Encyclopaedia medica

This richly adorned codex describing minerals, plants and animals, was made for Sigismund’s older brother Wenceslas IV, presumably as a gift. From its decoration, the book is clearly a Lombard work, perhaps ordered by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, to whom Wenceslas, as German king, granted the title of prince. On the title page, the electors are lined up on each side of the king on his throne, and at the edge of the upper part of the page seven female figures represent the virtues. At bottom centre is an armorial shield originally bearing the spread-winged eagle of Wenceslas, to which the Hungarian national arms of Matthias Hunyadi have been added later. The codex came into Sigismund’s possession as part of Wenceslas’ library, which Sigismund is known to have brought to Buda after his brother’s death and his own coronation as King of Bohemia. It must then have passed to his royal successor Matthias.