The ''Rerum Hungaricarum decades'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "Decades of Hungarian History") () is a Latin medieval chronicle from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

from 1497. The work was written by the Italian

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

Antonio Bonfini Antonio Bonfini (Latin variant: ''Antonius Bonfinius'') (1427‒1502) was an Italian humanist and poet serving as a court historian in Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpat ...

() who was commissioned by King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

of Hungary in 1488. Antonio Bonfini (1427–1502) made an invaluable contribution to Hungarian historiography with his work, which was considered the principal source on the subject in European academic circles until the late 1700s.

History of the chronicle

The Italian humanist Bonfini arrived at the court of King Matthias Corvinus in 1486. The Hungarian king entrusted him with a great literary project in 1488. After the death of Matthias, his successor, Vladislaus II, also recognized the importance of the work, allowing Bonfini to continue it intermittently until 1497. According to financial records of Vladislaus II, by 1494–95 the manuscript was nearing completion. These records include purchases of parchment for clean copies intended for the Corvina Library, and payments to Master Johannes, the scribe. By the end of the 15th century, the work was completed and added to the Corvina Library. Throughout the 16th century, several excerpts were copied, and at least one complete copy produced by multiple scribes is known to have existed. However, a printed edition of the entire work did not appear until 1568. The fate of the original Corvina codex remains a mystery, as its complete manuscript has been lost for centuries. Today, only three fragments are known: the first reached the Hungarian National Library in 1872, the second in 1923, and the third in 1975. It is believed that the full Bonfini Corvina consisted of four volumes, totaling over two thousand pages. Due to the limited surviving decoration, little is known about its original title page. Scholars speculate that, had the work been completed during the lifetime of King Matthias, it would have received lavish decoration and binding, similar to that of the Philostratus Corvina. Instead, the financial difficulties during the reign of King Vladislaus II and the decline of the Buda workshop resulted in a more modest presentation.

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* {{Hungarian literature 9th century in Hungary 10th century in Hungary 11th century in Hungary 12th century in Hungary 13th century in Hungary 1490s books 1497 books 14th century in Hungary 15th century in Hungary 15th-century books in Latin 15th-century history books 15th-century illuminated manuscripts History of Hungary History of the Hungarians Hungarian books Hungarian chronicles Kingdom of Hungary Medieval Kingdom of Hungary

History of the chronicle

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