The Vatican is shut this week due to COVID-19, so there are no new digitizations. Instead, I will be going through the origins of some of the more cryptic Fond names, in alphabetical order:

• Arch.Cap.S.Pietro - Archivio del Capitolo di San Pietro The archives of the chapter of St. Peters, which trace their origins to a privilege granted in 1053 by Pope Leo XI. It was transferred to the BAV in 1940 by Pope Pius XII, according to the wishes of the recently deceased Pius XI. Of the collection, some items relate to the business of the Chapter, including mutliple rent and property registers, accounting documents, etc. There are also a number of liturgical manuscripts for the use of the Chapter, including a series of lavish 16th C Antiphonals and manuscripts relating to the history of the city of Rome and St. Peters in particular. Unusually, this vast majority of these MSS have excellent metadata in the online catalogue. Sadly due to technical issues this site does not have good tracking data for when these were digitized, the bulk of them can be seen in a two week stretch in 2019, week 32 and week 33. ¹
• Autogr.Paolo.VI - Autographi Paulo VI. A small collection of autograph manuscripts presented to Pope Paul VI in the late 20th C. So far only two of these have been digitized, and both are from microfilms
• Barb.(Gr, Lat and Or) - The three sections of the Barberini collection, Latin, Greek, and Oriental. The collection was started by Maffeo Barberini (Pope Urban VIII) and his Cardinal nephew Francis in the mid 17th Century. At its peak, the collection held roughly 10,000 manuscripts and 50,000 printed books. After the extinction of the Barberini-Colonna family at the end of the 19th C, the collection was sold to the Vatican in September 1902. ²
  • Gr. - Greek,
  • Lat. - Latin,
  • Or. - Oriental, The Oriental section includes works in Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Chinese and Japanese. It also includes the fantastic Barb.Or.2 a 5-language psalter, Ethiopic, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic and Armenian
• Bonc. - Boncampagni-Ludovisi The families Boncompagni and Ludovisi were joined in with the marriage of Duke Gregorio I Boncompagni and princess of Piombino, Olimpia Ippolita Ludovisi in 1681 and their archives and libraries were combined. These collections predate the union, however, with sections of the archive dating to the 14th C. Both families originate in Bologna, the Boncompagni moving to Rome in the late 16th C with Ugo rising through the Curia to become Pope Gregory XIII in 1572. The Ludovisi moved to Rome in the 17th C, Alessandro leaving again in 1612 to become Archbishop of Bologna, and returning in 1621 as Pope Gregory XV. After negotiations, Prince Francesco Bongompagni Ludovisi donated the archives and libraries to the Vatican in August 1947, though the actual physcial transit lasted until 1952. The archives and library were seperated to the BAV and the Archivo Apostoli, though the ctiteria are unclear. ³
• Borg.(arabi-turchi) - Carefully organized into twenty subcollections the Borgiani collection was added to the Vatican in 1902. It's roughly 2,500 manuscripts strengthened the Libraries resources for Asia, particularly the Middle East ahd China, represented with 500 manuscripts. This library had been assembled by Stefano Cardinal Borgia (1731-1804) during his service as prefect of Propaganda. The language breakdown is as follows:
  • Borg.ar. - Arabic
  • Borg.arm. - Armenian
  • Borg.Carte.naut- Nautical Maps
  • Borg.cin. - Chinese
  • Borg.copt. - Coptic
  • Borg.ebr. - Hebrew
  • Borg.eg. - Egyptian
  • Borg.et. - Ethiopic
  • Borg.georg. - Georgian
  • Borg.gr. - Greek
  • Borg.ill. - Slavic
  • Borg.ind. - Indian
  • Borg.irl. - Irish (None of these are digitized yet)
  • Borg.isl. - Icelandic
  • Borg.lat. - Latin
  • Borg.mess. - Mexican
  • Borg.pers. - Persian
  • Borg.siam. - Thai
  • Borg.sir. - Syriac
  • Borg.tonch. - Vietnamese
  • Borg.turch. - Turkish
• Borgh. - The Borghesiani collection, the familial collection of the Borghese family, with the addition of parts of the Pontifical library at Avignon. It was purchased in 1891. The image to the right is from the title page of a copy of Aristotle's Logica Nova, Borgh.130 f.1r. Within the initial 'P' of "Primum opertet" the author is shown teaching.

Notes

1. http://www.mss.vatlib.it/arch_gui/console?service=detail&id=1
2. Giblin, Cathaldus. "Vatican Library: MSS Barberini Latini: A Guide to the Material of Irish Interest on Microfilm in the National Library, Dublin." Archivium Hibernicum 18 (1955): 67-144. Accessed March 17, 2020. doi:10.2307/25487306.
3. http://www.archivioapostolicovaticano.va/content/aav/en/attivita/ricerca-e-conservazione/progetti/inventariazione/archivio-boncompagni-ludovisi.html