Eusebius: De evangelica praeparatione

This work by Eusebius (260/264–339/340) was dedicated to learned Pagans. The bishop of Caesarea aimed at proving with quotations from Pagan authors that Jesus Christ is the true God. The work translated into Latin by Trapezuntius in 1448 continued to be a popular read in the Renaissance era for its classical fragments and theological value: it demonstrated excellently that the prisca religio of Neoplatotism, the ancient religion, can be related to Christianity as its source from the time before Christ. (Edina Zsupán)

Source: The Corvina Library and the Buda Worskhop: [National Széchényi Library, November 6, 2018 –February 9, 2019] A Guide to the Exhibition; introduction and summary tables: Edina Zsupán; object descriptions: Edina Zsupán, Ferenc Földesi; English translation: Ágnes Latorre, Budapest: NSZL, 2018, p. 152

For a detailed codex description see:

Edina Zsupán, Esusebius: De evangelica praeparatione libri XIV per Georgium Trapezuntium traducti, in: Edina Zsupán (ed.), “Az ország díszére”. A Corvina könyvtár budai műhelye, kiállítási katalógus, Budapest, OSZK 2020, Kat.-No F9, 312-313.

DATA SHEET

Shelfmark: Cod. Lat. 6.
Country: Hungary
City: Budapest
Keeper location: University Library, Eötvös Loránd University
Author: Eusebius Pamphilius
Content: Eusebii Pamphili De evangelica praeparatione libri XIV per Georgium Trapezuntium traducta
Translator: Georgius Trapezuntius
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: IV + 182 + I* fol.
Sheet size: 330 × 236 mm
Place of writing: Florence
Date of writing: 1460–1470
Scriptor: Raphael Bertus Pistoiensis, unsigned Cf. Albinia de La Mare, New Research on Humanistic Scribes in Florence, in: Annarosa Garzelli (a cura di), Miniatura Fiorentina del Rinascimento 1440-1525. Un primo censimento, 2 vols, Florence 1985, 395-600, 534, No 65/1.
Place of illumination: Florence
Date of illumination: 1460–1470
Crest: King Matthias' Hungarian and Bohemian royal coat-of-arms; "second" heraldic painter, Buda, late 1480s
Possessor, provenience: unidentified Hungarian owner (Johannes Vitéz de Zredna?, György Handó?); King Matthias Hunyadi; Ottoman sultans; it was returned to Hungary as a present of Abdul Hamid, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1877.
Binding: 19th-century, wooden board, white Turkish leather binding. Originally bound in violet velvet, the title on the Buda-style fore-edge reads: EUSEBIUS DE PREPARATIONE EVANGELICA
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: Restored (NSZL, Györgyi Szlabey, 1987)