Basilius Magnus: De divinitate
The Latin translation of the discussion written by the Greek church father Saint Basil the Great (cca 330 k.‒379) was a codex of modest looks at the Corvina Library. It is a Florentine manuscript from around 1470 copied by Piero Cennini. The title-page decoration of tendrils and the embossed leather binding were made in Florence. It is one of the few Corvinas of which we certainly know that originally belonged to the library of Johannes Vitez as when the page is held against light, marks identifying Vitez can be seen underneath Matthias’s coat of arms. The codex was removed of the Corvina Library before the defeat of Mohacs (1526), probably by a humanist diplomat from Vienna. Its further trajectory is precisely documented up until its arrival at the National Library of Austria from where it was returned to Hungary as stipulated by the Venice Agreement. (Edina Zsupán)
DATA SHEET
Shelfmark: Cod. Lat. 415.Country: Hungary
City: Budapest
Keeper location: National Széchényi Library
Author: Saint Basil the Great (Basilius Magnus)
Content: De divinitate filii et spiritus sancti; De spiritu sancto
Translator: Georgius Trapezuntius
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: 156 fol.
Sheet size: 220 × 143 mm
Place of writing: Florence
Date of writing: ca. 1470
Scriptor: Petrus Cenninius
Place of illumination: Florence
Date of illumination: ca. 1470
Crest: King Matthias' Hungarian and Bohemian royal coat-of-arms; "first" heraldic painter, Buda, late 1480s; under it, the coat-of-arms of Iohannes Vitéz
Possessor, provenience: Iohannes Vitéz; King Matthias Hunyadi; Johannes Fabri, Bishop of Vienna (comp. bookplates); St. Nicolas College of the University of Vienna (1540); University of Vienna; Imperial Court Library, Vienna (1756); in line with the Venice Agreement (signed on November 27, 1932), it was returned to National Széchényi Library.
Binding: original, blind-tooled leather binding, made in Florence; gauffered, gilded edge
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: Restored: NSZL, Zsuzsanna Lente, 1989-90
Hungarian translation(s) of work(s) included in the corvina: Nagy Szent Baszileiosz művei / [ford. és a jegyzeteket írta Vanyó László]. Budapest : Szt. István Társ., 2001 ([Győr] : Széchenyi Ny.)[nem biztos, hogy benne van]