Cortesius: De Matthiae Corvini Ungariae regis laudibus bellicis carmen

DATA SHEET

Shelfmark: Cod. Guelf. 85.1.1. Aug. 2°
Country: Germany
City: Wolfenbüttel
Keeper location: Herzog August Bibliothek
Digitized corvina: at the keeper location
Author: Alexander Cortesius (c. 1460–1490)
Content: De Matthiae Corvini Hungariae regis laudibus bellicis carmen
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: I + 34
Sheet size: 272 × 172 mm
Place of writing: Rome
Date of writing: between August 1487 and July 1488
Scriptor: Bartolomeo Sanvito (1435–after 1518)
Illuminator: Petrus V---
Place of illumination: Rome
Date of illumination: between August 1487 and July 1488
Crest: coat-of-arms of Matthias Corvinus (King of Hungary 1458–1490, King of Bohemia 1469–1490), with the Dalmatian coat-of-arms in the third field, the Bohemian lion in the fourth field, and the Hunyadi raven in the inescutcheon
Possessor, provenience: the codex was completed in Rome sometime after August 1487, from where it was immediately transferred to the library of Matthias Corvinus; from the preface to the second edition of the work, written in 1531 by the German humanist Vincent Obsopoeus (?–1539), we know that the codex was then in the possession of George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1484–1543), probably through his wife Beatrice de Frangepan (1480–1510), widow of John Corvinus (1473–1504); the volume thus followed a similar path to the Tolhopf-corvina, and it is possible that it also came into the possession of Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick (r. 1635–1666) through his aunt, Sophie of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach (1563–1639)
Binding: original silk binding, gauffered-gilded edge
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: the binding is restored