codices, hymn, csízió (calendar), Hora - hora book

Trapezuntius codex
Augustinus codex
Bible binding
battle scene 2.
shepherds 1.
codices

Bigger, book-size, hand-written products of old literature. Most of them are religious books. The majority of them were written in Latin, but from the 15th century Hungarian codices also appeared.

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Hymn

Hymns are songs praising God. They were introduced to Latin liturgy by St Ambrose († 397), whose 12 hymns also survived. As a liturgical genre it belongs to the songs of the office. The structure of verses are identical within a verse, but the last verse is a credo about the Holy Trinity, called doxology.

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Csízió (calendar)

The 'csízió' is a calendar with poems, in which each month is represented by a two-line poem (so a year consists of 24 lines). Each syllable of the text represents a day. The peoms were compiled of the feasts of the month and the names of the saints or the first syllables of these. The Hungarian word 'csízió' originates from the Latin; it comes from the expression circumcisio Domini (the Lord's circumcision), which referred to the 1st of January.

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Hora, book of hours

Hora meant a special time, an hour during the day when the monks had to say obligatory prayers and offices. It originates from the Latin word 'hora'; and is the Latin equivalent of the Hungarian word 'óra" [hour]. The book of hours was the prayer book which contained these prayers and offices.

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