Vegetius — 1442 or 1445 × 1458; Italian, Naples

Title

Vegetius — 1442 or 1445 × 1458; Italian, Naples

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 274

Place of origin

Italian, Naples

Date

1442 or 1445 × 1458

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

i (unfoliated paper endleaf of the date of the binding) + 118 (fols. ii, 1-117) + i (unfoliated paper endleaf of the date of the binding)

Hands

Humanistic script by Jacobus Curlus (Jacopo or Giacomo Curlo) (active in Naples from 1445), fol. 115v.

Decoration

Miniature, fol. 1v: Alfonso V of Aragon, I of Naples, in armour, on horseback.

Full border of floral designs, fol. 1v; two angels support a shield with the arms of Aragon and Calabria quartered.

Full border of coloured interlace and scrollwork, fol. 2r.

White-vine initials, 4-line for books, 2-line for chapters. 4-line initial P on scrollwork background, fol. 2r.

Binding

For Canonici (?) (see Provenance): green leather over pasteboards; gilt tooling around the edge of each cover, and on the spine; red leather label on the spine 'FL. VEGETII DE RE MILITARI', and below, in gilt on the spine itself, 'COD. M. PRO REG. ARAG'. Endleaves of laid paper, watermarked with bow and arrow (?) and initials A M or M A (cf. https://www.wasserzeichen-online.de/?ref=DE0960-PreissJA1M_23r). Pastedowns of decorated paper in red and yellow with a zigzag design.

Acquisition

Purchased by the Bodleian in 1817

Provenance

Written for Alfonso V of Aragon and I of Naples (r. 1442-1458) (colophon, fol. 115v).

Library of the Kings of Aragon at Naples: perhaps identifiable in 'inventory A' (1481), no. 144, and 'inventory B' ('Index regalium codicum Alfonsi regis ad Laurentium Medicem ex Neapolitana eius bibliotheca transmissus'), Historici 146 (T. de Marinis, La biblioteca napoletana dei re d'Aragona, II, 190, 197).

Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727–1805 (source of acquisition not known; not from Jacopo Soranzo).

Giuseppe Canonici , -1807

Title

Vegetius, De re militari

Shelfmark

MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 274

Date

1442-1458

Language

Latin

Physical extent

1 volume