Mikó Árpád szerk.: Reneissance year 2008 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/1)

EDIT MADAS, FERENC FÖLDESI: Star in The Raven's Shadow. János Vitéz and the Beginnings of Humanism in Hungary

The first Hungarian printed book: Chronica Hungarorum of Andreas Hess. 1

473 Budapest, Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár, Inc. 326. It may be inferred that the opening of the university was related to the appearance in Hungary of the most modern "institution" of the time, printing. Andreas Hess, born in Germany, studied printing in Italy. He was there in 1470-71 when László Kárai, Provost of Buda, invited him to Hungary. Kárai was only an intermediary in this; he was acting on behalf of Vitéz. Hess came to Buda, but his venture was somewhat risky. The very new technique did not attract bibliophile collectors at the beginning, and the very modest early printed books could not compete aesthetically with illuminated codices written on parchment. But it was politics which put paid to the printing press. Hess started to work in Hungary just when his patron fell out of favour, and died shortly afterwards. His most significant product, the Chronica Hungarorum, came out in 1473. He also published a Xenophon-Basilius Magnus book before leaving the country. The printing press disappeared without trace, the university petered out, Vitéz' library was scattered, and the historical memory of this extraordinary individual fell into the shadow of the raven. But the scholar-prelate rightly earned the term coined by the humanists who sought his favour, the "Light of Hungary". He set the model for the Bibliotheca Corviniana, and he dominated cultural affairs in the kingdom for several decades. He was the outstanding figure among Hungarian intellectuals of the time, forced to work on the fringes of Europe, far from the cultural centres, but forged virtue out of this political, geopolitical and cultural disadvantage, setting up institutions which stand up by any European standard.