### Bálint Balassi's life
He was born on 20 October, 1554 in the fortress of Zólyom, as the first child of an educated, rich noble family. His private tutor was Péter Bonemisza, the court preacher of the family. Later he studied abroad (probably at universities, too) ? for example, in Nurnberg - though he did not want to be a scientist, but an educated young man of the court. Upon the request of his father he took part in a campaign against Transylvania in 1575, where he was wounded and captured. However, he was not a real prisoner in István Báthory's court, he was accepted by the rich, educated nobility, especially the ladies. He wrote his important poems in this period of time. Besides Hungarian he spoke 8 languages: Latin, Slovakian, Croatian, Polish, Rumanian, Turkish, German and Italian. After his father's death (1577) there were lawsuits against him and other chaotic matters, but he could not settle them at all. He even made his situation worse. He could have solved his problems with a good marriage, but he was unsuccessful in this too. He met Anna Losonczy in 1578, who became his great love despite being a married woman (his Anna poems were written then). The first phase of their relationship ended in 1584, when Balassi married his own niece, Krisztina Dobó for her dowry. They got a divorce after three years. Then he tried to renew the relationship with Anna, who was a widower at that time, (Julia poems), but Anna got married to someone else. These years and also later ones were rather adventurous, which were preserved either in his poems or in lawsuit documents. Besides love and lawsuits an other important factor in his life was being a soldier. After the Transylvanian and Polish campaigns he fought in Eger (1579-1582) at the rank of lieutenant, but he never received the title captain of the fortress from the Habsburg ruler, even though he converted to Catholicism (1586). He also participated in the long campaign against the Turks, but after several successful battles he was wounded in both legs on 19 May, 1594 and died of blood poisoning on 30 May. ÁP-SzJú