Werbőczi Imre (1510s-1548)

Werbőczy was a petty nobleman and the Tripatitum “enshrines the ideals of a typical contemporary member of his class”. It asserts the privileges of the nobility against the crown, the equality of all nobles as against the claims of superiority of the upper nobility (magnates), and the onerous duties of serfs. A peasant revolt led by Dózsa György had been suppressed earlier in 1514, which influenced Werbőczy’s harsh treatment of serfs. The Tripartitum played a large role in perpetuating Hungary’s feudal system.

Werbőczy Imre was born in the mid-1510s. His father used to be a faithful supporter of King Szapolyai János but Imre left his father’s side when Sultan Suleiman occupied Buda castle in 1541. Behold, it could have been hard to break up with such a famous father: his father was an internationally accepted scholar who had been appointed to accompany Emperor Charles V to Worms to take up the cudgels against Martin Luther. Moreover, Pope Clement VII had commended Werbőczy as a scholar for his eminence in canon law and theology during Werbőczy’s dispute with Martin Luther at the Imperial Diet of Nurnberg. In 1517 Werbőczy István was appointed the guardian of the infant King Lajos (Louis) II and was sent on a foreign mission to solicit the aid of Christendom against the Turks. In 1525, he was the Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary for a short time.

After 1541, his father stayed in Buda and his son must have blamed the fall of Buda to the Turks as his father’s political failure. However, a short time later his father died because he was poisoned, allegedly by the Ottomans. It was the point when his son took the side of King Habsburg Ferdinand. Imre began his military career by fighting regularly against the Turks. His fights took place around his domains in Tolna and in Baranya County. The famous Hungarian poet and musician, Tinódi Lantos Sebestyén was among his retinue.




Source: Szibler Gábor
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