Details

Other Title:

Diocletiano essendo doppo Numeriano imp[er]atore electo

Subjects:

Diocletian, Emperor of Rome, 245-313.
Maximian, Emperor of Rome, approximately 240-310.
Maurice, Saint, -approximately 287.
Christian saints in literature.
Christian legends.
Martyrdom (Christianity) in literature.
Theban Legion (Legendary saints).

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Hagiographies (works)
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

An Italian version of the extremely popular legend of the martyrdom of the Theban Legion, supposedly decimated in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian because so many of its officers and men adhered to the Christian faith. The massacre is supposed to have taken place at St. Maurice-en-Valais (now in Switzerland). The commander of the legion (which was composed entirely of men from the Thebaid in Egypt) was Maritius, later canonized.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from heading on f. 1r.
Incipit (f. 1r): Diocletiano essendo doppo Numeriano imperatore electo ...
Zacour-Hirsch treats the last section, Un altro miracolo che adopo idio per questi sancti martiri (f. 7r-v), as if it were a separate work contained in the manuscript, but it is clearly the final chapter of this account of the Thebaid Legion.
Collation: Parchment, i (modern paper) + 8 + i (modern paper); 1⁸; [1-8]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Layout: Written in 2 columns of 40 lines; ruled in lead.
Script: Written in a 15th-century Italian humanistic script by a single hand.
Decoration: Chapter titles in red; red and blue initials.
Binding: Modern boards.
Origin: Written in Italy in the 15th century (Zacour-Hirsch).
Leaves stained, some badly. Single quire starting to pull away from cover at bottom. Writing slightly rubbed on some leaves.

Penn Provenance:

Acquired, 1959.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 102 (Ms. Italian 48).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 290

OCLC:

155964279