The sources of a forgotten panegyric: Ioannis Hunniadae res bellicae contra Turcas

Abstract

Although the name of Elias Corvinus (lived in the 16th century) is not unknown by the Neo-Latin sciences, the main work of Corvinus, the Ioannis Hunniadae res bellicae contra Turcas, is not dealt with yet by the international or national research, whereas the author had significant Hungarian connections and the goal of his panegyric in question was to sing of the warlike acts of John Hunyadi made against the Turks. This publication may pay off a part of the debt. When searching for the sources of the epic, it reveals the literary and historical works used during its creation and the relationships between them and the poem. After the enumeration of the classical reminiscences, the presentation of the parallels of the poem with Alessandro Cortese’s De laudibus bellicis Matthiae Corvini regis Hungariae and Antonio Bonfini’s Rerum Hungaricarum decades.