Details

Subjects:

Savonarola, Girolamo, 1452-1498.
Florence (Italy) -- Commerce.
Florence (Italy) -- History -- Early works to 1800.
Florence (Italy) -- History -- Economic aspects.
Florence (Italy) -- History -- Religious aspects.
Florence (Italy) -- Politics and government -- To 1421.
Florence (Italy) -- Politics and government -- 1421-1737.

Form/Genre:

Chronicles.
Codices.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Record of the priory, the most important governing body in Florence, covering the period from 1282 (when the priory was instituted) to 1509 when the manuscript breaks off. In the form of marginal notes the political, religious and commercial life of the city is recorded as well, in very great detail from about the middle of the 15th century to about 1500. Included are long passages on the career and death of Savonarola.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger; date from bookseller's notes (on file in the Library).
Spine title: Priorista. Just beneath, the writing on the spine appears to read "T. II.", suggesting that this was originally the second volume of a set.
Foliation: Paper, ii (parchment) + 255 + i (parchment); [iii], 1-249, [iii]; contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto.
Script: Written in a variety of cursive scripts by many hands, with the earliest portions written in a rapid "mercantile" cursive script (typical 15th-century Florentine hand).
Binding: 18th-century vellum-covered boards (Zacour-Hirsch).
Origin: Written in Florence, late 15th- early 16th century (Zacour-Hirsch).
The manuscript appears to have been compiled from archives or an earlier manuscript on the same subject about 1480; from that time forward the writing is much less regular, and the hue of the ink changes rapidly, indicating periodic additions. After July 1504 the original hand breaks off entirely and is supplanted by a more modern cursive, in which the final few pages are written with only occasional marginalia.
Modern bookseller's catalog description pasted inside upper cover.
Cover wearing and split at hinges and spine. Vellum pulling away from back cover board. Some wear and stains. A few tears. Some evidence of repairs.
There is a leaf laid in just before the first folio containing text.
Ownership inscription on f. [ii] recto: Questo libro e di Lionardo d Paolo Adimari. The Adimari were a great noble family of Florence who played a considerable part in the city's political life until the nobles were forbidden office. This same leaf contains a couple other inscriptions referring to the Adimari and a depiction of a shield or coat of arms.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Lionardo di Paolo Adimari (inscription, f. [ii] recto).
Sold by Laurence Witten (New Haven, Conn.), 1958.

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 49).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 291

Contributor:

Adimari, Lionardo di Paolo, former owner.

OCLC:

155964281