Add MS 8585

Gian Giacomo Caroldo: Conspiracy of Baiamonte Tiepolo; circa 1520. Italian. Copy, 18th cent. The text is an extract from the chronicle of Venice compiled by Gian Giacomo Caroldo, Secretary of the Council of Ten, circa 1520. Caroldo gives a detailed account of the conspiracy organised by Baiamonte Tiepolo, Marco Querini and other noblemen against the Venetian government in 1310. The Republic, after discovering and defeating the plot, instituted the Consiglio dei Dieci (Council of Ten) in order to judge the rebels. The Council was made a permanent body in charge of state security a few years later and soon became the most powerful organ within the Venetian state. In the present MS. the text begins (f. 2) 'Relazione della Congiura delli nobili Querini ... et Bajamonte Tiepolo ... , unitamente con alcuni Badoeri ... / Primieramente la Città era mal contenta', and ends (f. 18) 'in Libri di quell'Illustrissimo Consegio'. Other copies of Caroldo's text are in Add. 8586, ff. 368-377v (as part of Storia del Consiglio dei Dieci by Giovanni Antonio Venier), 10695, and 48089 (Yelverton MS. 98), ff. 279-325, King's 150 (ff. 58-79v), and King's 147 (ff. 123v-131), a MS. containing the entire chronicle (see relevant description with bibliography in the British Library catalogue; for Caroldo see also A. Carile, La cronachistica veneziana (secoli xiii-xvi) di fronte alla spartizione della Romania nel 1204 (Florence, 1969), pp. 158-159). The Italian language has a strong Venetian emphasis. The MS. is listed in Palma di Cesnola, no. 413, p. 30, and described by C. Foligno, ‘Codici di materia veneta nelle biblioteche inglesi’, in Nuovo Archivio Veneto, n.s., 5, x (1905), pt. i, no. xxxix, p. 128. Frontispiece (f. 1) with title in red ink and illuminated floral decoration at bottom, all within an illuminated frame. Later marginal notes with indication of volume and pages for relevant passages in an unspecified copy of a chronicle. Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark L/20/C on f. i. '648' in pencil in upper part of f. i. Purchased, together with Add. 8503, 8505, 8562, 8577, 8584, 8587 and 8602, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 648 (part).

Vellum; ff. 18 + iii. 337 x 236mm. Horizontal catchwords on each leaf.