DEACON CORESI (C. 1510 - C. 1583) AND HIS ACTIVITY AS A PRINTER IN THE CONTEXT OF THE 16TH CENTURY PROTESTANT PROPAGANDA

The biographical data about the life of deacon Coresi (Coressius) are extremely few and it has been admitted, after many debates, studies and analyses, that he was from Târgoviște, it is supposed that he joined a school in Slavonic at Dealu Monastery, and that he was the owner of a printing press, yet standing out as a skillful printing master. It is also known that he had a son, called Șerban, whom he taught the art of the printing press. The name of deacon Coresi is mentioned in the books he had printed in Brașov (during two periods: 1556-1557; 1560-1583, at irregular intervals), Târgoviște (1557-1558), Alba Iulia (1567-1568) and SasSebeș (1580), during five great periods (1556-1558, 1559-1565, 1566-1570, 1571-1577, 1578-1583), in Romanian and Slavonic. Thus, by his activity, deacon Coresi contributed to the introduction of the Romanian language in the cult of the Orthodox Church of the Romanian Countries, but also in the use of the princely administrative offices of the extra-Carpathian Romanian Countries.