Janusz Ostrogski’s marriage and visit to Hungary

Abstract

The extraordinarily quick marriage at the end of 1582 between Janusz Ostrogski, Wojewoda of Volhynia, and Serédy Zsuzsanna, daughter of Mérey Anna and foster-daughter of Balassi András, remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the period. As the poet Balassi Bálint had written a poem to Zsuzsanna (“Susannám” in the acrostyc), it is likely that her mother wished for a better suitor for her daughter than the previous fiancée Dobó Jakab, or the penniless soldier-poet, Bálint. Ostrogski married Susanna with a huge dowry which included possesion of the Northern Hungarian castle Makovica, in spite of the fact that he could not legally take hold of it, not being a citizen of Hungary. The essay concludes with the publication of a letter from Janusz and Susanna Ostrogski to Istvánffy Miklós, acting Palatine of Hungary, in which the Polish magnate looks forward to a meeting at Eperjes (now Prešov in Slovakia) with Istvánffy, and old friend and protector of the poet Balassi Bálint.