V
THE REFORMATION
Hungarian culture in the sixteenth century was influenced by two great events: the Reformation and the disastrous battle of Mohács (1526), in which the Hungarian army was annihilated by the Turks, and in consequence of which nearly the whole of Hungary fell beneath the Turkish yoke, losing at one blow her king and her liberty.
At the time of the Reformation the country was torn into three parts: the central portion, with the capital, Buda, was in the possession of the Turks; the north-west belonged to Austria, while, in the east, Transylvania formed an independent dukedom.
Both the Reformation and the battle of Mohács left deep traces on the mental life of the nation. Some superficiality and frivolity, some arrogance, too, and rashness of thought were often mingled with the spirit of the Renaissance. But those two events stirred the soul of the Hungarian people to its depths.
The Reformation was a great international movement which spread over the whole of Europe, bringing everywhere the same intellectual changes. The battle of Mohács was a national sorrow, which stamped a peculiar character upon the mind and the literature of the nation. The two events were very near together in time. In
