St Catherine of Alexandria's legend in verse, Érsekújvár codex
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The story of the martyrdom of the medieval saint was written down in the 10th century. The story of her sufferings was supplemented with additional stories in the 13th century about her conversion, then her birth. There were numerous differing versions of the story, and many of them were legends in verse. The 4074-line Hungarian translation was preserved in the Érsekújvár codex copied by Martha Sövényházi. It was written in 8-syllable couplet rhymes, in good rhythm, but it deteriorated as it was copied several times.
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rsekújvár codex
This has a mixed content. The Hungarian manuscript was compiled between 1529 and 1531 in the Dominican nunnery on the Island of Hares (Margaret Island). The greater part of it was copied by Martha Sövényházi. It contains pericopes from the gospels, reflections, prayers, legends, parables and sermons. Its sources were the apocryphal Nicodemus gospel, the speeches of Ludolphus de Saxonia, Pelbárt Temesvári and Vincentius Ferrer, the Legenda aurea and the Gesta Hungarorum. Its passions are decorated with simple miniatures. Its most important chapter is Catherine of Alexandria's legend in verse. It was discovered by John Czech in 1833 in the Franciscan library of Érsekújvár. The Superior, Pantaleo Golessényi presented it to the library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1851. Edition: Érsekújvár codex. Edited by Gorge Volf. Budapest, 1888. (Collection of Linguistic Monuments 9-10).
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