Details

Standardized Title:

Ruralia commoda

Subjects:

Agriculture -- Early works to 1800.
Agriculture.

Form/Genre:

Facsimiles.
Illuminations.
Manuscripts, Latin.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Latin.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.
text file

Summary:

A work on agriculture in 12 books harmonizing Roman authors (Varro, Pliny, Palladius) with medieval authors (Avicenna, Albertus Magnus) and practical experience. Topics include plants, vines, trees, the fruit of all these types of plants, meadows, woods, animals, and hunting. At the beginning of the manuscript are a letter to Aymeric of Piacenza (Master General of the Dominican order, 1304-1311), a dedication to Charles II of Anjou (King of Naples, 1288-1309), and a list of chapter headings. A colophon at the end of the manuscript describes the manuscript as having been written on behalf of Cardinal Louis Allerman and set by him to Rome as a gift for Angelotto Fusco, Bishop of Cava and chamberlain of Pope Martin V, but this must have been in the source manuscript from which the present manuscript was copied.

Contents:

1. f.1r: [Letter to Aymeric and dedication to Charles II of Anjou]
2. f.1r-5v: Rubrice.
3. f.7r-15v: De locis habitabilibus eligendis.
4. f.15v-38r: De natura plantarum et de rebus communibus cultu cuiuslibet generis agrorum.
5. f.38r-46r: De campestribus agris colendis et de natura et utilitate fructuum qui ex eis percipiuntur.
6. f.46r-66r: De vitibus et vineis et cultu earum de natura et utilitate fructuum earum.
7. f.66r-90v: De arboribus et natura et utilitate fructuum ipsarum.
8. f.90v-115r: De ortis et natura et utilitate tam herbarum que feruntur in eis quarum ceterarum que in aliis locis sine hominis industria naturaliter nascuntur.
9. f.115r-117r: De pratis et nemoribus.
10. f.117r-120v: De viridariis et rebus delectabilibus ex arboribus et herbis et fructu ipsarum artificiose agendis.
11. f.120v-150r: De omnibus animalibus que nutriuntur in rure.
12. f.150r-158v: De diversis ingeniis capiendi animalia fera.
13. f.158v-168v: De regulis operationum ruris.
14. f.168v-171v: De his que singulis mensibus possint in rure peragi.

Notes:

Title from rubric (f. 7r, viewed on April 28, 2010).
Collation: Parchment, i (18th-century paper) + 172 + i (18th-century paper); 1-16¹⁰ 17¹²; 1-172, foliation in ink in a later hand, lower right recto. Catchwords, most vertical, on last verso of each gathering. Remnants of signatures a-c visible on leaves in first 3 gatherings; most trimmed away.
Layout: Written in 2 columns of 41 lines; ruled in faint ink.
Script: Written in semi-humanistic script, possibly in the hand of Petrus de Traiecto; opening words of each book following illuminated initial written in display capitals.
Decoration: 3-line and 5-line initial in gold interlaced with a white vine pattern on a background of blue, green, and red extending almost the full height of both columns and filling most of the upper margin, ending in a winged insect (f. 1r); 9-line inhabited initial in gold with a similar interlaced white vine pattern and background forming a three-quarters border with winged insects and birds and the arms of Prospero Caffarelli (f. 7r); 12 similar gold initials, 6- to 10-line, with short marginal extensions, at the beginning of each of Books 2-12 (f. 15v, 38v, 46v, 66r, 91r, 115r, 117r, 120v, 150r, 158v, 168v) and in the middle of Book 5 (f. 86r); headings in red and 3-line initials in blue at the beginning of chapters throughout (guide letters often visible). Manicules used occasionally (for example, f. 69r-72r).
Binding: 18th-century Italian red morocco; gilt, with broad ornamental borders, cornerpieces, and the arms of Pope Pius VI on covers; spine gilt in compartments.
Origin: Written in Italy, probably Rome, in the 1460s (based on analysis of illumination by Albinia de la Mare), probably before 1464 (based on arms of Prospero Caffarelli).
Dimensions of original manuscript: 331 x 227 (210 x 150) mm. bound to 342 x 242 mm.
Electronic reproduction. Philadelphia, Pa. : University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2010. Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Prospero Caffarelli (arms, f. 7r, before he became bishop of Ascoli in Dec. 1463, at which time the bishop's mitre was added to his arms).
Formerly owned by Pope Pius VI (papal arms on covers).
Formerly owned by Robert Hoe (bookplate inside upper cover); sold in his collection at auction at Anderson Auction Company (New York), 19 Nov. 1912, Part IV, lot 2333.
Formerly owned by Alfred Chester Beatty (Beatty label, #44, on front flyleaf, but not listed in Eric George Millar's Library of A. Chester Beatty, 1927-1930).
Formerly owned by Hermann Marx (bookplate inside upper cover); sold with other items from his collection at auction at Sotheby's, 19 Apr. 1948, lot 32.
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 3 Dec. 1968, lot 26.
Sold by Librairie J.-M. LeFell (Paris) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, June 1998.
Sold by Lawrence J. Schoenberg at auction at Sotheby's to an unknown purchaser, 6 Jul. 2010, lot 34.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 127-128 (LJS 265).

Cited as:

LJS 265

Contributor:

Charles II, King of Naples, approximately 1254-1309, dedicatee.
Firenze, Andrea de, 15th century, illuminator.
Traiecto, Petrus de, scribe.
Caffarelli, Prospero, -1500, former owner.
Pius VI, Pope, 1717-1799, former owner.
Hoe, Robert, 1839-1909, former owner.
Beatty, A. Chester (Alfred Chester), Sir, 1875-1968, former owner.
Marx, Hermann, former owner.
Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)