Add MS 8537

STATUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE AND PISA; late 15th cent. Latin and Italian. In December 1472 Lorenzo de' Medici reorganised the University of Florence, founded in 1321, and the University of Pisa, founded in 1343, to form the combined University of Florence and Pisa. The new university reopened in 1473 with the 'Studio Repubblicano', a small faculty of rhetoric and poetry, in Florence and the much larger 'Studio Generale' in Pisa. This manuscript includes (ff. 1-4v) the statutes relating to this reorganisation, which were approved by the Florentine legislative councils on 19-22 Dec. 1472, together with (ff. 4v-34) subsequent rulings and confirmations made in 1473-1480 relating to the university and Florentine officials. The statutes of 1472 are printed in A. Gherardi (ed.), Statuti della Università e Studio Fiorentino, Documenti di Storia Italiana, vii (1881), pp. 273-276. For further details of the university in this period see Armando F. Verde, Lo Studio Fiorentino 1473-1503. Richerche e Documenti, 5 vols to date (Florence, 1973-). A list of contents (ff. 35-35v) is followed (ff. 36-37v) by further brief summaries of rulings and university statutes, 1484-1501; ff. 34-37v are written in an early sixteenth-century hand. There are marginal notes in Latin throughout the volume: some are contemporary insertions and corrections by the principal scribe, but most are marginal annotations by both the principal and the later scribe. Some rubricated headings (ff. 12-18v) and red ink paragraph marks. Blue initial with red penwork decoration (f. 1). Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark L/19/D (f. i). '569' in pencil in upper right corner of f. i. Purchased from R. H. Evans, 8 December 1830, lot 569 (part).

Vellum; ff. i+37. 217 x 145mm. 1¹² (1 cancelled; ff.1-11), 2⁸ (ff. 12-19), 3¹⁸ (ff. 20-37). Left and right margins ruled with folds. Marbled end-papers. Binding of mottled brown leather with gold-tooling on spine and on borders and fore-edges of covers, early 19th cent.