Manuscript, on parchment, incomplete, of the text of Peter Abelard's Historia calamitatum, followed by the seven epistolae exchanged between him and Héloïse.
Description:
In Latin., Script: compressed gothic book script., Decoration: 2-line initials in red or blue with penwork flourishing in red or purple. Medieval marginalia includes manicules and grotesques., Manuscript is incomplete (circa 50 leaves missing?). Text opens: id secreto fieret (Historia calamitatum). Text concludes: orationum instantiam confessio[ne]m lau[dis?] (Letter 7)., and Binding: modern blind-stamped white leather.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Abelard, Peter, 1079-1142. and Héloïse, approximately 1095-1163 or 1164.
Subject (Topic):
Autobiography, Women authors, Latin letters, Medieval and modern, Love-letters, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Petrus Comestor, Historia scholastica. With a Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles attributed to Petrus Pictaviensis
Alternative Title:
Historia scholastica
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in small neat gothic textura by two scribes. Scribe 1) ff. 1r-214v; Scribe 2) ff. 214v (bottom of first column) -279r. Writing is above top line., Numerous calligraphic initials in red or blue with simple penwork designs of the same colors; some letters have green added as well. Running titles in red., Portions of the text are faded and difficult to read., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Red goat-skin, gold-tooled. Two paper flyleaves inserted at beginning contain extracts from the library catalogue of the duc de la Valliere and from the Nouveau dictionnaire historique.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Petrus, Comestor, 12th cent.
Subject (Topic):
History Bibles, Catenae, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment of Gregory the Great's Homiliae xl in evangelia
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in late Caroline minuscule., and Decoration: At the beginning of Homily 4 (fol. 2r) there is a 3-line initial "C" sketched, but not completed, in brown ink with foliate decoration; it may be a later addition; 1-line initials are brown uncials; the rubrics for Homily 4 and its lesson are written in red minuscule mixed with uncial forms, with red line-filler; there are no initials or rubrics for the beginning of each lesson; punctuated with the punctus, punctus elevatus, and punctus interrogativus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text; accents were added by a later hand; on fol. 2v there are three interlinear Latin glosses in a fifteenth-century hand; other fifteenth-century hands have added marginal notations and figures of heads on fols. 7v-8r.
In Latin., Script: copied by one hand in Northern Gothica Textualis Formata, in two sizes., Rich decoration: 1-line versals and 2-line initials, both of the dentelle type; 2-line KL-monograms of the same type in the Calendar. Floral outer margin borders normally on the pages with 2-line initials. Four-margins borders and miniatures above 3 lines of text opening with a 3-line foliate initial, on ff. 13r (Annuntiation), 25r (Visitation), 38r (Crucifixion), 39v (Pentecost), 41r (Nativity), 46r (Annuntiation to the Shepherds), 50r (Adoration of the Magi), 58v (Flight into Egypt), 65r (Coronation of the Virgin), 76r (Saint John on Patmos), 99r (Funeral mass). The miniatures are rounded at the top. The borders contain acanths and a multitude of gold vine and other leaves, flowers, animals, hybrids and monsters. The artist is said to be Péronet Lamy, an illuminator in the service of the Dukes of Savoy in the second quarter of the fifteenth century., and Binding: contemporary binding: brown calf over rounded wooden boards. Both covers entirely blind-tooled with rows of juxtaposed stamps: monkeys and fleurs-de-lys in the central panel; rosettes and phoenix(?) in the frame. Clasps missing.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment of the Penitential Psalms (incomplete), probably written as part of a Book of Hours
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in liturgical gothic script., Carefully executed initials, 3-line, on blue or pink rectangles outlined in black, mark the beginning of each psalm; partial cusped borders, also in blue and pink, attached to each. Initials infilled with intertwining vines, often on gold ground, sometimes with small animals; modest use of gold dots inside rectangular grounds and borders. 1-line initials of blue with red penwork with blue dots and of gold with blue penwork and red dots. Line-fillers in combinations of red, blue and gold (various linear and flower designs)., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Bound in a piece of blind-tooled brown calf, once part of a 17th-18th century binding. Front pastedown and flyleaf from a Bible concordance, version 3 (France, ca. 1300). Back pastedown from 15th-century antiphonal, with musical notation, containing a portion of the office for Nicolas (6 Dec.).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Antiphonaries, Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (fine) of a Book of Hours with full calendar including the major Franciscan and Dominican feasts
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a precise humanistic script similar in style to that of Geoffroy Tory (1480-1533)., Fifteen full-page miniatures in camaieu-gris with gold accents in narrow frames of gold in form of a rope. Twelve smaller miniatures in narrow gold frames with the occupations of the months in the Calendar. Signs of the zodiac appear in the sky or in the background. In addition there are three miniatures, 8-line, f. 14v (Gospel Sequences) St. Luke; f. 15r (Gospel Sequences) St. Matthew; and f. 20v (Stabat mater) the two Marys at the cross. All text pages with elaborate borders consisting of solid panels in gold or grey divided by knotted cords, black with white or gold highlights enclosing the letters E, F, G., Initials, 4- and 3-line, blue, grey, or pink with white highlights, filled with knotted cords or flowers against gold grounds flecked with black. Initials, 2- and 1-line, and KL monograms, gold, on red and blue grounds with gold filigree. Line fillers gold on red and blue grounds with gold filigree, or gold logs. Rubrics in gold and blue., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Tortoise shell sides with two gold-plated (?) clasps. Pale blue watered silk doublures.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monasticism and religious orders
Manuscript on parchment of a Book of Hours with full calendar, Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, Seven Requests, and a sonnet, all in French. The volume was misbound, with many folios out of order; it was corrected by N. R. Ker in 1971
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in gothic script of two sizes, verging on batarde, by one person., Two miniatures (ff. 84r and 131r) of poor quality remain. The location of the other miniatures can no longer be determined due to rebinding. On f. 84r Pentecost, in an arched frame; miniature and text in a 3/4 bar border, gold with flowers, attached to an historiated initial (Dove) and a full acanthus border (blue and beige acanthus, flowers, birds, and gold dots) with four scenes inserted in corners, clockwise from lower right: Christ on the road to Emmaus, Christ appearing to Mary Magdelen, Noli me tangere, and the Ascension; the entirety within a blue bounding line. On f. 131r the Virgin and Child enthroned, with two angels in a thick brown arched frame; miniatures and text in a 3/4 border, a twig with branches lopped off, in blue with white highlights, attached to an historiated initial (Joseph) and a full acanthus border, as above, with a green bounding line. 6-line historiated initial in the same style on f. 139v, with St. Dionysius and his companions, Rusticus and Eleutherius. On all other pages, outer margin, traced border as above, with green bounding line, except ff. 23-29 (quire III), in red. 2-line initials, blue or pink with white highlights on gold ground, filled with flowers, fruit, or ivy. 1-line initials and line-endings, gold on pink and blue grounds, with white highlights. KL monograms in Calendar, as 2-line initials; names of months, dates, and important feasts in gold; other feasts alternately in red and blue., Water damage on ff. 2 and 3; portion of border on f. 35 cut out; last folio damaged by moisture and acid., and Binding: 1976. Dark brown calf over wooden boards, blind-tooled. Bound in Yale Library Conservation Studio. Previous French binding, 19th century, boxed with the codex.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of a Book of Hours, with Calendar and prayers to the Virgin in French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Two hands can be distinguished: ff. 1r-6v and 15r-63r are written in a small, even batarde; ff. 7r-14v in a rounded gothic script showing some batarde characteristics. Folios 7-14 may have been added later, judging by the difference in the style and color of the miniatures and their placement on the page. Prayers added on ff. 63v-64v in batarde, early 16th century., Sixteen camaieu-gris miniatures by three artists, in tondo format, with gold frames inscribed in white capitals. The miniatures on ff. 15v and 19v are by the leading artist; the remainder are by a competent assistant (with the exception of ff. 7v, 8r, 9r, and 10r, which are of inferior quality). 4-, 3-, 2-, and 1-line initials, grey with gold highlights, on a black ground, some with leaves and dots in gold. On ff. 7r-14v the letters are composed of leaf forms. Ribbon line-fillers, geometric and leaf forms, gold, grey, and white on black. Rubrics in pale red. Calendar has KL monogram as 2-line initials, month and dates in red; feasts in blue, major feasts in red., The black ink of the initials has run on many pages, and has sometimes adhered to the opposite pages., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Brown goatskin gold-tooled, silver fastenings. On the spine, flowers and the words "Heur en Latin. MSS. S. Velin en Min."
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment a Book of Hours, use of Rome, notable for its elaborate cycle of illumination; with a full calendar in French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Written in a gothic book hand by a single scribe., Large miniatures, facing text pages, and Calendar pages are in architectural frames, gold with red and blue panels; the frames of the miniatures are inscribed with the opening words of the text along the lower edge. A few small miniatures (14- to 6-line) are inserted in the text. Historiated borders in outer and lower margins, framed by red and gold columns and/or a red and gold bounding line; upper border, a thin panel, either pink with gold filigree and gold foliage, or flowers and acanthus on gold and parchment grounds., The series of 12 Sibyls on ff. 51v-61v are accompanied by texts on scrolls in the lower border (except f. 56v), most of which correspond to the set used in the painted decoration of the Roman palace of Cardinal Giordano Orsini (d. 1438). The texts in MS 411 are often garbled and misspelled. On the page facing each Sibyl, or on the same page (f. 56v and f. 61v) are border scenes from the life of Christ, to which the prophecies are supposed to refer, and appropriate biblical passages on a scroll in the lower border., and Binding: Twentieth century. Dark blue velvet case. Bound by J. Greenfield in the Yale Conservation Studio, 1984-85.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of a Book of Hours. With Calendar, Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, and Seven Requests, all in French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Written in liturgical gothic bookhand in two sizes, by a single scribe. Prayers (ff. 1r-2v, 49r-v, 101r-103r) added in an informal batarde script, apparently by a single person., The manuscript originally contained the full complement of miniatures; their removal (following ff. 8, 13, 22, 33, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 49, 61, 64, and 87) is indicated by stubs, missing bifolios and breaks in the text. The remaining decoration consists of compartmentalized borders typical of late 15th-century Rouen manuscripts. One full border (f. 3r) in red bounding lines with pink and blue acanthus leaves on a gold ground, alternating with flowers and strawberries on parchment ground, filled in with black and gold dots; three borders (ff. 4r, 6r, 7r) in outer margin only. 3/4 band borders (with 5- and 4- line initials); single bands in outer margin (with 2-line initials); additional small bands occur when 2-line initial is on a recto. Borders are traced whenever they occur on recto and verso of same leaf; all with blue and gold acanthus leaves, flowers on parchment ground, filler as for full border. Many pages have no border. Initials, 5-, 4-, 2-, and 1-line, gold, on blue and red grounds with white highlights; 4-line initials, blue on a gold ground, filled with red and blue trilobe leaves in lattices; the 2-line initials occasionally with a narrow border in inner margin with flowers, black hair-spray, and gold dots (red bounding lines). Ribbon and quatrelobe line-fillers in gold, blue, and red, highlighted in white. Rubrics in orange-tinted red. Calendar has months, dates, and important feasts in gold; other feasts alternately in blue and red. Most spaces for initials within the added prayers have not been filled., and Binding: Seventeenth century. Dark red goatskin, gold-tooled, with a smooth spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval