Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 109-112. (Budapest, 1985)

A TERMÉSZETTUDOMÁNYOK ÉS A MEDICINA A RENESZÁNSZ ÉS A REFORMÁCIÓ KORÁBAN - Csapodi, Csaba: Orvosi és természettudományi corvinák (angol nyelven)

to King Matthias, by Pauerbach's excellent disciple, one of the greatest astronomers of the 15th century, Johannes Regiomontanus of Königsberg, who had been invited by King Matthias to teach at the University of Pozsony but mainly to be employed as his own court astronomer. Out of his many works two have remained that approvedly belonged to the Corvinian stock: a copy dedicated to King Matthias of the „Canones LXIIJ in tabulam primi mobilis cum tabula",

6 then the ,,Tabulae directionum et profectionum" beginning with a dedication to Vitéz.

7 The Ptolemaeus extract by Regiomontanus, the ,,Epitome Almagesti, seu Megales syntaxeos Ptolemaei" prefaced by Cardinal Bessarion and splendidly illuminated by Cherico of Florence, survived in a manuscript once owned by Queen Beatrix.

8 Though it has not been preserved, on the basis of a dedication to Matthias we must presume that the Corvinian Library possessed Theon's Defense, ,,Defensio Theoni" written against Trapezuntius on King Matthias's demand, of which we know only a contemporary copy or perhaps draft copy now.

9 We must presume that the king, too, possessed the ,,Super torqueto astronomico" dedicated to Vitéz, the ,,Compositio gnomonis" we have mentioned above as well as works by Regiomontanus printed in the lifetime of King Matthias like ,,Calendarium", ,,De usu astrolabii armillaris" (the celestial globe, the sphera armillaris, by the way, was one of the emblems of King Matthias) and ,,

Ephemerides astronomicae". An outstanding figure in the circle of Buda astronomers was the polish Martinus Ilkusz, of his original name Marcin Bylica z Olkusza, prebend of Zagreb and parson of Buda who carried from Buda to Cracow the still existing astronomic instruments given as a present to the university there. He was the observer of the comets that appeared in 1468 and 1472 and dedicated his observations to the king as ,,Mathiae regis astrologus".

10 We should also remember Johannes Tolhopff, professor of Leipzig University, who worked around 1480 at the court of King Matthias and dedicated to him his ,,Stellarium" the manuscript of which is much to the credit of the royal illuminators' workshop in Buda.

11 For these tabulations and for his activity as astrologer the king awarded him with nobility.

12 Another astrologer, Eustachius Candidus of Bologna, too, dedicated to Matthias his predictions for 1486—87 that came out in Rome in 1485 under the title „Judicium seu prognosticon".

13 Among the letters addressed to Matthias by the great humanist of Florence Marsilio Ficino, we find one about the subject

, Quantum astronomi metiuntur, tantum astrologi mentiuntur" (Astrologers lie as much as astronomers measure). Astrology is the main subject of the other work of Ficinus dedicated to King Matthias, the third part of ,,De triplici vita", too.

14 It was in the presence of King Matthias that Johannes Stercze de Quersh, a Pole like Ilkusz, disputed on questions of astronomy in 1468.

15 We might not be too rash to suppose there could be threads leading to the court of Buda with respect to the formation of the later Copernican, heliocentric view of the universe, as Platen's works in the Latin translation of Marsilius Ficinus had their place in the Corvinian Library with Timaios among them

16 where such ideas can be traced already. 6 Budapest, National Széchenyi Library, Clmae 412 7 Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, 69. 9. Aug. 2° 8 Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 44 9 Leningrad, Akadémia Nauk SSSR Leningradski Filial, LAFOKI R. IV. op. I, No. 935 10 Csapodi: Corvinian Library. Nos. 353, 354 11 Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, 84. I. Aug. 2° 12 Csapody-Gárdonyi, Klára: Tolhipff János, Mátyás király csillagásza. (János Tolhopff, astronomer to King Matthias.) Magyar Könyvszemle (in press) 13 Csapodi: Corvinian Library. No. 149 14 Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, 12. Aug. 4°; Firenze, Bibi. Medicea-Laurenziana, Plut. 73, Cod. 39 15 Csapodi: Corvinian Library. No. 358 16 Ibid. no. 506.