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)

MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC MANUSCRIPTS OF THE CORVINIAN LIBRARY CSABA CSAPODI AVhenever the Corvinian Library is mentioned, people tend to think of a splendidly furnished library full of codices of glamouring beauty. That is right but not enough. Similarly, thinking of the particular books, the survived pieces of the library stock, most people are convinced that they cannot but be some extraordinarily beautiful works of art. It is often so but not always, as there are rather plain items as well. The image that seems to have taken root somehow is that King Matthias merely wanted to enhance the magnificence of his court and following other rulers, besides precious gold and silver works he surrounded himself also with book masterpieces for that was the custom, that was appropriate for a great king, while too much importance was not attached to the content of the books. Scientific research itself has contributed, involuntarily though, to the establishment of this false picture, since for decades long it has been pursued nearly exclusively in the field of art history. The Corvinian manuscripts have been examined first of all from an artistic point of view. Much effort has been spent upon the investigation of the illuminators, the bindings, the workshops whence the books came, of the origine and relations of their style, also the quality of their execution has been appreciated, in the meantime the content of the manuscripts has not been payed too much attention.

1 A book, however, even the most beautiful one, is in the first place the carrier of some spiritual creation, its content. The purpose of making a book is to express this content. The attractive exterior serves merely as a worthy frame, a form of appearance. Nor should the library be regarded only as a collection of objects of artistic value but as a spiritual treasury, we might as well say arsenal which develops, carries, establishes and mirrors at the same time the education, the cultural attitudes and spiritual interests of a certain period. So if we want to see the Corvinian Library and its manuscripts in the light of historical reality, we must look at them according to the above point of view. The Bibliotheca Corviniana

2 was not only a royal library but a humanistic library as well. Appropriate in its material for the universal ideal of humanism, the ,,uomo universale". Exterior beauty was just a consequence of the Renaissance being unable to conceive even of the book, of the library otherwise than in an aesthetic appearance, under the rule of the beautiful. 1 An exception is István Borzsák's study: Die Tacitus-Handschriften der Bibliotheca Corviniana. Az Egyetemi Könyvtár évkönyvei. (Annals of University Library.) I. Bp. 1962. 141—156 p. 2 Csapodi, Csaba: The Corvinian Library. History and Stock, Budapest, 1973.; Csapodi, Csaba—CsapodiGárdonyi, Klára Bibliotheca Corviniana. The Library of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. 2. rev. ed. Budapest 1981