On each side of the golden altar in the basilica of St Ambrose in Milan four saints are portrayed:
on the right side are St Ambrose with the martyrs Gervasius, Protasius, and the bishop Simplicianus;
on the left St Martin of Tours with the martyr Nabor, Nazarius, and a bishop of Milan, whose name
is abbreviated as MANV. The full form of the name has been read as Maternus, whereas it has to
be read as Mansuetus. Mansuetus (fl. 679-80) is the author of a letter sent to the emperor Constantine
IV Pogonatus for the Sixth Oecumenical Council of Constantinople, which is transmitted by 19
manuscripts. Eight of these MSS are 9th-Century and almost contemporary with the golden altar. A
copy of Mansuetus’ letter is included in MS Vat. Lat. 268, the final volume of a 12th-Century
comprehensive collection of Ambrose’s works, written on the initiative of Martino Corbo, praepositus
of the Basilica (fl. 1126-1152). This MS testifies to a lasting tradition, still connecting Mansuetus
with St Ambrose.
The rich collection of documents preserved in Milan, Archivio Capitolare della Basilica di S.
Ambrogio, includes a number of loose leaves from codices. Three of these fragments are here
described. The oldest one, Perg. sec. XI n° 126c, is a four-leave item, written in caroline minuscule
with raethian influences probably in Northern Italy, in the 9th Century, circa med. or third quarter.
The text is a fragment of the rare Collectio Quesnelliana, a canonical collection composed in Rome,
4th-5th century, and attested in 8th-9th-century manuscripts from France and Germany. An updated
list of the MSS containing the Collectio Quesnelliana is given.
At the conclusion of his great Alexandreis Walter of Châtillon describes his hero’s tomb. These
important lines have been the object of sedulous Quellenforschung. It has however escaped notice
that they would seem to have been influenced by Juvenal’s account of a shipwrecked merchant in
Satire XIV. The broader context of this Juvenalian passage would also appear to have coloured the
foregoing section of the epic.
MS Ambr. N.I.2 inf., fasc. 12, is an account book of the church of St John the Baptist in Monza,
drawn up by only one hand ca 1404. It includes records of incomes, paid in farm produces or cash,
from liturgical officiations in several churches in the district of Monza and similar. Most interesting
is the list of Masses for the dead to be celebrated in St John the Baptist: it appears to be an excerpt
from the official old and large obituary book (Kalendarium-Obituarium, now Monza, Bibl. Capitolare,
h-14, saec. XII-XIII, with additions up to the early XVIth century). This selective copy was made
for the purpose of providing a handy list of anniversaries still to be celebrated, with the exclusion
of the many oldest and forgotten names which filled the pages of the great obituary. The text is here
edited.
Guido II bishop of Assisi pursued a policy of power against exemptions in his diocese, and he
claimed revenues held by the monastery of S. Benedetto al Monte Subasio. Honorius III sent a letter
to Guido II (17.1.1222), in order to settle the controversy. The letter is preserved in the Registri
Vaticani (Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Reg. Vat. 11, f. 191) and in the Decretales Gregorii IX (lib. I,
tit. XXXI, cap. 16), in the form rearranged by Raymond of Peñafort. The two versions are compared
to offer an exemple of Raymond’s working method.
A translator of Pier de’ Crescenzi’s manual on agriculture Ruralia commoda (about 1305-1307) has
to surmount various obstacles put as well by the author’s compilatory method and his use of nonlatin
vocabulary as by scribal errors in the manuscripts, flaws in the critical edition, and bouts of
drowsiness the translator himself is now and then suffering from.
Two manuscripts from Petrarch’s personal library concern the Pauline letters: Naples, Biblioteca San
Luigi, Ar. I, 50, offering the full text of St Paul’s letters with glossa ordinaria, and Paris, Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, lat. 1762, containing Pauline commentaries by Ambrosiaster, Haimo of Auxerre,
Jerome. Petrarch read and annotated both MSS: the Naples MS between 1350 and 1360; the Paris
MS between 1360 and 1370. Maniculae, little flowers, notabilia, some other marginalia bear witness
to a deep attention to scholarly questions and to moral and theological issues. Authors quoted are
only St Augustine and Cicero. All the notes are here edited and commented, with cross references
to Petrarch’s marginalia in other MSS and to his works.
The House “At the Black Rose” in Prague was a singular centre of study and instruction by the
University’s Natio Bohemica. Since 1411 there were three teutonici guest professors linked to the
party of John Hus: Master Peter of Dresden, Master Frederick Eppinge, and Master Nicholas of the
Black Rose (de Rosa Nera); they were given the nickname of Dresdeners. In 1412 after the renewed
sentence of Wyclif’s 45 Articles passed by ecclesiastical and university authorities, Hus’s party
decided to publicly defend some of these articles including the one that prohibited the oath in certain
cases. A treatise discussing this issue is in Prague, former Chapter Library, now Archiv Pražskeho
Hradu, MS C 116, of which the edition is here given: the text is by Nicolaus de Rosa Nera and can
be considered his testament. As a bachelor of Canon Law he quotes canonical texts: Decretum
Gratiani, the Decretals with the glosses. Besides, a basic authority quoted is Pseudo-Chrysostom’s
Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum, in order to support the view that the six Evangelical
Recommendations of Mt 5, including Mt 5,37, are to be considered commandments. Nicolaus states
the duty to fight against the Antichrist, present in the Council of Constance and in the dominant
simony of ecclesiastical organization. There are connections with the imitation of Christ in the spirit
of the Devotio Moderna, but no connection with Waldesianism.
The same collection of texts is transmitted by two MSS: Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, 860 and
Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, 593, both written by the same 15th-Century copiyst, Francesco
Sanuto. This collection provides unexpected hints on the authorship of two works which enjoied a
large circulation in the late Middle Ages: the Decretum abbreviatum and the De mysterio Missae.
The opening rubric of Decretum abbreviatum includes a sharp abbreviation, which could be expanded
to give the name of Sicardus of Cremona. The commentary on De mysterio missae, transmitted by
the Riccardiano and Arsenal MSS, states that it is the work of Ivo of Chartres, a quite improbable
attribution, since the text is generally attributed to Hildebertus of Lavardin.
In the “Manoscritti datati d’Italia” series descriptions and plates of 1782 manuscripts have been
published so far, and 85% are 15th-century items. Thus the series is of basic importance for the
study of late medieval and humanistic scripts, particularly in Italy, where two main traditions (moderna
and antiqua), which included a great variety of writing practices, continued side by side during the
Quattrocento. These plates are tools for a palaeographical study aiming at classification. Manuscripts
in moderna appear to outnumber those in antiqua; 44% of the Italian book production is of Tuscan
origin; the peak of production, both in antiqua and in moderna, took place between 1450 and 1480.
Among the ‘modern’ scripts, the textualis appears prevailing. Many foreign scribes are active in Italy:
some of them are deeply influenced by Italian writing models.
The “Manoscritti datati d’Italia” series is covering an increasing number of manuscript collections
in Italian libraries and provides the opportunity to examine different typologies of scribal subscriptions.
The scribe can be a professional worker, or a notary, or amateur, or the author himself;
sometimes he offers information on his age, health or social status. The colophon may mention the
MS commissioner, the date and place of execution, how long the work lasted and other circumstances.
The colophon may include a request for prayers or for money, cryptograms, verses, old
topoi. In university texts a large number of scribes with foreign names testifies to the many transalpini,
who were active in Italy.
The aim of this paper is to show the relationships between five manuscripts of the ancient scholia to the hesiodic Shield. They can be divided into two groups: the first including mss. Vat. Pal. gr. 425, Rom. Vallicell. F 16, leid. Vulc. gr. 23; the second including Laur. Conv. Soppr. 158 and Par. gr. 2833. The two groups have primarly a close relationship between each other and are in close affinity with the family of Vat. gr. 1332. Remarks on the text of some scholia are added in appendix.
Histoire et culture dans l’Italie byzantine. Acquis et nouvelles recherches, sous la
dir. de A. JACOB, J.-M. MARTIN et G. NOYÉ (C.M. Mazzucchi), p. 581 - Certificats
de pèlerinage d’époque Ayyoubide. Contribution à l’histoire de l’idéologie de
l’Islam au temps des croisades, publiés et présentés par D. SOURDEL - J. SOURDELTHOMINE
(G. Ligato), p. 583 - J. DE MANDEVILLA, Libro de las maravillas del mundo (Ms. Esc. M-III-7) ed. crítica de M.M. RODRÍGUEZ TEMPERLEY (M. Peretto),
p. 584 - S. BERNARDINELLO, Catalogo dei codici della Biblioteca Capitolare di
Padova. In appendice gli incunaboli con aggiunte manoscritte (M. Ferrari), p. 587
P.F. MORETTI, La Passio Anastasiae. Introduzione, testo critico, traduzione (M.
Rivoltella), p. 591 - Codex Trecensis. La «Regola pastorale» di Gregorio Magno
in un codice del VI-VII secolo: Troyes, Médiathèque de l’Agglomération Troyenne,
504. I-II, a c. di L.G.G. RICCI (G. Picasso), p. 592 - L’«Appendix Probi». Nuove
ricerche, a c. di F. LO MONACO - P. MOLINELLI (M. Ferrari), p. 593 - EUSEBIO DI
CESAREA, Concordanze degli evangelisti – Armonie evangeliche (Brescia,
Biblioteca Queriniana, ms. F.II.1), riproduzione in facsimile, e Le concordanze di
Eusebio. Commentario, presentaz. di A. PIROLA, commento di E. FERRAGLIO (S.
Signaroli), p. 595 - Lettura dell’Edda. Poesia e prosa [Atti del VI Seminario avanzato
in Filologia Germanica, Torino, 19-23 sett. 2005], a c. di V. DOLCETTI
CORAZZA - R. GENDRE (C. Milani), p. 596 - Jure Vetere. Ricerche archeologiche
nella prima fondazione monastica di Gioacchino da Fiore (indagini 2001-2005), a c.
di C. DAMIANO FONSECA - D. ROUBIS - F. SOGLIANI (G. Picasso), p. 597 - Les obituaires
du chapitre cathédral d’Albi, sous la dir. de J. FAVIER - J.L. LEMAÎTRE par
M. DESACHY (R. Mambretti), p. 597 - Petrus de Crescentiis, Erfolgreiche
Landwirtschaft. Ein mittelalterliches Lehrbuch, eingeleitet, übersetzt und mit
Anmerkungen versehen von B.K. VOLLMANN (M. Petoletti), p. 598 - Nuovo Liruti.
Dizionario biografico dei Friulani: 1. Il Medioevo, a c. di C. SCALON (M. Ferrari),
p. 600 - Nuove ricerche su codici in scrittura latina dell’Ambrosiana. Atti del
Convegno, Milano, 6-7 ottobre 2005, a c. di M. FERRARI - M. NAVONI (L. Casarico),
p. 601.