Education
He studied at Wittenberg University and he established the first print shop in Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
pastor publisher theologian translator writer
He studied at Wittenberg University and he established the first print shop in Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
His name possibly derives from the village Heltau (Hungarian: Nagydisznód, today Cisnădie, Romania). He also founded a public bath, a paper mill and the first brewery in the town. He was at the same time pastor, translator, printer, publisher, writer and businessman.
He is considered the first religious reformer of Kolozsvár.
He was a great spirit of Hungarian Unitarian Reformation. Together with a group of scholars he produced an almost complete translation of the New Testament into Hungarian.
His work marked the first buds of a secular literature in Hungary. Bonfini translation
Heltai"s most voluminous work is his reworking and translation of Antonio Bonfini"s Rerum Hungaricum Decades ("Ten Volumes of Hungarian Matters"), which Heltai published in 1575 as Chronica az magyaroknak dolgairól ("Chronicle of the Hungarians’ Past Deeds").
The work was printed in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca).