Gáspár Heltai


Gáspár Heltai was a Transylvanian Saxon writer and printer. His name possibly derives from the village Heltau. Despite being a German native speaker he published many books in Hungarian from his print-shop. The brother of his son-in-law was Ferenc Dávid, Nontrinitarian and Unitarian preacher and the founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania..

Career

He studied at Wittenberg University and he established the first print shop in Kolozsvár . He also founded a public bath, a paper mill and the first brewery in the town. He was at the same time a pastor, translator, printer, publisher, writer and businessman. He is considered the first religious reformer of Kolozsvár.
He was a great spirit of Hungarian Unitarian Reformation. Together with a group of scholars he produced an almost complete translation of the New Testament into Hungarian. His work marked the first buds of a secular literature in Hungary.

Bonfini translation

Heltai's most voluminous work is his reworking and translation of Antonio Bonfini's Rerum Hungaricum Decades, which Heltai published in 1575 as Chronica az magyaroknak dolgairól. The work was printed in Kolozsvár.