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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 Vienna 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 Christianity 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 creative 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. 45
