Jagelló-Matthias or pre-Reformation period (1437-1530).
About the year 1437 two Hussite monks named Tamás and Bálint (i.e. Thomas and Valentine) adapted from older sources a large portion of the Bible for the use of the Hungarian refugees in Moldavia. To these monks the first extant Magyar version of part of the Scriptures (the _Vienna_ or _Révai Codex_[68]) is directly assigned by Döbrentei, but the exact date either of this copy or of the original translation cannot be ascertained. With approximate certainty may be ascribed also to Tamás and Bálint the original of the still extant transcript, by George Németi, of the Four Gospels, the _Jászay_ or _Munich Codex_ (finished at Tátros in Moldavia in 1466), Amongst other important codices are the _Jordánszky Codex_ (1516-1519), an incomplete copy of the translation of the Bible made by Ladislaus Bátori, who died about 1456; and the _Döbrentei_ or _Gyulafehérvár Codex_ (1508), containing a version of the Psalter, Song of Solomon, and the liturgical epistles and gospels, copied by Bartholomew Halabori from an earlier translation (Környei, _A Magyar nemzeti irodalomtörténet vázlata_, 1861, p. 30). Other relics belonging to this period are the oath which John Hunyady took when elected governor of Hungary (1446); a few verses sung by the children of Pest at the coronation of his son Matthias (1458); the _Siralomének Both János veszedelmén_ (Elegy upon John Both), written by a certain "Gregori," as the initial letters of the verses show, and during the reign of the above-mentioned monarch; and the _Emlékdal Mátyás király halálára_ (Memorial Song on the Death of King Matthias, 1490). To these may be added the rhapsody[69] on the taking of "Szabács" (1476); the _Katalin-Legenda_, a metrical "Legend of St Catherine of Alexandria," extending to over 4000 lines: and the _Feddöének_ (Upbraiding Song), by Francis Apáthi.
In the next literary period (1530-1606) several translations of the Scriptures are recorded. Among these there are--versions of the Epistles of St Paul, by Benedict Komjáti (Cracow, 1533); of the Four Gospels, by Gabriel (Mizsér) Pesti (Vienna, 1536); of the New Testament, by John Erdösi (Ujsziget, 1541; 2nd ed., Vienna, 1574[70]), and by Thomas Félegyházi (1586); and the translations of the Bible, by Caspar Heltai (Klausenburg, 1551-1565), and by Caspar Károli (Vizsoly, near Göncz, 1589-1590). The last, considered the best, was corrected and re-edited by Albert Molnár at Hanau in 1608.[71] Heltai published also (1571) a translation, improved from that by Blasius Veres (1565), of the _Tripartitum_ of Verböczy, and _Chronika_ (1575) adapted from the _Decades_ of Bonfini. Karádi in 1569 brought to light the earliest national drama, _Balassi Menyhért_. Among the native poets, mostly mere rhyming chroniclers of the 16th century, were Csanádi, Tinódi, Nagy-Báczai, Bogáti, Ilósvay, Istvánfi, Görgei, Temesvári and Valkai. Of these the best and most prolific writer was Tinódi. Székely wrote in prose, with verse introduction, a "Chronicle of the World" under the title of _Cronica ez világnac yeles dolgairól_ (Cracow, 1559). Csáktornya and Kákony imitated the ancient classical poets, and Erdösi introduced the hexameter. Andrew Farkas and the homilist Peter Melius (Juhász) attempted didactic verse; and Batizi busied himself with sacred song and Biblical history. During the latter part of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th two poets of a higher order appeared in Valentine Balassa, the earliest Magyar lyrical writer, and his contemporary John Rimay, whose poems are of a contemplative and pleasing character.