Illustrated Chronicle, Angevine Legendarium

Chronicler
King Béla III
Tartars
St Gerald legend
St Emeric legend
King St Ladislaus 1
Illustrated Chronicle

The codex contains the history of the Hungarian people from the Conquest till 1330, Charles I's campaign against Basarab in Wallachia. Mark Kálti started to compile the text of the chronicle in 1358. The copy was made at the royal chancellery together with the miniatures. The pictures represent the events of Hungarian history mentioned in the chronicle and - mostly idealised - portraits of princes and rulers. On the cover we can see King Louis I and his court. The painters were mostly Hungarian masters, who must have known the art of various Italian centers and Czech painting,too. The codex 'Pseudo-Aristoteles Secretum' (Oxford, Bodleian Library), which was copied for Louis I, was also made in the workshop of the Illustrated Chronicle. Only its cover page was decorated.

National Szechenyi Library, Budapest)

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Angevine Legendarium

The Hungarian Anjou Legendarium survived only in fragments. These are kept in three collections: in the Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica; in New York, Pierpont Morgan Library; St Petersburgh, Hermitage. The codex from the 1330s tells about the life of Christ, Mary, the apostles, the evangelists, the Roman martyrs and saints, the church fathers, the founders of orders, Hungarian saints and martyr virgins with the help of pictures. On the basis of the chosen saints we can presume that it was used for the education of a young prince. In all probability, it was made at the time when Charles I accompanied the child Prince Andrew to Naples in 1333. The contents of the book might have been compiled by learned Hungarian clergymen, but it was made in the workshop of the finest codex painter of the Bologne.

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