Details

Subjects:

Argenta (Italy) -- History.
Ferrara (Italy) -- History.
Ferrara (Italy) -- Social conditions.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Histories.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

Italian, with some passages in Latin.

Biography/History:

Priest, archeologist, historian, archivist (1737-1824) of Ferrara. Studied humanities in Ravenna, then moved back to Ferrara where he worked as a maetro di Belle Lettere (teacher of literature and composition). Ordained priest in 1770 (later he bacame the abbot of Argenta). The same year, with other intellectuals from Ferrara, reconstituted the Accademia dei Fluttuanti, a literary academy originally established in the 17th century. An expert in numismatics, in 1772 he helped create a large collection of ancient coins for the Museo dello Studio in Ferrara, one of the first public museums of Italy. His interests included history, especially of northeastern Italy; archaeology; calligraphy; archival research on original documents; and poetry.

Summary:

First volume of a 3-volume collection on the history of the city of Argenta, in the Ferrara province, located in northeastern Italy. The present volume was probably written around 1787. Volume 2 and 3 are not present, but the introductory pages of the first volume offer a general description of the complete work, which aimed at offering a complete and accurate history of Argenta based on extensive research on archival material made by Bertoli over the years. Volume 1 is composed of 9 chapters, followed by notes for chapters 1-8, which contain detailed references to the large number of sources used by Bertoli to complete his work. Each chapter contains, in its initial page, a short summary of its contents. The first chapter (f.10r-26r) contains a geographical and morphological description of the region where Argenta is located, a paludal area in northeast Italy, whose main cities are Bologna and Ferrara and whose main river is the Po. Chapter 2 (f.27r-40r) pertains to the history of the origin of Argenta which, according to various sources (including Tacitus and archaeological inscriptions found in local monuments), was founded before the creation the Roman Empire by a local tribe, the Spinesi. The third chapter (f.41r-51r) contains a possible explanation, highly supported by Bertoli, of the Greek origin of the political organization of Argenta, which was a direct result of the influence of a small group of Greek migrants who lived in the area and exported their ruling system. Chapter 4 (f.51r-64r) deals with the origin of the name of the city: according to the sources quoted by Bertoli, the name was very ancient and had probably given to the city by its founders, the Spinesi. The fifth chapter (f.64r-74r) enumerates the various populations that ruled over Argenta over the first centuries of its existence, the most important being the Spinesi, which shared the territory with the Etruscans, the Gauls and the Romans. Chapter 6 (f.74r-96r) contains information related to the christianization of Argenta and how the church of San Niccoló was built. Chapter 7 (f.96r-118r) deals with how the Huns contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire and how that affected the area of Ferrara, resulting in a disastrous famine. The eighth chapter (f.119r-144r) is related to the Gothic influence over the region, and the donations made by the emperor Justinian I to the city of Ravenna. Among the sources used by Bertoldi, the most important is the Eastern Roman historian Procopius, quoted numerous times by the author. Chapter 9 (f.144r-165r) contains a brief history of the foundation of the church and monastery of San Giorgio, located in Venice, not very far from Argenta.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from caption title (f.10r).
Foliation: Paper, i (paper) + 392; modern foliation in pencil, upper right verso. Catchwords, lower right recto.
Script: Written in a cursive script, probably by Francesco Leopoldo Bertoldi (pencil note on f.7r states the manuscript is autograph).
Watermark: Unidentified manuscript containing a bird and mountains.
Binding: Half calf (Zacour-Hirsch), Manoscritti Bertoldi sopra Argenta di Giovanni Frigerio (the word Frigerio crossed out) on spine.
Origin: Written in Ferrara, probably in 1787.

Penn Provenance:

Possibly formerly owned by Giovanni Frigerio (inscription on spine).

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), Supplement A (2), The Library Catalogue 36 (1970), no. 1, p. 22 (Ms. Lea 418).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1471.

OCLC:

317964612

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.