Prayer Book of Queen Beatrice of Aragon
Libellus Precum Beatricis Reginae
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus.
Our renderingHail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.
What it is
A small personal devotional manuscript (10.5 × 7.6 cm) created for Beatrice of Aragon, Queen of Hungary, containing Marian prayers compiled from texts attributed to Saint Bonaventure, written entirely in gold chrysography on parchment. The miniature of Christ and the elaborately decorated incipit page reflect the finest Italian Renaissance craftsmanship transplanted to the Buda court. It served as the queen's intimate private prayer companion, portable enough to carry through the castle. Now preserved in the Benedictine Abbey of Melk, Austria, shelfmark 1845, where it has remained since the post-Mohács dispersal of Hungarian court treasures.
Why it still matters
The Bonaventuran Marian prayers in this codex, centred on the Hail Mary and meditative salutations to Mary, remain directly accessible to any Catholic or Anglican seeking a medieval Marian prayer tradition.
Kept alongside
Breviary of Matthias Corvinus
Breviarium Matthiae Corvini Regis Hungariae
This monumental 597-folio breviary was illuminated by Attavante degli Attavanti for Matthias Corvinus between 1487 and 1492, and was explicitly conceived for liturgical use in the royal chapel of Buda Castle. It is one of the finest products of the Bibliotheca Corviniana, featuring elaborate Renaissance frontispieces, marbled columns, and a barrel-vault architectural frame. Though never fully completed and delivered during Matthias's lifetime — remaining instead in Italy — it represents the king's aspirations for his court's sacred liturgical life. It is now held in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana as Urb. lat. 112.
Psalterium Davidis (Beatrice Psalter of the Corvina)
Psalterium Davidis cum Canticis, Litaniis et Orationibus
This intimate psalter was produced in Buda between 1479 and 1481 for Queen Beatrice of Aragon, consort of Matthias Corvinus, with the opening page illuminated by Florentine master Francesco Rosselli during his documented residency in Buda. The codex (224 parchment leaves) contains the full Psalterium with Canticles, Te Deum, Litanies, and Prayers — a complete personal devotional office. The Aragonese arms of Beatrice's natal house appear prominently. It is now held at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, as Cod. Guelf. 39. Aug. 4°, confirming its direct Corvinus court provenance.
Missal of Matthias Corvinus (Brussels Missal)
Missale Romanum dictum Matthiae Corvini
Produced in Florence between 1485 and 1487, this lavishly illuminated Roman Missal (431 folios, 40 × 28 cm) was commissioned by Matthias Corvinus for the royal chapel at Buda Castle. Attavante signed his work on the altar illustration folio with the date 1485, and the coat of arms of Matthias and Queen Beatrice of Aragon appears throughout. It contains the full Temporal, Sanctoral, and votive mass cycles. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Mary of Hungary took it with the rest of the royal chapel's treasures to Brussels, where it remains today in the Bibliothèque royale de Belgique as KBR ms. 9008.