The offset on f. 53v of an elaborately decorated border for the opening leaf of the office of St. Felicitas suggests that the codex was originally produced for an institution associated with this saint.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Graduals (Liturgical books), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of the Iudicium astrologicum, or horoscope, for the year 1475. Prepared for the humanist condottiere Federigo da Montefeltro (1422-1482, lord of Urbino from 1444; named duke by Pope Sixtus IV in 1474), perhaps by his court astrologer Iacobus of Speyer.
Description:
Binding: Rebound ca. 1800 in England (?) in blind-paneled brown diced Russia with doublures of the same, flat back without title label, the original gilt edges now somewhat irregular due to the rebinding, two parchment guards and one of paper at beginning, one parchment guard at end. Preserved in a recent black cloth folding box with gilt-stamped black niger label., Script: Written by a very elegant and uniform humanistic hand., and The dedication on f. 1r written in very pale red. Capitals with guide-letters in plain burnished gold or blue at paragraph divisions set into the left margin, the letters of the final word or words in a paragraph often in capitals and spread to fill out the line. On f. 1r is an illuminated border in the upper, inner, and lower margins consisting of a triple band of narrow gold stripes, quadruple and broader at the bottom margin, containing a very complex "white-vine" pattern, the spaces of which are filled up with red, blue, and green pigment peppered with patterns of three small dots in white lead; set within the lower band of the border is a round wreath incorporating a shield with the arms of Federigo da Montefeltro lord of Urbino; the first capital of the text, f. 1r, 8, is in burnished gold within a square painted frame of blue, red, and green ornamented with white tracery. No illustration.
Subject (Name):
Federico,--da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino,--1422-1482 and Iacobus,--of Speyer
Subject (Topic):
Astrology--Early works to 1800, Horoscopes, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Guillaume, de Deguileville, 14th cent. Ruysbroeck, Willem van, ca. 1210-ca. 1270
Published / Created:
ca. 1400
Call Number:
Beinecke MS 406
Image Count:
4
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment (thick, poor quality; trimmed) of 1) Guillaume de Deguilleville, Le Pelerinage de vie humaine. 2) Guillaume de Deguilleville, three poems in Latin. 3) Poem added in a 15th-century hand, contrasting the life of a servant and a rich man. 4) Willem van Ruysbroeck, Itinerarium. 5) Summary of Aethicus Ister, Cosmographia III.31-39, on the land of Gog and Magog. 6) Jean Chapuis, Les sept articles de la fois; often attributed, as it is here, to Jean de Meun.
Description:
Imperfect: f. 1r-v mutilated with loss of text and image.
Subject (Name):
Franciscans--Manuscripts and Guillaume,--de Deguileville,--14th cent
Subject (Topic):
Cosmography--Early works to 1800, Devotional literature, French, Devotional literature--Early works to 1800, French literature--To 1500, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Theology--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment of Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae (abridged).
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Sewn on three tawed skin, kermes pink slit straps nailed in channels on the outside of the wooden boards. Yellow edges. The plain wound endbands may have been resewn. The spine is lined with cloth. Covered in brown, originally tan, sheepskin with corner tongues. Blind-tooled with two rope interlace stars in a central panel bordered with concentric frames. Spine: bands outlined with double fillets; panels diapered with triple fillets. Two truncated diamond fastenings, the catches on the lower board (one wanting), the upper board cut in for straps attached with star-headed nails., Folio 1r with partial border in inner and lower margin (rubbed). Inner margin has scrolling vine, yellow, on parchment ground with red dots, with stylized foliage, flowers and fruit in green, red, purple and dove grey. Illuminated initial, 3-line, purple on dark green ground, is incorporated into border. In lower margin, wreathed medallion (unidentified mutilated arms: per pale, or and sable?) on pink ground, supported by two heraldic dragons, parchment colored (unfinished) against red ground. All of this decoration appears to be a later addition. Plain initials and headings in red., and Script: Written in fere-humanistic script by a single scribe, below top line.
Subject (Name):
Gellius, Aulus
Subject (Topic):
Commonplace-books, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Pauline Epistles (Epistola ad Romanos 2.27 through Epistola ad Hebreos 11.34), with commentary of Gilbert de la Porree. With Argumenta, later additions, all attributed to Hugo de Sancto Caro or Peter Lombard.
Description:
Binding: Twentieth century, United States (?). Half bound in dark red goatskin with gold-tooled lettering on the spine ("St. Paul/ Epistulae cum commento/ MS. 12th Cent."), marbled paper sides, and yellow edges., Script: Written in fine early gothic bookhand in two sizes of script, above top line., and Three illuminated initials at beginning of first three Epistles of excellent quality, ff. 34v, 69v, 86v, 8- to 5-line, with descenders extending into margins, red, blue, green and beige against gold ground. Bodies of initials filled with stylized scrolling foliage, bright blue, red, green, orange, silver and yellow with white highlights against gold ground. Descenders serve as a trellis for similar scrolls, some ending in biting animal's heads or fantastic birds. Scrolling foliage, f. 86v, inhabited by beasts of a canine variety, white with red shading. The decoration of manuscript is unfinished; f. 99r pen and ink underdrawing for an initial as above, with only touches of red added; blank spaces left for initals for remaining Epistles. Small initials, 3-line, gold with red penwork, for beginning of commentary for each Epistle. Headings in red or alternating red and blue majuscules. Plain initials touched with red. Running titles, later addition, in red.
Subject (Name):
Gilbert, de La Porrée, Bishop, ca. 1075-1154, Hugh, of Saint-Cher, Cardinal, ca. 1200-1263, Paul, the Apostle, Saint, and Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, ca. 1100-1160
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--N.T.--Epistles of Paul, Bible--Commentaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, preceded by prologues. With two short prayers.
Description:
16th-century inscription of Heinrich Schkor von Stranov on verso of front flyleaf: "1542/ diss puechle gehert zu dem Edlen vnd Vesten [?] hainrichen schkor [followed by hole in parchment] von stranoff [Stranov in Bohemia] derzait haubtman zu prukh an der layta [Bruck an der Leitha, Southeast Austria]/ 15 A 47 [sic]..."., Acquired from B. M. Rosenthal in 1959 by Thomas E. Marston., Binding: Fifteenth century, Bohemia. Sewn on three supports, with two half bands near head and tail, fastened to wooden boards. Yellow edges and kermes pink place marks. Covered in brown calf, blind-tooled with floral designs, with a central and four large corner fittings on each board. Spine: supports defined with double fillets; four leafy flower bud tools pointing inward in the two central panels. Two fastenings, the catches on the upper board and the lower one cut in for tawed skin, cream colored straps (only stubs remain). Small pieces of liturgical manuscript (Northern Italy, 14th century) used for front and rear pastedowns. Head and tail of spine and the upper joint very unobtrusively repaired., Covered in brown calf, blind-tooled with floral designs, with a central and four large corner fittings on each board., For prologues and beginning of each book partial borders constructed of a thin bar, unburnished gold, pink or green with burnished gold balls, terminating in sprays of stylized foliage, green, pink, and blue with gold accents. One large illuminated initial, f. 1r, 13-line, blue with light blue foliage shading against a red and pink ground; foliage serifs in green. 6 smaller illuminated initials, blue, pink, green or gold against blue or pink ground with white or gold filigree and/or gold crosshatching. Numerous pen-and-ink initials, 2-line, alternate in blue with red penwork designs and gold with blue penwork designs. Running titles in red and blue. Headings in red. Initials touched with yellow., Script: Written in hybrida script by a single scribe. Arts. 2-3 added by later hands., Small pieces of liturgical manuscript (Northern Italy, s. XIV) used for front and rear pastedowns., and Written in hybrida script by a single scribe. Arts. 2-3 added by later hands.
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--O.T.--Apocrypha.--Ecclesiasticus, Bible.--O.T.--Apocrypha.--Wisdom of Solomon, Bible.--O.T.--Ecclesiastes, Bible.--O.T.--Proverbs, Bible.--O.T.--Song of Solomon, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Wisdom literature
Manuscript on parchment of Guido de Baysio, Rosarium decretorum, secunda pars. Missing leaves throughout.
Description:
Binding: Date? Brown leather over wooden boards, possibly early. Blind-tooled with concentric frames of fillets and a rectangular rope tool. Hearts in a central panel. Four fastenings, the catches on the upper board. Heavily restored., One fine miniature, f. 1r, 23-line, without frame, bishop enthroned under baldachin instructing the clergy; two trees at sides; two birds above. In lower margin, a roundel with a portrait of a student, in a blue, pink and white frame, surrounded by spiral foliage and large gold dots. At the end of the volume, f. 212v, a roundel with a portrait of an older man, with a thick red and blue frame with blue, green, and gold dots. Thirty initials, 16- to 12-line (ff. 1r, 15v, 36r, 45r, 47v, 52r, 59r, 64r, 68v, 81r, 92v, 96v, 100r, 103v, 123v, 127r, 129r, 131r, 137v, 156v, 163r, 163v, 166r, 166v, 172r, 174r, 190r, 190v, 193r, 194r), most with a single, some with as many as three figures, bishops, priests, monks, students, and women, either reading, instructing or debating; in one case, f. 194r, a priest celebrating mass (De consecratione). The figures set against navy blue grounds with white filigree; the initials shaded pink, orange, red, blue and green against square gold grounds with white filigree, framed in black, blue or green; curling foliate serifs attached to bar stems in inner or central margin, interrupted by initials in margin, blue, light blue, grey, pink, orange, red, and black, extending full length of margin; with large spiral foliate terminals with gold dots and flourishes in brown ink, often incorporating roundels, some with additional figures or birds. Numerous small, 4-line, flourished initials, red with blue flourishes and vice versa, as well as red and blue alternating paragraph marks throughout. Running titles added along upper edge., Script: Written in elegant round gothic bookhand secundum pecias., and Written probably in Bologna from a stationer's exemplar secundum pecias.
Subject (Name):
Guido,--de Baysio,--d. 1313
Subject (Topic):
Canon law--Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Pecia
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Boniface VIII, Sextus liber decretalium. 2) Commentary of Joannes Andreae on art. 1. 3) Clemens V, Constitutiones, with preface of John XXII. 4) John XXII, "Quia nonnunquam".
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century (?), Italy. Limp vellum case, restored., ff. 22 loose., Final leaf (now foliated 96) misbound between ff. 93-94., Script: Folios 1-96 written in littera bononiensis; ff. 1-22 written in a less formal Gothic bookhand. Numerous annotations in the margins by contemporary and later hands., and Two miniatures, f. 1r, an enthroned pope holding an open book and symmetrically flanked by ecclesiastical and secular parties, and f. 96r, a Franciscan monk presenting a book to an enthroned pope with clerical and lay attendants. Full border for text on f. 1r, constructed of solid panels, gold and red with white filigree, filled with two karyatid figures, a cleric, and a man in a blue robe. Partial border in lower margin, 3 medallions in blue, pink and red, with a papal portrait in half length, an angel, and a third subject now effaced. The medallions are connected by lozenges, green, blue and red with scrolling vines in blue, red, and green with white filigree and gold dots. 32 marginal figures in various costumes, among them several clerics, knights and an angel, often in animated poses. Numerous illuminated initials, 6- to 3-line in pink, blue or grey on blue, red, pink and gold grounds with white filigree. Foliage serifs in pink, red, grey and blue with white highlights. 39 initials with bust-length figures. Remaining initials in pink and red with white filigree. Calligraphic initials, alternating in red and blue with blue and red penwork scrolls. Plain initials and paragraph marks alternate in red and blue.
Subject (Name):
Boniface VIII, Pope, d. 1303, Boniface VIII, Pope, d. 1303|Clement V, Pope, ca. 1260-1314|Giovanni d’Andrea, ca. 1270-1348|John XXII, Pope, d. 1334, Clement V, Pope, ca. 1260-1314, and Giovanni d’Andrea, ca. 1270-1348
Subject (Topic):
Canon law, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Papal documents
Manuscript on parchment (poor quality), composed of two distinct parts. Part I: Thomas Aquinas, Super Metaphysicam. Part II: Thomas Aquinas, Super de causis.
Description:
Binding: 14th-15th centuries, Spain. Original sewing on five tawed skin, double supports laced into beech boards. Plain, wound natural color endbands. Single parchment leaf (front) and bifolium (rear), from what appear to be two different Hebrew Bible manuscripts, serve as pastedowns and spine-lining; they have been cut out around the sewing supports. Yellow edges. Covered in what was originally blue tawed skin (now faded) with two fastenings, the catches on the lower board and the straps attached with star-headed nails. Traces of title (?) scratched onto skin of upper board., Part I: One illuminated initial, rubbed, f. 1r: blue with white highlights on dark red ground with white highlights; terminals of ground extend up and down as modest border in blue, dark red and gold. Flourished initials of various sizes, styles and quality: blue with red penwork designs, red with blue, red with purple (ff. 75r-119r) and red and blue divided with penwork in purple (e.g., f. 88v); some flourished initials with border extensions (e.g., f. 110v). Running headlines in red and blue; paragraph marks alternate red and blue. Traces of guide letters for decorator. Part II: Spaces for decorative initials remain unfilled., and Script: Part I (ff. 1-120): Written by a single scribe in small gothic book hand. Part II (ff. 121-132): Written in a less accomplished gothic script than that in Part I.
Subject (Name):
Aristotle and Thomas,--Aquinas, Saint,--1225?-1274
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Philosophy, Ancient, Scholasticism, and Scholia
Manuscript on parchment of Ps.-Joachim da Fiore, Vaticinia Pontificum. With additional prophetic texts including a Sibylline tract entitled De imperatore; and a Version of the "Tripoli" prophecy, added by a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand, here recorded as a vision in a Cistercian monastery in 1346.
Description:
15 small miniatures, 12-line, within narrow ochre frames inserted into text column, one for each prophecy in art. 3, ff. 15r-22r. The miniatures depict a cycle of Popes and city scapes with emblematic attributes against pink, blue and ochre grounds with small white filigree designs along the edges. Numerous flourished initials, 2-line, alternate in red and blue with purple or red penwork designs. Headings in red. Paragraph marks alternate red and blue., Binding: Fifteenth century (?). Tacketed through a limp vellum (palimpsest?) wrapper to thick leather pads with a basket weave around the sewing threads. Contemporary title in ink, on front: "De imperatore." Backs of quires cut in for sewing., Binding: Place uncertain, s. xv [?]. Tacketed through a limp vellum (palimpsest?) wrapper to thick leather pads with a basket weave around the sewing threads., Contemporary title in ink, on front: "De imperatore., Purchased from L. C. Witten in 1959 by Thomas E. Marston., and Script: Arts. 2-4 written in neat gothic bookhand. Art. 1 in a less formal bookhand and art. 5 in a notarial hand with various flourishes.
Subject (Name):
Joachim,--of Fiore,--ca. 1132-1202
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Papacy--History, Prophecies--Early works to 1800, and Visions--Early works to 1800