„És én teérted mit érdemlek?”: A Jókai-kódex keletkezése és egy latin himnusz magyar fordítása („Et ego quid demerui?”)

This study re-examines the philological context, dating, and textual history of the Jókai Codex (Budapest, OSZK, MNy 67), the earliest surviving manuscript written entirely in Hungarian, with a primary focus on the textual unit titled Feszületnek imádkozásáról (On praying to the crucifix). This section contains a literal Hungarian prose translation of the Latin hymn Et ego quid demerui. By conducting a thorough watermark analysis of the manuscript’s paper—specifically identifying the three-mount watermark (PPO 16-2-229) alongside Briquet 6306—the paper corrects previous dating hypotheses (such as 1438 or 1448) and establishes a copying date around 1445 (c. 1443–1460). Furthermore, a textual critical examination comparing the Hungarian translation with both Bartholomaeus de Pisis’s Liber de conformitate (1390/1399) and independent Latin manuscript variants demonstrates that the Hungarian translator worked directly from an independent version of the hymn rather than the Liber de conformitate of Bartholomaeus. Because the earliest independent Latin witness of the hymn dates to 1383–1385 (London, BL, Royal 7.A.VI), the original Hungarian translation can be situated shortly after 1385, likely around 1400. Consequently, the paper proposes revising the traditional “1372/1448” dating of the codex to “1400/1445” (translation/ copying). Finally, the study explores the reception history of the hymn, tracing how a local cult developed around its text and a thirteenth-century Franciscan crucifix (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Inv. 10083, by the Maestro dei Crocifissi Francescani) in the Basilica of San Francesco in Bologna during the late 16th and 17th centuries.