The ghost of Ľubovňa in Bel's description of the Spiš county by Matthias Bel

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https://doi.org/10.54937/kd.2024.15.2.137-150

Autor/ Author: František Šimon

In: Kultúrne dejiny

ISSN: 1338-2209 

Ročník/ Volume: 15

Číslo/ Issue: 2

Strany/ Page Range: 137-150

Rok vydania/ Publication Year: 2024

Jazyk/ Language: Slovak

Vydavateľ/ Publisher: VERBUM – vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku

Abstrakt/ Abstract: In his description of the Spiš county Matej Bel describes a vampire story that took place in Stará Ľubovňa in 1718. Michal Gašparek, the protagonist of the story, is the prototype of a vampire, he rose from the dead, made trouble for the living, is exhumed, his head was decapitated and finally he was burnt at the stake. There are several contemporary accounts of the story, dating from before the Prodromus was published, i. e. before 1723. The earliest testimony is an entry in the town book (Liber actorum) by Franciszek Wilczynski from 1718, which is now lost, but the report was recorded by Bertalan Matirko Jr. The second testimony is found in the continuation of the Buchholtz family chronicle by Jakub Buchholtz, who writes that the news of the event were sent to him by his father, Georg Buchholtz Sr. The third testimony was published in the German entertainment satirical-political-historical magazine Der europäische Niemand only a year after the event. The fourth testimony comes from Georg Bohuš and can be found in his manuscript work Historico-geographica Terrae Scepusiensis … descriptio. In the narrative of Matthias Bel all the main motifs of the story are found. Bohuš' work served as the basis for Bel's description of the Spiš county, but this story also confirms that Bel did not adopt Bohuš' text mechanically; he also used other sources in describing the vampire story.

Kľúčové slová/ Keywords: Vampire Story, Matthias Bel, Stará Ľubovňa.

Citácia/ How to cite:

ŠIMON, František, 2024. Ľubovnianska mátoha v opise Spišskej stolice od Mateja Bela. Kultúrne dejiny. Online. Roč. 15, č. 2, s. 137-150. ISSN 1338-2209. Dostupné na: https://doi.org/10.54937/kd.2024.15.2.137-150

Toto dielo je publikované pod/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.