Add MS 8583

Andrea de Gatari: Compendium of the chronicle of the city of Padua and the house of Carrara, incorporating extracts from the chronicle of Daniele Chinazzo, 1311-1407; after circa 1520. Italian. The compendium is based on Andrea de Gatari's chronicle of Padua and the house of Carrara. This chronicle was begun by Andrea's father, Galeazzo, whose work covered the years 1318-1389. It was continued to 1407, though otherwise little altered, by Bartolomeo, another son of Galeazzo, and subsequently embellished in 1454 by Andrea who added extracts from the chronicle of Daniele Chinazzo. Inc. (f. 2) 'Nel primo capitulo narra le nobile', expl. (f. 173) 'e gracia nel mandi di cielo in terra'. The chronicle from which the compendium is taken, and of which Add. 8598 is a copy dated 1560, has been published in L. A. Muratori (ed.), Chronicon Patavinum Italica Lingua Conscriptum, in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xvii (1730), 1-944. The first half of the compendium (ff. 2-89), covering 1311-Oct. 1381, is largely based on the chronicle of Daniele Chinazzo of Treviso (d. 1428). Chinazzo's chronicle, which covers the period 1337-1381, provides a detailed, contemporary account of events in 1376-1381 surrounding the war of Chioggia fought between Venice and her allies against Genoa, Hungary, Padua and Aquileia in 1378. Although biased towards the Venetian side, Chinazzo's chronicle is apparently the most important source for the history of the war. It has been published from a MS., now lost, in the Este library in G. Antimaco (ed.), Cronaca della Guerra di Chioggia scritta da Daniele Chinazzi, Biblioteca Rara, lix (1864), and also from University of Copenhagen Library, cod. Rostgaard 38 in V. Lazzarini (ed.), Cronica de la Guerra da Veniciani a Zenovesi, Monumenti Storici Pubblicati dalla Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Venezie, new series, xi (1958). The volume, apparently in a dialect of the Veneto, is written in two hands (ff. 2-92v and ff. 93-179v). The compendium, which closes (f. 173) 'Qui finisse la tragedia, o vero cronica copiata, e scritta per mi Andrea figlio Galeazzo di Gatari del 1454', is followed (ff. 173-177v), in the second hand, by short extracts on the period from other authors. The manuscript is listed in Palma di Cesnola, no. 412, p. 30, and described by C. Foligno, ‘Codici di materia veneta nelle biblioteche inglesi’, in Nuovo Archivio Veneto, n.s., 6, t. xi (1906), pt. i, no. liii, p. 181. 'N^o 42' in upper margin of f. 1. Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark L/17/C (f. i). '321' in pencil in upper left corner of f. ii. Purchased, together with Add. 8598, 8599, 8600, and 8601, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 321 (part).

Paper; ff. ii+179. Post-medieval Arabic foliation in ink, 1-180 (beg. f. 1) in centre of lower margins, and 1-179 (beg. f. 2) in upper right margins. Sec. fol. (f. 3) 'in capo dela ditta testa'. 217 x 160mm. 1⁶ (ff. 2-7), 2-18⁴ (ff. 8-75), 19⁶ (ff. 76-81), 20⁴ (ff. 82-85), 21² (ff. 86-87), 22⁴ (ff. 88-91), 23-33⁸ (ff. 92 [pencil]-178 [ink]), 34² (ff. 179 [ink]-179 [pencil]), with quire signatures in centre of lower margins and horizontal catchwords in lower right margins. Watermark, arrows (ff. 127-179) but not similar to any examples in Briquet or G. Piccard, Wasserzeichen Werkzeug und Waffen xi, part i (Stuttgart, 1980). 'Uderzo M F' printed or stamped on ff. 88-91v, before the manuscript was written; the letters 'M F' date from circa 1520. Quarter binding of vellum with pasteboard covers.