Péter Bod

Péter Bod (born Feb. 22, 1712, Csernáton, Transylvania, Hung. [now Cernat, Rom.]—died March 3, 1769, Magyarigen [now Ighiu, Rom.]) was a Hungarian Protestant clergyman, historian, and author who wrote the first work of literary history in Hungarian.

Bod came from an impoverished noble family. Upon completing his studies in Hungary, he received a scholarship to the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. On his return to Hungary, he served as a Protestant minister. During this period the Calvinists of Transylvania were engaged in a difficult struggle against the repressive measures of the Habsburg imperial court and the Roman Catholic church. Bod’s writings on canon law and church history proved to be a valuable weapon in this conflict and for that reason were suppressed. Magyar Athenas (“Hungarian Athenas”), his lexicon of literary and scholarly history, was published in 1766. It offered detailed information on more than 500 Hungarian poets, writers, and scholars.