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Hungaria ~ Iransulvania ~ Austria
and the Biblotheca Corvina
Prologue
As an ambitious and successful ruler, Matthias Hunyadi wanted to reach the rank
of emperor. In 1485 he conquered Vienna which encouraged him to regard the city
as the centre of his country.212 There are data to suggest that at the end of his life,
as part of the embodiment of his power, he intended to establish a library in Vi¬
enna as well. Based on our present knowledge, this is one reason why Bartolomeo
Fonzio (della Fonte, 1446-1513) bought a number of codices from the Manfredi
family’s collection kept in Faenza.213 However we do not know if he wanted to
move the entire Buda collection to Vienna.
Hungarian culture is primarily inclusive (receptive). I consider this statement
to be true, especially in modern times, but also generally up to the present day.
This is why in Hungary a significant part of reception history research overlaps
the history of international relations. The intellectual trends of Western Chris¬
tianity were practically up-to-date in the Carpathian Basin until the end of the
16th century, and from then on, the time between the appearance of Western
European books and their arrival in the Hungarian Kingdom and Transylvania
steadily increased. At the same time, in the second half of the 15th century, the
Hungarian royal court became such a cultural centre that not only allowed the
formation of institutions absorbing cultural trends, but also the existence of crea¬
tive workshops. They were known in Europe at the time and deservedly rose to the
same rank as the Northern-Italian cities, Vienna, or the cities along the Danube
in the eyes of contemporaries*“ and posterity’. During the rein of king Matthias
Hunyadi (1458-1490)”'° the University of Buda, founded by Emperor Sigismund,
restarted its operations, a book copying workshop was fully functioning, and book
printing began in 1473 (ahead of England in this field). At the royal court, as well
as in the courts of nobles and high priests, numerous Italian, Viennese, German,
Bohemian, and Croatian humanist artists and scholars competed to secure their
212 NEHRING 1989.
23 Cr. GENTILINI 2002.
214 NALDINUS (ed. ÁBEL) 1890, 267.
215 BaLocH J. 1940, I, 525.
26 Cr. HoenscH 1998; Kuginy1 A. 2001; ENGEL P. 2001, 249-307.
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