the emergence of the new nation based upon social strata was territorial. Thus, the peoples who
became nations were those which, while maintaining their own customs, lived in a unified and
coherent territory (Terra Siculorum, Terra Saxonum, Terra Hungarorum). In 13th century
documents, Terra Blachorum is still mentioned, but the region did not become a compact area
inhabited by Romanians, and so the Romanians did not become Natio Valachica. This is mainly
because they did not live in a homogeneous area like the Szeklers and Saxons, as they were
constantly migrating, due to their pastoral lifestyle.
Despite the fact that Eastern Orthodoxy was not an established religion, it was not perse-
cuted either, as was sometimes the case with the Catholic, Unitarian or Sabbatarian churches.
The Romanians’ religion and church was never banned in Transylvania, nor were Romanian s
forced to convert to any other established religion, while the possibility of doing so was not
excluded. In fact, from a religious point of view, being tolerated (tolerata) outside the structures
of the society resulted not only in disadvantages, but also in certain advantages for the
Romanians. Like the Ruthenians, Romanian serfs were not obliged to pay tenth to the Catholic
Church precisely because of their being schismatic. However, as soon as they became Catholics,
they also became obligated to pay tenth.
9
This is probably the simplest explanation for the fact
that during the Middle Ages very few Romanian serfs converted to Catholicism.
From the literary point of view, the Hungarian Reformation influenced Romanian literature
mainly in the field of catechism literature, Bible translat ions, and church hymnody. The first
Romanian book to be printed entirely in Romanian, and which has survived to the present day,
is the Catechism (Întrebarea cre
ș
tineasc
a – The Christian Question) printed by Deacon Coresi in
Brassó [today: Bra
șov, Romania] in 1560. It has not yet been possible to determine the exact
source of the publication, but it is certain that the translator had converted a Hungarian text into
Romanian. This is evidenced by the Hungarian-style structures of the Romanian text: halottak
feltámadása 5 sculatul mor
ț
ilor (resurrection of the dead 5 ‘getting up of the dead’), instead of
the Romanian înviere (coming back to life); kiadni 5 a da afar
a (publish 5 ‘give out’) instead of a
edita, a publica (to edit, publish) etc. The Cazanie, also published in 1568 in Coresi’s w orkshop,
with the financial support of Miklós Forró Háportoni, a Hungarian nobleman from Fogaras
[today: F
ag
ara
ș, Romania], is entirely Calvinistic in spirit. From a theological point of view, this
is one of the most important publications of the Romanian Reformation. This is confirmed
by the mere fact that it contains a literal translation of a sermon by Péter Juhász Melius
(1532–1572). Melius had studied at the University of Wittenberg and later became a preacher in
Debrecen. In the midst of constant religious disputes, he founded and organised the Reformed
diocese of Transtisza, of which he became bishop in 1562. In addition to works of religious
disputation, he wrote sermons, translated the New Testament and excerpts from the Old Tes-
tament, as well as Calvin’s Catechism into Hungarian. Not only does the inclusion of Melius’s
sermon prove that the translator/compiler of Cazanie was a Romanian preacher who had
certainly converted to the Reformation, but also shows him to have been a strong critic of society
and the clergy, typical of the Reformers, who had taken up the fight against the cult of fasting
and death, demon worship, quackery and superstition, which were particularly strong in
Romanian popular religion.
9
Géza HEGYI: „Terrae Christianorum.” A keresztény földre telepedett románok dézsmáltatásának kezdetei, Erdélyi Mú-
zeum [The Beginnings of Taxing of the Romanian Settlers in Christian Lands] 79 (2017/1), 61–75.
Hungarian Studies 36 (2022) 1–2, 28–35 33
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