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‘The expressions fama est, igitur, traditur were, therefore, not only effective for
inquisitors armed with today’s information technology, but also worked, although
less effectively, in the old days. In this case, it worked out positively for the image
of Hungarians. Any member of the lower clergy who read German, Italian, or
even Latin in their daily work came across this knowledge in an unexpected place
from the perspective of the history of the Bibliotheca Corvina. He, perhaps, could
have remembered it for the rest of his life.
Four other books in different genres, which I will briefly mention, may have
had a similar impact.
Joachim Vadianus (1484-1551) published extracts from descriptions of the
known world, a handbook covering parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Pannonia
had two pages in it, but he still thought it important to tell the story of the great¬
ness of the foundation of the library by Matthias Hunyadi and the sad destiny
of the Jibliotheca. After describing the origin of the Buda place name, he writes
briefly about the city, then about the palace, and:
,luxta columnae aliquot ex aere solido et effigies passim operis statuerii permultae.
In Regia interior! Bibliothecam e Graecis Latinisque codicibus magna cura conquisitis
Matthias Corvinus incomparabilis Ungrorum[l] Princeps adornaverat, quam posteri
diripuere. Sed et urbs cum arce proximis annis a Turca capta dirutaque et (ut audio)
clarissimis illis monimentis regiae magnificentia spoliata est!”
In the preface to one of the world’s first biographical and bibliographical ency¬
clopaedias (Bibliotheca universalis), Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) stresses the im¬
portance of keeping a record of the world’s authors and their works, while drawing
attention to their fragility. The preface is written to Leonhard Beckh von Beck¬
henstain, adviser to Emperor Ferdinand I.
,9ed quid lugemus vetera: perit etiam patrum nostrorum memoria per immanem
Turcorum impressionem celebris illa Bibliotheca Budae, quae regni Pannoniae caput
est, a nunquam Satis laudato rege Matthia ex omni scriptorum genere, et innumeris
Graecis Hebraicisque voluminibus instructa: quae quidem ille capta iam Constantin¬
opoli, eversisque multis aliis amplissimis Graeciae urbibus, ex media Graecia inaesti¬
mandis sumptibus coemerat.’?®
‘The new edition of the encyclopaedia was edited by Josias Simmler (1530-1576)
who also expanded Gessner’s material. His dedication is addressed to Louis VI
Elector Palatin, (House of Wittelsbach, (1539-1583)). In it Simmler also refers to
the Corvina (and this text appeared unchanged in the edition enlarged by Johann
Jakob Fries (1546-1611) in 1583).
37 Vapıanus 1534, 34., VapIANus 1534a, 85.; VaprIaNus 1546, 66.; VaDIANUs 1548, 66.
28 GESSNER 1545, a2v.
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