Őstulok vagy bölény? : Az itáliai nemesek és a magyarországi fenevad (Adalékok a középkori magyarország faunájához) = Wild bull (bos primigenius) or bison (bison iubatus)? : Italian nobles and Hungary’s wild beast (data on the fauna of medieval Hungary)

E. Kovács, Péter (2005) Őstulok vagy bölény? : Az itáliai nemesek és a magyarországi fenevad (Adalékok a középkori magyarország faunájához) = Wild bull (bos primigenius) or bison (bison iubatus)? : Italian nobles and Hungary’s wild beast (data on the fauna of medieval Hungary). TÖRTÉNELMI SZEMLE, 47 (1-2). pp. 89-98. ISSN 0040-9634

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Abstract

Hungarian medievalists are not as fortunate as their counterparts in western Europe when it comes to writing about the everyday lives of people. It seems that in medieval Hungary, reports offering insights into everyday life were compiled only in small numbers. Thankfully, however, historians have access to illuminating archaeological findings. The primary aim of this study is to offer direction to archaeologists by publishing a previously unknown account in full. The source in question is to be found in the State Archives in Mantua; it was written by Lodovico da Bagno, familiaris of Hippolit Estei (archbishop of Eger), and was addressed to Isabella d’Este, marchioness of Mantua and one of the most fascinating individuals of the era. In his collection of regesta, Lipót Óváry mentioned that in the game park of Tamás Bakócz, archbishop of Esztergom, there lived a peculiar beast, whose image Bagno had already sent to Federico II of Gonzaga, who subsequently became Marquis of Mantua. Based on the original document and other source extracts, we may discount the idea that the animal was a wild bull (bos primigenius). Instead, the animal seen by the Italian nobleman is highly likely to have been a maned bison (bison iubatus). The correspondence of this Italian resident of Hungary reveals many other facets of cultural history, because on several occasions people living for shorter or longer periods in Hungary were asked to send horses, falcons and animal furs to Italy.

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