Vermes, Géza (Makó, 22 June 1924 - ) – Theologian, historian of religion. He was born into a Jewish family. He and his parents were converted to the Roman Catholic faith. His parents died in the Holocaust. After World War II, he became a priest, studied first in Budapest, then at the College St Albert and the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, where he studied Oriental history; in 1953 obtained a PH.D. in Theology with a dissertation on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He left the Catholic Church in 1957; reasserting his Jewish identity, moved to Britain and took up a teaching post at the University of Newcastle. In 1965, he joined the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University, and became the first professor of Jewish Studies. He retired in 1991; since then, he is frequently on lecture tour around the world. His research focused on Jewish and Christian religious history. He is an authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and on the life and religion of Jesus. He is an authority on contemporary Jesus research, foremost on Jesus the Jew, and questioning the basis of some Christian teachings on Jesus. His rich life-work includes Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels (1973); The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective (1977); The Religion of Jesus the Jew (1993); The Changing Faces of Jesus (2001); Who's Who in the Age of Jesus (2005),and Jesus: Nativity - Passion – Resurrection (2010). Professor Vermes is a Fellow of the British Academy, the European Academy of Arts, an honorary doctor of the University of Edinburgh, the University of Durham, and the Central European University of Budapest – to mention only a few. He was awarded the Wilhelm Bacher Memorial Medal by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1996), the Memorial Medal of the town of Makó, his place of birth (2008), and the keys of the cities of Monroe LA, and Natchez MI (2009). – B: 1031, T: 7103.
Verse Chronicles – A form of epic poetry that was popular in Hungary mainly during the 16th century. The theme was a current event touching on the life of the country (e.g. fall of a castle, or a battle). Earlier, they fulfilled the role of disseminating both general news and historical events. One of the main functions of the verse chronicle was to rouse patriotic sentiments. Occasionally, foreign events were also recounted. Lutenists or minstrels performed the verses and accompanied the songs with their own compositions to liven up and add artistic elements to the generally colorless, monotone recitation. Well-known chroniclers were: Demeter Csanádi, Mátyás (Matthias) Csáktornyai, Mátyás (Matthias) Gosárváry, Péter Huszti, Péter Ilosvai-Selymes, Péter Kákonyi, Anonymus of Léva, György (George) Salánki, Mihály (Michael) Sztárai, and Sebestyén (Sebastian) Tinódi Lantos. – B: 1150, T: 7617.→Ilosvai-Selymes, Péter; Sztárai, Mihály; Tinódi Lantos, Sebestyén. Verseghy, Ferenc (Francis) (Szolnok, 3 April 1757 - Pest, 15 December 1822) - Writer. He was an official’s orphan, who became a Seminarian at age 14, so that he could continue his studies. When he was 20, he left the Seminary and studied Law for a year. Due to his straitened circumstances, he entered the Pauline Order; this way, he was able to complete his Theological and Arts course. He was a preacher with Josephinist views, working in Pest; after the abolition of the Order, he worked as a field chaplain. From 1788 on, he was a correspondent for the paper Hungarian Museum (Magyar Museum). In 1793, he was held in monastic captivity in Nagyszombat (now Trnava, Slovakia) for his worldly lifestyle and his enlightened, anticlerical writings, and especially as a result of his translation of Henri Millot’s book into Hungarian. After he was discharged from there, he joined the Martinovics Movement in Pest. He was the first to translate the French revolutionary march, the Marseillaise. As a result of the reprisal against the conspiracy of Martinovics and his group, he was also arrested and sentenced to death; the monarch commuted his sentence to imprisonment for an indefinite period; after nine years, he was the last to be freed from among the convicted Jacobins. He obtained a position as a language master in the confidential environment of Joseph of Austria, Palatine of Hungary. His way of thinking was influenced by the Palatine and his aristocratic surroundings, and to a certain extent he became acquainted with the views of the nobility. Verseghy was a multi-faceted writer and also an esthetician. He wrote a number of short stories in verse, which revealed a bourgeois mentality. He translated J. G. Herder’s work Ideenzur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (Ideas about the Philosophy of the History of Humanity) into Hungarian. He wrote the satirical epic poem (1804) Matthias Rikóti, in which he ridiculed the untalented poets. He also tackled linguistic problems: orthography, assimilation in language, problems of dialects; he was against the language reform, which he regarded as artificial (“language is a living organism”). In the basic problems of orthography, he favored spelling on the basis of pronunciation; hence a controversy developed between the so-called ‘yottists’ and the ”epsylonists” (the use of “i” or “y”) in which he lost against Miklós (Nicholas) Révay, who followed the etymological method. He often dealt with music, writing some musical studies, e.g. he wrote Hungarian words for German songs; he also wrote songs in Germanic style, often with “verbunkos” and folk-song-like flavor. He initiated the art-song writing, following the German Liedermodel. He died lonely, excluded from literary life. His mortal remains were taken from the Viziváros cemetery of Buda to his native town in 1931, where the Verseghy Literary Circle (operating since 1926), had his bronze statue erected in 1934. His main linguistic work is Hungarian Grammar or Linguistics (1821), while another in the same field by him was Pure Hungarian (1805). – T: 0883, 1068, T: 7456.→Josephinism; Jacobites in Hungary; Martinovics, Ignác; Szentmarjay, Ferenc; Batsányi, János; Őz, Pál; Kazinczy, Ferenc; Szentjóbi Szabó, László; Verbunkos; Révay, Miklós. Verseghy, József (Joseph) (Versegi)(Kanizsa, now in Serbia, 20 October 1927 - Szabadka, now Subotica, Serbia, 9 September 1976) – Actor. From 1951 until his passing, aged 49, he was member of the Folk Theater (Népszínház) at Szabadka. His attractive singing voice and musical talent rendered him an outstanding operetta hero; he later became increasingly successful in dramatic roles as well. His roles included Tiger Brown in Brecht-Weill’s Beggar’s Opera (Koldusopera); Zhiska in Gy. Hay’s God, Emperor, Peasant(Isten, császár, paraszt); Petur bán in J. Katona’s Bánk bán; Prince Su-Chong in F. Lehár’s The Land of Smiles (A mosoly országa), and Máté in A. Tamási’s Singing Bird (Énekes madár). – B: 1445, T: 7456.
Vértes, Imre (Emeric) (Debrecen, 12 April 1905 - Budapest, 16 July 1986) – Pharmacist. He received his Degree in Pharmacology from the University of Strasbourg in 1927, and a Ph.D. in 1928. From 1928 to 1942 he worked as a pharmacist in Nagykároly (now Carei in Romania). In 1942 and 1943 he served as a pharmacist in the army. He deserted to the Soviet occupying forces and became a partisan commander. From 1945, he was a professional soldier. From 1951 to 1953, he was Head of the War Historical Archives; from 1953 to 1956, he was imprisoned on trumped-up charges, but rehabilitated in 1956. From 1956, he was a pharmacist at the Metropolitan Pharmaceutical Center, Budapest and, from 1960, Director. From 1958 he was the Hungarian delegate on the Narcotic Drugs Committee of the United Nations, and a Member of the International Drug Control Company. – B: 1730, T: 7456.
Vértes, László (Ladislas) (Budapest, 3 November 1914 - Budapest, 20 August 1968) – Archeologist. After his high school studies he began to study Medicine at the University of Budapest; however, due to straitened financial circumstances, he had to leave after 2 years; thereafter he worked as an acrobat, library assistant, laborer, assistant in a bookshop, but managed to carry out speleological studies as well. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, he joined Ottokár Kadič’s exploration of the Solymár Caves. Later on, he was commissioned to the Solymár Caves exploration by the Hungarian National Museum. After the War, he became the Museum’s correspondent. At first, he led the Cave Supervisors, run by the Museum; later, he was also in charge of its Geological and Paleontological Collection. After the Paleolithic Collection of the Geological Institute was handed over to the Historical Museum (1951), he took over its curatorship: for 17 years he worked in that capacity for the Paleolithic Collection, until his sudden death in 1968. From 1950 to 1952, he led cave explorations and carried out Paleontological, Geological and Morphological studies. From 1952 to 1955, he dealt with the archeological research of primitive man of the Pleistocene Epoch (ended 11,700 years ago). By means of excavations he opened up ancient sites, such as the Kőporos-tető of Eger, the caves of Lovas, Szeleta, Istállóskő, Jankovich and Peskő, as well as the archeological site of Tata. By making use of the new finds and literature, he succeeded in significantly transforming the chronology of the Paleolithic Period. He used mathematical methods for processing the data of the sites. The work of the last decade of his life was built on these methods and their further development. In the course of his study trips, he traveled on four continents. At Vértesszőlős, where he unearthed finds of early man, an open-air museum was established, and his discovery was published in his book, The Story of the Early Man ofVértesszőlős (A vértesszőllősi előember regénye) (posthumous, 1969). Another of his works is entitled The Lower Paleolithic Site of Vértesszőlős (in Recent Archeological Excavations in Europe, no date); furthermore: Tata – Eine mittelpaläolithische Travertin-Siedlung in Ungarn (in Archaeologia Hungarica, 43, 1964). – T: 0883, T: 7456.
Vértes Mountain – The second-largest member of the Transdanubian Central Mountains, between the Bakony Mountain in the southwest and the Gerecse Range in the northeast; it is positioned between Oroszlány in the north, and Csákvár.and further away at the cultural, historic town of Székesfehérvár in the south. The Mór Graben separates it from the Bakony Mountain, and the fault-line at Bicske from the Gerecse Range. It is geologically and tectonically similar to the Bakony Mountain, composed largely of Triassic limestone and dolomite beds, often karstic. Its flat top is covered by forests, the highest points being Csókahegy (479 m), Körtvélyes (480 m), and Nagytáborhegy(451 m). Along the slopes and foothills surrounding the range, there are attractive, historic castle- and church-ruins, like Szentkereszt, Csókakő, Gerencsés, Gesztes and Csákvár. Its mineral wealth consists of the brown coal of Tata and Mór, and the bauxite deposit. According to legends, the earlier name of the range was Bodóhát; its present name appeared in 1051, when the soldiers of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, coming to the aid of King Salamon (1063-1074), threw away their armor and breastplates (vért) in the area, fleeing from the army of Prince Béla. Further southeast of the Vértes Mountain is the Velence Range, geologically an ancient granite batholith, superimposed by some more recent volcanic rocks. Its highest point is Meleghegy (352 m). South of this range is Lake Velence. – B: 1068, 7456, T: 7456.→Salamon, King. Vértesi, Arnold (Eger, 16 August 1834 - Budapest, 1 August 1911) – Writer and journalist. In 1849, at the age of 15, he joined the army (during the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence). In 1852 he began his studies at the University of Pest, at first in Medicine, and later in Law. His first short story appeared in 1856. He joined the young leftist writers’ group gathered around János (John) Vajda. In 1861, to support the fights of the opposition, he edited and wrote the comic paper, Black Soup (Fekete leves) together with Pál (Paul) Matkovics, and he wrote articles in the great poet Arany’s Literary Observer (Szépirodalmi Figyelő). He was an assistant editor of Ladies’ Courier(Hölgyfutár), and one of the founders of the journal New Generation (Új Nemzedék). In 1863, he edited Fashion Hall(Divatcsarnok) and, from 1866 to 1870, he edited Illustrated World (Képes Világ); in 1867, News from Pest (Pesti Hírlap); from 1867 to 1870, Hungary and the Great World(Magyarország és a Nagyvilág), while in 1871, he was Editor of Country-World (Ország-Világ), in which his novel glorifying the commune appeared, entitled The Fight of the Commune (A commune harca). From 1878 to 1893, Vértesi lived in Debrecen, where he was the editor and owner of the journal Inspector of Debrecen (Debreceni Ellenőr). Later, he returned to Budapest. He was a member of the Petőfi Society from its foundation (1876), as well as the Kisfaludy Society (1887). In his numerous short stories and novels he showed the corrupt gentry, the destitute pariahs of life, and the typical figures of small country towns in a realistic portrayal. His works include Historic Talks, vols i,ii (Történeti beszélyek, I-II) (1859); Suicidals (Öngyilkosok) (1882); Pariahs (Páriák) (1885); Stories from Small Country Towns (Kisvárosi történetek) (1898), and His Collected Works - A Thousand Short Stories,vols. i-xv(Összes munkái - Ezer elbeszélés I-XV) (1888-1889). – B: 0883, 1257; T: 7456.→Arany, János; Vajda, János; Matkovics, Pál. Vértesy, József (Joseph) (Vrabel) (Zombor, now Sombor in Serbia, 19 February 1901 - Budapest, 21 December 1983) – Water-polo player and swimmer. From 1920 he was a member of numerous sporting organizations in Budapest. In 1932 he was member of the Hungarian Olympic Champion team at the Los Angeles Olympics. In 1928, at the Amsterdam Olympics, he was second, while in the 1924 Paris Olympics, he was a member of the Hungarian team that placed 5th. From 1926 to 1934, he was four times European Champion. Between 1921 and 1940, he was seven times Hungarian Champion. From 1913 to 1934, he was seventy times on the Hungarian select team. In 1921, he was Hungarian Champion in 4x200 m fast free-style swimming. In 1923, he was a member of the Hungarian Champion team for river swimming. From 1934 he was a trainer in the swimming section of the University of Budapest Athletic Club (BEAC); his best-known student was Ferenc (Frances) Csík, Olympic Champion in the 1936 Games. From 1943 to 1944, he was Captain of the Hungarian water-polo national selected team. From 1953 to 1960, he was the trainer of the water-polo section of the Dózsa Water Conservancy Club of Szolnok; as a trainer he was Hungarian Champion in 1954, 1957, 1958 and 1959. – B: 0883, T: 7456.→Csík, Ferenc. Verzár, Frigyes (Frederick) (Budapest, 16 September 1886 - Arlesheim bei Basel, Switzerland, 13 March 1979) – Physician and physiologist. He obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Budapest in 1908. Thereafter, he was a correspondent for the Biological Institute of the University. In 1914 he received the qualification of an honorary lecturer (pivatdocent). During World War I, he served as a medical officer. In 1919, he was appointed Professor of Biology at the Medical School of the newly opened University of Debrecen; soon he became Head of the Patho-biological Institute. In 1929, the Minister of Education and Religion, Count Kunó Klebelsberg commissioned him to establish and lead a Biological Research Institute at Tihany (on the peninsula of Lake Balaton). However, in 1930, he was invited to head the Institute of Biology at Basel and was appointed Professor of Biology there; he worked in that capacity for ten years, while he also led the institute at Tihany, and was at the same time professor at Debrecen. At Tihany he developed an excellent research team, which included Géza Entz, József (Joseph) Gelei, Lajos (Louis) Varga and Albert Szent-Györgyi. Verzár retired from his position in Basel in 1956. In his retirement, he organized the Experimental Gerontological Research Institute of Basel, and was also the Secretary of the International Gerontological Society. He actively took part in establishing the nutrition program for the World Health Organization (WHO), becoming the leader of its project. He spent some time in Peru, Bolivia, and in Argentina. In Venezuela, he organized the pre-clinical teaching at the University of Caracas. His field of research included muscle biology, absorption originating from the bowels, connection between hormones and vitamins, and the functioning of the endocrine glands. He made some important observations about the essential features of the ageing process. He also treated the history of medicine and he was a member of numerous societies in Hungary and abroad; he was a Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1973). His works include On Life, Illness and Death (Életről, betegségekről és halálról) (1924); Lectures on Experimental Gerontology (1963), and Absorption from the Intestine (1967). – B: 1730; T: 7456.→Klebelsberg, CountKunó; Entz, Géza (2); Szent-Györgyi, Albert. Vessels, Bell-Shaped – In ancient archaeological literature, two vessel types were identified under this name: (1) the ornamental, striped decorative cups that were usually accompanied by buried vases, originating from the end of the New Stone Age (Neolithic, 6000 B.C. to 2000 B.C.) and the beginning of the Bronze Age (2000 B.C.). These were found in Szentes and in Tököl. (2) The larger vessels, which were found in Eastern Prussia and Poland during the Hallstatt Era (old Iron Age, 800 to 450 B.C.), were used to cover and conceal urns containing ashes. – B: 1078, T: 7676.
Vészi, Endre (Andrew) (Budapest, 19 October 1916 - Budapest, 9 July 1987) – Poet and writer. He was the son of a soap-maker. After his secondary education, he received training in engraving; then worked at the firm of Geduldiger from 1932 to 1938. His poems appeared in various papers such as: People’s Word (Népszava), West (Nyugat), Nice Word (Szép Szó), Answer (Válasz), etc. from 1934 on, while his community articles and sociological reports appeared from 1937. His first volume of poems, Take Me into Your Protection(Végy oltalmadba) was published in 1935. His first novel, entitled You Were Liberated (Felszabadultál) (1937), won the Mikszáth Prize of the Pantheon Publishers. From 1942 he was in a forced labor unit, and a prisoner in concentration camps in Mauthausen and Günskirchen. He returned to Hungary in August 1945. Thereafter, from 1945 to 1951, he was a correspondent for the paper People’s Word (Népszava), and head of its cultural column. In 1955 and 1956 he was Secretary of the Writers’ Association. After the September 1956 issue of the Literary Paper was banned, he resigned from his position. From 1948 on, he continuously produced volumes of poems, radio plays, stage plays, films, TV-plays, e.g. The Lost Veil (Elveszett fátyol) radio plays (1948); Angi Vera, novel, also in film version (1978), and Statistics, radio play (1964). Vészi continued the Hungarian short-story tradition with great success, such as in Man and Shadow(Ember és árnyék) (1975). The Hungarian Television presented a portrait film of him (1981, 1986). His correspondence and the bibliographic arrangement of his works have been deposited at the Petőfi Literary Museum. His published poems include Spoiler of Holiday(Ünneprontó) (1936); The Black Port (A fekete rév) (1944); Star Map (Csillagtérkép) (1956)é MysteriuosParallels (Titokzatos párhuzamok) (1977), and Continuous Confession (Folytatólagos vallomás) (1981). His prose works include With Child on his Arm (Gyerekkel a karján) novel (1938); Submerged Budapest(Elsüllyedt Budapest) (1946); Feast at Dawn (Lakoma hajnalban) short stories (1960); Incognito in Budapest(Inkognitóban Budapesten) (1976), and Limit of Tolerance (Tűréshatár) (1982). His stage works include Last adventure of Don Quixote (Don Quijote utolsó kalandja) (1962, 1986); The Long Hallway (A hosszú előszoba) (1972), and the Down With the Old Folks (Le az öregekkel) (1987). His feature films include The Last Circle (Az utolsó kör) (1968) and Angi Vera (1978). His collected radio plays include The Red Lion (A piros oroszlán) (1962), and God in Farmer Clothes (Jóisten farmerben) (1984). He was awarded the Attila József Prize three times (1950, 1955, 1965), and the Kossuth Prize (1978). – T: 0883, 1257, 1445, T: 7456.
Veszprém (German: Vesprim, Slavic: Bezprem) – Old Hungarian town, a municipal borough, seat of County Veszprém and the Roman Catholic Bishopric, 260m above sea level, situated in a picturesque ravine of the Séd River, with the horst of the Castle Hill overlooking the town below, 13 km north of Lake Balaton, an eminently well-defensible site, founded by King St. Stephen in 1001 AD. The Bishopric of Veszprém was established in 1009. The town is also an important road junction of two main routes: the road connecting the Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld)with the Mezőföld area to the southeast, and the road connecting the Danube with the Lake Balaton region. The population of Veszprém was 14,141 in 1901; 17,792 in 1930; 21,555 in 1941; ethnically purely Hungarian and mostly Roman Catholic, 38,000 in 1970 and 59,000 in 1983 (82% Roman Catholic, 9,2% Reformed, 3% Lutheran, 4,7% Jewish. 9.2% of the working population is primary producers, 33.1% tradesmen, 12.1% merchants and transport workers, 12% civil servant and freelancing, 10.3% pensioner and fund-holder, 11.4% day workers and servants. The main occupations are in industry, mainly handicrafts; larger firms include currency distribution, brickyards, pottery, woodware, rug-factories, watermills, grain marketing, livestock trading and professional work. In the historic atmosphere of Castle Hill, formerly a citadel, there is a multitude of historic buildings such as: the massive Episcopal Palace (1762-1773); the Franciscan Monastery and Church (1776); the Chapter Library (1773); the Seminary and the Piarist High School. The Cathedral was restored in its original Romanesque style in 1907-1910, its Gothic sanctuary dates from the 13th century. The northern protruding rampart of Castle Hill is the Bastion Lookout, with a splendid view over the entire town. Below it are the ruins of the Dominican Monastery and Church, where Blessed (Princess) Margaret (Boldog Margit) (1241-1270) spent her childhood. South of the Castle Hill; St. Benedict Hill is the Baroque town center with the Town Hall (1793), the Pósa House, the Theater, built together with a hotel in Magyar style, the work of István Medgyaszay, (1909), the Post Office mansion, the County Hall, the Neo-Gothic Church and Monastery of the English Ladies (Agolkisasszonyok), the Institute of the Sisters of Charity, and the Palace of the Museum (Medgyaszay, 1924). The Bishop’s Gardens, the Plosser Promenade and the Elizabeth Grove lend freshness to the town’s view. In the suburbs of the hillsides are the High Schools, the Orphanage, the Hospital, the Reformed and Lutheran churches, the bust of Empress and Queen Elizabeth (1837 – 1898, wife of Emperor and King Francis Joseph I), the St. László (Ladislas) Church (1902-1905), and the St. Anna Chapel of 1724, renovated in 1924-1926. The town has a number of special schools, a Municipal College of Music, Roman Catholic Theological College, and the University of Pannonia. (formerly University of Veszprém). The National Casino was founded in 1832. The Museum’s rich material holds, e.g. the mosaic details of Baláca from Roman times, many Pannonian memorials, and rich collections of local history, industrial art and ethnographic material. The Turkish minaret is now a fire tower. The history of Veszprém begins with the Neolithic and Bronze-age settlements; there are some signs of the Iron Age and Roman-time settlements as well. During the Carpathian conquest by the Hungarians (896-900) the tribes of Öcséb and Őse occupied the site. It was in this area that King István I (St Stephen, 997-1038) defeated the uprising of Koppány (descendant of Prince Árpád) in 998. King István I had the St. Michael Cathedral built and made Veszprém the residence of his Queen, Princess Gisella of Bavaria. In 1276, Palatine Péter Csák had the town ravaged, famous for its Cathedral School. Austrian Prince Maximilian occupied the town in 1491, and then King John (János) occupied it in 1527. Veszprém was under Ottoman Turkish rule from 1552 to 1564, and from 1594 to 1598. Gábor (Gabriel) Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania seized it in 1620, Imre (Emeric) Thököly’s army in 1682, and the Imperial Austrian forces took it from the Kuruc forces in 1704. French troops looted it in 1809, and it was badly damaged by fire in 1895. For a brief period during the summer of 1919, it was under Romanian occupation. Toward the end of World War II, for several months, it was in the last southwest-to-northeast defense line held by the German forces against the advancing Soviet army. – B: 1068, 1582, 1789, 1816, 7456, T: 7456.→Most of the persons in the article have their own entry.