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phile jurist Nicolaus Hieronymus Gundling (1671-1729), who wrote the history of
the Holy Roman Empire which was published many times. In paragraphs 334 and
335 he records the battles between Matthias Hunyadi and Frederick III (Krieg mit
König Matthias von anno 1479-85 — Eroberung von Wien anno 1485):
„Malthias halte raison zum Kriege. Er differirete in moribus gantz und gar von Frid¬
erico Ill. Bonfinius hat beyder Qualitäten beschriben, und gezeiget, dass sie einander
zuwier gewesen. Liv. V. Decad. IV. seiner historie. Bonfinius war ein Historiographus,
den Matthias gedungen, der also sein herusl]] war. Er war ein Italiäner; durch seine
Gemahlin Beatrix, eine Neapolitanische Princessin, welche ihm viele Italliäner recom¬
mendiret hat, hat er ihn kennenlernen. Sambucus, Maxiumiliani 11. Bibliothecarius hat
ihn drucken lassen. ®' In Ofen legte Matthias eine herrliche Bibliotheck an, welche
Bibliotheca Budensis hernach an die Türcken kommen, und etwas haben die Kay¬
serlichen empfangen, da sie Ofen unter Leopoldo einnahmen.’” Die Bücher sind alle
so gebunden, dass man den Corvinum aussen oder innen siehet. Sambucus war ein
gelehrter Ungar, ein grosser Criticus Graecus, latinus, von dem man vieles in Lambecii
Comment{ariorum libris] ad Biblliothecam] Vindlobonensem] lesen kann. ®
Of course, we know that such a description alone will not add anything new to our
understanding of the Corvina’s collection. At the same time, however, I consider
it particularly important that this knowledge is also reflected in the summaries of
historical works. In the second half of the 18th century, the major historical sum¬
maries (world history) already incorporated the results of the Hungarian historia
litteraria: the works of Mätyäs Bel (1684-1749),°°* Johann Georg Schwandtner
(1716-1791),°°° or Istvän Kaprinai (1714-1785)°°°. In the next chapter I mention
some of these, indicating one way in which historical information was spread.
The age of confronting the revised book material after the
Ottoman expulsion
Csaba Csapodi, who investigated the history of Matthias’s library in great detail,
has discussed in numerous publications whether there were any corvinas left in
Buda after 1526, and how large the fragments could have been that were not
taken away by bibliophile humanists, destructive mercenaries, and officials of the
Sultan’s treasury.**’” As a result of his research, he found that no books of any
331 BONFINIUS-SAMBUCUS 1568.
352 In 1686.
333, GRUNDLING 1732, 958-959. Ref.: LAMmBEcK 1665; LAMBEcK 1669.
334 BéL, De vetere, 1718, BEL, Adparatus, 1735; BEL, Notitia, I-IV, 1735-1742.
35 SCHWANDTNER 1746.
356 KAPRINAI 1767.
37 Csaponı 1961; Csapopı 1971; Csaponı 1973, 72-92., Csapopı 1984.
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