List of Hungarian chronicles

Last updated August 25, 2024

This is a list of Hungarian chronicles and related gestas and legends which treat early and medieval Hungarian history. The original source of all extant Hungarian chronicles was the lost Gesta Ungarorum , which was written in the 11th century.

The 14th-century Hungarian chronicle composition, which itself was produced by the compilation of several older gestas and chronicles made at different times,^[1]^[2] It narrates history from biblical times.^[3]

The manuscripts were compared to the Buda Chronicle and the Illuminated Chronicle from the perspective of the kinship of texts; thus, a group of other Hungarian chronicles were named after the Buda Chronicle: the so-called Buda Chronicle family. And another group of other Hungarian chronicles were named after the Illuminated Chronicle: the so-called Illuminated Chronicle family, which preserved more extensive passages of text with several interpolations. The 14th-century Acephalus Codex, the 15th-century Sambucus Codex, the Vatican Codex, and the aforementioned Dubnic Chronicle made in 1479 belong to the Buda Chronicle family.^[4]

List of Hungarian chronicles

Date	Name	Author	Language	Description
11th century	Ancient Gesta			The earliest Hungarian chronicle, its text was expanded and rewritten several times in the 12th–14th centuries.
1080	Greater Legend of Saint Stephen
1083	Lesser Legend of Saint Stephen
11th century	Life of King Stephen of Hungary by Hartvik	Bishop Hartvik
1100s	Gesta Ladislai regis
1200s	Gesta Hungarorum Latin for "The Deeds of the Hungarians"	Anonymus	Latin	The principal subject of the chronicle is the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin at the end of the 9th century, and it writes of the origin of the Hungarians, identifying the Hungarians' ancestors with the ancient Scythians and Huns.
1203	Annales Posonienses Latin for "Annals of Pozsony"
1220s–1230s	Hungarian–Polish Chronicle original title Cronica Ungarorum juncta et mixta cum cronicis Polonorum, et vita sancti Stephani Latin for "Chronicle of the Hungarians Attached to and Mixed with Chronicles of the Poles, and the Life of Saint Stephen"		Latin
Around 1243–1244	Carmen miserabile original title Carmen miserabile super destructione regni Hungariae per Tartaros Latin for "Sad Song for the Destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Tartars"	Master Roger	Latin	It was preserved in an appendix of the 15th-century Thuróczy Chronicle.
Around 1271	Gesta Stephani V	Magister Ákos
Around 1282–1285	Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum Latin for "Deeds of the Huns and Hungarians"	Simon of Kéza	Latin
1333–1334	Minorite Chronicle of Buda		Latin
14th century	14th-century Hungarian chronicle composition
1330	Anjou Legendarium		Latin	The medieval legendarium of more than 140 pages contains images and scenes of the life of Jesus, Hungarian bishop Saint Gerard, Prince Saint Emeric of Hungary, King Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary, and of many other legendary Christians.
1334	Zágráb Chronicle
1352–1353	Mügeln Chronicle	Heinrich von Mügeln	German
1358	Chronicon Pictum Latin for "Illuminated Chronicle" (Illuminated Chronicle family)	Mark of Kalt	Latin	The 147 pictures of the chronicle represent a large source of information on medieval Hungarian history.
1361	Chronicon Rithmicum	Heinrich von Mügeln
1374	Várad Chronicle
14th century	Long Life of Saint Gerard
14th century	Acephalus Codex (Buda Chronicle family)		Latin
14th century	Chronicon de Ludovico rege	John of Küküllő	Latin
14th century	Anonymus Minorita Chronica		Latin
14th century	Munich Chronicle
14th century	Kaprina Codex
1431	Csepreg Codex (Illuminated Chronicle family)
15th century	Sambucus Codex (Buda Chronicle family)		Latin
1460	Drági compendium
1462	Teleki Codex (Illuminated Chronicle family)
1473	Buda Chronicle original title Chronica Hungarorum Latin for "Chronicle of the Hungarians"	András Hess	Latin	The first book ever printed in Hungary. This book is the first example, that the printing history of a country begin with the publication of the history of a people.
1479	Dubnic Chronicle original title Chronica de gestis Hungarorum Latin for "Chronicle of the Deeds of the Hungarians" (Buda Chronicle family)
15th century	Knauz Chronicle
15th century	Szepesszombat Chronicle
	Chronicon Posoniense
15th century	Vatican Codex
15th century	Béldi Codex (Illuminated Chronicle family)
1488	Thuróczy Chronicle original title Chronica Hungarorum Latin for "Chronicle of the Hungarians" (Illuminated Chronicle family)	Johannes Thuróczy	Latin	The chronicle describes the history of Hungarians from the earliest times to 1487. The chronicle contains hand-colored woodcuts depicting 41 Hungarian kings and leaders. The Augsburg edition of the chronicle is the first known print made with gold paint.
1490	Epitome rerum Hungarorum Latin for "A Brief Summary of the History of the Hungarians"	Pietro Ranzano	Latin	The chronicle is the first Hungarian historical work with a humanist spirit.
1497	Rerum Hungaricarum decades Latin for "Decades of Hungarian History"	Antonio Bonfini	Latin	Up until the end of the 18th century, this work served as primary source for Hungarian history in the European academic thought.
1510	Legend of Saint Margaret
1527	Érdy Codex			The codex is the largest collection of Hungarian legends, and greatest volume of Hungarian language in history.
1534	Der Hungern Chronica original title Der Hungern Chronica, inhaltend wie sie anfengklich ins Land kommen sind, mit Anzeygung aller irer König, vnd was sie namhafftigs gethon haben. Angefangen von irem ersten König Athila, vn[d] volfüret biss auff König Ludwig, so im 1526. Jar bey Mohatz vom Türcken vmbekommen ist Old German for "The Chronicle of the Hungarians, Which Includes the History of Their Conquest, Presents All Their Kings and What Remarkable Things They Accomplished. From Their First King, Attila, to King Louis, Who Met His Death at Mohács in 1526 by the Turks"	Hans Hauge zum Freistein	German
1543/1566	Tarih-i Üngürüs Ottoman Turkish for "The History of the Hungarians"	Mahmud Tercüman	Ottoman Turkish	Mahmud Tercüman translated it from a Hungarian chronicle found after the Siege of Székesfehérvár in 1543.
1559	Székely Chronicle original title Chronica ez vilagnak jeles dolgairol Hungarian for "Chronicle About the Famous Events of the World"	István Székely	Hungarian
1575	Heltai Chronicle original title Chronica az magyaroknac dolgairol: mint iöttek ki a nagy Scythiábol Pannoniaban, Es mint foglaltac magoknac az orſzagot: Es mint birtác aßt Herczegröl Herczegre: Es Kiralyrol Kiralyra, nagy ſok tuſakodaſockal es ſzamtalan ſoc viadallyockal Old Hungarian for "Chronicle About the Deeds of the Hungarians: How They Came Out From Scythia to Pannonia, and How They Conquered the Country for Themselves: And How They Ruled It From for Prince to Prince, and From King to King, With Many Great Battles and Numerous Fights"	Gáspár Heltai	Hungarian
1664	Nádasdy Mausoleum original title Mausoleum potentissimorum ac gloriosissimorum Regni Apostolici Regum et primorum militantis Ungariae Ducum Latin for "The Mausoleum of the Most Powerful and Glorious Apostolic Kingdom and the Kings and Military Leaders of Hungary"	Count Ferenc Nádasdy	Latin, German	The chronicle contains 60 full-page images of Hungarian kings and leaders.
1740	Macar Tarihi Ottoman Turkish for "Hungarian History"		Ottoman Turkish

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ügyek</span>

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The Tarih-i Üngürüs is a 16th-century Ottoman Turkish chronicle treating the history of the Hungarians. Its author Mahmud Tercüman translated it from a Latin chronicle found after the siege of Székesfehérvár in 1543. According to the scientific point of view, this work was a late 15th-century chronicle, Johannes de Thurocz's Chronica Hungarorum. Since it provides different information on Hungarian prehistory compared to the Hungarian chronicles on several points, there is also a fringe theory according to which the author found and translated the lost Urgesta or "ancient gesta", the earliest chronicle of the Hungarians.

References

↑ András, Hess; Horváth, János; Soltész, Zoltánné (1973). Chronica Hungarorum 1473 (in Hungarian). Budapest: Magyar Helikon.
↑ Farkas, Gábor Farkas; Varga, Bernadett, eds. (2023). Chronica Hungarorum 1473 (Fakszimile kiadás és kísérőkötet) [Chronica Hungarorum 1473 (Facsimile edition and accompanying volume)] (in Latin and Hungarian). Budapest: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár (National Széchény Library). ISBN 978-963-200-723-6.
↑ Spychała, Lesław (2010). "Chronicon Budense [Chronica Hungarorum]". In Dunphy, Graeme (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle . Leiden: Brill. pp. 313–314. ISBN 90-04-18464-3.
↑ Domanovszky, Sándor (1902). "A Budai krónika" [The Buda Chronicle](PDF). Századok (in Hungarian). Budapest: Athenaeum.

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[Budai_kronika_1973-1] András, Hess; Horváth, János; Soltész, Zoltánné (1973). Chronica Hungarorum 1473 (in Hungarian). Budapest: Magyar Helikon.

[Budai_kronika_2023-2] Farkas, Gábor Farkas; Varga, Bernadett, eds. (2023). Chronica Hungarorum 1473 (Fakszimile kiadás és kísérőkötet) [Chronica Hungarorum 1473 (Facsimile edition and accompanying volume)] (in Latin and Hungarian). Budapest: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár (National Széchény Library). ISBN 978-963-200-723-6.

[Spychała-3] Spychała, Lesław (2010). "Chronicon Budense [Chronica Hungarorum]". In Dunphy, Graeme (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle . Leiden: Brill. pp. 313–314. ISBN 90-04-18464-3.

[Domanovszky_Budai_kronika-4] Domanovszky, Sándor (1902). "A Budai krónika" [The Buda Chronicle](PDF). Századok (in Hungarian). Budapest: Athenaeum.

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v t e Hungarian literature
The list is by chronological order.
Early sources	Old Hungarian script Establishing charter of the abbey of Tihany Urgesta Funeral Sermon and Prayer Anonymus (notary of Béla III) Gesta Hungarorum Ákos (chronicler) Simon of Kéza Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum Lamentations of Mary
14th century	Minorite Chronicle of Buda John of Küküllő Mark of Kalt Chronicon Pictum
15th century	John Vitéz Hussite Bible Janus Pannonius Johannes Thuróczy Codex of Bécs Codex of Munich Zirc Bestiary Buda Chronicle Chronica Hungarorum Epitome rerum Hungarorum
15th – 16th century	Antonio Bonfini Gáspár Heltai Nicolaus Olahus
16th century	Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos Tripartitum Érdy Codex Péter Bornemisza Bálint Balassi
16th – 17th century	Péter Pázmány
17th century	Miklós Zrínyi István Gyöngyösi Nádasdy Mausoleum
17th – 18th century	Kelemen Mikes
18th century	József Kármán
18th – 19th century	Ferenc Kazinczy János Batsányi Mihály Fazekas Sándor Kisfaludy Mihály Csokonai Vitéz Dániel Berzsenyi Károly Kisfaludy Ferenc Kölcsey István Széchenyi József Katona
19th century	Mihály Vörösmarty József Bajza János Garay József Eötvös Ede Szigligeti Zsigmond Kemény János Arany Mihály Tompa Sándor Petőfi Imre Madách János Vajda Gergely Csiky
19th – 20th century	Mór Jókai Kálmán Mikszáth Elek Benedek Zoltán Ambrus Sándor Bródy Géza Gárdonyi Ferenc Herczeg Ignotus Miklós Bánffy Endre Ady Miksa Fenyő Ferenc Molnár Gyula Krúdy Dezső Szabó Zsigmond Móricz Ferenc Móra Menyhért Lengyel Margit Kaffka Lajos Nagy Gyula Juhász Mihály Babits Károly Kós Géza Gyóni Béla Balázs Árpád Tóth Géza Csáth Dezső Kosztolányi Lajos Kassák Frigyes Karinthy Lajos Áprily Milán Füst József Nyírő Sándor Reményik Lajos Zilahy Tibor Déry Béla Hamvas Sándor Szathmári Áron Tamási János Kodolányi
20th century	István Fekete Lőrinc Szabó Sándor Márai László Németh Antal Szerb Gyula Illyés Jolán Földes Sándor Török Jenő Rejtő Attila József Albert Wass Miklós Szentkuthy Mária Szepes Géza Képes Miklós Radnóti István Örkény Géza Ottlik László Kálnoky Sándor Weöres Iván Mándy Ferenc Karinthy János Pilinszky Ágnes Nemes Nagy László Nagy Éva Janikovszky Péter Zsoldos Ervin Lázár Gáspár Nagy
20th – 21st century	György Faludy Magda Szabó András Sütő Ferenc Juhász Sándor Kányádi Imre Kertész Gábor Görgey Sándor Csoóri Anna Jókai György Konrád György Moldova István Csukás Tamás Cseh Péter Esterházy György Károly Erno Polgar
Contemporary	Ágnes Gergely László L. Lőrincz Endre Kukorelly Péter Nádas György Spiró Ádám Nádasdy Miklós Vámos Zsuzsa Rakovszky Béla Markó Lajos Parti Nagy László Krasznahorkai Attila Bartis György Dragomán
Category:Hungarian writers