A Hungarian poet and his mysterious muse

Abstract

The article sheds light on the identity of a woman often mentioned in the poems of the most prominent Hungarian poet of the 16th century, Bálint Balassi (1554-1594). Some of his works, written in 1589-1591 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, are addressed to the mysterious Celia, the alias the poet uses to disguise the real name of this woman. For some time it was believed that the muse of Balassi was Anna Szárkándi, the wife of Ferenc Wesselényi, Secretary to King Stefan Batory. In this study, an alternative hypothesis is put forward and argued. According to the author, Celia was another Hungarian lady, Zuzanna Serédy – a cousin of Bálint Balassi, married to the Ruthenian magnate Prince Janusz Ostrogski. From 1582 she lived in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and had to maintain constant contact with her cousin, whom she knew since her childhood.