Chronicon Pictum

History of the chronicle

King Louis I of Hungary commissioned the Chronicon Pictum and the Secretum Secretorum, which were both produced in a Hungarian workshop. Miklόs Meggyesi, son of Hertul the court painter of Louis, has traditionally been identified as the illuminator, though there is no real evidence for this. The Illuminated Chronicle was written by Mark of Kalt (, ) in 1358 in Latin, with the last of the illuminations being finished between 1370 and 1373.

According to historian Bálint Hóman, the original source of all extant Hungarian chronicles was the lost Gesta Ungarorum, which was written in the time of King Saint Ladislaus. The basic premise of the Hungarian medieval chronicle tradition states that the Huns, i.e. the Hungarians, came out twice from the regions of Scythia, the guiding principle being the Hun-Hungarian continuity.

The chronicle was given by the Hungarian king Louis I to the French king Charles V, when the daughter of Louis, Catherine, was engaged to Charles's son Louis I, Duke of Orléans in 1374. The chronicle was later given to Serbian despot Đurađ Branković as a gift from the French king Charles VII. The chronicle was then copied in 1462. Between 1458 and 1490, it was kept in Hungary, in the court of King Matthias Corvinus. It was later lost, possibly spending some time in the possession of the Ottomans. There is evidence to suggest that in the second half of the 15th century the chronicle was again in Hungary, as it contains several handwritten Hungarian and Latin entries from the period. In three places researchers also found Turkish writing which make various comments regarding Hungary. Because of this, the researchers concluded that sometime between the 15th and 17th century the manuscript was owned by a Hungarian who knew Turkish very well. The chronicle may have been present in Vienna during the infamous Ottoman siege of the 16th century as from at least the 17th century, it belonged to the royal archives in Vienna. Sebastian Tengnagel mentions it in the manuscript catalog of the court library from 1608 to 1636, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the Vienna Illuminated Chronicle. As a result of the Venice Cultural Convention, the chronicle was returned to Hungary in 1934. The manuscript is now kept in the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary.

Illuminations

The 147 pictures of the chronicle represent a large source of information on medieval Hungarian cultural history, costume and court life, they're also the most important records extent of Hungarian painting practices in the 14th century. The artistic value is quite high, and the characters are drawn with detail and by artists with a knowledge of anatomy. The chronicle contains 147 miniatures: 10 larger images, 29 images in columns, smaller images painted in medallion shapes at the bottom of 4 pages, 99 images enclosed in initials, and 5 initials without images. In addition, there are 82 pieces of ornamental art painted in the margins.

The images are listed in the same order as their appearance in the chronicle.

References

References

1. "The Secretum Secretorum of Louis the Great".
2. Hóman, Bálint. (1925). "A magyar hún-hagyomány és hún-monda". Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
3. Dr. Szabados, György. (1998). "Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények, 102 (5-6)". MTA Irodalomtudományi Intézet (Institute for Literary Studies of Hungarian Academy of Sciences).
4. Pražák, Nechutová, Bartoňková. (1988). "Legendy a kroniky koruny Uherské (Legends and chronicles of Hungarian crown)". Nakladatelství Vyšehrad.
5. Dercsinyi, Dezső. (1964). "A Képes krónika és kora (The Chronicon Pictum and Its Age)".
6. CEU Press. (2018). "The Illuminated Chronicle: Chronicle of the Deeds of the Hungarians from the Fourteenth-Century Illuminated Codex".
7. Geréb. (1964). "Képes Krónika". Magyar Helikon.
8. Mark, Kalti. "Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum". Central European University Press, National Széchényi Library.
9. ''Mark of Kalt: Chronicon Pictum'' https://mek.oszk.hu/10600/10642/10642.htm