Manuscript on paper (various watermarks) and parchment, composed of two distinct sections bound together in the 18th (?) century, but with additional folios inserted. Part I (parchment): Carta ejecutoria, or letter of nobility, granted to Don Alfonso Rodriguez (Tinagero Rodriguez de la Escalera) by the authority of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel of Castile. Issued in Salamanca, 1487. Seal missing. Part II (paper): Numerous documents (all dated 1686) concerning a law suit involving Don Diego Tinagero Rodriguez de la Escalera of Seville, a descendent of Alfonso Rodriguez
Description:
In Spanish., Script: Part I (ff. 3-13): Round gothic script by a single scribe. Part II (ff. 19-74): Written in various cursive hands., Folios 1v and 2r have crudely illuminated full-page miniatures, 17th century. Folio 1v: members of the Rodriguez family offering prayers to the Madonna and Child. Folio 2r: arms of the Tinagero Rodriguez de la Escalera family. Crude decorative border on f. 3v and REY (in gold, outlined in black) may be later additions., Many of the documents included appear to have once been folded. Some loss of text due to trimming., and Binding: Eighteenth century (?). Thin wooden boards covered with dark brown leather, flesh side out. Vermilion and green ribbon fastenings.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., Spain., Spain, Salamanca (Spain), and Seville (Spain)
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Legal documents, Manuscripts, Medieval, Nobility, and Politics and government
Manuscript on parchment. Copied in the Charterhouse Val de Benediction (Vallis Benedictionis) at Villeneuve-les-Avignon
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one hand in small Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria., All important illuminated leaves missing. Headings in red. Yellow heightening of the majuscules. 1-line flourished initials alternately red and blue. Numerous 2-line flourished initials in the same colours. 3-line dentelle initials with partial floral borders in gold (on f. 56r with bar-shaped extensions, on f. 57v no border)., The manuscript is heavily mutilated, some leaves are out of order and many (presumably all illuminated) leaves are cut out., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Light-brown leather over pasteboard; the covers gold-tooled with floral border and centre-piece. Gold-tooled spine with four raised bands. One large modern silver clasp attached to rear cover. Edges gilt and gauffered.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Carthusians. and Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Breviaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monasticism and religious orders
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of Baudouin d'Avesnes (d. 1289; Lord of Beaumont and son of Margaret of Flanders), Chroniques de Hainaut. Continues to ca. 1131
Description:
In French., Script: Written in fine gothic textura. Corrections made over erasures., One fine historiated initial, 4-line (f. 4r): orange, pink and blue with white filigree; a king seated in conversation with three men, the figures orange, pink, and blue against a ground diapered in gold and blue with crowns in white; on a blue ground with white floral filigree framed in gold; curling vine serifs, red and green, extending into a 3/4 vine border, blue and pink, with red, blue, green and white leaves with some knots and gold cusping; large gold dots; two dogs, one with a bone, in lower margin. Two coats-of-arms in upper and lower margins. One fine calligraphic initial, 5-line, f. 197r, divided red and blue with particolored penwork, red and blue, with flourishes and a cascading column of I's, alternating red and blue and extending 3/4 length of inner margin. 4- to 2-line initials, red or blue, with blue or red penwork, dots and large flourishes, one on f. 4r with a cascading column of I's as above. 1-line initials, red or blue, with penwork, as above. Numerous crude marginal drawings in brown ink. Notes to rubricator, arts. 1 and 3., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Diced brown calf over heavy wooden boards which are possibly original.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Hainaut (Belgium)
Subject (Name):
Baudouin d'Avesnes.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment. Possibly produced at the Cistercian abbey of Fitero (between Pamplona and Tudela).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by various hands in Iberian Praegothica., The original sections (articles 1, 2, 7 and 8) have red headings and red decorative line-fillers; 1-line plain initials and numerous 2-line (sometimes 3- or 4-line) plain or flourished initials or litterae duplices intermingled. Many round initials such as C, D, O, Q are filled with a human face ("face initials"); in art. 7 some initials I are zoomorphic and take the shape of a fish (ff. 127r, 134r). Red and purple initials normally alternate. Art. 4 has red initials. The remaining articles are undecorated., Lower edge of many leaves damaged, with loss of text. The final pages worn and smudged., and Binding: ca. 1800. Limp parchment with remains of two leather ties. On the spine the hand-written title "Charta charitatis, liber usuum et institut. Ordinis S. Bernardi. M.S." At the bottom of the spine a label with the handwritten modern number "1280".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Cistercians
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monasticism and religious orders
An alphabetically arranged collection of extracts on the virtues and vices and on moral subjects drawn from Vincent of Beauvais. and Manuscript on parchment (greatly trimmed) of An alphabetically arranged collection of extracts on the virtues and vices and on moral subjects drawn from Vincent of Beauvais.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Half bound in brown mottled calf with a gold-tooled spine and cream, blue-green, and red paste-paper sides. Red and olive green paste-paper pastedowns in a chevron pattern. Red edges. and Script: Written in a small neat got
Subject (Name):
Vincent,--of Beauvais,--d. 1264
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Vice, and Virtue
Manuscript on paper of Pedro de Medina, Coloquio de cosmographia and Regimiento del altura del sol y del Norte. Addition, in another hand, by a friend of Pedro de Medina and taken from a treatise in Italian on cosmography by a Florentine member of the Compagni family
Description:
In Spanish., Watermark: compare with Briquet 7567, 7578, 7584, 7601, 7602 (?)., Script: Written by one hand in Spanish Gothico-Humanistica. Headings in Capitalis., Majuscules heightened in dark yellow. Flourished initials in liquid gold with red penwork. Diagrams in pen and ink., and Binding: Sixteenth century. Blind-tooled brown leather over cardboard, both covers decorated with frames of rolls and single stamps in the center; two green silk ties.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Medina, Pedro de, 1493?-1567?
Subject (Topic):
Cosmography, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Leonardo Bruni, Commentaria rerum graecarum (De principatu Graeciae), preceded by Bruni's letter to Angelo Acciaiuolo.
Description:
Binding: Twentieth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case with a green, gold-tooled label on spine: "L. Bruni De principatu graeciae. Sec. XV"., Purchased from Hoepli of Milan in 1955 by L. C. Witten who sold it in the same year to Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in round humanistic bookhand by two scribes who use somewhat different physical formats. Scribe I) ff. 1r-16r, written above top line, with initials for paragraphs set apart from the text between outer vertical bounding lines. Scribe 2) ff. 16v-26v, written below top line and leaving blank the final line of written space., and Two illuminated initials on ff. 1r and 2r, 5-line and 3-line, gold on blue, green and pale mauve ground with white vine-stem ornament and grey-green dots. On f. 1r vine-stem ornament on blue ground extends into inner margin (3-lines) to form partial border. Possibly by the same artist who executed the initials in Marston MS 257.
Subject (Geographic):
Greece--History
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of 1) Ambrosiaster, Commentarius in Epistolam S. Pauli ad Romanos, recensio. 2) Pseudo-Haimo of Halberstadt (here attributed to his pupil Remigius of Auxerre), Commentaries on Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews, Philemon, and Titus
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by a group of scribes, all writing a more or less careful Italian Late Carolingian script. There are numerous and extensive alterations and corrections on erasure. Headings in a mixture of Capitals and Uncials., Headings in red. Initials of various styles: (1) plain Romanesque initials, sometimes with developed decoration, in red; (2) more or less large painted initials in various bright colours on coloured background and filled with white vinestem; the body of the letter often filled with various interlace and frets; the vinestem may be issuing from an animal's mouth. Special forms of these painted initials: ff. 88v (wheel-shape), 90r (a snake winding round the shafts of the letter), 126r (outline drawing of vinestem initial), 136v (zoomorphic: bird-shape), 186v (inhabited by two birds), 204v (zoomorphic: dragon-shape), 209r (idem, with head at both ends), 215v (zoomorphic: fish), 216r (zoomorphic: dragon with head at both ends), 222v (inhabited by two birds), 268v (partly zoomorphic: bird), 274v (historiated: head of St. Paul). Initials are lacking f. 197v, 201v., and Binding: Original doeskin over heavy unbevelled wooden boards. On each cover traces of five circular bosses; traces of two straps fixed to the rear cover and clutching over pins in the front cover. On the front cover an inscription largely worn off: "Remigius super epistolas sancti Pauli" (13th century?).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Ambrosiaster.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment in two volumes of Jerome, Commentaries on the Minor Prophets. Written perhaps at the Cistercian abbey of Hautecombe.
Description:
Acquired from E. Rossignol of Paris in 1958 by L. C. Witten, who sold it the same year to Thomas E. Marston., Binding: 1800-1810, Italy. Half bound in brown calf with bright pink paper sides. Three green gold-tooled labels on the spine of each volume: "Vol. I", "Vol. II"; "Hieronimi in XII Prophetas Manuscrip"; "Saecul XII". Title on black gold-tooled labels: "Hieronimi in XII Prophetas Manuscrip". Edges spattered blue-green. The same distinctive bindings also found on Marston MSS 50, 125, 128, 135, 151, 153, 158, and 159, all of Hautecombe provenance., Fine painted initials, 19- to 5-line, for major text divisions, monochrome red or polychrome in red, bright green, olive green and/or brown, with pale yellow washes. Preliminary sketches in lead often visible underneath; some bows appear to be drawn with compass. Smaller initials of similar design throughout. Initials are characterized by lattice work, acanthus scrolls and decorative empty spaces within initials. The opening initial on f. 1r is executed in red and blue. Headings in red throughout., and Script: Written and neatly corrected in early gothic bookhand by several scribes.
Subject (Name):
Cistercians
Subject (Topic):
Bible. Prophets, Bible--Commentaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper (trimmed), with parchment bifolios interspersed, of Julius Caesar, Commentary on the Gallic Wars, translated into French by Jean Duchesne. Written for Jacques Donche, counselor of Charles the Bold of Burgundy
Description:
In French., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Armoires: Trois fleurs de lis 1741., Script: Written in neat batarde script by Hellin de Burchgrave., Ten half-page miniatures, each in an arched frame composed of two thin bands, gold and red highlighted with white, edged in black, the arch with tiny cusps; beneath, initials, 6-, 4-, or 3-line, blue or blue and red with white highlights on a gold ground of irregular shape conforming to the letter, edged in black, with serifs protruding into the left margin; filled with green and/or red and crimson trilobe leaves on curling stems with white and/or yellow highlights, or with a blue, green, crimson, and gold diapered ground with white highlights. Three smaller miniatures, 12- or 14-line, occasionally cut off at the upper edge so as to fill only part of a line of text; frames rectilinear, otherwise identical to those described above, Beneath, 2-line initials, blue, with white highlights, filled with trilobe leaves, as above, once (f. 25r) with one leaf of spiky acanthus added, and once (f. 256r) with a pink ground with gold filigree. There is a blank space on f. 27r for another miniature of this type. Other decoration consists of 2-line calligraphic initials, paragraph marks, line fillers (spirals and heraldic dragons), page and chapter headings, all executed in red. The first one or two lines of some books (as well as occasional lines within the text) are underlined in red., A few folios have tears in the margins., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Spattered and gilt edges. Red goatskin, gold-tooled, with the arms of Eugene of Savoy on cover and his monogram on spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Gaul
Subject (Name):
Caesar, Julius.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and History