Details

Subjects:

Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint -- In literature.
Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint.
Catholic Church -- Doctrines.
Catholic Church.
Christian hagiography.
Christian saints in literature.
Devotional literature, Italian.
Hagiography in literature.
Italian literature -- To 1400.
Italian literature.
Italian literature -- 15th century.

Form/Genre:

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

Language:

Italian, in the Tuscan dialect.

Summary:

Collection of miracle stories and lives of the saints told in the style of contemporary novels, with the intention of making the average reader realize the punishment for sinful actions and the reward for virtuous life. Includes paraphrases of miraculous stories and legends of the Virgin and of the saints. Many of the latter category are based on early Christian literature, such as the Lives of the Fathers, which in many cases are cited as the source. The individual stories appear to be unpublished, except for the story of the childless queen. Appears to be incomplete, with one or more folios missing at the end.

Contents:

Miracolo come l'usura e gravissimo pecchato ... (f. 1r-2v; inc.: Un grande husuraio ...).
Uno molto bello assenpro ... (f. 2v-3v; inc.: Una donna della citta di Chartagine ...).
Miracholo d'una reina (f. 3v-5v; inc.: Fue una reina sterile ...).
Miracholo chome una santa donna ... chanpoe el suo marito da morte (f. 5v-7r).
- Miracholo di nostra donna ... (f. 7v-9r; inc.: Fue in Roma un chavaliere....).
[Various Miracoli] (f. 9v-25v; items 6-18 in the manuscript).
Leggienda di messer Santo Gilio (f. 25v-27r).
Miracholo ... della vergine Mara [sic] di dua donzegli cherano chonpagni (f. 27r-28r).
Del Pecchato del parlare disonesto (f. 28r-30v).
Del Pecchato de vani e disoluti [and similar short sections] (f. 30v-37r; items 22-24 in the manuscript).
Miracholo et assenpro d'una gentile donna et d'un santo monacho (f. 37r-39v; inc.: Una bella donna e molta nobile....).
Miracholo che facie la vergine ... (f. 39v-41r; inc.: Nella citta di Vinegia....).
Miracholo et assenpro d'uno gran chavaliere (f. 41v-43r).
Leggienda di Santo Alesso (f. 43r-44v).
Storia di Santo Sebasstiano [sic] (f. 44v).
[Storia d'un romito del contado di Venezia] (f. 50v-52r).
[Leggenda di Susanna] (f. 52r-53v).
[A few more short selections] (f. 53v-61v).

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger (Zacour-Hirsch).
Titles of individual items from headings, and from Zacour-Hirsch.
Origin: Written in the second quarter of the 15th century, probably in Tuscany (Zacour-Hirsch).
Script: Written in mercantesca script, probably by a single hand.
Layout: Written in 2 columns of 36 lines; royal quarto format.
Collation: Paper, i (modern) + 61 + i (modern); 1-6¹⁰ followed by the first leaf of a missing quire; early foliation in ink, 12-72, upper center recto; modern foliation in pencil, 1-61, upper right recto. Horizontal catchwords in ink, lower center last verso. References in this record are to modern foliation. Link to collation model at end of record.
Decoration: Red and blue initials. First initial (f. 1r) has red pen-drawn filigree ornamentation. Red used for headings.
Watermarks: Similar to Briquet, Lettre T 9127 (Naples, 1444).
Binding: Modern marbled paper over boards.
Paper stained and fragile. Some smudges. Edges of leaves frayed and worn; a few tears. Evidence of later repairs to the edges of some leaves. A few wormholes. Binding solid; cover shows only slight wear.
On file in the Library: three leaves of notes in the hand of G. Martini; bookseller's description on the stationery of H. P. Kraus (used in part for the item description in the present record).

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Hermann Suchier (in Halle; bookplate, inside front cover), and Giuseppe Martini.
Purchased by H. P. Kraus from the Martini collection, ca. 1948.
Appears in Kraus's list 189 (1956), no. 127.
Sold by Kraus, 1960[?].

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. 114 (Ms. Italian 106).
Buonarotti (periodical; edited by Benvenuto Gasparoni) 2 (1867). [Contains a published version of item three, the miracle story of the childless queen.]
Zambrini, Francesco. Le opere volgari a stampa dei secoli XIII e XIV, 4. ed. con appendice (Bologna: N. Zanichelli, 1884), col. 668. [Quotes the 1867 publication of the childless queen story in Buonarotti.]

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 331.

Contributor:

Suchier, Hermann, 1848-1914, former owner.
Martini, Giuseppe, 1870-1944, former owner.

OCLC:

155964338

Web link:

Collation model