of Servetus. For collation of the passages cf. István Borbély, A Magyar Unitárius Egyház hitlvei a xvi. században (The doctrines of the Unitarian Church in the 16th century), Kolozsvár, 1914, p. 42.

⁴³ Cf. Benkö, Transsilvania, ii, 134.

⁴⁴ Cf. Haner, Historia, p. 276 f; Illia, Ortus, pp. 35–37; Nicolaus Isthvanfius, Regni Hungarici Historia (Coloniae, 1685), p. 337, with citations at length in Uzoni, Historia, i, 147–149.