Bernardus Claravallensis: De consideratione

The manuscript probably belongs to the stock that had been produced in the environment of Johannes Vitez archbishop of Esztergom around 1470. It was completed later in the royal workshop of Buda with a modest border decoration by the “First Heraldic Painter”, and an original leather Corvina binding. The book passed into the possession of Johannes Alexander Brassicanus during the reign of Louis II in 1524–5. Brassicanus wrote the missing title and the author’s name on the margin of the initial page.
On the rear table there is a phenomenon rare on the Corvina bindings. A hole was made on the table for a fixing chain which raises the question of whether there were chained books in the Corvina Library. However, no further signs confirm that theory, besides the hole was made into the letter ‘A’ of the accurately worked gilded title (DE CONSIDERATIONE) on the upper stripe which is hardly conceivable of the Corvina bookbinder, a master of perfectly executed, aesthetically top-quality works. (Ferenc Földesi)

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. 208

DATA SHEET

Shelfmark: Cod. Lat. 429.
Country: Hungary
City: Budapest
Keeper location: National Széchényi Library
Author: 1. Bernhardus Claraevallensis; 2. Pseudo-Bernhardus
Content: 1. De consideratione libri; 2. Meditationes piissimae de cognitione humanae conditionis
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: 75 fol.
Sheet size: 240 × 161 mm
Place of writing: Hungary (Buda?, Esztergom?)
Date of writing: ca. 1470 ?
Scriptor: Hungarian scriptor from the vicinity of Iohannes Vitéz?
Illuminator: "first" heraldic painter
Place of illumination: Buda
Date of illumination: late 1480s
Crest: King Matthias' Hungarian and Bohemian royal coat-of-arms, "first" heraldic painter, Buda, late 1480s
Possessor, provenience: Johann Alexander Brassicanus (comp. possessor entry on the endleaf and the entry on f. 1r); 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 gilded leather corvina binding; gauffered, gilded edge (probably in the late 1480s)
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: Restored: NSZL, Mrs. László Ballagó, 1981-82
Hungarian translation(s) of work(s) included in the corvina: 1. De consideratione / Clairvaux-i Szent Bernát ; [ford. Szegedi János]; [Budapest] : Kairosz, 2005; 2. None