Kezdetek: Megjegyzések a magyar nyelvű kódexek iniciáléihoz

This paper is the first attempt to analyse the painted initials of the late medieval codices written in Hungarian language for the nuns of the Dominican order from an art historical point of view. The study of these humble manuscripts was hardly accessible and if published, usually without colours. However, during the last decades many of them were published in facsimile editions, moreover, thirty-three of them are available online in full colour and one in black-an-white. This opens a new opportunity to study the manuscripts from art historical point of view. Based on the researches of Lea Haader, the activity of the scriptorium of the Dominican nuns of the Marguerite Island (now part of Budapest) can be divided to two main periods. In the 1510s the manuscripts connected to Kató Legéndy show an interest in decorative initials, although not on a professional level. The most famous personality of this scriptorium was Lea Ráskai, who avoided rich decoration. The only professionally decorated manuscript, the Winkler Codex was probably produced elsewhere. The second period is connected to the personality of Márta Sövényházy in the 1530s. The Érsekújvár Codex was partially written and illustrated by her. The sources of these coloured initials are two manuscripts connected to the Carthusian monastery of Lövöld: the Jordánszky Codex and the Érdy Codex. Previous research already compered these two manuscripts, but this research can be continued. It seems that although identical hands cannot be identified, the layers of the decoration of these two codices are connected and were probably painted in the same workshop. Texts of the Jordánszky Codex were copied in the Érsekújvár Codex; I try to prove that also the initials are related to each other. However, while the decoration of the Carthausian codices is professional work, the initials of the Dominican Érsekújvár Codex are amateurish. The only professional work from the same scriptorium is the Thewrewk Codex from 1531.