Textmanuscripts

27 manuscripts

		BARTHOLOMEUS DE SANCTO CONCORDIO [Bartolomeus Pisanus], Summa de casibus conscientiae In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment France, Avignon?, c. 1380-1400

		This is a large, neatly written copy on parchment of one of the most popular casuistic texts of the later Middle Ages, Bartholomeus de Sancto Concordio's "Little Pisan Summa," which belongs to the new generation of penitential writings that were much impregnated by canon law. Extremely popular, existing in hundreds of manuscripts, the majority of which are of Italian origin, the text is relatively rare in France, and it evidently exists in fewer than a dozen copies in North American collections. The work has surprisingly never been the subject of a modern critical edition.

		[Register of Toll Charges for Tarascon, Lo registre del peage de Tarascon] In Provençal with some Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment Southern France, Provence (Tarascon-sur-Rhône), c. 1385-1400

		Earliest known copy of the toll registers for Tarascon in southern France in an original binding and written in Provençal, which in itself renders the manuscript extremely scarce. Of immeasurable importance for the history of local taxation and commerce and for philological and linguistic studies, the present manuscript - a working copy for daily use - differs, sometimes substantially, from the edited, and later, record of the text.

		PETRUS DE UBALDIS IUNIOR [PETRUS DE PERUSIO], attr. [Commentarium super Decretales Gregorii IX or Lectura super quibusdam titulis lib. II. Decretalium Gregorii IX] In Latin, manuscript on paper Northern Italy, perhaps Perugia?, first quarter of the 15th c.

		Unrecorded and unedited copy of a commentary on Book II of the Decretals of Gregory IX, attributed by Petrus de Perusio, most likely Petrus de Ubaldis Junior from an important Perugian family of canonists. The commentary on the successive casi taken from Book II of the Decretals is attributed to Petrus de Perusio at the foot of a significant number of columns. Further study of the relationship of the manuscript to other commentaries by the same author, as well as those by his presumed father (Petrus de Ubaldis Senior) and uncle (Baldus de Ubaldis), would help disentangle the manuscript tradition of these interrelated glosses.

		Vegetius, De re militari or Epitoma rei militaris In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper Germany, ca. 1400-1440

		This treatise on warfare written in the late fourth century by Vegetius was widely copied in the Middle Ages and translated into French, Italian, English, German, and Spanish. From Antiquity to modern times, it enjoyed great popularity. The present fifteenth-century copy is noteworthy not only for its excellent condition, but also for the careful contemporary corrections to the text; it is besides one of the very few not studied by the modern editor, M. Reeve. Although numerous medieval copies of the text survive, only four are recorded in American libraries, and worldwide very few copies are in private collections.

		GONÇALES DE VEGA, Gonçalo [Notario de Avila] In Spanish and Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Spain, Avila, dated August 1415]

		An interesting historical document, intact, in its original attractive green-dyed binding, and of relatively luxurious composition, with gold leaf illumination. Recording in extensive detail a land dispute and penned by a royal secretary, the codex has considerable linguistic interest (the language is Castilian Spanish) and legal import for the region of Avila under the reign of King Ferdinand I.

		BERNARDUS CLAREVALLENSIS, Sermones super cantica canticorum [Sermons on the Song of Songs] In Latin, decorated manuscript on parchment The Netherlands? or Belgium?, dated 30 January 1416

		Interesting dated monastic manuscript of Saint Bernard’s most important work. Although existing in a large number of manuscripts and early printed editions, Bernard’s mystically evocative text is nonetheless relatively rare on the market in the last century and is found in surprisingly few North American libraries. This copy bears many codicological features that would be revealing for a further study of its production and use.

		[JOHANNES GENESIUS QUAGLIA DE PARMA], De conflictu viciorum In Latin and Italian, manuscript on paper [Northern Italy, circa 1425-1450]

		Rare manuscript of an uncommon text on the virtues and vices (only one other copy is known), mixing Latin prose and Italian verse, by a Franciscan author who is considered a “Christian humanist” and was much influenced by John of Wales.

		GREGORIO D’ALESSANDRIA, Confessione generale or Trattato o formola di confessione In Italian and Latin, manuscript on parchment [Northern Italy, perhaps Ferrara or Venice, c. 1450]

		In a beautiful original binding, this manuscript preserves a very rare work by a little-known Italian preacher, cleric, and theologian, Gregorio d’Alessandria of the Order of the Augustinian Hermits. Never printed, this penitential manual exists in only two other copies, both in Italian libraries, and there is no critical edition. Its compact format is typical of works of this genre, made for daily and private use, and its early date suggests that it may have been transcribed during or just after the author’s lifetime.

		[Statuti della Compagnia dei Brentatori di Bologna] [Statutes regulating the Wine Trade and Transportation in Bologna] In Italian, manuscript on parchment Italy, Bologna, after 1416, c. 1450

		Apparently unpublished and possibly unique copy of the Statutes and recommendations regulating the wine trade and transportion in 15^th century Bologna, this handsome manuscript contributes to the history of guilds in Emilia Romagna, as well as to the history of everyday commerce, taxation, municipal supplies, and victuals. Likely based on a still-unidentified Latin source, the manuscript merits further study in comparison to the holdings in Italian archives. It offers fascinating information and interesting anecdotes on the sale and use of wine in medieval Italy.

		ABBA MARI BEN MOSES ASTRUC OF LUNEL, Minhat Kenaot [Jealous Offering] In Hebrew, manuscript on paper [Northern Italy, Sermide [Mantua], signed and dated 6 Tammuz 5218 [1458]]

		One of only five manuscripts of a collection of letters and pamphlets in the important medieval controversy over the philosophy of Maimonides, the only manuscript of the small group that is dated and bears a colophon, the latter by a scribe who may also have been a wealthy Jewish patron in Mantua. The present manuscript differs significantly from the Pressburg edition and also from two of the other four manuscripts, which present variants.

		SANCTUS CYPRIANUS CARTHAGINENSIS, Epistulae et varia opera In Latin, manuscript on parchment [Italy, northern? c. 1460-1475]

		Attractive unrecorded humanist copy of Cyprianus's Correspondence accompanied by at least fourteen other works, unsigned but written by an individualistic and accomplished scribe and handsomely decorated, with many variations from the editio princeps of 1471 and with marginal notes and annotations that merit further study.

		GREGORIUS MAGNUS, Dialogi [Dialogues in the Second Middle Dutch Translation] In Dutch, decorated manuscript on parchment and paper The Netherlands, Utrecht?, c. 1460

		One of only five manuscripts offering a complete text of the Second Middle Dutch translation of Gregory’s Dialogi, one of the classic texts of the Middle Ages. Still unedited, this version of the Dutch translation of the Dialogi presents interesting dialectical questions, still to be elucidated, and is probably tied to the Devotio Moderna. Copied in the fifteenth century, the present copy was completed in the later sixteenth century, when it acquired its elegant Dutch roll-stamped binding.

		MARTINUS POLONUS [MARTIN OF TROPPAU or OPPAVIENSIS], Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum [Italian translation: Cronica degli pontifici e degli imperatori In Italian, decorated manuscript on paper Italy, Veneto [Vicenza], dated 1472

		Dated copy of Martin of Troppau’s tremendously popular Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum in an Italian translation written by an unrecorded scribe, Dom Lodovigo da Cha da Fan, who was perhaps also its translator. There is no modern critical edition, and the relationship between the vernacular and the Latin copies remains to be fully studied (among the hundreds of extant Latin manuscripts only 5 copies are recorded in North American collections).

		THOMAS AQUINAS, Compendium theologiae; HUGH OF ST. VICTOR, Adnotationes in psalmos; WERNER ROLEWINCK, Regimen rusticorum In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper and parchment, and printed text Germany (Cologne?), c. 1475-1500

		A very handsome fifteenth-century volume, most likely from Cologne, in a striking original panel-stamped binding. The volume includes Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium theologiae, a text which survives in numerous copies in institutional libraries, but which only rarely has been available for sale; the Schoenberg database lists only four other copies, all sold before 1912. The manuscript also includes a popular commentary on the Psalms by Hugh of St. Victor, and a contemporary printed text by Werner Rolewinck.

		ABRAHAM IBN EZRA, Sefer ha-Mispar [Book of Numbers] and Hokhmat ha-Mispar [Science of Numbers] In Hebrew, manuscript on Paper [Balkans or Turkey, mid to late fifteenth century]

		Compendium of two important Hebrew works on arithmetic, both attributed to a major Jewish scholar of the twelfth century instrumental in bringing Arabic ideas to the West through Spain. The first treatise introduces the decimal system to western Europe. It is extant in 11 manuscripts, last edited in the nineteenth century without its final chapter. The second treatise is entirely unpublished and exists only in a single other, incomplete, copy.

		[Devotional Miscellany] including [PSEUDO-BONAVENTURA], Instructio sacerdotis ad se preparandum ad celebrandum missam; Prayers for the celebration of the Mass including JOHANNES FISCANNENSIS, Oratio dicta s. Ambrosii; HENRICUS SUSO, Centum meditationes etc. In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper Germany, Moselle? Westphalia?, c. 1480-1490

		Thematically organized around Eucharistic Devotion and the Celebration of Mass, this miscellany compiled for the use of priests was perhaps copied in reaction to the reform movement known as the Devotion Moderna. Appealing to different needs and sensibilities among the community of priests, the manuscript survives intact in its contemporary unrestored Louvain-style binding with original pastedowns.

		CARAFA, Diomede (1406?-1487), De boni principis officiis [De regentis et boni principis officiis], translation from the Italian by Battista Guarini In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment Italy, Ferrara (or perhaps Naples?), after 1473, c. 1480-1500

		Handsomely illuminated and elegantly written, this previously unknown humanist manuscript contains a copy of a text on governing by the Neapolitan Diomede Carafa in its second Latin translation signed by the humanist scholar Battista Guarini. Four other recorded manuscripts are in public institutions in Italy. This copy was most likely made in Ferrara where the dedicatee and commissioner of the translation, Eleonora de Aragon, held court and helped govern the Duchy--hence her interest in political treatises on the art of governing.

		JACOBUS DE CESSOLIS, Le jeu des eschaz moralizé [French translation from the Latin by Jean Ferron of the Liber super ludo scaccorum] In French, decorated manuscript on paper Northern France or Belgium, Hainaut? Namur?, c. 1485-1500

		This is one of only 10 manuscripts of a group A’ of the Jean Ferron translation into French of the Latin Cessolis. Although there are around 80 copies total of the various French versions (divided into 3 groups), manuscripts are nevertheless surprisingly rare on the market, the Schoenberg database recording only two in the last three decades and no other copies from this group. The initial alluding to the dedicatee of the Ferron text, Bertrand Aubert de Tarascon, appears to be unique in the illustrated tradition.

		ANONYMOUS, Würzburger Wundarznei [Medical Miscellany] In German, manuscript on paper Germany, East Franconia (Würzburg?), c. 1488-1500, with later additions up to around 1525

		In its original Würzburg binding this manuscript belongs to the literary genre of the medical manual that developed around 1400 in the German-speaking regions and represents a typical means for the transfer of surgical knowledge. Much influenced by works of the famous surgeon Peter von Ulm, the Würzburger Wundarznei is the only representative of this genre extant from eastern Franconia.

		Calendar for 1490 with computational tables [and] Treatise on arithmetic In Latin and Dutch, decorated manuscript on parchment [Northern Netherlands, 1490]

		This well-preserved manuscript contains three brief treatises on the calculation of the rising of the sun and the rules for multiplication and division, accompanied by a complex series of calendar tables. Possibly made for student use and written partly in the vernacular, the manuscript provides an important example of the importance of calculating time through astronomical analysis and basic mathematics in order to chart the course of the calendar year and the hours of the day.

		BARTOLOMEUS BOLOGNINUS, Commentary on the Imperial Constitution “Authentica Habita” (1154-1155) [Repetita commentatio super Autentica Constitutione Habita] In Latin, decorated manuscript on paper Italy, Bologna, dated 12 January 1492

		This the only known manuscript of a legal commentary on the Imperial Constitution promulgated in 1155 by Frederick Barbarossa in a dedication copy to Giovanni II Bentivoglio dated 1492. Considered a landmark for the development of medieval universities, the Constitution ensured juridical privileges, rights, and protection to students and masters of Bologna. Unedited and written in the hand of a little-studied author Bartolomeo Bolognini, the commentary merits fuller study in the light of the debates that animated the school of law in fifteenth-century Bologna.

		[Commonplace Book of Romain Lenon] In Latin, manuscript on paper Castres, France; 1499 or later [early 16th century]

		A fascinating “ledger-format” pocket-sized Commonplace Book, signed numerous times by the scribe and owner Romain Lenon of Péronne, a monk of the Celestine monastery of St. Peter’s, Castres, whose two main texts are surprising bedfellows (one legal, the Decretals, the other theological, Gregory’s commentary on Ezekiel), and whose numerous additional texts reveal Romain’s interest in recent French history, romance, and elephants, among other subjects.

		Statutes and Membership Lists of the Kalands Brethren (the Kalendenbroederschap) of Groningen In Dutch, manuscript on parchment The Netherlands, Groningen, 1501-1506, with additions to 1590

		This manuscript is an exceptional record of the religious and civic life of a prosperous Dutch town during a century of tumultuous political and religious change. It includes the rules of the confraternity, a record of their property, and notes on the food served at their annual feasts, as well as the names of both the living and the dead brethren. Memorial lists of this type for confraternities are uncommon. Although an earlier manuscript of the Brotherhood has been published, this later book includes unpublished material not found in the earlier book.

		[Passio Christi], Miscellaneous Texts and Prayers In German, manuscript on paper [Germany, Lower Rhine (Cologne ?) c. 1510-1520]

		Rare manuscript, perhaps produced in the milieu of the Devotio Moderna on the border between The Netherlands and Germany, containing a pair of Passion texts in low German. Unedited, the texts are evidently recorded in only one other, later manuscript, and the signed binding in excellent condition is by the Master IB (IvB), the earliest of four (?) skilled bookbinders with these initials working in the first half of the sixteenth century in Germany.

		Hamburgisches Stadtrecht von 1497 [Hamburg Code of Municipal Law]; Langer Rezess [Long Ordinance] (1529); Hermann Röver, List of Councilors from the year 1190 to 1670 In German (Middle Low-German) and Latin, illuminated manuscript on paper Northern Germany, Lower Saxony, 1570-1573 with additions until 1670

		Although some 50 manuscripts are extant of the Hamburg Code of Municipal Law, this deluxe copy is distinguished from most of the other, more ordinary, working copies by its illumination and contemporary binding. It shares similarities with the original illuminated manuscript of the Code, dated 1497, from which it nevertheless deviates by the inclusion of later texts, critical to the later governing of the city. Perhaps the manuscript documents the local conflict between the citizens and the governing body that was resolved shortly before the date of the present manuscript.

		ANONYMOUS, Sefer Evronot (Book of Intercalations) In Hebrew, illustrated manuscript on paper [Eastern Europe, Moravia, Silesia, or Galicia, 1593-1604]

		Richly illustrated manuscript of the Sefer Evronot (Book of Intercalations) used to intercalate the Jewish lunisolar calendar and to reconcile it with the Christian calendar for religious and mercantile purposes. Every Evronot manuscript, intended for local use by community leaders, merchants, and travelers, is unique. One of only about six illustrated copies dating before 1600, this copy is important also because it was made for use in Eastern Europe, whereas the majority are from Southern Germany.

		ANONYMOUS, [Medical Miscellany] In Yiddish and Hebrew, manuscript on paper Poland, Wengrow, dated 1596

		One of only 15 Yiddish medical manuscripts dating before the seventeenth century and one of the few surviving medieval manuscripts from Poland, the only one from Wengrow. The core of this manuscript contains a collection of medical cures arranged in the order of the ailment or the organ affected, probably written by a physician. The sheer wealth of material in this manuscript and the relative scarcity of other sources, especially in Eastern Europe, should make this manuscript a valuable source for further research.