Vatican Manuscripts Added Week 44 of 2020

The Vatican added 43 manuscripts this week to their online repository. Some of the digitzation team seems to have been back in the Visual Materials side, digitizing drawings from the Moede Jansen collection, donated to the Vatican in 2011.

Some items of interest include Reg.gr.91, a text of Homer and Homerica including a personal favorite, the Batrachomyomachia, The Battle of the Mice and Frogs, which tells, in full epic form, of a great battle between some mice and some frogs at the edge of a pond. The title line "ΟΜΗΡΟΥ βΑΤΡΑΧΟΜΥΟΜΑΧΙΑ" (Homer's Batrachomyomachia) from f.298r can be seen at the bottom.

Another set of voting records from a Papal Conclave was also added, this one eventually selected, after some 155 rounds of voting(!) Fabio Chigi as Alexander VII. As the presidential election in the US is concluding in the upcoming week, hopefully this is not an omen for the present day.

Two copies of William Durand's Speculum Judiciale were added this week, both from the 14th century. Vat.lat.2628 has a nicely executed Italian-style decoration, with an inhabited 'R' and some border decorations on the left side. Vat.lat.2627, however has a elaborately diapered R, leading into full borders filled with geometric patters around both columns, except on the right side where the borders dissolve into loose sprays of acanthus leaves interspersed with gold dots. It is a dramatic and unusual (unique?) design. F.1r of both manuscripts can be seen to the right

Reg.gr.91_0603_fa_0298r-title.jpg
Barb.lat.1929, Claude Menestrier, Etienne du Parac (17th C)
Incipit: Vestigia Antiqva Viarvm Pvblicarvm Vrbis. Omissis quæ extra urbem viis, urvanarum ueterum

The map was engraved by du Parac, the text and annotations are thought to be by Menestrier


Incipit: Dissertatio seu Diatriba de clavis crvcifixi Iesv christi domini nostri

Borg.ill.16, (1605)
Incipit: Litteræ Synodales ad Sixtum V. P.O.M. Ab universo clero et populo-ru theno anno J474 conscriptæ in vaticana Bibliotheca iamtum asservatæ

Bilingual in Slavic and Latin


Borg.tonch.22 (Upgraded to HQ), Alexandre de Rhodes, Thomé Vincente (tr) Catechismus pro iis, qui volunt suscipere baptismum in octo dies diuisus, translated into Vietnamese (1801)

Manuscript copy from Thomé Vicente of the 1651 printed work. Contains some text on pp.127-138 that is not found in exemplar. Colophon on p.2


Reg.gr.91, Homer Odyssey, Hymnes and Homerica, Batrachomyomachia (1488)
Incipit: Υποθεσισ Α ομηρου οδυσσειασ

Scribe: Γεώργιος Ἑρμώνυμος(Georgios Hermonymos) (1452-1508?). See Biblissima or Pinakes


Ross.219 (Upgraded to HQ), Ludovico Sandeo Odosofia (1485-1500)
Incipit: Pensando io fra me Illustrissimo & ex[cellentissimo] principe che ciascun

Sbath.89 (Upgraded to HQ), 'Ibn Raʿd et de ʿAdb al-Masīḥ, Yūsuf et ʿAbdalqādir Description of Venice, الفخ والعصفور (1656)

The second part is a fable about a bird and snare, in verse


Vat.lat.2168, Girardi Odonis(tr) Sententia et expositio cum quaestionibus super librum Ethicorum (1439)
Incipit: Liber p[ri]m[us] ethicor[um]. Qvis e[st] v[ir]tus scrutam[ur]

f.264v has colophon


Vat.lat.2469, Jacobus de Forlivio, Amicus de Sulmona Questiones super Tegni Galeni, Questio de diebus oreticis, vel utrum dies quarta annunciet Septimam, et undecima, quartamdecimam, disputata de anno 1397, Alia questio, utrum caliditas in puero, et iuvene sint aequales in radice, etc (1397)
Incipit: [V]tru[m] tantu[m] sint .3. om[ni]s doct[ri]ne

Vat.lat.2627, William Durand Speculum Judiciale, Books 1-4 (14th C)
Incipit: I[n] no[m]i[n]e do[mini] glo[ri]ose v[ir]g[inis] matris ei[us] spec[u]l[u]m iuditia-le a meg[ist]ro Giull[i]o dura[n]ti [com]positu[m] incipit. Reuendo in [cpo] patri suo d[omii]no Ottobono dei

Vat.lat.2628, William Durand Speculum Judiciale, Books 1-4 (14th C)
Incipit: In no[m]i[n]e d[omi]ni & gloriose uirg[in]is matris ei[us] speculum iudiciale a mag[ist]ro Giull[i]o duranti [com]positu[m] i[n]cipit. Reuere[n]do in [xpo] ostri suo d[omi]no octobono

Vat.lat.2789, Ovid Ars amatoria, De pulice, glosses (14th C)
Incipit: P. oudii Nasonis de artib[us] amandi liber primus. Si quis in hoc artem

Palimpsest


Vat.lat.3307, Aulus Gellius, Valerius Maximus Anthology Valerio-Gelliana (1101-1125)
Incipit: Valerii maximi in describendis me moralib[us] facti[us]

Italian origin, , See Bannister, H. M. Monumenti vaticani di paleografia musicale latina ID# 258[, Folio: 10, 12, 13, 15, 19, 57-89, Century: 11, Source: italiano, Notation: Diastematica]


Vat.lat.4128, Giovanni Leone, Pope Eugene IV De synodis et de ecclesiastica potestate. libri I-VII., Acts of the Council of Florence Responsio facta ambaxiatoribus Sacri Romani Imperii electorum. (1442-1451)
Incipit: (f.3r) Tabvla Serventis Operis. Q[uo]d ro[ma]nus p[o]t[es]tatis ecclesia

Begins with Index, owned by Petrus de Monte, arms on f.1r


Vat.lat.4185, Petris de Monte, Benedict XII, Panormitanus, et al. Gesta concilii Basiliensis, etc. (15th C)
Incipit: Cvm in priori lib[ro] initium & oergine[m]

Owned by Petrus de Monte, see arms f.11r


Vat.lat.4232, Commentary on Ecclesiastes (12th-13th c)

palimpsest, undertext unknown


Vat.lat.4252, Boethius, Ovid Consolation of Philosophy, Horace, fragment of Metamorphoses (13th C)
Incipit: Anitu Mallii Sesuerini Boetii patricii exco[n]sularis ordinarii torquati d[e] philophyca [con]solatio[n]e. Incipit primus.

partially glossed


Vat.lat.4273 (Upgraded to HQ), Gersonides, Maimonides, Flavio Mitridate (tr) Commentary on the Song of Songs, translated, Work on the Resurrection of the Dead, translated (1451-1500)
Incipit: Vualis harabice prohemii p[er] mithry date traductio. [I]n nomine tuo clementissime exordiemur et ad Lumentuum

Vat.lat.4286, Giles of Rome Super librum primum Sententiarum (1450)
Incipit: Egidi[us] de ro[ma] sic p[ro]ce[dit] c[ir]c[a] p[ro]logu[m] & d[i]c[it] Tacte s[un]t

See Faes de Mottoni, Barbara, and Concetta Luna, eds. Aegidii Romani Opera Omnia. 11 vols. Catalogo dei manoscritti (1–95). vol. 1/1, Città del Vaticano. Florence, 1987. v.1, p. 204


Vat.lat.4302, Henricus de Odendorf, Hugo de Sancto Caro On Omnis Utriusque, Speculum Ecclesiae, etc (1388, 1419)
Incipit: Quonia[m] p[ro]uida sollertia iugit[us] meditai[us]

ff.1-61 written in 1388 (colophon on f.61v) and remainder written in 1419 (colophon on f.158rb) by the same scribe


Vat.lat.4311, Servasanto da Faenza, Jerome, St Augustine Liber de Exemplis Naturalibus, letters, etc (14th-15th C)

water damage


Vat.lat.4316, Gregory the Great, Jerome, Martin von Troppau Florilegium, Imperial Chronicle, etc. (15th C)
Incipit: In dei nomi[n]e d[omi]ni. Incipiu[n]t extracta...t flores extracti ex ... lib[ro]s Beati Gregorii & ex scriptis Jeronimi.

Vat.lat.4317, Collection in Five Books
Incipit: In nomine d[omi]ni incip[it] lib[er] multi loquior[um] in s... libris ordinatus

A legal work, probably from Farfa.


Vat.lat.5506, Juan Verzosa y Ponce de Leon, Pedro de Fuentidueña, Piotr Lilia, Pierre de Villars Orationes tres Sabitæ ad Pium V, etc (1570)
Incipit: (f.1r) Ioannes Verrosa. Ad Gabrielem Zariam Philippi il Hispa-narum regis a secretis

Vat.lat.5525 (Upgraded to HQ), Christoforo Batti History of the Colegii Anglicani, etc. (16th C)
Incipit: Xisto .V. Pont. opt. max. Et si non irnoremus Beatissimi Pater sanctitatem uestram

Vat.lat.5528 (Upgraded to HQ), Filippo Sega, et al. Relazione della Sacra Visita compiuta nel collegio Maronita dal vescovo di Piacenza, Dottrina christiana conforme a quella usa la Chiesa Romana, fatta a modo di dialogo in lingua arabica per ordine del sommo Pontefice Romano, etc (1576-1600)
Incipit: S[mo] D. N. Xisto V. P. O. M. Quotios Pater B[eatissimi] Romanorum Pontificum Studium benignitatem

Vat.lat.5755 (Upgraded to HQ), St. Augustine, Damian of Pavia, Mansuetus of Milan De trinitate, Expositio fidei, sermons (11th C)
Incipit: Ita pater q[ue]m sic fuit placitu[m] ante te Omnia mihi tradita s[un]t

See Iter liturgicum italicum for the lower text on ff.95-131 an Uncial Epistolarium from 7th C, written over at Bobbio in the 11th. see CLA.


Vat.lat.8001.pt.1, Pierluigi Galletti Index to Documents of the Families of Rome, P(III), Q, R, (18th C)
Incipit: 1588. 30. Mar. B. Felice del X[re] Alessan-dro Parisciano e della S[ra]...

Autograph


Vat.lat.8068, Bartolus de Saxoferrato, Bartholomaeus de Saliceto, Antonius de Cannario, Cinus de Pistorio Consilia et repetitiones, Consilium, Quaestio, Tractatus de Executione instrumentorum, etc. (15th C)

"Edited by Leonardo Bruni"


Vat.lat.8083, De re militari, Vita Aristotelis, Oratio in Ypocritas (15th C)
Incipit: Codex chartaceus in 4[o] saeculi XV. conti-nens tria opuscula Leonardi Bruni Arretini

Vat.lat.8101, Rafael Aquelino
Incipit: Dichiaratione de li Sette Sal-mi Penetentiali di Ra-fael Aquelino. Misteriosa et deuotissima cosa

Vat.lat.8102, Letters to Cardinal Sirleto (1629)
Incipit: (f.1r) Jam Nouembris 21. die susceptis literis ab Ill[ustrissima] ac R[euentissima] dominatione vestra Sanctissimi Domini

Vat.lat.8104 (Upgraded to HQ), Leon Battista Alberti Elementa picturae (16th C)
Incipit: Ad Jo. Ill[ustrissimum] Principem Mantuanu[m] Leo Baptista Albertus .C.

Vat.lat.8118, Antonii Augustini Reperatorium Juris civilis et canonici (18th C)
Incipit: (f.1r) Accusationibus. Iudex causae criminalis non po[tes]t absolvendo reum

Incipit: Nomina M. Macafaua 1101. L 1731


Vat.lat.8196, Papal Conclave votes for Alexander VII (1655)

Voting records from the 1655 papal conclave that eventually selected Fabio Chigi as Alexander VII. There were 155 rounds of voting. The forms are printed, with hand-written counts


Incipit: Mandata p[er]uia da'Agnolo d[e]l vantaggio.

Vat.lat.8215, History of the Spanish Missions to Paraguay (18th C)
Incipit: Breve nohcia de las Missiones del Paraguay. S. 1. Poblacion del Paraquay por los Españoles. Por los a[n]nos 1530

Incipit: Copias = = Statuta Terre Topharum. Omne quisque princiscipium ex

Vat.lat.8249, Cicero Tusculanae disputationes (1466)
Incipit: [C]um Defenssionis laborib[us] senato[r]iisq[ue] munerib[us]

Dated on f.150v Sept. 14, 1466


Vat.lat.8315, Monumenta Scriptorum Eorumque discributio et Connexio cum Signis Martyrii V. Rudolpli Aquavive et Sociorum eius

Vat.lat.8334, Memoria sopre l'occosso tra la cosse di Roma e quella di Napoli per la Presentazione della Chinea regli anni 1776 e 1777 (c. 1777)
Incipit: (f.2r) Nella cavalcata per la Presentazione del la chinea nella Vigilia di S. Pietro dell'anno 1776