Bell Towers

St Peter's Basilica in Rome was not built in a day. Its bell towers are additions. Pope Urban VIII decided in 1636 to adopt the architect Bernini's scheme. This can now be examined online in a book of planning drawings, Vat.lat.13442.pt.1, including a curious little lift-the-flap page with design alternatives:

Many of the drawings are overlays on an engraving by Matthias Greuter. This was printed as a kind of master drawing for the project, which lasted many years. A start was made on the south tower, but due to technical problems the work was suspended. The completed parts of Bernini's structure were dismantled in 1646.

The portfolio is one of the manuscripts placed online in the last few days by the Vatican Apostolic Library. My list:

1. Carte.dAbbadie.18 (black and white, low-res)
2. Carte.dAbbadie.19 (black and white, low-res), translation from Arabic by Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, the 19th-century Franco-Irish explorer
3. Pages.1, Codex Leidradi (HT to @ParvaVox and @LatinAristotle who point out Bishop Leidrad of Lyons' autograph ex-libris in this very early (8th century) copy of Aristotle's Organon.)  Here is the inscription as transcribed by @LatinAristotle:
   
   The codex begins with Porphyry's Isagoge in the Latin translation (early 6th century CE) of Boethius. Check it out on ELMSS. @ParvaVox adds the reference CLA IV 417. Note the diagrams including this one:
   
4. Reg.lat.458, a Lives of the Saints compilation (from cathedral priory of St Andrew, Rochester, Kent?) including a life of St Pol de Léon
5. Vat.gr.463
6. Vat.gr.758 ,
7. Vat.lat.518.pt.1
8. Vat.lat.752, philosophical: Bonaventura, Aquinas
9. Vat.lat.1300
10. Vat.lat.1439
11. Vat.lat.1440, Pope Innocent: Apparatus in Decretalium Gregorii, with this opening initial:
    
12. Vat.lat.1444
13. Vat.lat.1452
14. Vat.lat.1457
15. Vat.lat.1463
16. Vat.lat.1501, Notabilia of Johannes de Soncino
17. Vat.lat.1509
18. Vat.lat.1529 , Pietro de Crescenzi, Ruralia commoda, 14th century
    
19. Vat.lat.1535
20. Vat.lat.1544
21. Vat.lat.1545, Macrobius, Commentary on Cicero's Scipio's Dream, 15th century
22. Vat.lat.1549
23. Vat.lat.1550
24. Vat.lat.1551
25. Vat.lat.1553, De verborum significatu, by the 2nd-century lexicographer Festus, epitome by Paulus. Incipit: Augustus, locus sanctus, ab avium gestu. Edition: De verborum significatu quae supersunt cum Pauli epitome, ed. Wallace M. Lindsay, Leipzig: Teubner 1913.
26. Vat.lat.1557
27. Vat.lat.1559
28. Vat.lat.1561, Leonardo Bruni, De Militia
29. Vat.lat.1562
30. Vat.lat.1563
31. Vat.lat.1564
32. Vat.lat.1566
33. Vat.lat.1576
34. Vat.lat.1578
35. Vat.lat.1581
36. Vat.lat.1588
37. Vat.lat.1617
38. Vat.lat.1619
39. Vat.lat.1627
40. Vat.lat.1639
41. Vat.lat.1658
42. Vat.lat.1665
43. Vat.lat.1667
44. Vat.lat.1670
45. Vat.lat.1674
46. Vat.lat.1676
47. Vat.lat.1677
48. Vat.lat.1680
49. Vat.lat.1685, Cicero, Letters, a Renaissance manuscript
50. Vat.lat.1691
51. Vat.lat.1701
52. Vat.lat.13442.pt.1, drawings of Bernini's facade for the Basilica of St Peter in Rome (above)
53. Vat.lat.15414

Also worthy of note is the arrival online, in colour and hi-res, of Vat.lat.1528, formerly only available in black and white. This is a 14th-century copy of De Balneis Puteolanis, the medical poem on the healing benefits of thermal baths by Petrus of Eboli. This copy lacks the racy illustrations. It is listed in Thorndike-Kibre only under the prologue, Inter opes rerum deus est. See Ballester

At Heidelberg, 15 new manuscripts have arrived online, most of them scientific. Those indexed by Thorndike-Kibre are marked eTK below:

1. Pal. lat. 1171 Petrus : Medizinsche Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 14. Jh. (nach 1310))
2. Pal. lat. 1172 Petrus : Conciliator Pars I (Heidelberg, Mitte 15 Jh.), eTK: Quod necessarium non sit medico ceteras speculationis scientias (15c); Also: Unum in ternario ac omne
3. Pal. lat. 1180 Arnoldus ; Gentilis ; Bacon, Rogerus: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 2. Drittel 15. Jh.), eTK: Ad investigationem ergo scientie de gradibus medicinarum
4. Pal. lat. 1188 Avicenna; Hippocrates; Copho; Arnoldus ; Leopoldus ; Hermes; Ps.-Vergilius; Augustinus Bathus Senensis; Antonius de Haneron: Miscellaneenband (Sachsen, Ende 15. Jh.), eTK: Debes considerare planetas hora revolutionis (15c)
5. Pal. lat. 1196 Isaac : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich, 13./14. Jh.), eTK: Cum in primis coegit antiquos disputare (15c)
6. Pal. lat. 1198 Liber medcinalis (Regensburg oder Freising, 1565)
7. Pal. lat. 1203 Kommentare zu den Aphorismen des Hippokrates (2. Drittel 15. Jh.), eTK: Intentio Hippocratis fuit componere librum pauci (15c)
8. Pal. lat. 1205 Arnoldus praepositus Sancti Jacobi; Arnoldus ; Maimonides, Moses; Jacoby, Johann; Gentilis ; Costofferus; Auicenna; Bernardus ; Magninus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh), eTK: Accidit interdum aeri qui est hic apud nos (15c)
9. Pal. lat. 1419 Ptolemaeus, Claudius: Opus quadripartitum (Deutschland, 2. Drittel 15. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 1420 Ptolemaeus, Claudius; Johannes ; Albertus ; Johannes ; Bradwardine, Thomas; Simon ; Johannes : Sammelband mit Quadriviumstexten (Italien (I) , Italien und Köln (II), Ende 13. Jh. (I) ; 14. Jh. (II))
11. Pal. lat. 1423 Pruckner, Nicolaus; Leowitz, Cyprian: Nativitäten ; Astrologische Urteile (Heidelberg, 2. Hälfte 16. Jh.)
12. Pal. lat. 1425 Leowitz, Cyprian: Tomus tertius nativitatum (Augsburg, Mitte 16. Jh.)
13. Pal. lat. 1436 Leopoldus ; Johannes ; Prophatius Judaeus: Astronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Belgien, Mitte 15. Jh. (1447))
14. Pal. lat. 1439 Peuerbach, Georg /von; Regiomontanus, Johannes; Albertus ; Johannes ; Głogowczyk, Jan; Ps.-Hippokrates; Prosdocimus ; Hermes: Astronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Krakau, Leipzig, 1487-1493), eTK: Aries facit calorem temperatum (15c)
    
15. Pal. lat. 1446 Abū-Maʿšar Ǧaʿfar Ibn-Muḥammad; Qabīṣī, Abu-'ṣ-Ṣaqr ʿAbd-al-ʿAzīz Ibn-ʿUṯmān /al-; Māšā'allāh Ibn-Aṯarī: Astrologischer Sammelband (Deutschland, Mitte 15. Jh. (I) , letztes Drittel 14. Jh. (II)), eTK: Accipiat nomen suum

Finally, the Vatican Library is playing catch-up, having just posted some manuscripts already familiar from the Heidelberg site:

1. Pal.lat.1357, eTK: India ulterior finitur ab oriente oceano (14c)
2. Pal.lat.27
3. Pal.lat.33
4. Pal.lat.37
5. Pal.lat.38
6. Pal.lat.44
7. Pal.lat.48
8. Pal.lat.49
9. Pal.lat.54
10. Pal.lat.61
11. Pal.lat.62
12. Pal.lat.63
13. Pal.lat.64
14. Pal.lat.66
15. Pal.lat.69
16. Pal.lat.70
17. Pal.lat.71
18. Pal.lat.101
19. Pal.lat.130
20. Pal.lat.131
21. Pal.lat.203
22. Pal.lat.205
23. Pal.lat.312
24. Pal.lat.395
25. Pal.lat.397
26. Pal.lat.399
27. Pal.lat.711
28. Pal.lat.1089, eTK: Somnus corporis of Galen
29. Pal.lat.1930

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 115. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Fake Book

Did you ever hide money in books? I used to as a boy, until I returned a library book with a banknote left inside it as a forgotten bookmark. I frantically rushed to the Epsom Branch of the Auckland Public Library system, found the book on its shelf and opened it to find the cash still there.

And did you ever beg as a child to be given an old book so you could cut out the core to use as a secret hiding place? The Vatican has at least one such fake book, but there are no banknotes in this one any more. Legat.Pal.lat.24 is a hollowed-out volume presumably used to secrete valuables or messages in libraries. It is held in the Fondo legature and the binding has been dated to 1869-1878.

Here is the full list of digitizations I have harvested in the past week:

1. Arch.Cap.S.Pietro.F.4, evangeliary?
2. Legat.Pal.lat.24, hollowed-out fake book (above)
3. Reg.lat.6, Glosae Super Iohannem
4. Reg.lat.7, a mid 9th-century Bible from St Denis in Carolingian script, unusual because the copyist wrote out Tb 1- 6,12 in the Vetus Latina instead of the Vulgate text of Jerome (fols. 44 ff). Beuron number 143
5. Reg.lat.17, Augustine
6. Reg.lat.18
7. Reg.lat.32, Ambrose of Milan on Psalms
8. Reg.lat.38, Augustine and Ambrose
9. Reg.lat.68, Ivo of Chartres, Richard of St Victor and others
10. Reg.lat.73
11. Reg.lat.111
12. Reg.lat.113, Rabanus Maurus with this wonderful initial
    
13. Reg.lat.114, Vegetius? Boethius?
14. Reg.lat.138, John Chrysostom and some Ambrose
15. Reg.lat.139
16. Reg.lat.145, Bernard on sin
17. Reg.lat.159, autograph(?) Theologia Christiana of Peter Abelard, the best witness of the work as Abelard conceived it. Dated to 1122-1125 by Constant Mews
18. Reg.lat.166, Boethius
19. Reg.lat.177, John of God, Liber poenitentiarius
20. Reg.lat.178, John of Tambaco
21. Reg.lat.200, Claudius of Turin
22. Reg.lat.206, Prosper of Aquitaine
23. Reg.lat.245, Faustus of Riez
24. Reg.lat.246
25. Reg.lat.269, Iohannes Sarisberiensis
26. Urb.lat.352, miscellany, Alanis de Insulis and others
27. Urb.lat.429, a Renaissance copy of Lorenzo Valla's translation of Thucydides. See History of Information.
28. Urb.lat.430, Herodotus in Latin translation
29. Urb.lat.474, the flyleaves are taken from a vanished Vetus Latina bible of the 9th or 10th century and contain fragments from 2 Mcc; Beuron Number 199
    
30. Urb.lat.607
31. Urb.lat.821.pt.A, paper manuscript relating to Spanish Kingdom of Naples
32. Urb.lat.821.pt.B.1
33. Urb.lat.821.pt.B.2
34. Urb.lat.821.pt.B.3
35. Urb.lat.1278
36. Urb.lat.1389
37. Urb.lat.1503
38. Urb.lat.1513
39. Urb.lat.1525
40. Urb.lat.1542
41. Urb.lat.1552
42. Urb.lat.1630, conclave Gregory XV
43. Vat.gr.155
44. Vat.gr.503
45. Vat.gr.920.pt.1
46. Vat.gr.1635
47. Vat.lat.1128
48. Vat.lat.1260
49. Vat.lat.1274
50. Vat.lat.1275
51. Vat.lat.1278
52. Vat.lat.1283
53. Vat.lat.1285
54. Vat.lat.1309

In addition, we find the following 12 Palatina manuscripts new online.

1. Pal. lat. 572 Sammelhandschrift (15. Jh.)
2. Pal. lat. 1122 Avicenna; Arnoldus ; Franco de Polonia; Petrus ; Ptolemaeus, Claudius: Medizinisch-naturwissenschaftlicher Sammelband (2. Hälfte 13. Jh. ; 1. Hälfte 14. Jh.), including an Alkindi text with the incipit: In medicinis per artem compositis considerans (Alkindi cum comm. Arnaldi de Villanova). Ptolemy text begins Scientia astrorum dividitur in duo. See eTK
3. Pal. lat. 1126 Gentilis : De febribus vel expositio super primam fen quarti canonis Avicennae (Italien, Mitte 15. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 1127 Gentilis : De febribus vel Expositio super primam fen quarti canonis Avicennae (Padua, 1462), Excusati ab his que in librorum principiis; Febris est calor extraneus innaturalis. Gentilis of Foligno was a commentator on Avicenna. See eTK
5. Pal. lat. 1131 Avicenna; Ludovicus de Florentia; Mundinus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 15. Jh. (1476)), Quoniam nihil carius et amabilius; .a Mundinus de Foro Iulio eTK
6. Pal. lat. 1134 Petrus ; Bartholomaeus de Sancta Sophia; Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-; Gerardus : Medizinische Sammelhandschirft (Deutschland, 1454 ; 1400), a text by Peter of Tussignano here was compiled at the University of Bologna in 1385: incipit: In dispositione medicinarum seu receptarum convenientium. See eTK
7. Pal. lat. 1137 Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-; Ps.-Hippocrates; Jacobus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Amberg, um 1560)
8. Pal. lat. 1141 Isrāʾīlī, Isḥāq Ibn-Sulaimān /al-; Knab, Erhardus: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, letztes Viertel 15. Jh.)
9. Pal. lat. 1142 Isrāʾīlī, Isḥāq Ibn-Sulaimān /al-; Paulus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (um 1500), a main text here is on fevers, with the incipit: Amice carissime fili Iohannes lacrima. See eTK
10. Pal. lat. 1768 Ps.-Aristoteles ; Thomas ; Petrus ; Johannes ; Knab, Erhardus: Sammelhandschrift (Südwestdeutschland, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
11. Pal. lat. 1817 Avicenna: Canonis libris tres (II., IV., V.) (Italien, 13./ 14. Jh.)
12. Pal. lat. 1828 Luther, Martin: Bericht über den Augsburger Reichstag von 1530 (Weimar (?), Mitte 16. Jh.)

I would like to especially thank Pieter Beullens who last month provided leads to further identify some of these items from the electronic Thorndike and Kibre (eTK) while it was still paywalled. [At U Missouri, searches tended to fail with a message: "You are not allowed to access this database. Please contact LEV or PDK for access." On March 6, Lisa Fagin Davis of the Medieval Academy of America announced on Twitter the link on the academy website had been rectified to always lead to a search page that does not demand a password. Thanks so much for this improvement. Use that link.]

What I did not previously know is that the eTK database can also be searched in a more aesthetically pleasing format via IndexCat at the US National Library of Medicine, which is also free.

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 107. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Extreme Fasting

Extremism is generally a disapproving word, but adepts are always ready to cheer an enticement they can follow to its most gruesome extreme. Some time ago I edited a health story about extreme anorexics (Motto: It's impossible to be too thin) and I had to think of them when I saw the image below of monks in a threadbare, emaciated state, presumably from long self-deprivation.

The image is found in a newly digitized penitential canon, Vat.lat.1347, from the Vatican Greek collection. This depicts extreme self-mortification associated with the eastern monastic tradition.

The second illumination below shows monks being encouraged by the Blessed Virgin in heaven (the female figure in the window at top right).

Here are 21 new items recently placed on the BAV digital portal:

1. Reg.lat.337, a major Gregorian sacramentary from the first half of the 9th century
2. Urb.lat.432
3. Urb.lat.531
4. Urb.lat.1495
5. Urb.lat.1576
6. Urb.lat.1579
7. Urb.lat.1587
8. Vat.lat.507
9. Vat.lat.510
10. Vat.lat.1264
11. Vat.lat.1270
12. Vat.lat.1280
13. Vat.lat.1284
14. Vat.lat.1287
15. Vat.lat.1344
16. Vat.lat.1346, legal text, containing a most unusual arbor juris diagram with two men stacked on top of one another at folio 128r
    
17. Vat.lat.1347 This is a manuscript written between ca 850 and 875 near Rheims containing one of the main penitential handbooks, the Collectio canonum quadripartita (Wikipedia), an elaborate codification of sins. The Collectio is a main foundation for medieval canon law, and this manuscript, though incomplete, is the oldest. The manuscript was written when the compilation (by an unidentified author) was still fresh.
18. Vat.lat.3249
19. Vat.lat.3595
20. Vat.lat.13442.pt.2
21. Vat.gr.1754 - an important penitential canon (above)

The Digital Palatine Library in Heidelberg has recently brought online 66 new Vatican manuscripts:

1. Pal. lat. 1121 Avicenna; Ludovicus de Florentia: Fen quarta libri Canonis quarti (Heidelberg, 1476)
2. Pal. lat. 1123 Avicenna; Angelus ; Bernardus ; Poll, Nicolaus; Arnoldus ; Ibn-al-Ǧazzār, Aḥmad Ibn-Ibrāhīm; Konrad Weigand: Medizinischer Sammelband (Ongolstadt , Freising, 1514-1539)
3. Pal. lat. 1125 Avicenna: Canonis Libri tertius et quarti fen prima et secunda (Italien (?), 13./14. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 1128 Gentilis : Expositio super libri tertii canonis Avicennae (Deutschland, Anfang 15. Jh.)
5. Pal. lat. 1129 Gentilis ; Jacobus ; Gerardus ; Avicenna: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 1452-1455)
6. Pal. lat. 1130 Gentilis : Expositio super primam et tertiam fen libri tertii Canonis Avicennae (Italien, 15. Jh.)
7. Pal. lat. 1133 Jacobus : Expositio primi libri Canonis Avicennae (Italien (Padua?), 1441)
8. Pal. lat. 1139 Johannes : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Ingolstadt, 1532-1544)
9. Pal. lat. 1143 Isrāʾīlī, Isḥāq Ibn-Sulaimān /al-; Bartholomaeus de Vallone; Constantinus ; Richardus de Montepessulano; Baron, Roger: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich, 13./14. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 1144 Isidorius; Johannes de Sancto Paulo; Archimatthaeus; Arnoldus ; Ps.-Albertus; Magister Salernus; Thomas ; Petrus ; Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg (I), 2. Hälfte 15. Jh. (I) ; 14. Jh. (II))
11. Pal. lat. 1145 Antidotarium Nicolai (Nordwestdeutschland, 15. Jh.)
12. Pal. lat. 1147 Maimonides, Moses; Marcus Johannes Senensis; Gentilis ; Saladinus ; Christophorus : Medizinischer Sammelband (Handschrift mit Inkunabeldrucken) (Heidelberg, Letztes Drittel 15. Jh.)
13. Pal. lat. 1148 Mesue Minor: Libri de consolatione medicinarum simplicium solutivarum (Anfang 14. Jh.)
14. Pal. lat. 1149 Mesue Minor; Arnoldus ; Constantinus ; Gerardus Bituricensis: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Paris, 1. Hälfte 14. Jh.)
15. Pal. lat. 1150 Mesue Minor; Matthaeus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (14. Jh.)
16. Pal. lat. 1151 Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-: Continens, Vol. I, libri I-IX (Italien, 13./14. Jh.)
17. Pal. lat. 1152 Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-: Continens, Vol. III, libri XVIIIb-XXV (Heidelberg, 2. Drittel 15. Jh.)
18. Pal. lat. 1153 Gerardus ; Arnoldus ; Dinus de Florentia; Ibn-Ǧazla, Yaḥyā Ibn-ʿ'Īsā; Zahrāwī, Ḫalaf Ibn-Abbās /az-; Albertus : Medizinische und naturphilosophische Sammelhandschrift (Paris, 14. Jh. (1358))
19. Pal. lat. 1154 Gerardus ; Jacoby, Johann: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Montpellier, 1365)
20. Pal. lat. 1155 Gerardus ; Arnoldus ; Dinus de Florentia; Montagna, Bartolomeo: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
21. Pal. lat. 1156 Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-; Bernardus : Medizinischkanonistische Sammelhandschrift (13./14. Jh.)
22. Pal. lat. 1164 Constantinus ; Mattaeus Platearius; Aegidius Corbolensis; Richardus ; Trotula: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich, 13./14. Jh.)
23. Pal. lat. 1165 Constantinus ; Gerardus Bituricensis; Gerardus de Montepessulano; Richardus ; Maurus ; Johannes ; Armengaudus ; Lanfrancus : Medizinischer Sammelband (13.Jh. ; 14. Jh.)
24. Pal. lat. 1166 Johannes : Medizinischer Sammelhandschrift (Südfrankreich, 13./ 14. Jh.)
25. Pal. lat. 1527 Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Aristoteles: De officiis ; Politica (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
26. Pal. lat. 1528 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien, 15. Jh.)
27. Pal. lat. 1532 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De officiis (Italien, 15. Jh.)
28. Pal. lat. 1533 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De officiis (Italien, 15. Jh.)
29. Pal. lat. 1535 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De officiis (Italien (Venedig?), 15. Jh.)
30. Pal. lat. 1536 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien, 15. Jh.)
31. Pal. lat. 1539 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus : Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 14. Jh.)
32. Pal. lat. 1544 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus : Excerpta controuersarium (Italien, 15. Jh.)
33. Pal. lat. 1545 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus : Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
34. Pal. lat. 1559 Plinius Secundus, Gaius: Naturalis historia (Italien (Florenz), 15. Jh.)
35. Pal. lat. 1742 Notae et excerpta (Heidelberg, um 1525-27)
36. Pal. lat. 1743 Brucioli, Antonio: Parabole, proverbi et sententie (Italien, 3. Viertel 16. Jh.)
37. Pal. lat. 1766 Alexander : Doctrinale pueorumcum commento (Süddeutschland (Augsburg ?), 1486)
38. Pal. lat. 1767 Johannes ; Petrus Dresdensis : Sammelhandschrift (Tschechien (?), 1419)
39. Pal. lat. 1777 Hugutio: Liber dervationum (Deutschland, 1394)
40. Pal. lat. 1778 Twinger von Königshofen, Jakob: Vocabularius brevilogus (Deutschland (?), 1474)
41. Pal. lat. 1780 Heinricus Ratisbonensis (?); Engelhusius, Theodoricus: Vocabularius brevilogus (Süddeutschland, 1456)
42. Pal. lat. 1781 Closener, Fritsche: Vocabularius Ex quo ; Ars dictandi (Südwestdeutschland (Rheinpfalz ?), 1446/ um 1536)
43. Pal. lat. 1782 Vocabularius Ex quo (Süddeutschland, Mitte 15. Jh.)
44. Pal. lat. 1784 Vocabularius optimus (Südwestdeutschland, Mitte 15. Jh.)
45. Pal. lat. 1786 Guarino ; Gasparinus Barzizius ; Fliscus, Stephanus: Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
46. Pal. lat. 1788 Johannes : Synonyma ; Aequivoca (Süddeutschland (?), 1. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
47. Pal. lat. 1790 Vocabularius Ex quo (Oberelsaß (?), 1415)
48. Pal. lat. 1791 Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Ovidius Naso, Publius; Johannes Fabri de Werdea; Venantius ; Matheolus Perusinus; Caccialupus, Johannes Baptista: Humanistische Sammelhandschrift (Süddeutschland, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
49. Pal. lat. 1792 Vincentius Gruner: Compendiusm rhetoricae scientiae (Hildesheim (?), 1454)
50. Pal. lat. 1793 Sammelhandschrift (Südwestdeutschland, um 1420-1430 (III), um 1450-1460 (II), 2. Hälfte 15. Jh. (IV, V), 1475 (I))
51. Pal. lat. 1795 Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco: Facetiae (Italien, 1. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
52. Pal. lat. 1796 Griffolini, Francesco; Rinucius : Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 1463)
53. Pal. lat. 1797 Distributio virtutum iuxta decalogum (Rheinpfalz, 1585)
54. Pal. lat. 1798 Luder, Peter: Exempla epistolarum (Heidelberg, um 1459)
55. Pal. lat. 1799 Flavius Guillelmus Ramundus; Johannes Zacharias ; Rolandinus ; Perger, Bernhard; Johannes ; Sixtus : Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg (?), Konstanz (?), Ende 15. Jh., 1517)
56. Pal. lat. 1800 Virulus, Carolus; Fliscus, Stephanus; Ugolinus Parmensis: Humanistische Sammelhandschrift (Süddeutschland (?), 1463, nach 1482)
57. Pal. lat. 1802 Sententiae ; Colloquia ad usum puerorum (Bayern, um 1530)
58. Pal. lat. 1803 Johannes Sebastianus Aquila: Collectanea (München, 1554-1557)
59. Pal. lat. 1804 David Felix Reuter: Oratio votiva (Heidelberg, 1611)
60. Pal. lat. 1807 Nikolaus : Sermones (Augsburg (?), 1446)
61. Pal. lat. 1808 Nikolaus : Sermones (Süddeutschland (Franken ?), um 1435-1445)
62. Pal. lat. 1810 Contrasto della ipocrisia et della sapienza (Italien, 3. Viertel 16. Jh.)
63. Pal. lat. 1813 Gottfried : Liber pantheon (Süddeutschand (?), 1. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
64. Pal. lat. 1816 Nicolaus Caesareus: Prognostica (Wittenberg, 1557)
65. Pal. lat. 1839 Bèze, Théodore ¬de¬: Dictata in sextum et septimum caput epistolae I ad corinthios (Süddeutschland (?), 2. Hälfte 16. Jh.)  
66. Pal. lat. 1841 Peucer, Kaspar: De coena domini (Deutschland, 3. Drittel 16. Jh.)
    

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 105. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Digital Winter

The long winter of the Vatican Library's digitization program continues, with very little genuinely new this month, barring seven Pal. lat. manuscripts and a single Ott. lat. item.

Not having any contacts with the library, I cannot say why this is. We know from published information that there are up to half a dozen teams of digitizers in Rome and that a team takes about six weeks from taking a manuscript off the shelf through scanning, checking and marking up to the point where a manuscript is published in facsimile. So they must be doing something.

One evident aim of this set-up is to satisfy the foundations that fund the work. A look at the Polonsky Foundation site suggests that its commission to digitize manuscripts has been pretty much completed: all the Greek manuscripts requested have green ticks next to them (except Ott.gr.147, which is in fact online), while only eight of the Hebrew manuscripts remain to be issued. (Incidentally, if you are interested in how to show manuscripts from two libraries side by side on one screen, the Polonsky blog this week tells you how to use Mirador software.)

A contract with the Heidelberg University Library and Manfred Lautenschläger Stiftung to complete the Pal.lat. collection (which was confiscated from Germany all those years ago) is also heading for completion, which explains the brisk progress there.

It's not clear who, apart from NTT Data with 1,800 items pledged, will fund the continuation of the work, or what happens next. There may perhaps have been recent progress in digitizing incunabula, archival volumes and the old inventories, which have separate portal pages and which I have not been tracking. 

Here is a listing of the new Heidelberg items:

• Pal. lat. 1552 Petrarca, Francesco; Ps.-Cicero; Aretinus, Leonardus Brunus; Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco; Guarinus ; Lucianus : Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
• Pal. lat. 1555 Quintilianus, Marcus Fabius: Institutio oratoria (Italien, 15. Jh.)
• Pal. lat. 1558 Quintilianus, Marcus Fabius: Declamationes minores (Italien, 15.-16. Jh.)
• Pal. lat. 1561 Plinius Secundus, Gaius: Epistulae (I-VII, IX) (Italien (Venedig), 15. Jh.)
• Pal. lat. 1731 Pascasius Briesmann: Historia Iephtae (Heidelberg, 1573)
• Pal. lat. 1789 Giorgio Valagussa: Viersprachiges Gesprächsbuch; Elegantiae Ciceronianae (Süddeutschland (?), um 1460-1470)
  
• Pal. lat. 1814 Griffolini, Francesco; Lucianus Samostatensis; Aldhelmus ; Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Sammelhandschrift (Südwestdeutschand, 1470-1473)

Here are the 20 newest postings in Rome, of which 19 are not really new, having been accessible via the German site for years:

• Ott.lat.2285
• Pal.lat.100
• Pal.lat.102
• Pal.lat.104
• Pal.lat.105
• Pal.lat.106
• Pal.lat.107
• Pal.lat.108
• Pal.lat.111
• Pal.lat.112
• Pal.lat.114
• Pal.lat.115
• Pal.lat.118
• Pal.lat.122
• Pal.lat.123
• Pal.lat.124
• Pal.lat.125
• Pal.lat.126
• Pal.lat.127
• Pal.lat.128

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 88. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Tulliness

It's been a great week for scholars of Cicero, with a couple of key Renaissance manuscripts of his work arriving online at the Heidelberg offshoot of the Vatican digitization programme.

The Roman lawyer, politician and philosopher's celebrated book On Oratory was long thought to be substantially lost until the bishop of Lodi, Italy discovered a nearly complete and somewhat corrupt text of it in his predecessors' library in 1421 or 1422.

Scholars converged on Lodi to copy it, but incredibly this so-called Codex Laudensis got lost by 1428. Perhaps it will show up one day as the world's oldest overdue library book. We are therefore forced to rely on the copies, of which two went to Germany and finally ended in Rome: P and R, or Pal.lat.1469 and Pal.lat.1470 below. Here is the full list of 27 new digitizations:

1. Pal. lat. 1399 Walter Lud; Johannes de Monteregio; Martin Waldseemüller; Alkindus: Mathematisch-astrologischer Sammelband (Süddeutschland, 1. Viertel 16. Jh.)
2. Pal. lat. 1401 Beda; Thebit ben Corat; Albumasar; Hali Imrani; Roger Herfordensis; Ps.-Hippokrates; Messahalla; Alkindi; Ps.-Ptolemaeus: Zusammengesetzte Handschrift: astronomische und astrologische Texte (Schlesien (I) , Magdeburg (III), 1. Hälfte 15. Jh. (I) ; um 1200 (II) ; 14. Jh. (III))
3. Pal. lat. 1402 Guido Bonatus: Liber astronomicus (Deutschland, Anfang 15. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 1403 Johannes de Lineriis; Johannes de Sancto Amando: Sammelhandschrift zur Astronomie und Medizin (Frankreich, 1. Hälfte 14. Jh.)
5. Pal. lat. 1404 Johannes Pastor Coloniensis: Viaticus astrologiae (Westdeutschland, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
6. Pal. lat. 1405 Alfonsus rex; Johannes Dank; Adamus; Ps.-Boethius; Wolfram de Bertholdi Villa; Petrus Hispanus-Thydericus: Zusammengesetzte Handschrift (Deutschland (I), 14. Jh. (I) ; 2. Hälfte 13. Jh.(II))
7. Pal. lat. 1407 Albumasar; Zahel; Alkindus; Guido Bonatus: Astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, um 1400)
8. Pal. lat. 1408 Albumasar; Alkabitius; Hali Imrani: Astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 14. Jh.)
9. Pal. lat. 1409 Johannes Dank: Astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 2. Hälfte 14. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 1411 Johannes: Tabulae cum canonibus ; Algorismus de minutiis ; De compositione et usu cylndri (Wien, 1. Drittel 15. Jh.)
11. Pal. lat. 1412 Gerardus ; Johannes a; Johannes ; Alfonso: Astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Paris, 1453/54)
12. Pal. lat. 1413 Johannes ; Johannes Schwab de Butzbach; Petrus Lufft de Monaco; Johannes Plunderlin de Straubing; Nicolaus Rysch: Astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Bayern und Österreich, 2. Dritttel 15. Jh.)
13. Pal. lat. 1414 Qabīṣī, Abu-'ṣ-Ṣaqr ʿAbd-al-ʿAzīz Ibn-ʿUṯmān /al-; Thebit ben Corat; Johannes ; Robertus Grosseteste; Arzachel; Gerardus ; Robertus ; Māšā'allāh Ibn-Aṯarī: Astrologisch-astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich (Paris), 13./14. Jh.)
14. Pal. lat. 1415 Robertus ; Albumasar; Petrus: Sammelhandschrift (14. Jh.)
15. Pal. lat. 1438 Astronomisch-astrologischer Miszellaneenband mit Inkunabeldruck (Franken, Heidelberg, Ende 14. Jh. - zweites Drittel 15. Jh.)
16. Pal. lat. 1462 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De innuentione (Italien, 15. Jh.)
17. Pal. lat. 1466 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De Oratore (Italien, 15. Jh.)
18. Pal. lat. 1467 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien, 15. Jh.)
19. Pal. lat. 1468 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De oratore (Italien (Venedig), 15. Jh.)
20. Pal. lat. 1469 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien, 15. Jh.), the P witness:
    
21. Pal. lat. 1470 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De oratore (Italien, 15. Jh.), the R witness:
    
22. Pal. lat. 1473 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien, 15. Jh.)
23. Pal. lat. 1474 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De oratore (Italien, 15. Jh.)
24. Pal. lat. 1477 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Orationes (Italien, Ende 14. Jh.)
25. Pal. lat. 1478 Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Antonius Luschus; Sicco Polentonus: Orationes (Italien, 15. Jh.)
26. Pal. lat. 1481 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Orationes (Italien, 15. Jh.)
27. Pal. lat. 1482 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Orationes (Italien, 15. Jh.)

Of the other most reliable copies of the Codex Laudensis at the Vatican, the one usually referred to as O, Ott.lat.2057, is already online (see PUL in October), but Vat.lat.3237 is still  on the waiting list. A lesser copy above, Pal.lat.1469, made on paper in Venice, has its own interesting history related by Jeannine Fohlen. This entire group is referred to as the integri.

The only other source of Cicero's oratorical works is the so-called mutili family, of which the oldest representatives are Avranches 238 (A; c. 830–50), Erlangen 380 (olim 848; E; c. 985), and London, Harley 2736 (H; written by Lupus of Ferrierès, c. 830–40).

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 87. The main Vatican website has been at a standstill since late November. I don't know why.  The only recent news about it was an Osservatore Romano article by Cesare Pasini in November implying there are still some free Canon reproductions left to give you if you donate quick to the fund-raiser.

If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Wonky Meniscus

A meniscus, as we all now learn at about age 12, is caused by surface tension on a liquid. It may make it hard to measure liquid medication. Presumably the entire Pacific Ocean is a couple of millimetres higher than it would be without surface tension.

But Aristotle had a different explanation, which he employed to argue that the Earth was the centre of the universe, and this was believed in the Middle Ages. It figures in a curious scientific manuscript just digitized at the Vatican and uploaded to the Bibliotheca Palatina website.

Here I will let John E Murdoch take over the story. He says the figure:

... pictures an argument that is found in both geometrical and natural philosophical works in the Middle Ages. It is alluded to, for example, in Roger Bacon in the thirteenth century, in Thomas Bradwardine and Nicole Oresme in the fourteenth, and in the margins of various medieval manuscripts of Euclid's Elements, as well as in the present fourteenth-century codex of a geometrical work ascribed to one Gordanus (not to be identified with Jordanus de Nemore). The argument relates to the meniscus of water or any other liquid contained in a vessel (since any point on such a surface is equally distant from the center of the universe). But this means that the closer the vessel is to this center, the more liquid it can contain when "full." This is so because the circular arc determining the surface of the liquid is "more curved" when the vessel is closer to the center of the universe, that is, the meniscus then “bulges" higher over the rim of the vessel. Indeed, it was even maintained that if such a vessel were absolutely full of liquid, moving the vessel further from the center of the universe would cause some of the liquid to overflow, since the surface of the liquid would become less curved.

The passage is at folio 114v of Pal.lat. 1389, one 24 fascinating scientific manuscripts uploaded in the past week:

1. Pal. lat. 1369 Richardus ; Johannes ; Battānī, Muḥammad Ibn-Ǧābir /al-; Abū-Maʿšar Ǧaʿfar Ibn-Muḥammad; Messahalla; Iafar; Ptolemaeus, Claudius; Hali Imrani; u.a.: Astronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Süddeutschland, Mitte 15. Jh.)
2. Pal. lat. 1372 Alkabitius; Zael; Abū-Maʿšar Ǧaʿfar Ibn-Muḥammad; Messahalla: Astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Italien (?), 14. und 15. Jh.)
3. Pal. lat. 1373 Messahalla; Prosdocimus ; Johannes Dank; Johannes de Lineriis; Prophatius Judaeus; Alfonso : Astronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Südwestdeutschland, 1. Viertel 15. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 1375 Johannes ; Johannes de Lineriis; Peuerbach, Georg /von; Johannes Regiomontanus; Philo ; Hermes: Astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Krakau, Ende 15. Jh.)
5. Pal. lat. 1376 Johannes de Lineriis; Johannes Schindel; Thebit ben Chorat; Johannes Dank de Saxonia; Johannes ; Farġānī, Aḥmad Ibn-Muḥammad /al-; Alkabitius; Messahalla; Prophatius Judaeus: Astronomisch-mathematische Sammelhandschrift (Regensburg, St. Emmeran, 1447-1458)
6. Pal. lat. 1379 Guilelmus de Velde: Empyreale minus (Südwestdeutschland, 1498)
7. Pal. lat. 1380 Sammelhandschrift zum Quadrivium (Bologna und Paris, 1350--1366)
8. Pal. lat. 1382 Alkabitius; Abulcasis; Albertus Magnus; Trotula; Thomas Cantimpratensis; Nicolaus de Polonia; Arnaldus de Villanova: Sammelband zur Astrologie und Medizin (Italien (I) , Südwestdeutschland (II) , Deutschland (III) , Italien (IV) , Deutschland (V), 13./14. Jh. (I) ; 14. Jh. (II) ; 1. Hälfte 14. Jh. (III) ; 13. Jh. (IV) ; um 1400 (V) ; 15. Jh. (1458) (VI) ; Ende 14. Jh. (VII))
9. Pal. lat. 1383 Mathematisch-komputistische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, Letztes Viertel 15. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 1384 Johannes Regiomontanus; Johanens von Gmunden; Messahalla; Prosdocimo de Beldemandis; Gerardus Cremonensis (Sabionetta): Mathematisch-komputistischer Sammelband (Bayern (I) , Deutschland (II), um 1500 (I) ; 15. Jh. (II))
11. Pal. lat. 1385 Alebertus de Brudzewo; Georg Peuerbach; Albubather: Astronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Krakau, 1488)
12. Pal. lat. 1386 Mischband: Handschrift und Drucke (Südwestdeutschland (Rottweil) (I) , Holland (Breda) (II), 1501 (I) ; um 1550 (II))
13. Pal. lat. 1387 Prophatius Judaeus; Jacobus Bonet: Astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Norspanien, 1. Viertel 15. Jh.)
14. Pal. lat. 1388 Andalò di Negro; Gerardus de Feltre; Albumasar; Alkindus; Ps.-Hippokrates: Astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 1478)
15. Pal. lat. 1389 Mathematisch-astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 2. Hälfte 14. Jh.)
16. Pal. lat. 1390 Messahalla; Ptolemaeus; Almansor astrologus; Ps.-Hermes; Thebit ben Corat; Johannes de Lineriis; Johannes Danck: Astronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Frankfurt a.M., 1391-1436)
17. Pal. lat. 1391 Johannes de Monteregio; Richardus de Wallingford; Marx Gyerhose; Johannes Virdung: Mathematisch-astronomische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, um 1500)
18. Pal. lat. 1392 Sammelband: Miszellaneen zu Astronomie, Astrologie, Mathematik, Medizin und Manik (Deutschland (I, III, V) , Frankreich (II) , Südwestdeutschland (IV), 15. Jh. (I, III, V) ; um 1300 (II) ; 16. Jh. (IV))
19. Pal. lat. 1394 Sammelband (Noritalien (I) , Italien (II), 1. Hälfte 15. Jh. (I) ; 16. Jh. (II))
20. Pal. lat. 1395 Commentum in Johannis de Sacrobosco tractatum de sphaera (16. Jh.)
21. Pal. lat. 1396 Astrologisch-astronomische Miszellaneen (Heidelberg, um 1500)
22. Pal. lat. 1399 Walter Lud; Johannes de Monteregio; Martin Waldseemüller; Alkindus: Mathematisch-astrologischer Sammelband (Süddeutschland, 1. Viertel 16. Jh.)
23. Pal. lat. 1401 Beda; Thebit ben Corat; Albumasar; Hali Imrani; Roger Herfordensis; Ps.-Hippokrates; Messahalla; Alkindi; Ps.-Ptolemaeus: Zusammengesetzte Handschrift: astronomische und astrologische Texte (Schlesien (I) , Magdeburg (III), 1. Hälfte 15. Jh. (I) ; um 1200 (II) ; 14. Jh. (III))
24. Pal. lat. 1402 Guido Bonatus: Liber astronomicus (Deutschland, Anfang 15. Jh.)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 86. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Murdoch, John E. Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. New York: Scribner, 1984. Topic 254 (page 295).

Standstill

There have been no major releases by the digitization programme at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana since November 28, with no explanation for the standstill, but items from its collection have been showing up on the Heidelberg, Germany virtual Palatina library:

1. Pal. lat. 1075,2 Albertus : De animalibus (Lib. I-XII) Band 2 (Würzburg (?), 1436)
2. Pal. lat. 1081 Hippocrates; Galenus; Ḥunain Ibn-Isḥāq; Avicenna; Christophorus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Padua, 15. Jh. (1452))
3. Pal. lat. 1111 Averroes; Avicenna: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (13./14. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 1115 Avicenna; Hippocrates; Isrāʾīlī, Isḥāq Ibn-Sulaimān /al-; Ibn-Māsawaih, Abū-Zakarīyā Yūḥannā; Alexander; Bernardus; Cermisonus, Antonius; Johannes Calderia; Hugo Senensis: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Pavia / Padua, 1430-1431)
5. Pal. lat. 1116 Avicenna; Arnoldus; bernardus arelatensis; Mundinus; Bernardus; Balenus; Henricus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Niederlande, Mitte 15. Jh.)
6. Pal. lat. 1117 Avicenna; Gulhelmus; Nikolaus de Montpellier (Nikolaus de Polonia); Lanfrancus: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Prag, Mitte 15. Jh. (1446/48))
7. Pal. lat. 1340 Prophatius Judaeus; Petrus; Thebit ben Corat; Albertus; Ps.-Hippocrates; Guilhelmus Anglicus; Leopoldus de Austria; Alkabitius; u.a.: Astronomische und astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Erfurt, Mitte 15. Jh. (1458/59))
8. Pal. lat. 1345 Johannes de Wachenheim: Opus tripartitum chordarum (Neuhausen bei Worms, 1413)
9. Pal. lat. 1350 Scheubel, Johann (Mathematiker): Kommentar zu Euklids Elementa (Band III) (Tübingen, 16. Jh. (1561))
10. Pal. lat. 1353 Miscellaneen zum Quadrivium (Ostmitteldeutschland, 4. Viertel 14. Jh.)
11. Pal. lat. 1354 Miscellaneenband. Astronomie, Astrologie, Mathematik und Medizin (Regensburg, 1463-1464)
    
12. Pal. lat. 1355 Ibn-al-Haiṯam, al-Ḥasan Ibn-al-Ḥasan; Ps.-Euclides: Opticae sive de aspectibus libri septem; Catoptrica sive de speculis (Nordfrankreich (England), 13. / 14. Jh.)
13. Pal. lat. 1358 Burchardus; John; Polo, Marco: Geographische Sammelhandschrift (Niederlande, 15. Jh.)
14. Pal. lat. 1359 Polo, Marco: De consuetudinibus et conditionibus orientalium regionum (Deutschland, Ende 15. Jh.)
15. Pal. lat. 1361 Johannes; John; Sibote; Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco: Sammelhandschrift (Thüringen, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
16. Pal. lat. 1364 Lambertus Pithopoeus; Barbaro, Francesco: Sammelband (Heidelberg (I) , Norditalien (Padua) (II), 1587 (I); 2. Hälfte 15. Jh. (II))
17. Pal. lat. 1366 Ptolemaeus, Claudius: Opere quadripartito (Deutschland, 1. Hälfte 16. Jh.)
18. Pal. lat. 1367 Sammelhandschrift: Astronomie, Astrologie, Medizin (Südwestdeutschland, Mitte 15. Jh.)
19. Pal. lat. 1487 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Orationes (Italien (Venedig), 15. Jh.)
20. Pal. lat. 1490 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Orationes (Italien, 15. Jh.)
21. Pal. lat. 1492 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 15. Jh.)
22. Pal. lat. 1498 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Epistulae (Italien (Genua?), 15. Jh.)
23. Pal. lat. 1499 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Epistulae ad familiares (I-XVI) (Italien, 14.-15. Jh.)
24. Pal. lat. 1501 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Epistulae ad familiares (I-XVI) (Italien, 15. Jh.)
25. Pal. lat. 1502 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Epistulae ad familiares (I-XVI) (Italien, 15. Jh.)
26. Pal. lat. 1503 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Epistulae ad familiares (I-XVI) (Italien, 15. Jh.)
27. Pal. lat. 1511 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Frankreich, Italien, 14.-15. Jh.)
28. Pal. lat. 1512 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De finibus (Italien (Florenz), 15. Jh.)
29. Pal. lat. 1515 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien, 15. Jh.)
30. Pal. lat. 1520 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 14. Jh.)
31. Pal. lat. 1765 Alexander; Donatus, Aelius : Sammelhandschrift (Landsberg, 1456)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 85. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Palatina Uploads

In the last week, the main uploads at DigiVatLib were from its Palatina collection on November 28:

1. Pal.lat.58
2. Pal.lat.73
3. Pal.lat.76
4. Pal.lat.78
5. Pal.lat.79
6. Pal.lat.80
7. Pal.lat.84
8. Pal.lat.85
9. Pal.lat.88
10. Pal.lat.89
11. Pal.lat.90
12. Pal.lat.91
13. Pal.lat.93
14. Reg.lat.421
15. Vat.lat.993

In Heidelberg, which has first right to post the Palatina digitizations, since a German foundation is funding the work, a total of 34 new items have appeared online over the past two weeks:

1. Pal. lat. 1054 Guilelmus : De universo corporali et spirituali, Pars I-II (Frankreich, um 1400)
2. Pal. lat. 1069 Crescentiis, Petrus /de; Rusius, Laurentius: Ruralia commoda, Libri XII ; Hippiatria sive marescalcia (Italien, 14. Jh.)
3. Pal. lat. 1075,1 Albertus : De animalibus (Lib. I-XII) Band 1 (Würzburg (?), 1436)
4. Pal. lat. 1521 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Sammelhandschrift (Italien, 15. Jh.)
5. Pal. lat. 1522 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Sammelhandschrift (Italien , Frankreich , Italien, 15. Jh. ; 11. Jh. ; 15. Jh.)
6. Pal. lat. 1526 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De officiis (Italien, 14.-15. Jh.)
7. Pal. lat. 1530 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: De officiis (Italien (Bologna), 15. Jh.)
8. Pal. lat. 1542 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus : Sammelhandschrift (Italien (Venedig), 15. Jh.)
9. Pal. lat. 1726 Mythographischer Sammelband (Heidelberg, 1423/ 1. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 1737 Carmina (Heidelberg, 1597)
11. Pal. lat. 1739 David Felix Reuter: Carmen gratulans (Heidelberg, 1594)
12. Pal. lat. 1755 Compendium Doctrinalis (Heidelberg (?), um 1473)
13. Pal. lat. 1770 Collectanea grammaticalia ; Computus (Erfurt, 1367)
14. Pal. lat. 1866 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1608)
15. Pal. lat. 1869 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Sedan, 1609-1610)
16. Pal. lat. 1870 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Sedan (?), 1609)
17. Pal. lat. 1871 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Sedan, um 1608-1609)
18. Pal. lat. 1872 Christoph : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1566)
19. Pal. lat. 1873 Christoph : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1566)
20. Pal. lat. 1874 Friedrich : Exercitia italica (Heidelberg, 1613-1616)
21. Pal. lat. 1875 Johannes Sebastian Aquila: Sammelhandschrift (Kurpfalz, 1552-1556)
22. Pal. lat. 1876 Ambrosius Prechtl: Rezeptare (Oberpfalz (Amberg), 1574)
23. Pal. lat. 1884 Abschrift des Stammbuches von Joachim Strupp (Heidelberg (?), 1578)
24. Pal. lat. 1904 Vocabularius graeco-latinus (Deutschland, 2. Viertel 16. Jh.)
25. Pal. lat. 1911 Agricola, Georg: Elegia gratulatoria ; Oratio de laude urbis Ambergae (Amberg, 1559)
26. Pal. lat. 1915 Kopie des Bibliothekskatalogs Pal. lat. 1921 (Fuggerbibliothek)
27. Pal. lat. 1924 Katalog der Bibliothek Achill Pirmin Gassers: Sachgruppen und Autoren
28. Pal. lat. 1925 Martin Gerstmann Katalog der 1553 erworbenen Hss. aus dem Nachlaß von Egnatius
29. Pal. lat. 1926 Bibliothekskataloge der Klöster Kastl, Weißenau, Walderbach, Michelfeld, Spainshart, Reichenbach und Waldsassen, 16. Jh. (16. Jh.)
30. Pal. lat. 1958 Missale, Übersetzung in französischer Sprache (1368)
31. Pal. lat. 1964 Tristanroman in Prosa, französisch (14. Jh.)
32. Pal. lat. 1965 Le jeu des échecs moralisés (15. Jh.)
33. Pal. lat. 1967 Aldobrandino : Régime du corps, Mort d'Artus (14. Jh.)
34. Pal. lat. 1969 Gautier : Les miracles de Notre Dame (14. Jh.)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 84. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Fold Out the Flaps

An intriguing compendium of astronomical writings dated to about 1450 and now at the Vatican includes several of these fold-out-the-flaps features. They describe the planetary orbits according to the Ptolemaic system:

Pal.lat.1416 contains works by a variety of authors, several with tables. The flaps are in the Theorica Planetarum  by Campanus of Novara c. 1220 – 1296), an Italian mathematician, astrologer and physician (Wikipedia).

The codex is one of 31 mainly scientific manuscripts digitized in the past two weeks by the Bibliotheca Palatina, the great German project to virtually re-create the Palatine library at Heidelberg by scanning all its books which are now in the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome. These do not appear yet on the DigiVatLib website until many months later if ever. Here is the list extracted from the project's RSS feed:

1. Pal. lat. 1056 Johannes Dumbleton ; Albertus : Sammelband (England? (I) , Deutschland (II) , Deutschland (III), 14. Jh. (I) ; 1367 (II) ; 14. Jh. (III))
2. Pal. lat. 1083 Hippocrates; Knab, Erhardus; Bernardus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift: Articella (Heidelberg, 1457/1458)
3. Pal. lat. 1090 Galenus; Gessius Iatrosophista; Celsus, Aulus Cornelius; Guainerio, Antonio; Bartholomaeus ; Gentilis : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, Mitte 15. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 1105 Ḥunain Ibn-Isḥāq; Hippocrates; Aegidius : Medizinischer Sammelband (Heidelberg (I), 15. Jh. (I) ; Ende 13. Jh. (II))
5. Pal. lat. 1108 Serapion, Johannes; Arnoldus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 1476 und 1479)
6. Pal. lat. 1347 Motette: Alma redemptoris mater (Heidelberg, 16. Jh.)
7. Pal. lat. 1348 Euclides: Elementa I-V (Deutschland, 14. Jh.)
8. Pal. lat. 1352 Euclides: Elementa (Süddeutschland, 2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
9. Pal. lat. 1397 Sammelband (Wittenberg (I) , Süddeutschland (II), 1540 (I) ; 1446 (II))
10. Pal. lat. 1416 Firminus ; Kindī, Ja'kûb Ibn-Ishâk al; Māšā'allāh Ibn-Aṯarī; Farġānī, Aḥmad Ibn-Muḥammad /al-; Alchandreus; Iulianus ; Yaḥyā Ibn-Abī-Manẓūr; Johannes ; Gerardus : Atsronomisch-astrologische Sammelhandschrift (Belgien, Trier, 2. Drittel 15. Jh.)
11. Pal. lat. 1794 Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco; Bruni, Leonardo; Tröster, Johannes; Antonius Barzizius; Ps.-Cyrillus; Ps.-Eusebius; Nicolaus ; Petrarca, Francesco: Humanistischer Sammelband (Deutschland, 1465-1472)
12. Pal. lat. 1825 Luther, Martin: Sammelhandschrift (Weimar, Mitte 16. Jh.)
13. Pal. lat. 1836 Brenz, Johannes: Sammelhandschrift (Heidelsheim (?), 1527)
14. Pal. lat. 1837 Maior, Georg: Enarratio epistolae Pauli ad Ephesios (Wittenberg, 1546)
15. Pal. lat. 1842 Menrad Molther: Explanatio in Ieremiam (Heilbronn, 1542-1545)
16. Pal. lat. 1843 Menrad Molther: Sammelhandschrift (Heilbronn, 1545-1555)
17. Pal. lat. 1844 Menrad Molther: Sammelhandschrift (Heilbronn, 1541-1542)
18. Pal. lat. 1845 Menrad Molther: In epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios homiliae (Heilbronn, 1548-1549)
19. Pal. lat. 1846 Menrad Molther: Sammelhandschrift (Heilbronn, 1549-1553)
20. Pal. lat. 1847 Iodocus Kinthisius: De casto matrimonio et impuro sacerdotium coelibatu (Kurpfalz, um 1545)
21. Pal. lat. 1865 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1606-1607)
22. Pal. lat. 1866 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1608)
23. Pal. lat. 1869 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Sedan, 1609-1610)
24. Pal. lat. 1870 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Sedan (?), 1609)
25. Pal. lat. 1871 Friedrich : Interpretationes (Sedan, um 1608-1609)
26. Pal. lat. 1872 Christoph : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1566)
27. Pal. lat. 1873 Christoph : Interpretationes (Heidelberg, 1566)
28. Pal. lat. 1874 Friedrich : Exercitia italica (Heidelberg, 1613-1616)
29. Pal. lat. 1875 Johannes Sebastian Aquila: Sammelhandschrift (Kurpfalz, 1552-1556)
30. Pal. lat. 1876 Ambrosius Prechtl: Rezeptare (Oberpfalz (Amberg), 1574)
31. Pal. lat. 1884 Abschrift des Stammbuches von Joachim Strupp (Heidelberg (?), 1578) (no diagrams, text only)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 81. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.

Nasty Medicine

The latest big batch of online manuscripts from the Vatican Library includes medical works that list some very nasty medicines. Leafing through Pal. lat. 1084, thought to date to the 13th or 14th century, my eye was caught by a table of electuaries. In early medicine, an electuary was a mixture of powdered herbs with honey to disguise the vile taste.

Here is a purgative with 11 ingredients including lapis lazuli:

(Choke.) It would have been healthier to refuse the medicine and send the doctor away.

For the book historian, the layout demonstrates that a type of scientific stemmatic table which is found in early printed books has deep roots in medieval manuscript practice:

Another of the manuscripts, Pal.lat.1078, a 16th-century Italian herbal, contains fine drawings of herbs, apparently used in medicine, but also in alchemy. Here at fol. 13r is Herba Triacho (which would appear to be Tussilago farfara, a plant with small white flowers and undulate leaf margins):

The main DigiVatLib site onlined three manuscripts on October 26:

1. Chig.G.VIII.226
2. Urb.lat.185, Dialogues of Plato, translated to Latin, by Marsilio Ficino of Florence (thanks @LatinAristotle for correcting this)
3. Vat.ebr.668

The Biblioteca Palatina, based in Germany, has gradually brought the 76 Vatican items below online over the past seven weeks, many medical including works by Galen. Here I summarize them from their RSS feed:

1. Pal. lat. 762 Codicis Iustiniani imp. libri IX (13. Jh.)
2. Pal. lat. 797 Nicolai de Messiato: Sammelhandschrift (15. Jh.)
3. Pal. lat. 811 Repertorium universale iuridicum, theologicum, morale [Pars IV] (15. Jh.)
4. Pal. lat. 813 Repertorium universale iuridicum, theologicum, morale [Pars VII] (15. Jh.)
5. Pal. lat. 836 Ludolphi carthusiani liber de vita Ihesu Xpisti in ewangelio (15. Jh.)
6. Pal. lat. 839 Ludolphi Carthusiani de vita Ihesu Xpi pars secunda a cap. I ad LVII (15. Jh.)
7. Pal. lat. 840 Petri Trecensis (Comestoris) historia scholastica sive commentaria in Biblia (12.-13. Jh.)
8. Pal. lat. 841 Petri Trecensis (Comestoris) historia scolastica theologice discipline (13. Jh.)
9. Pal. lat. 843 Petri Comestoris scolastica hystoria (13. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 847 Novum passionale editum a predicatore quodam, i. e. (Iacobi a Voeagine) legenda aurea sanctorum, in quatuor partes divisa (13.-14. Jh.)
11. Pal. lat. 848 Jacobus : Iacobi a Voragine Legenda sanctorum (14. Jh.)
12. Pal. lat. 853 Vitae patrum (14. Jh.)
13. Pal. lat. 854 Sammelhandschrift (14. Jh.)
14. Pal. lat. 855 Sammelhandschrift (15. Jh.)
15. Pal. lat. 856 Sammelhandschrift (10. Jh.)
16. Pal. lat. 857 Sammelhandschrift (1300)
17. Pal. lat. 859 De gestis et translationibus trium Regum (15. Jh.)
18. Pal. lat. 860 De gestis et translationibus trium Regum (15.-16. Jh.)
19. Pal. lat. 861 Retraet(ati)o breuis et succincta perfectissime uite sanctissimeque venerabilis ac devotissime religiose gloriose memorie nomine Colete ordinis (15. Jh.)
20. Pal. lat. 863 Sammelband (14.-15. Jh. ; 16. Jh.)
21. Pal. lat. 865 Florenti Gregorii Turonici: Liber vitae patrum opere ; Liber in gloria confessoruni (9.-10. Jh.)
22. Pal. lat. 866 Huberti de Romanis: Sammelhandschrift (13. Jh.)
23. Pal. lat. 872 Livius, Titus: Ab Urbe condita (Decas III) (Italien, 15. Jh.)
24. Pal. lat. 917 Plutarchus; Cruser, Hermann [Übers.]: Biographie des Pyrrhus und Marius, lat. (16. Jh.)
25. Pal. lat. 967 Historia monarchiarum ;Tractatus de geographia (Deutschland, 16. Jh. (nach 1558))
26. Pal. lat. 969 Burlaeus, Gualterus: De vita et moribus philosophorum et poetarum (Italien, 15. Jh.)
27. Pal. lat. 987 Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus; Aristoteles: Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich, Ende 13. Jh.)
28. Pal. lat. 999 Quaestiones et commentum in Logica (Deutschland, 14. Jh.)
29. Pal. lat. 1000 Quaestiones in Logica (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
30. Pal. lat. 1001 Johannes (Petrus Hispanus): Summulae logicales ; Commentum in Summulas logicales Petri Hispani (Deutschland (Heidelberg?), 1491-1498)
31. Pal. lat. 1003 Melanchthon, Philipp (Theologe); Culmann, Leonhard: Reportationes dialecticorum (IV-V) ; Disputationes seu argumentationes theologicae (Deutschland (Heidelberg?) (I) , Nürnberg (II), 16. Jh./Mitte (I) ; ca. 1545 (II))
32. Pal. lat. 1010 Bruni, Leonardo; Aristoteles: Super Analytica posteriora Aristotelis (Deutschland, Mitte 15. Jh.)
33. Pal. lat. 1018 Thomas : Commentum in Ethica Nicomachea Aristotelis (Deutschland, Ende 14. Jh.)
34. Pal. lat. 1020 Aristoteles; Gerardus : Ethica Nicomachea ; Commentum in Ethica Nicomachea Aristotelis (Deutschland (Heidelberg?) (I) , Brixen (II), Mitte 15. Jh. (I) ; 1482 (II))
35. Pal. lat. 1023 Franciscus Mediolanensis ; Ambrosius Crassus ; Leodegarius Rotomagensis: Sammelhandschrift (Nordfrankreich, 1540-1542)
36. Pal. lat. 1028 Albertus : Commentum in Ethica Nicomachea Aristotelis (Deutschland, Ende 14. Jh.)
37. Pal. lat. 1030 Thomas ; Burlaeus, Gualterus; Albertus : Sammelhandschrift (Paris, 1367-1370)
38. Pal. lat. 1032 Petrus ; Aristoteles; Albertus ; Johannes : Sammelband (Deutschland, 15. Jh. (I) ; um 1387 (II))
39. Pal. lat. 1038 Melanchthon, Philipp (Theologe): Sammelband (Wittenberg (I) , Deutschland (II), 1543 (I) ; 16. Jh. (II))
40. Pal. lat. 1040 Johannes : Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland (Heidelberg?), 1479)
41. Pal. lat. 1041 Johannes Egen ; Nicolaus Francus Vimacuus : In libros naturales Aristotelis (Heidelberg, 1512-1537)
42. Pal. lat. 1043 Camerarius, Joachim (1534-1598) Centuriae viginti (Deutschland (Nürnberg?), um 1560-1584)
43. Pal. lat. 1045 Albertus ; Johannes : Sammelband (Prag (I) , Paris? (II), 1366 (I) ; 14. Jh.)
44. Pal. lat. 1049 Johannes ; Albertus : Sammelhandschrift (Lippspringe, 1376)
45. Pal. lat. 1050 Petrus Nickel ; Johannes Versor: Sammelhandschrift (Leipzig (I) , Heidelberger Region (II), um 1465 (I) ; um 1530 (II))
46. Pal. lat. 1051 Nicolaus : Compendium physicae sive de philosophia naturali (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
47. Pal. lat. 1052 Nicolaus : Compendium Metaphysicae (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
48. Pal. lat. 1053 Nicolaus ; Simon Dacus ; Johannes ; Martinus Rentz ; Johannes ; Hugo ; Luder, Petrus: Sammelband (Heidelberg, um 1469 (I) ; um 1456 (II))
49. Pal. lat. 1055 Ovidius Naso, Publius; Aristoteles; Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus, Gaius; Propertius, Sextus; Cicero, Marcus Tullius; Vergilius Maro, Publius: Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland , Leipzig, um 1488)
50. Pal. lat. 1057 Rocca, Angelo: Commentum in topica Aristotelis (Italien?, 14. Jh.)
51. Pal. lat. 1058 Knab, Erhardus; Aegidius ; Thomas ; Ps.-Augustinus: Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich und Deutschland, 15. Jh. (1400-1427))
52. Pal. lat. 1069 Crescentiis, Petrus /de: Ruralia commoda, Libri XII (Italien, 14. Jh.)
53. Pal. lat. 1072 Grynäus, Simon: De ignitorum meteororum natura commentarii duo ; De cometa anni 1577 ; De planeta Veneris conspecta anno 1578 (Heidelberg, 1579-1582)
54. Pal. lat. 1078 Herbarium (Italien, 16. Jh.)
55. Pal. lat. 1082 Galenus; Hippocrates; Ibn-Riḍwān, ʿAlī: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift: Articella (Italien, 13./14. Jh.)
56. Pal. lat. 1084 Galenus; Archimatthaeus; Baron, Roger; Johannes ; Trotula; Gilbertus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (13./14. Jh.)
57. Pal. lat. 1085 Baron, Roger; Aegidius ; Johannes (Petrus Hispanus): Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (13./14. Jh.)
58. Pal. lat. 1086 Johannes Calderia; Aegidius : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (2. Hälfte 15. Jh.)
59. Pal. lat. 1087 Johannes ; Johannes : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (13./14.. Jh.)
60. Pal. lat. 1089 Johanntitius; Hippocrates; Theophilus; Philaretus; Galenus: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift: Articella (1. Drittel 14. Jh.)
61. Pal. lat. 1091 Galenus: Liber collecorii (Heidelberg, letztes Viertel 15. Jh.)
62. Pal. lat. 1103 Galenus; Ibn-Riḍwān, ʿAlī: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift: Articella (1. Hälfte 14. Jh.)
63. Pal. lat. 1104 Galenus; Ibn-Māsawaih, Abū-Zakarīyā Yūḥannā; Guilelmus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift: Articella (Italien, 1. Hälfte 14. Jh.)
64. Pal. lat. 1106 Serapio : Liber aggregationum in medicinis simplicibus (Deutschland, 15. Jh. (1439))
65. Pal. lat. 1107 Serapio ; Petrus : Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Bologna, 15. Jh. (1426))
66. Pal. lat. 1132 Johannes Matthaeus de Gradibus; Bacon, Rogerus: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 1473)
67. Pal. lat. 1140 Isrāʾīlī, Isḥāq Ibn-Sulaimān /al-; Knab, Erhardus; Johannes Matthaeus Ferrarius de Gradi: Medizinische Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 1472)
68. Pal. lat. 1349 Euclides; Johannes Andreae; Petrus Bertrandus; Bartholomaeus ; Galenus; Rāzī, Muḥammad Ibn-Zakarīyā /ar-; Albertus ; Bonaventura: Miscellanea (Paris, Speyer, 1360-1370)
69. Pal. lat. 1485 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Orationes (Italien, 15. Jh.)
70. Pal. lat. 1509 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Epistulae (Italien (Venedig), 15. Jh.)
71. Pal. lat. 1516 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Opera (Italien (Toskana), 15. Jh.)
72. Pal. lat. 1517 Cicero, Marcus Tullius: Sammelhandschrift (Frankreich , Italien, 15. Jh.)
73. Pal. lat. 1541 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus : Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
74. Pal. lat. 1583 Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus; Pius / Enea Silvio Piccolomini; Plutarchus; Bruni, Leonardo; Bonjohannes : Sammelhandschrift (Heidelberg, 15. Jh.)
75. Pal. lat. 1585 Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus; Pius / Enea Silvio Piccolomini; Petrarca, Francesco; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus : Sammelhandschrift (Deutschland, 15. Jh.)
76. Pal. lat. 1824 Luther, Martin: Auslegung der ersten 25 Psalmen (Weimar, 1556)
77. Pal. lat. 1957 Französische Bibel (Nordostfrankreich, Anfang 14. Jh.)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 75. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.