Augustinus: De civitate Dei libri XXII.

This manuscript is one of the four Corvinas returned to Hungary in 1869 as a donation by Sultan Abdul Aziz (also Georgius Trapezuntius: Rhetorics, Polybius: History of Rome, Comedies by T. Maccius Plautus). All four of them belong to the group of velvet bound Corvinas with the characteristic color-painted gilded decoration on the edges. As this type of binding is far more vulnerable than that of leather, there are much less preserved items. Among them, only the Augustinus Corvina has kept its two original clasps. On the dolphin-shaped gilded silver clasps, the goldsmith placed the coat of arms with the raven of King Matthias and the Hunyadi family in enamel inlay. The name of the scribe is Petrus de Middelburch, the illumination was made by Gioacchino de Gigantibus and several unknown masters. The manuscript is richly decorated although without figural depictions. The decoration is characterized by tendrils between gold leaf rods and colorful flower motifs. The title-page was torn out. (Ferenc Földesi. The entry written for the guide to the exhibition was made on the basis of Dániel Pócs’ description below: The CORVINA LIBRARY and the Buda Workshop. Exhibition Catalog. (Publication in progress.) Budapest: NSZL, 2019, Cat. F7)

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. 148

DATA SHEET

Shelfmark: Cod. Lat. 121.
Country: Hungary
City: Budapest
Keeper location: National Széchényi Library
Author: Augustinus
Content: De civitate Dei
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: 432 fol.
Sheet size: 420 × 275 mm
Place of writing: Naples
Date of writing: ca. 1475
Scriptor: Signed: Petrus de Middelbruch (f. 431v)
Illuminator: 2 masters, one of them was Gioacchino de'Gigantibus (Bauer-Eberhardt 2008, 120‒121.)
Place of illumination: Naples
Date of illumination: ca. 1475 (comp. Bauer-Eberhardt 2008, 120‒121.)
Crest: Only on the clasps; the frontispiece is missing
Possessor, provenience: King Matthias Hunyadi; Ottoman sultans; returned to Hungary in 1869 as a present of Abdülaziz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
Binding: original corvina velvet binding (red); painted-gilded edge made in Buda; gilded silver clasps with enamel inlay (probably in the late 1480s)
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: Restored; binding is partially completed; the original frontispiece is missing. NSZL: Csilla Farkas, Ildikó Csillag; goldsmith restorer Péter Varga; textile restorer Enikő Sipos 1988-1990
Hungarian translation(s) of work(s) included in the corvina: Isten városáról / Szent Ágoston ; ford. Földváry Antal; Budapest : Kairosz, 2005-2009;