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Libraries were formed by and by in the centres of the German principalities
both in the southern and northern territories egually, but bibliophilia only spread
with printing. Ihe German prince-electors developed large court collections with
the assistance of the Reformation and its emerging institutions (churches, schools,
printing-houses, etc.) or precisely resisting it with the support of the Catholic side."
As can be seen, the Buda library of Matthias differed in many respects from
the contemporary European examples. Only the papal library could be compared
to it in size. Since we do not know the exact size of the Bibliotheca Corvina, it is
usually stated that Matthias’s library was the second largest collection in the 15th
century. Matthias did not inherit a notable number of books from his parents or
from his precessedors, while the papal library, despite its turbulent history, has
had a continuous history behind it from the centuries of early Christianity. Thus,
the Hunyadi scion’s achievement in developing the collections was by all means
outstanding. Aside from the size of the library, it is much more important what
the linguistic and thematic composition of the Buda collection was. This question
leads us to the problem with the recognition of the role of the Bibliotheca Corvina,
and more so of the doubt about whether the books were used by Matthias him¬
self or not.
It is clear that on the shelves of the contemporary royal libraries mainly vernac¬
ular literature could be found. Only one reason for this was that the French, Ital¬
ian, Catalan, Spanish, English, or even Flemish literature was present in greater
numbers in the 15th century kingdoms than in the Kingdom of Hungary. This
can also be said about the smaller German principality libraries, about the propor¬
tion of German language histories or chivalry epics (Rittersgeschichte) compared to
Latin works. This phenomenon is closely related to the level of embourgeoisement
of each country, or rather how much the education of the royal court was linked
to a vernacular culture. The dominant role of the French language in Burgundy,
in the Low Lands, or in England (after the Norman conquest) is evident. It is
interesting that only the Spanish governors became aware of the value of Flemish
medieval literature and Philip II as Spanish king bought codices which were to be
thrown away for himself from the Northern (seceded) territories as well.
Our understanding of the former Bibliotheca Corvina’s collection is not com¬
plete, but we possess key pieces of knowledge.“ It is indisputable that a state-of¬
the-art bibliotheca was assembled in the Buda court. Besides the standard medi¬
eval works — encyclopaedias, works of Scholasticism, etc. — firstly the late antique
Church Fathers’ writings were present, then the ancient authors, among them the
newly explored and translated Greeks as well, later works in the original Greek
language, in addition to contemporary humanist literature.” Taddeo Ugoleto, *
Matthias’s librarian, requested Naldo Naldi, the Florentine poet, to write a poem
In summary: Buzas L. 1976; FIEDLER-STICKLER-UNTERKIRCHNER 1980.
A Csaponpı 1973; cf.: MıR6 2002.
2 Karsay 1991.
8 Cr. Arrö 1781.
18