Divine Comedy - Budapest Manuscript

Divine Comedy - Budapest Manuscript – Szegedi TudomĂ nyegyetem – Codex Italicus 1 – Egyetemi KönyvtĂĄr LorĂĄnd-Eötvös-University (Budapest, Hungary)

Venice (Italy) — Ca. 1345

A light version of Dante's Divina Commedia?: an abridged version of the Commedia with many as yet unsolved mysteries concerning its whereabouts in the approximately 500-year history of this unique manuscript

  1. Although incomplete, the illumination of the manuscript includes 94 colorful miniatures

  2. Originating in Northern Italy, it first made its way to the Hungarian court in Budapest

  3. After centuries in Constantinople, the manuscript was gifted back to Hungary in 1877

Divine Comedy - Budapest Manuscript

Codex Italicus 1 Egyetemi Könyvtår Lorånd-Eötvös-University (Budapest, Hungary)
  1. Description
  2. Facsimile Editions (1)
Description
Divine Comedy - Budapest Manuscript

This manuscript of the Commedia by Dante Alighieri is one of the oldest and most unique of its kind and contains an abridged version of the text that is not found anywhere else, making it a true unicum. Judging by the artistic style of its 97 miniatures, it is believed to have originated in Northern Italy during the 1340’s. It later came to Hungary before being taken to Constantinople, but the details of this turbulent period are unknown. What is known is that the precious and unique manuscript was returned to Hungary in 1877 as part of a gift from the Turkish sultan. Long neglected by researchers, the manuscript is now a source of debate among art historians and literary scholars who are trying to decipher what happened during the 500-year period from which no clear records have thus far been discovered.

Divine Comedy - Budapest Manuscript

This splendid manuscript of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (ca. 1265-1321) is not only one of the oldest but is also totally unique. The codex was probably created in the Veneto during the 1340’s, possibly for the Emo family, judging by a red shield with diagonal silver strips, making it one of the oldest Dante manuscripts. It contains an early, abridged version of Dante’s Commedia written in a Northern Italian dialect that is unique among the surviving specimens of the famous work as well as extracts from Liber de Amore by Albertano da Brescia (ca. 1195 – ca. 1251), an author of Latin social treatises and sermons. Although beautifully illuminated with 94 gorgeous, colorful miniatures, numerous initials, and drawings in the margins, neither the artists nor the location of their workshop has been clearly identified, but a Venetian master trained in Bologna seems the most likely candidate.

Images of Lucifer

Among the splendid illumination of the manuscript, two unusually large miniatures are dedicated to the depiction of Lucifer. They both express the power and greatness of the fallen angel: he is huge, hairy, has giant wings like a bat, and three dragons heads consuming sinners, but two of the three faces in both miniatures were rubbed off, presumably by a pious reader who was offended by the demonic depiction. The beholder can nevertheless make out that a single great crown covers all three heads. However, this Lucifer lacks many of the common features of other depictions: there is no horns, no forked tail, no clawed hands and feel. As such, the miniatures, although marred, are unique and fascinating.

Journey Across Eastern Europe

The manuscript later left Italy, possibly in 1379 as part of a ransom or simply looted during the war between Genoa and Venice, a conflict in which King Louis I of Hungary (1326-82) was involved on the side of the Genoese. It could also have been a gift by Giovanni Emo, who visited the Kingdom of Hungary several times as a Venetian ambassador, but its incomplete adornment makes this seems unlikely. Nevertheless, at some point the manuscript and made its way to Hungary where it presumably was a part of the famous Bibliotheca Corviniana, which was destroyed along with most of its collection in 1526 by the Turks after the disastrous Battle of MohĂĄcs. Only a few hundred manuscripts out of more than 3,000 were saved and taken back to Constantinople, but this unique Dante manuscript appears to have been among them. 350 years later, it was later gifted along with 34 other manuscripts in 1877 by the Turkish Sultan AbdĂŒlhamid II (1842-1918) to the Kingdom of Hungary, where it was inducted into the collections of the University Library in Budapest under the shelf mark Codex Italicus 1.

Codicology

Alternative Titles
Dante Alighieri - Göttliche Komödie - Codex Budapest
Dante Alighieri Commedia
Divine Comedy in Budapest
Size / Format
168 pages / 32.8 × 24.3 cm
Origin
Italy
Date
Ca. 1345
Style
Language
Script
Gothic Textura Rotunda
Illustrations
94 colorful miniatures; numerous initials and marginalia; 83 unfinished drawings
Content
Fol. 1r-78v: Dante's Divine Comedy
Fol. 79r-82v: extracts from Albertino da Brescia's Liber de Amore
Patron
Andrea Dandolo, Doge of Venice (1306–1354)
Artist / School

Available facsimile editions:
Divine Comedy - Budapest Manuscript – Szegedi TudomĂ nyegyetem – Codex Italicus 1 – Egyetemi KönyvtĂĄr LorĂĄnd-Eötvös-University (Budapest, Hungary)
Szegedi Tudomànyegyetem – Szeged, 2006
Limited Edition: 1200 copies
Facsimile Editions

#1 Dante Alighieri Commedia

Szegedi Tudomànyegyetem – Szeged, 2006

Publisher: Szegedi Tudomànyegyetem – Szeged, 2006
Limited Edition: 1200 copies
Binding: Comes with a sclipcase
Commentary: 1 volume by Gian Paolo Marchi and JĂłzsef PĂĄl
Languages: Italian, Hungarian
1 volume: This facsimile is not complete. Reproduction of the entire original document as detailed as possible (scope, format, colors). The binding does not correspond to the original or current document binding.
Facsimile Copy Available!
Price Category: €
(under 1,000€)
You might also be interested in:
Divine Comedy - Oratoriana Manuscript – Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani – CF 2 16 – Biblioteca Oratoriana dei Girolamini (Naples, Italy)
Divine Comedy - Oratoriana Manuscript
Naples (Italy) – 1350

Created in Naples and magnificently illuminated with no less than 146 Trecento miniatures: one of the oldest and most important manuscripts of the Dante tradition for an mysterious patron

Experience More
Divine Comedy - Florence-Milan Manuscript – Salerno Editrice – Ms. 1005|Ms. AG XII 2 – Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense (Milan, Italy) / Biblioteca Riccardiana (Florence, Italy)
Divine Comedy - Florence-Milan Manuscript
Veneto (Italy) – Second quarter of the 14th century

One of the oldest copies of the Divine Comedy and Jacopo della Lana's influential commentary on Dante's magnum opus: the two reunited fragments from the Riccardiana and Braidense libraries

Experience More
Dante Alighieri - Divine Comedy Paris-Imola – Imago – Italien 2017|ms. 76 – Bibliothùque nationale de France (Paris, France) / Biblioteca Comunale (Imola, Italy)
Dante Alighieri - Divine Comedy Paris-Imola
Milan (Italy) – 1430–1450

72 artistic, gold-decorated miniatures between naturalism and dreamy, fairytale-like imagery: one of the most richly illuminated manuscripts of Dante's famous Divine Comedy

Experience More
Divine Comedy - Pluteo 40.7 Manuscript – Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani – Ms. Pluteo 40.7 – Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Florence, Italy)
Divine Comedy - Pluteo 40.7 Manuscript
Italy – Second half of the 14th century

One of the earliest and most magnificently illuminated manuscripts of Dante's magnum opus: the Divine Comedy in more than 130 expressive Trecento and Quattrocento illuminations by four different masters

Experience More
Divine Comedy Codice Trivulziano 1080 – Editrice Velar – Cod. Triv. 1080 – Biblioteca Trivulziana del Castello Sforzesco (Milan, Italy)
Divine Comedy - Trivulziano 1080 Manuscript
Florence (Italy) – Ca. 1337

One of the oldest, finest, most important, and most sought-after Dante manuscripts to have survived to this day: the Codex Trivulziano 1080, named after a previous well-educated 19th-century owner

Experience More
Divine Comedy - Strozzi 152 Manuscript – Imago – Ms. Strozzi 152 – Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Florence, Italy)
Divine Comedy - Strozzi 152 Manuscript
Florence (Italy) – Second quarter of the 14th century

Adorned with three elaborate incipit pages by Pacino di Buonaguida and 49 unfinished yet marvelous bas-de-page miniatures: one of the finest specimens of Dante Alighieri's virtuoso masterpiece

Experience More
Blog articles worth reading
Filter selection
Publisher