"Franciscus Pescennius Niger in the court of Nicholas Báthory and his Scholasticum Orosianae Iuventutis Dramma"
Franciscus Niger (Franjo Niger, Francesco Negro), a Venetian humanist with Dalmatian origins, was the author of one of the most popular letter writing handbooks of the late 15th and early 16th century. In his autobiographical Cosmodystichia he recounts his times spent in the court of Nicholas Báthory, bishop of Vác, in detail. The aim of this study is to analyze the historical context of this relationship, and to consider the possible connection of his Scholasticum Orosianae Iuventutis Dramma, performed on the day of St Nicholas, to bishop Nicholas Báthory. This study argues that the literary genre of this work (dramma) written in ’Orosium’ has to be interpreted on the basis of the definition given to ’dramatic’ works in the Rhetorica (1480) of Niger, and its plot follows the tradition of late medieval Boy Bishop (episcopus puerorum) plays, where a child bishop was elected by its fellow students on the day of St Nicholas. The identification of Orosium with Arad is difficult to maintain, given the scarcity of late medieval sources on the history of the city, but significantly an earlier medieval charter uses the name ’Orosiensis’ for Várad (Oradea, RO).