Scholarly research into early Hungarian poetry has so far aimed at the thorough investigation of the literary, historical and metrical aspects of poetic texts from the 16th century or before. It has also treated its relations with European cultural history, but it has failed to trace all the melodies relevant to these texts and treat them with musicological respect. Hungarian poetry in the 16th century is, however, a literature of songs in its integrity: nearly all the words of the verses were sung, which was in conformity not only with the general customs of the time but with the idiosyncratic ancient traditions of Hungarian poetry as well. The texts usually survived without musical notation in the sources. Nevertheless, there is a reference to the melody practically above each text it generally was, or could be, sung with, except for the pieces known to be permanently linked with a specific melody. It is evident that the research into the history of literature focusing on texts without the knowledge of melodies could not yield comprehensive results. The inner historical correlations, the cultural relations with the neighboring peoples, the emerging metrical problems and, last but not least, the relationship between literature, folk poetry and folk music call for the systematic study of melodies. In this respect, the history of literature and the history of music are interdependent.