De ludo schacchorum seu de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium ... [etc.]

Contributor:

Gennay, Franciscus (compiler); Boniface IX, Pope, approximately 1355-1404 (addressee); Petrarca, Gerardo (addressee); Capelli, Pasquino (addressee); Pietro, da Moglio (addressee)

Name:

Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, 1351-1402; Pollastre, Cassius Pauli; Ludovico, da Fabriano; Albanzani, Donato, approximately 1326-approximately 1411

Timespan:

Early works to 1800; Civil War, 43-31 B.C.

Date:

1409

Description:

Compilation, mostly in Latin, of religious, literary, historical, and natural-historical works, including classical and contemporary selections, as well as letters by humanist writers Francesco Petrarca and Donatus Albanzani. Over a quarter of the manuscript is devoted to the De ludo scachorum of Jacobus de Cessolis, a collection of sermons about the proper relationships between a king and various classes of subjects, compared to the rules of chess (f. 1r-56r). Other moderately substantial texts include descriptions of various geographic regions from Honorius of Autun's De imagine mundi (f. 61r-71r); a brief history of the Roman civil wars (f. 71v-92r); and the Computus of Bono da Lucca, which deals with the calendar, lunar cycles, and calculations for determining the date of Easter (f. 109r-124v). The manuscript is a palimpsest, with the lower text from the 14th century, probably legal.

Language:

Latin; Italian

Provenance:

Inscriptions by early readers: Paulus de Mantua (16th-century, f. 145v) and initials of an Augustinian (18th-century, f. 175r).; Sold by Payne and Foss (London) to Sir Thomas Phillipps (ms. 4570, stamp on front flyleaf, paper label on spine).; Sold by H. P. Kraus (cat. 153, 1979, no. 51 and plate 127) to Irene and Peter Ludwig (Aachen, Germany; bookplates by Hans Erni on verso of front endpaper; ms. XV.16).; Purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu, Calif.), 1983.; Appears in Jörn Günther's catalog Recent Acquisitions (Autumn 1997), p. 11; also in his display in Maastricht, 1998.; Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, June 1998.; Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.; Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2019.; Ludwig, Peter, 1925-1996, former owner.; Ludwig, Irene, former owner.; J. Paul Getty Museum, former owner.

Relation:

Video orientation: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/1502734; The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366278; Digital facsimile for download (OPenn): https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0001/html/ljs267.html; Collation model: http://repository.upenn.edu/sims_models/55

Subject:

Catholic Church -- Liturgy -- Calendar -- Early works to 1800; Catholic Church; Chess -- Early works to 1800; Chess; Kings and rulers -- Duties -- Early works to 1800; Kings and rulers -- Duties; Astronomy -- Early works to 1800; Astronomy; Medea, consort of Aegeus, King of Athens (Mythological character); Liturgics

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

manuscripts (documents); codices (bound manuscripts); palimpsests (manuscripts); poems; treatises; prayers (compositions); sermons; Manuscripts, Renaissance

Physical Description:

175 leaves : parchment, illustrations; 190 x 122 (130 x 75-80) mm bound to 200 x 135 mm

Geographic Subject:

Rome -- History -- Civil War, 43-31 B.C.; Cesena (Italy) -- History

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Vicar of the Inquisition attached to the Convent of Saint Dominic in Genoa.; Title for manuscript from closing rubric for predominant work (f. 56r).; Table of contents: 1. f.1r-56r: De ludo scacchorum seu de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium / Jacobus de Cesulis.; Table of contents: 2. f.56v-60v: De remediis fortuitorum ad Gallionem / Seneca.; Table of contents: 3. f.61r-71r: Ymago mundi / Ysidorus [misattributed; Honorius of Autun]; Table of contents: 4. f.71v-92r: Cronica gestorum a Cesare et Pompeio.; Table of contents: 5. f.92v-94v: De nominibus dignitatum et officiorum.; Table of contents: 6. f.95r-103r: [Letter to Boniface IX] / Cassius Pauli Pollastre de civitate Narniense.; Table of contents: 7. f.103v-104v: [Correspondence between Giangaleazzo Visconti and Bologna, 1390]; Table of contents: 8. f. 104v: Gregorius in moralibus vel super Ezechiele.; Table of contents: 9. f.106r: Locchi di cui parlay di caldamente ... [Rime, 292] / Petraccha.; Table of contents: 10. f.106r-107v: Si tosto come aven che llarcho scocchi ... [Rime, 87 / Francesco Petrarca]; Table of contents: 11. f.106v: Quando dal proprio sito si rimove ... [Rime, 41 / Francesco Petrarca]; Table of contents: 12. f.106v: El tempo vago e prati novelli ... [unattributed sonnet]; Table of contents: 13. f.107r-108v: Pulchre orationes beate Marie Virginis [Rime, 366 / Francesco Petrarca]; Table of contents: 14. f.108v: De virtutibus et gratiis [Prayer, Initia carminum ac versum medii aevi..., 2058]; Table of contents: 15. f.109r-124v: Computus / editus a magistro Bono [da Lucca]; Table of contents: 16. f.125r-130r: Tragedia quedam de casu Cesene / composita per ser Colutium de Stignano [misattributed; Ludovico Romani da Fabriano]; Table of contents: 17. f.130v-138v: Magistro Donato Cassintinensi gramatice preceptori, de consolatione filii sui defuncti / Petracca [Epistolae senile, X.4]; Table of contents: 18. f.138v-145v: Fratri Gerardo Petracco, germano suo monacho Carthusiensi, exortans ipsum in vera religione / Petracca [Epistolae familiares, X.3]; Table of contents: 19. f.146r-151r: [Excerpts from the Etymologiae / Isidore of Seville]; Table of contents: 20. f.151r-153v: Sermo / Donati Cassitinensis quem recitavit publica in plebe [Donato Albanzani]; Table of contents: 21. f.153v-156r: [Letter to Pasquino Capelli / Giangaleazzo Visconti]; Table of contents: 22. f.156r-156v: [Letter to the chancellor of Florence] / Donatus Cassintinensis [Donato Albanzani]; Table of contents: 23. f.156v-157r: [Letter to Pietro da Moglio] / Idem Donatus [Donato Albanzani]; Table of contents: 24. f.157v: [Letter to Antonio, chancellor of Perugia] / Idem Donatus.; Table of contents: 25. f.157v-158r: Epistola Pilati ad Tyberium.; Table of contents: 25. f.158r-158v: Suprascriptus Donatus universitati studii Florentini, respondens electioni sibi transmisse, ut legert gramaticam, rethoricam, et poetas / [Donato Albanzani]; Table of contents: 26. f.159r-168v: Successus Medee querentis de deceptione Iasonis.; Table of contents: 27. f.169r-171v: De verborum copia [Alphabetical list of aphorisms, Initia carminum latinorum saeculo undecimo antiquiorum, 39]; Table of contents: 28. f.173r-174r: [Votive prayers for various categories of persons and the dead]; Table of contents: 29. f.174v-175r: Adsit principio sancta Maria meo [Prayer]; Collation: Parchment, ii (18th-century paper) + 175 + ii (18th-century paper); 1¹⁰(-1) 2-3¹⁰ 4⁸(+1) 5-17¹⁰ 18⁸(-1); [1-175]; modern foliation in pencil, lower left recto. Catchwords lower center on the last verso of gatherings 1-15 except for gathering 11 (f. 108v). Link to collation model at end of record.; Layout: Written in 26-42 long lines; ruled in lead and faint ink.; Script: Written in Italian Gothic script, mostly in the hand of Franciscus Gennay (f. 56r, 71r, 92r, 124v).; Decoration: 11 ink drawings illustrating the De ludo scachorum: the author in monastic habit at his desk (f. 1r); king and king chess-piece (f. 4r); judge and bishop chess-piece (f. 10r); knight and knight chess-piece (f. 12v); carpenter and pawn chess-piece (f. 24v); builder and pawn chess-piece (f. 27r); scribe and pawn chess-piece (f. 28v); merchant (f. 32v); innkeeper (f. 38r); city guard (?) with key and pawn chess-piece (f. 40v); and wasteful rogue with dice and perhaps coins (f. 43r). 5-line initial in red with infilling and ground of penwork in ink (f. 109r); 3-line initial in blue (f. 117r); rubrics and 2-line initials in red throughout; paragraph marks in red in De ludo scachorum and Computus (f. 1r-56r, 109r-124v); capitals touched with yellow throughout; occasional manicules added by later readers (for example, f.46v-47r).; Binding: 18th-century leather over pasteboards, spine and board edges gilt, marbled endpapers.; Origin: Written in northern Italy in 1409 (f. 71r).; Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.; Latin, with a few poems in Italian (f. 106r-108v).; Related Work: Jacobus, de Cessolis, active 1288-1322. De ludo scachorum.; Related Work: Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65 A.D. De remediis fortuitorum.; Related Work: Honorius, of Autun, approximately 1080-approximately 1156. De imagine mundi. Selections.; Related Work: Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374. Rime. Selections; Related Work: Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374. Epistolae. Selections.; Related Work: Bono, da Lucca, -1279 or 1280. Computus lunaris.; Related Work: Isidore, of Seville, Saint, -636. Etymologiae. Selections.

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, LJS 267

Collection:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)