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 1) Anonymous grammatical treatise in prose (Grammatica Latina secundum Donatum). 2) Disticha Catonis.
Description:
1-line red versals and 2-line red plain initials. Two large initials: f. 1r, at the beginning of the text of art. 1, historiated 10- line initial in pink on a blue background, containing a half-length profile of a poet or teacher in outline with a yellow dress; f. 10r, at the beginning of art. 2, decorated 9-line initial in pinkon a blue background, filled with red, yellow and green leaves., Binding: Original half brown leather binding over heavy bevelled wooden boards; sewn on two split leather thongs; the spine damaged. Remnants of one strap attached to the front cover, with iron pin on the rear cover., Due to intensive use the pages are badly rubbed and the legibility is impaired; whole passages have been rewritten by a later hand. The corners of the leaves are worn off. Holes and sewings., and Script: Copied by one hand in large Southern Gothica Textualis Formata (Rotunda). The opening majuscule of each verse set off in a separate column.
Subject (Topic):
Didactic poetry, Latin, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin language--Grammar, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper (polished) of Cecco d'Ascoli (Francesco Stabili), L'Acerba, Bks. 1-4 with the final 214 lines of Bk. 4 and all of the fragmentary Bk. 5 missing.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Vellum stays adhered inside and outside of quires. Backs of quires cut in for original sewing. Bookblock tacketed to a semi-limp paper case, reinforced at the spine. Handwritten paper label with title and a printed medallion with Flora (?) standing on an anchor and globe (?), both on spine., Blue initial, 6-line, with nice penwork designs, f. 1r. Smaller initials, 2-line, red with purple designs or blue with red designs, alternate throughout. Headings in pale red. Paragraph marks alternate red and blue. Later addition of arms in lower margin, f. 1r, effaced and covered with mending strips., Purchased from B. M. Rosenthal in 1959 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written by a single scribe in mercantesca script, above top line., and Watermarks: unidentified cherries (?) in upper margin, trimmed.
Subject (Topic):
Encyclopedias and dictionaries--Early works to 1600, Italian poetry--To 1400, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (fine; leaves repaired before pricking and ruling) of the Collected Works of Hugh of St. Victor.
Description:
8-line illuminated initial, blue with white highlights on square ground, magenta with blue and white highlights; interior of initial inhabited by scrolling vines, rabbit and two animal heads on gold and blue ground; tail of letter extends down inner margin. 11- to 7-line red and blue initials divided by a zig-zag line in parchment and with interior red and blue flourishes resembling the design on a peacock's tail feathers, mostly in red with small blue circles. This style of initial accompanied by long penwork extensions in red and blue I designs and with small spirals, circles, flourishes. Small 3-line initials alternate red and blue with penwork flourishes in the opposite color. 1-line plain initials alternate red and blue for chapter lists. Remains of guide letters for decorator. Headings, running titles (often incorrect), deletions (single horiztonal red line) and initial strokes in red., Binding: France [?], ca. 19th c. Brown calf, elaborately blind-stamped with figure of Christ giving a blessing with his right hand, while his left hand holds a book with alpha and omega displayed on the open pages. Original endbands (and therefore sewing?) and yellow edges., Binding: Nineteenth century, France (?). Brown calf, elaborately blind-stamped with figure of Christ giving a blessing with his right hand, while his left hand holds a book with alpha and omega displayed on the open pages. Original endbands (and therefore sewing?) and yellow edges., Purchased from L. C. Witten in 1960 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in uniform gothic bookhand throughout; contemporary marginal notes in several less formal hands., and Written in uniform gothic bookhand throughout; contemporary marginal notes in several less formal hands.
Subject (Name):
Hugh,--of Saint-Victor,--1096?-1141
Subject (Topic):
Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
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 containing 1) Benedictus Casinensis (500-550), Regula. 2) Promise formula of the novice upon his entry in religion. 3) Decrees of pope Pascal II (1099-1118) and emperors Charlemagne (?800-814) and Lothar I (823-855) against alienating the goods of a church or monastery. 4) Alberic, bishop of Rimini (1158-1177), Letter to the prior and convent of Vangadizza, on the death of abbot Liutald. 5) Computistical notes and tables: (a) Table of the regulares lunae; (b) dates of the seven embolismi of the Nineteen-Years Cycle; (c) discussion of the three years of the Cycle in which epacts and embolismi differ; (d) table of the seven embolismi for all the years of the Nineteen-Years Cycle; in the first column the epacts; (e) a short table summarizing the data of table (d). 6) Obituary of the abbey of Vangadizza. 7) Liturgical instructions for observing the anniversary of Martin, first abbot of the monastery.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century (?). Parchment over pasteboard. On the flat spine the handwritten 19th century inscription: "Regulae S. Benedicti et Kalendarium antiquum M.S.", Headings in red. Plain initials in red of various sizes (mostly 2-3 lines), sometimes with penwork decoration in the same colour (on f. 29 r in an initial a human head is drawn). On f. 4r the text of art. 1 opens with a 6-line zoomorphic initial "M" with two birds on a rectangular background. On f. 1r its preface opens with a 10-line historiated initial "A" , depicting St. Benedict explaining his rule to a monk, on a rectangular background. Both initials are in liquid gold, red, ocre and blue, and are followed by large display script in red, blue and ocre., Script: Copied by various hands, all writing Southern Praegothica. In art. 1 the changes of hands and layout often go together with the appearance of singletons, different layout and bad textual connection between successive pages and deserve a close analysis. In the Obituary (art. 6) the entries are added by many different, sometimes informal hands., and The lower margin of f. 25 and the outer margin of f. 58 are replaced with modern parchment.
Subject (Name):
Benedictines and Vangadizza (Abbey : Badia Polesine, Italy)
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Monasticism and religious orders