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10. Humanists in Hungarian and Hungarian Humanists

In 15th century Italy, there was a steady increasing interest in “humanist” studies. Humanist scholars devoted  themselves to studying and imitating classical literature, history and moral philosophy. Humanism was already known of in the Hungarian court of King Sigismund. The first person in Matthias’ circle who was inspired by the humanist approach was his tutor, János Vitéz. Vitéz learned of the new Italian culture only through books, but some of his contemporaries, including his nephew, the poet Janus Pannonius, completed their studies in Italy.

Humanists were assigned governmental and diplomatic duties in Hungary, where they displayed their abilities in the writing of letters and poetry, but they also found time to debate scholarly topics and hold symposia reviving the traditions of ancient Greece, where they propagated neo-Platonic philosophy, the updating of Platonic ideals. Bonfini recorded one such occasion for posterity.

Some Italian humanists, for a fee, produced scholarly works proclaiming the reputation of the King and his ancestors without even coming to Hungary. Such was Lodovico Carbone, who wrote a panegyric of Matthias. After Matthias’ marriage to Beatrice of Aragon, however, several eminent Italian humanists did visit Hungary. Filippo Buonaccorsi (Callimachus Experiens) wrote poems to the King and Queen, Taddeo Ugoletto was industrious on behalf of the royal library, Galeotto Marzio compiled a set of anecdotes recording the jests and habits of King Matthias, and two historians at the same time – Pietro Ransano and Antonio Bonfini – wrote the history of Hungary in the humanist spirit. Matthias’ chief counsellor on artistic affairs was Francesco Bandini of Florence, who had come to the court with Beatrice, and brought with him Filarete’s treatise on architecture.

Humanist script, with letters similar to those used today, started to spread alongside Gothic cursive script. Humanist and scholastic learning were not in irresoluble conflict, and both frequently appeared side by side in the same text. Even in Matthias’ time, therefore, humanism was a branch of scholarship confined to a narrow circle, mostly scholars with court connections who lived by royal patronage.