Franklin

[Life of the Virgin Mary, together with two poems on the Passion and Resurrection of Christ].

Format/Description:
Manuscript
142 leaves : paper; 213 x 142 (152 x 90) mm bound to 220 x 145 mm
Production:
[Italy], 1473.
Status/Location:
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Details

Other Title:
Vita del S. V. Maria.
Subjects:
Jesus Christ -- Poetry.
Jesus Christ.
Hagiography in literature.
Devotional literature, Italian.
Christian saints in literature.
Christian hagiography.
Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint.
Catholic Church -- Doctrines.
Catholic Church.
Christian hagiography -- Early works to 1800.
Christian saints in literature -- Early works to 1800.
Devotional literature, Italian -- Early works to 1800.
Hagiography in literature -- Early works to 1800.
Spirituality -- Catholic Church.
Form/Genre:
Poetry.
Hagiographies (works)
Codices.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.
Language:
Italian.
Summary:
Three religious/devotional works: a prose life of the Virgin Mary, together with two poems on the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The two poems on the Passion and Resurrection actually form two halves of a single long work. The first part (on the Passion) consists of 2208 lines of verse arranged in 276 eight-line stanzas; the second (on the Resurrection) consists of 1976 lines of verse arranged in 247 eight-line stanzas. Folio 2 is blank and there is a lacuna in the text there (possibly the original f. 2 was lost and the present one is a replacement).
Contents:
1. f.1r-48r: El libro il quale parla del nascimento della vergine Maria e del nascimento del nostro signore Yhesu Christo salvatore et molti miracoli di Nostra Donna et la inventione della cintola.
2. f.51r-97r: La Passion [sic] di Christo.
3. f.101r-142r: La Resurrexione di Christo.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Spine title: Vita del S. V. Maria.
Title of first work taken from heading (f. 1r); titles of second and third works taken from explicits (f. 97r and 142r).
Incipit of first work (f. 1r): La beata Vergine Maria la quale fu madre di Christo ...
Incipit of second work (f. 51r): O increata maesta di dio / o infinita eterna potenza / ...
Incipit of third work (f. 101r): Volendo della resurexion [sic] santa / parlare chiamo Yhesu che re del cielo / ...
In the heading, incipits and explicits, the name Christo is written Xpo.
Foliation: Paper, i (modern paper) + 142 + i (modern paper); 1-142; near contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto.
Script: Written in a 15th-century book script by a single hand.
Decoration: 4-line initial and foliate border decorated in gold, pink, green, blue, and white (f. 1r); blue initials with red penwork ornamentation; red initials with brown penwork ornamentation; rubricated headings and capitals.
Binding: Vellum, somewhat later than the text.
Origin: Written in Italy, possibly Tuscany, in 1473. First work finished on 22 September 1473 (colophon, f. 48r); second work finished on 30 September 1473 (colophon, f. 97v); third work finished 6 December 1473 (colophon, f. 142r). It is possible that these dates refer not only to the writing of the codex but also to the composition of the texts themselves.
The text appears to have been composed in Tuscany, and it is likely that the manuscript was written there as well. The Virgin's cintola was preserved in Prato (near Florence), and many of the miracles described in the first work take place in Tuscany.
Various stains and smudges.
These texts do not appear ever to have been published.
The following items are on file in the Library: two typed pages of notes on the manuscript, presumably by Bernard Rosenthal; three photographs of folios of the manuscript, which appear to have been clipped from a dealer's catalog; and a letter from Bodo Richter (Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania) to Rudolf Hirsch (University of Pennsylvania Library) concerning the manuscript and its value. The analysis by Bernard Rosenthal is the source for much of the descriptive information in this record.
Penn Provenance:
Formerly owned by Hermann Suchier (bookplate, inside front cover).
Appears in Bernard M. Rosenthal's catalog 9 (1959), no. 44.
Sold by Rosenthal, 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. 106 (Ms. Italian 70).
Cited as:
UPenn Ms. Codex 312
Contributor:
Suchier, Hermann, 1848-1914, former owner.
Contains:
El libro il quale parla del nascimento della vergine Maria e del nascimento del nostro signore yh[es]u [christo] salvatore et molti miracoli di nostra donna et la i[n]ve[n]tione della cintola.
La beata vergine Maria la quale fu madre di Christo.
La Passion [sic] di Christo.
O increata maesta di dio / o infinita eterna potenza.
La Resurrexione di Christo.
Volendo della resurexion [sic] santa / parlare chiamo yhesu che re del cielo.
OCLC:
155964336