Manuscript on parchment, composed in two parts with different formats, of Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda aurea. With several Saints' Vitae by various authors. Part I was written in (probably Northern) Italy at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century. Part II may have been written in Hainaut and added during the 15th century
Description:
In Latin., Script: Part I written in round gothic bookhand by a single scribe who made neat corrections, often on lines ruled in the margins. Part II written in well formed gothic textura., Part I: Border decorations: long stems, inner and top margins or between text columns, in blue, pink, and grey segments divided by small balls, sprouting curling foliage (blue, light blue, and orange), concentrated at corners, with large spiky leaves at terminals and large spiral angular returns filled with mauve or gold in the lower margins; large gold dots tucked under leaves and trailing from the tips of leaves on thin brown pen lines. Initials, 4- to 3-line, attached to stems, pink and grey with white highlights; foliage serifs, as above; letters filled with blue and gold, with some vine work (green and grey), against gold grounds with thick black edging. 2-line initials, set into text columns, blue or red, with very elaborate, minute penwork, blue, red, and occasionally green, built up of small spirals, roundels, and long "caterpillar"-like segments, often extending the full length of text columns; with curling flourishes in margin. 1-line initials in Table of Contents red or blue, with thin vertical strokes in the opposite color; chapter numbers in red. Headings and paragraph marks in blue or red; rubrics throughout., Part II: Plain initials, 5- to 3-line, alternating red and blue, with large serifs; one on f. 300v in red and blue. Headings and initial strokes in red., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Pinkish brown calf case.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Jacobus, de Voragine, approximately 1229-1298. and Cistercians.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Legends, and Manuscripts, Medieval