Manuscript on paper containing letters by or related to Lapo da Castiglionchio (d. 1381), and his family: 1) Lapo da Castiglionchio, Letter, written in 1377, to his son Bernardo, canon of the cathedral of Florence, then 14 years old, containing an elaborate treatise in three parts dealing with political and historical questions. 2) Bernardo da Castiglionchio (1363-1383), Letter to his father Lapo, in which he thanks him for the education and protection his father has provided and in particular for the extensive letter he has written in reply to his questions. 3) Bernardo da Castiglionchio, Second letter to his father Lapo, of about the same time, in which he resumes the theme of the nobility of the Castiglionchio family and provides a panegyric of his father with details about his career. 4) Francesco da Castiglionchio (second half of the fourteenth century), Letter to his father Alberto, brother of Lapo, written 8 June 1381 or slightly later. Describes the coronation of Charles III, King of Naples and Sicily (1381-1386) by Pope Urban VI in the church of St. Peter in Rome on 2 June 1381, an event in the preparation of which Lapo had an important role. 5) Francesco da Castiglionchio, Second letter to his father Alberto staying at Verona, dated 17 July 1381 and relating the death of Alberto's brother Lapo, which happened in Rome on 27 June of the same year after a short illness, a couple of weeks after the coronation of Charles III, which had been so important for the improvement of the Castiglionchio family. 6) Niccolò Acciaiuoli (1310-1365), Extracts from a letter, dated 26 Dec. 1364, to the Florentine merchant Angelo Soderini (d. 1377) established in Avignon.
Description:
Binding: Seventeenth century (?). Brown leather with artificial cross grain over cardboard. Blind-tooled spine with four raised bands and gold-tooled inscription in the second compartment: “CASTIGLIONCHIO / EPISTOLE”. Below a small oval paper label with the number “7” in red ink. Yellow spine., Headings and explicit formulas in pale red ink; marginal captions and notes in the same colour or in black; paragraph marks in pale red ink. 4-line initials (Capitalis) in blue (missing f. 2v), at the opening of each art. and of the subdivisions of art. 1. On f. 1r 7-line white vinestem initial integrated into left margin border of the same style. In the lower margin, in a wreath, the Volognano-Castiglionchio coat of arms: silver, with four chains azure in saltire and castle azure. Running headlines in pale red Capitalis in art. 1 only., On the author, a Florentine poet, friend of Petrarch, professor of Canon Law, lawyer, diplomat, politician, see Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, v. 22 (1979), pp. 40-44., and Script: Copied by one hand in careful Humanistica Semitextualis Libraria. The first line of each text and some headings are in Capitalis.
Subject (Geographic):
Florence (Italy)--History
Subject (Name):
Castiglionchio, Lapo da,--d. 1381
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian letters, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Nobility--Italy
Manuscript on paper (coarse, remains of deckle edges) of 1) Unidentified Italian epitome of the Ps.-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium. 2) Unidentified and anonymous treatise on memory.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy (?). Half bound in vellum with a gold-tooled spine and Spanish marbled sides. Ribbon bookmark., Script: Written in gothic bookhand by a single scribe, above top line., Spaces left for initials remain unfilled, except on f. 25r where there are three poorly executed initials in red; guide letters for decorator. Paragraph marks and initial strokes, in red., and Watermarks, along upper edge: unidentified mountain and hunting horn.
Subject (Name):
Pseudo-Cicero
Subject (Topic):
Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Memory, Rhetorica ad Herennium, and Rhetoric--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of a 1) Ps.-Marcellus, Gesta Petri et Pauli. 2) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis (Ps.-Anselmus Cantuariensis), Sermo de miseria humana. 3) Guigo II Carthusianus (d. 1188, Ps.-Augustinus Hipponensis), Epistola de vita contemplativa (Scala claustralium). 4) Italian version of Dan. 13:1-64. 5) Passio Ciryci et Iulittae. 6) Passio sanctae Caeciliae. 7) Passio sanctae Eugeniae. 8) Vita sanctae Theodorae. 9) Passio sanctae Theodosiae. 10) Passio sanctae Felicitatis cum septem filiis. 11) Passio sanctae Reparatae. 12) Passio sanctae Agathae. 13) Passio sanctae Luciae. 14) Passio sanctae Agnetis. 15) Passio sanctae Domitillae. 16) Vita sanctae Thaidos. 17) Passio sanctorum Simplicii, Faustini et Beatricis. 18) Vita sanctae Margaritae. 19) Vita sanctae Mariae Aegyptiacae. 20) Passio sanctae Ursulae et sociarum. 21) Vita sanctae Mariae Magdalenae, followed by three miracles performed by the saint.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. De luxe brown leather binding over cardboard, the covers decorated with gold- and blind-tooled frames; flat gold-tooled spine, with gold-tooled inscriptions: “LEGGENDE / DI SANTI / TESTO DI LINGUA / DEL / BUON SECOLO” and “TRASCRITTO / NEL / 1462”. Brownish marbled endleaves., Headings in red, sometimes missing. Blue plain 3-line initials (Capitalis) with guide-letters, half inset; missing on p. 198. On the opening page white vinestem left margin border with incorporated 7-line initial, and white vinestem lower border with wreath in which a coat of arms is missing (a later hand, who made also a few notes elsewhere in the manuscript, has written in the blank space "Ipsa est antiquitas")., and Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Textualis.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Christian literature, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper (thick, coarse) of Lives of the Saints, preceded by accounts of events in the Bible from both the Old and New Testaments. Folios 51 and 61 interchanged in rebinding.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Rigid vellum case with two red labels on spine: "Trattati di storia sacra" and "Manuscritto 1360"., Crudely executed title page, f. 1r, consisting of floral and foliage motifs in upper margin, scroll around column in inner margin, and, in outer margin, scroll around column terminating in elongated arm with text on the scroll (much rubbed and stained). In lower margin a coat of arms (damaged; probably: or, two columns gules); the letters B and C on either side in the bases of columns in inner and outer margins. The decoration of title page in bright red and green. Plain initials (some with simple foliage designs), headings, paragraph marks, pointing hands, and hands holding crosses or symbols of passions of martyrs (e. g., gridiron for Laurence), all in bright red, green, and/or black., Folio 1 damaged; no loss of text., Script: Written by several scribes in unruly mercantesca script, above top line. Script becomes smaller and tighter toward end of codex., and Watermarks: similar in design to Briquet Ciseaux 3708 dated Genoa, 1465.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Italian literature--15th century, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 B.C.), Stichus, in an Italian adaptation in verse.
Description:
Binding: Loose grey paper cover., No decoration. There are numerous pointing hands with exaggeratedly long forefingers, generally accompanied by the name of a character., Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva., and Written in campo aperto in one narrow column of mostly seven 6-line strophes on the page.
Subject (Name):
Plautus, Titus Maccius
Subject (Topic):
Latin drama, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library