Manuscript on parchment of Durand of Huesca (ca. 1160-1224?), Biblical Distinctiones, an early 13th-century revision of Peter of Capua's (d. 1214) Alphabetum in artem sermocinandi. Marston MS 266 is apparently the only known witness to Durand's revision. With Rhymed life of Peter of Capua , in quatrains, composed by Durand of Huesca
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in a fine early gothic bookhand by several scribes, above top line., Nice penwork initials, 7- to 3-line, for each letter of the alphabet, blue with red or vice versa. Smaller initials, 2-line, in similar but less intricate designs for chapter divisions. Chapter numbers, some initials, plain line fillers, and text divisions in red. Ornamental border, in red, encloses common ending for verses on f. 1r-v. Spaces for rubrics left unfilled. Majuscules in text stroked with pale yellow., Beginning and end of codex worm and rodent damaged., and Binding: Date? Fragmentary binding. Resewn with a chain stitch and the spine lined with coarse cloth. Plain, wound endbands and paste boards (composed of paper and parchment fragments of manuscripts), that once were covered with brick red tawed skin. Traces of two ties. Outline of rectangular label, now missing, on upper cover.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Durand, of Huesca. and Peter, of Capua, Cardinal.
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholasticism
Manuscript on paper of Diego Enriquez del Castillo (1433-1504?), Chronicle of King Enrique IV of Castile (1425-74). With the Life of Don Juan Pacheco, Marques de Villena; Decretal texts concerning behavior of clerics; and Brief law text in Latin
Description:
In Spanish., Watermarks: unidentified hand., Script: Written by several scribes in late Spanish bookhands with cursive and humanistic features. Some headings in large gothic display script., and Binding: Sixteenth century, Spain. Sewn on three tawed skin, slit straps, now broken, laced into channels in wooden boards. One plain wound endband is sewn on a tawed skin core, the other endband was added later. Covered in brown calf blind-tooled with concentric frames, the central panel and alternate frames filled with rope interlace. The layout of the design is the same on both boards but different small tools are used in the central panels. Spine: four fillets outlining the supports and in the center of the panels a small rope tool in the center of the compartments so formed. Two fastenings, the catches on the lower board, the clasp straps later additions. The spine is mended at head and tail; some corners repaired.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Castile (Spain)
Subject (Name):
Enríquez del Castillo, Diego, 1431-1503? and Henry IV, King of Castile and Leon, 1425-1474.
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Canon law, Manuscripts, Medieval, Spanish literature, and History
Manuscript on paper of 1) Leonardo Bruni, La prima guerra punica, in an anonymous Italian translation. 2) Leonardo Bruni, Vita di Dante. 3) Leonardo Bruni, Vita di Francesco Petrarca
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Monts 11684., Script: Written by two scribes: ff. 1r-51v in humanistic semi-cursive script, above top line; ff. 51v-59v in fere-humanistic script, above top line., Decoration of poor quality: 12-line divided initial in red and blue, f. 1r; 5-line blue initial with red penwork decoration, f. 51v; 5-line divided initial red and blue, f. 51r. Plain red and blue initials, 4- to 3-line, alternate throughout. Headings in bright red., and Binding: Twentieth century, England (?). Hard-grained, brown leather case. Gold-tooled title and date on spine: "L. Bruni Guerra Punica/ Vite di Dante e Petrarca/ MS. Sec. XV". Bright blue marbled edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Bruni, Leonardo, 1369-1444., Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321., and Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Literature, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Punic wars
Manuscript on paper (highly polished) of 1) Walter Burley, De vita et moribus philosophorum. 2) Mapheius Vegius, Declamatio seu disputatio inter solem, terram et aurum. 3) Selected speeches from Homer, Iliad IX (Oratio Ulixis, Responsio Achillis, Oratio Phoenicis) translated into Latin and with a preface by Leonardo Bruni
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: unidentified crown over five-pointed star in upper margin, trimmed., Script: Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive script with gothic features, above top line., The decoration consists of an elaborately illuminated page (f. 1r) in a style influenced by the "Master of the Vitae Imperatorum" who was active in Milan in the second quarter of the 15th century. Included in the full border of curling inkspray with heart-shaped and trefoil leaves in green, flowers in blue, red, pink and mauve, a strawberry, and gold balls is a standing figure of a naked boy holding a scroll inscribed with the motto "Seul e la fin." At the corners four quatrefoil medallions bordered in gold with portraits of philosophers against blue grounds with gold filigree. In lower border unidentified arms (quarterly, 1 and 4 or a millrind gules, 2 and 3 or a lion azure; with a bishop's mitre and crozier); in upper border a scroll with same motto as above. One historiated initial, f. 1r, 7-line, formed of acanthus leaves, mauve and red on gold ground, containing a portrait of the author against blue ground with gold filigree. One illuminated initial, 6-line, in mauve on gold ground with stylized foliage in green and blue with yellow highlights. In the text blank spaces for headings and initials., and Binding: Nineteenth century, England. Straight-grained brown leather, gold tooled. Edges gilt. Bound by F. & T. Aitken. Title on spine: "Diogenis Laertii Philosophorum Vita et Dicta. Codex MS. Saec. XV".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Burlaeus, Gualterus, 1275-1345?
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Dialogues, Latin (Medieval and modern), Epic poetry, Greek, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Philosophy, Ancient
Manuscript on parchment (hair side yellow and speckled) of Walter Burley, De vita et moribus philosophorum; an abridged translation that contains only 77 lives
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written in a humanistic hand both above and below top line by Johannes Nydenna de Confluentia, who would sometimes complete the final word of the final line of text (recto only) by writing the letters down between the outer vertical bounding lines., Space left for decorative initial on f. 1r later filled with plain initial and a stylized sprig of flowers, in turquoise. Plain intials throughout text alternate in red and blue., and Binding: Nineteenth century, Italy. Tan calf, blind- and gold-tooled. Head and fore edge bluish green; lettering on tail edge. In panels on spine: "Detti de' filosofi/ MSS. in Perg./ Sec. XV".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Burlaeus, Gualterus, 1275-1345?
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Literature, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Philosophy, Ancient
Manuscript on paper of Iacobus de Cessolis, Giovanni del Virgilio, Walter Burley, and other texts
Description:
In Latin., Script: most of the text is apparently written by four different hands, all using Gothica Cursiva Libraria: hand A copied ff. 1r-39r, hand B ff. 49r-60v, hand C ff. 61r-80v, hand D ff. 85r-117r. The indexes (artt. 3-4), slovenly copied in Gothica Cursiva Currens on blank pages in quire IV, are younger than the text and difficult to decipher. The same hand seems to have written the running headlines in artt. 1 and 5 and the foliation in art. 7., There is early foliation from "f. 1" to "f. 32" in the center of the upper margin of ff. 85r-116r; the numbers are repeated on the verso and are to be understood in the modern sense, being valid for recto and subsequent verso. Many pages are blank., The manuscript contains: 1) Iacobus de Cessolis OP (d. after 1322), Libellus de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium super ludo scaccorum. 2) A largely fabulous and incoherent history of the Roman empire up to the siege of Rome by the Muslims in 846. 3) Alphabetical index to artt. 1-2, referring to the number of the book as indicated by the running headlines, and the number of the chapter as indicated by numbers in the margin, by Dominicus de Dominicis OCarm, bishop of Sitia in Crete (1395-1399). 4) Alphabetical index to art. 5, referring to the number of the book and of the Metamorphose, by the same author as art. 3. 5) Iohannes de Virgilio (Giovanni del Virgilio, 1300-1350), Allegoriae librorum Ovidii Metamorphoseos, the prose parts only; instead of the poetical parts, there are excerpts from the Narrationes fabularum Ovidiarum by Lactantius Placidus (dates unknown) and perhaps from other sources. 6) Historia septem sapientum Romae. 7) De vita et moribus philosophorum, generally ascribed to Gualterus Burlaeus (Walter Burley, 1275-after 1344)., Simple decoration consisting of red headings and red paragraph marks. In artt. 1-2 2-line plain red initials (3-line at the opening, f. 1r); in artt. 5-7 2-line plain initials with rudimentary flourishing (often consisting of dots), all in red; the opening initials of artt. 5 and 7 are 3-line initials; a human face has been drawn in the initial on f. 51r. Guide letters. Red stroking of majuscules on ff. 49r-85r only., and Binding: 18th century (?). Quarter binding: brownish parchment and uncovered heavy paper boards On the spine is written in ink "Tedesco".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Jacobus, de Cessolis, active 1288-1322.
Subject (Topic):
Allegory, Biography, Chess, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Philosophy, Ancient
Manuscript on paper of Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C. - 17 A.D.), Metamorphoses. With Franciscus de Aretio (Francesco Accolti, 1416/1417-1488), Epigramma Ovidii Metamorphoseos; Life of Ovid, based on that by Arnulf of Orléans
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one hand in a rather irregular Humanistica Libraria of an exceptional type: Textualis with f and long s descending below the line. Opening lines of Book 1 in Capitalis., Red paragraph marks on ff. 1r-10v and 188v-189v. Spaces for headings blank. In art. 1 spaces for initials (5-11 lines) at the beginning of each Book and also on f. 10v (Metam. 1.583); the initials are not executed., and Binding: Binding of cardboard covered with fragments of a large 12th-century Italian manuscript on parchment containing the Passion of Abdon and Sennen, into which the Passion of Olympiades and Maximus is incorporated. Copied in large Southern Praegothica Formata; the text opens with a red initial. The title "OVIDIUS", preceded by a floweret, is written in ink in large capitals on the lower edge of the codex.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D.
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Latin fiction, Epic poetry, Latin, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper, composed in two parts, of 1) Unidentified grammatical text. 2) Vita virgiliana. 3) Preface to Servius' In Vergilii Aeneidos libros Commentarius. 4) Leonicenus Omnibonus (ca. 1412-ca.1480), De arte metrica. 5) Ps.-Lentulus, Epistola de conditione Domini nostri Iesu Christi
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: Part I: similar to Briquet Oiseau 12128 and 12130. Part II: similar in general design to Harlfinger Balance 31., Script: Part I (ff. 1-30): Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive, below top line. Part II (ff. 31-80): Arts. 2-4 in humanistic cursive, below top line; art. 5 in a more formal humanistic bookhand., Part I: Plain intials (1-line), headings, initial strokes, and marginalia in red. Part II: Arts. 2-4: plain initials, headings, and initial strokes in red., and Binding: Fifteenth century, Italy. Two pairs of tunnels in the edges of the boards, and the supports laced into one or the other of them to channels in the outside and nailed. Partly resewn. Boards sharply bevelled, with the fore-edge bevel broken off the upper board. Quarter vellum binding, a later addition. Title in ink on lower board, partially visible under ultra-violet light: "Vita Vergilii [another word illegible]/ Documenta". Later title in ink on spine: "Varia man. scr./ vetera" and what appears to be a monogram or shelf-mark with letters I, F, O, T, H in ink on vellum addition.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Virgil.
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Latin language, Grammar, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholia
Manuscript on parchment of Jacopo Zeno, Vita Caroli Zeni. With a dedicatory preface to Pope Pius II. This manuscript is of special importance because it contains the complete work
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in humanistic script by Franciscus de Tianis of Pistoia., On f. 1r, a foliage border which includes hares, stork, vase, and arms of the Piccolomini family (argent, a cross azur with 5 crescents or; surmounted by keys in saltire argent and a papal tiara; supported by a pair of angels). Eleven elaborate initials, 11- to 7-line, in gold, red, blue, and green entwined with foliage. The style of decoration is decidedly Roman., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Brownish-red goatskin, gold-tooled; pale green and gold, Dutch gilt paper boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Zeno, Carlo, 1334-1418. and Zeno, Jacopo, 1417-1481.
Subject (Topic):
Biography, Crusades, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
