Journal index

This is the third, closing section on the life of Countess Anna Teleki (1783-1851). In Part I we dealt with her youth, in Part II with her marriage to Simon Kemény, and in this last section with her widowhood. After the death of her husband, Anna Teleki moved to Enyed (Aiud), where her home, the “Burg”, became not only a centre of her family life but also of cultural and political life. She was responsible for the financial support of Farkas Bolyai. Her sons and sons-in-law played a nationally important role in the Union and during the War of Independence (1948). They were forced to flee from Enyed because of the attack of the Romanian Moț groups. After the War of Independence, the family went into hiding in Tiszaroff and Érmihályfalva (Valea lui Mihai). Here she received a letter from Farkas Bolyai evaluating the recent events of those days. She died on her return to Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in 1851. Her life and moral example deserve respect even by biblical standards.

After presenting the youth of Anna Teleki in Part I. of our study, in this second part, we deal with her marriage to Simon Kemény. Count Anna Teleki married Br. Simon Kemény Jr in 1801, who had previously studied at the University of Göttingen with his fellow student, Farkas Bolyai. Simon Kemény later remained Bolyai’s friend and spiritual companion. The young couple lived in Marosvásárhely (Târgu Mureş), Apanagyfalu (Nușeni) and in Csombord (Ciumbrud) in Lower-Alba county. They had six children, five of whom reached adulthood. Anna Teleki raised her children to virtues such as kindness, honesty, diligence, modesty. Her prayers and writings on educating of children have survived the centuries. With the support of the family, most of them had reached an outstanding career: Dániel Vajda, the later winemaker expert, János Szabó, portrait painter, Miklós Barabás, painter, and Károly Szász Sr., a mathematician and a lawyer. From 1823 until his death in 1826, a period considered by contemporaries the golden age of the county, Simon Kemény served as the administrator (chief lord) of Lower-Alba county.

The life of Anna Teleki (1783–1851), wife of Count Simon Kemény is presented in 3 parts. Part I deals with his youth, Part II with his marriage to Count Simon Kemény, Part III. with her widowed years.

The father of Anna Teleki was Count Domokos Teleki Sr., the later chancellor and memorial writer of Turda, her mother was Countess Judit Bethlen of Bethlen. Her mother dies when she was one years old, and her two brothers follow their mother soon. Until the age of six, she was raised in Apanagyfalu (Nușeni) and Cluj-Napoca by her maternal grandmother, Countess Júlia Wass from Czege, wife of Count Elek Bethlen. When her father remarries, she moves to Sárpatak (Șapartoc). At the age of 15, in 1798, she became the bride of the famous mineral collector, Count Domokos Teleki Jr., but her fiancé tragically died the same year.

Die Studenten der reformierten Hochschulen haben sich in der Frühen Neuzeit ins Immatrikulationsbuch der Hochschulen handschriftlich mit der Formel Ego N. N. subcribo legibus scholae reformatae... eingetragen. Die 1895 im Klausenburg (ung. Kolozsvár, heute Cluj-Napoca) gegründete Reformierte Theologische Fakultät hat dieser Tradition unter ihren Studenten als Praxis wieder eingeführt. Ab der Gründung der Hochschule in Klausenburg bis 1948 hat sich jeder Student handschriftlich immatrikuliert. Bei der Immatrikulation sollte neben seinen Namen jeder auch noch sein Geburtsort, die Name und den Beruf des Vaters oder Widerhaltes angeben, sowie das Gymnasium wo er dem Abitur abgelegt hatte und weitere Daten über seinen Kenntnissen in Fremdsprachen im Immatrikulationsbuch einführen. Die statistische Verarbeitung dieser Angaben macht uns möglich spannende Daten und merkwürdige Zusammenhänge über der sozialen Herkunft und Hintergrund der Pfarrergesellschaft der reformierten und teilweise über der ungarischlutherischen Pfarrer in Siebenbürgen zu erschließen.

The 17th century sources of the Reformed Diocese of Küküllő describe with unparalleled details the everyday life and humanly character of participants of church life. The disciplinary cases of Bálint Veres Dálnoki and Bálint Márkusfalvi did not disappear without a trace, they were preserved in the records of this period. A research into the personal relations of the persons involved explains why pages were glued and embarrassing resolutions were covered up.