The adventurous journey of Hungary’s oldest surviving poem

In addition to the founding letter of the Tihany Abbey (1055) and the Mortuary Speech and Prayer (1192–1195), Hungary’s third most precious literary and linguistic find is the Old Hungarian Lamentations for Mary. This is the oldest surviving Hungarian poem, which was rediscovered nearly a hundred years ago and had had a rather adventurous journey until it reached its present place at the National Széchényi Library.

According to 24, the poem, written in two columns and hidden in among 600 Latin sermons, was discovered in the so-called Leuven Codex in 1922.

The irony of fate is that its discovery and survival is linked to the German war barbarism.

During the First World War, when the Germans invaded Belgium, the library of the then-world famous University of Leuven – under unknown circumstances – was burned to the ground. As part of the post-war reparation, Germany had to partially replace the damaged collection of the codices of the library. This was when they purchased the codex from the antique shop of Jacques Rosenthalmünchen. The antiquarian purchased the codex in question in Italy in 1910 – so it is believed that the poem was written down by Hungarian students who studied at an Italian university.

During the Second World War, the Wehrmacht intentionally – following pre-planned orders – destroyed the university’s library. Fortunately, however, some manuscripts and codices – including the Leuven Codex – were put into a metal cabinet for later processing.

When they searched the ruins, they found out that the thick walls of the cabinet protected these relics from destruction.

The university was split in 1968, so the codex became the property of the French-speaking Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve. When they divided the library, they followed a very simple principle: works with even catalogue numbers went to one library and those with odd catalogue numbers went to another.

The Hungarian government had wanted to obtain the precious Hungarian cultural relic since 1923.

After realising that Hungary could only offer valuable exchange material for the Flemish Library, Professor István Muzslay, the director of the Collegium Hungaricum in Leuven, arranged that the codex would be re-instituted into the shelves of the University Library of Leuven. After lengthy negotiations, the Leuven Codex was finally received by Hungary in 1982 through an exchange agreement.