Politiae Sunt Opera Dei – Leonhard Stöckel’s Doctrine of the Government

The cultural networks connecting Hungary to other parts of Europe, having developed in the late mediaeval period, worked on in the 16^th century, and new points of contact were also formed after the Reformation. The most important elements in this network were the German-speaking citizens of the towns of the Hungarian Kingdom. This paper focuses on Leonhard Stöckel, born in the free royal town of Bardejov, Upper Hungary, who studied in Wittenberg and then returned home and headed the urban school according to Melanchthon’s model. Besides teaching, he wrote several works, mainly for educational purposes, most of which were published only after his death, while a smaller part remained in manuscript form. From the chapters of his works, it can be clearly seen what he thought of governance, of the tasks and responsibility of the magistrate.