Alajos Degré ( Lippa,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(today in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

), January 6, 1819 – Budapest, November 1, 1896) was a Hungarian lawyer, legal historian, author and one of the key figures of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...

Life

He was born to a middle-class, urban family. His father was a Frenchman who worked as the chief physician of Temes County,

. His mother was Anna Rácz, the raised daughter of a Hungarian nobleman, György Návay. He had a half-brother, Ignác from his father's first marriage and a sister, Franciska. Because of his father's early death Temes County took over the costs of the education of the Degré children. He did his secondary-school studies in Arad and

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

. Then he went to

Nagyvárad Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

where he studied law for two years. In 1842 he started to work as a jurist in Pest where he got interested in politics and made friends with

Lajos Kossuth Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (; ; ; ; 19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman and governor-president of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, r ...

. The liberal ideas inflamed his thinking so he joined these political circles and took part on their events where he was asked to hold a welcome speech for Kossuth. In 1843 he took the attorney's examination and moved to

Pozsony Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

(today

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) to work as a royal board notary at the

National Assembly of Hungary The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member m ...

Personal life

He was married to Amália Anna Koller. They had together seven children – four daughters and three sons: * Erzsébet * Miklós * Katalin * Etel * Andor (1869–1939) * Éva * Lajos (1882–1915)

Works

* Iparlovag – Pozsony, 1844 (premiere at the National Theatre: February 12) * Eljegyzés álarc alatt – Pest, 1845 (premiere at the National Theatre: April 14, 1845) * Félreismert lángész – Pest, 1846 (premiere at the National Theatre: February 16, 1846) * Kedélyrajzok – Pest, 1847 * Két év egy ügyvéd életéből – Pest, 1853 * Degré Alajos Novellái – Pest, 1854 * Kalandornő – Pest, 1854 * Salvator Rosa – Pest, 1855 * A sors keze – Pest, 1856 * Novellák – Pest, 1857 * Az ördög emlékiratai – Pest, 1860 * A száműzött leánya – Pest, 1865 * A kék vér – Pest, 1870 * A nap hőse – Pest, 1870. Két kötet * Itthon – Budapest, 1877. Két kötet * Az elzárt gyámleány – Budapest, 1878 * Bőkezű uzsorás – Budapest, 1882 * Visszaemlékezéseim – Budapest, 1883–1884 * Így van jól! – Budapest, 1887

Literature

* József Szinnyei József: Magyar írók élete és munkái II, Budapest, 1893. * Ernő Vende : Irodalom, tudomány és művészet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Degre, Alajos 1819 births 1896 deaths People from Lipova, Arad Hungarian Lutherans People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 19th-century Hungarian lawyers Lawyers from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Hungarian writers 19th-century Hungarian male writers 19th-century Lutherans