Francesco Patrizi of Siena, De regno ac regis institutione

Title

Francesco Patrizi of Siena, De regno ac regis institutione

Shelfmark

St John's College MS 12

Associated place

? Chichester

Place of origin

France

Date

s. xvi in

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Paper, folded in folio; all quires are normal sequences of (usually five) bifolia. The paper is propably from a single stock, with a small mark of the type Main/Hand, with a prominent cuff. This resembles a group of marks presented as Piccard XVII nos. 189–370, widespread in the period 1485 x 1525 (in some cases, later).

Physical extent

Fols. vi + 260 + iv(numbered fols. vii–x). There is also an original foliation in arabic, in which fols. 11–260are 3–252.

Hands

Written in French cursiva ; a more formal variety, including some humanistica, is used for headings and decorative opening lines. Punctuation by infrequent medial pointonly.

Decoration

All headings and the regular running titles identifying the constituent books are in text ink.

At the head of the text proper (fol. 11), a 7-line silver-blue capital on a red-dotted gold ground with flowers and a half border, mostly gold and blue with leafy sprays and flowers; a similar initial appears at the head of book 1 proper (fol. 14).

At the foot of the first page is a blazon in a green leafy wreath with golden leaves at the quarter points (see Provenance below).

Book divisions have 5-line painted capitals with highlights (within books at chapter heads 4-line), either silvery blue or blue on brownish-red with gold tracery or gold on the blue with white tracery. Some are not entirely finished.

See AT no. 793 (78).

Acquisition

‘Liber Collegii Sancti Iohannis Baptistae Oxon’ ex dono Henrici Price sacrae Theologiae Bacchalaurej ejusdem Collegii Socij’ ( fol. 2, s. xvii).

Provenance

A blazon, azure bordered or, three rampant stags or (fol. 11).