GYONGYOSI

gyongyosi, istvan [stephen] (1620-1704), hungarian poet, was born of poor but noble parents in 1620. his abilities early attracted the notice of count ferencz wesselenyi, who in 1640 appointed him to a post of confidence in fulek castle. here he remained till 1653, when he married and became an assessor of the judicial board. in 1681 he was elected as a representative of his county at the diet held at soprony (oedenburg). from 1686 to 1693, and again from 1700 to his death in 1704, he was deputy lord-lieutenant of the county of gomor. of his literary works the most famous is the epic poem _muranyi venus_ (caschau, 1664), in honour of his benefactor's wife maria szecsi, the heroine of murany. among his later productions the best known are _rozsa-koszoru_, or rose-wreath (1690), _kemeny-janos_ (1693), _cupido_ (1695), _palinodia_ (1695) and _chariklia_ (1700). the earliest edition of his collected poetical works is by dugonics (pressburg and pest, 1796); the best modern selection is that of toldy, entitled _gyongyosi istvan valogatott poetai munkai_ (select poetical works of stephen gyongyosi, 2 vols., 1864-1865). gyor (ger. _raab_), a town of hungary, capital of a county of the same name, 88 m. w. of budapest by rail. pop. (1900) 27,758. it is situated at the confluence of the raab with the danube, and is composed of the inner town and three suburbs. gyor is a well-built town, and is the seat of a roman catholic bishop. amongst its principal buildings are the cathedral, dating from the 12th century, and rebuilt in 1639-1654; the bishop's palace; the town hall; the roman catholic seminary for priests and several churches. there are manufactures of cloth, machinery and tobacco, and an active trade in grain and horses. twenty miles by rail w. s. w. of the town is situated csorna, a village with a premonstratensian abbey, whose archives contain numerous valuable historical documents. gyor is one of the oldest towns in hungary and occupies the site of the roman _arabona_. it was already a place of some importance in the 10th century, and its bishopric was created in the 11th century. it was a strongly fortified town which resisted successfully the attacks of the turks, into whose hands it fell by treachery in 1594, but they retained possession of it only for four years. montecucculi made gyor a first-class fortress, and it remained so until 1783, when it was abandoned. at the beginning of the 19th century, the fortifications were re-erected, but were easily taken by the french in 1809, and were again stormed by the austrians on the 28th of june 1849. about 11 m. s.e. of gyor on a spur of the bakony forest lies the famous benedictine abbey of pannonhalma (ger. _st martinsberg_; lat. _mons sancti martini_), one of the oldest and wealthiest abbeys of hungary. it was founded by king st stephen, and the original deed from 1001 is preserved in the archives of the abbey. the present building is a block of palaces, containing a beautiful church, some of its parts dating from the 12th century, and lies on a hill 1200 ft. high. the church has a tower 130 ft. high. in the convent there are a seminary for priests, a normal school, a gymnasium and a library of 120,000 vols. the chief abbot has the rank of a bishop, and is a member of the upper house of the hungarian parliament, while in spiritual matters he is subordinate immediately to the roman curia.