Kings MS 149

VENETIAN CHRONICLE, in Italian, to A. D. 1422, forming part i of the 'Annalia Veneta' of Pietro Delfino, son of Giorgio da S. Canziano. Imperfect at the end, wanting 16 leaves. Apparently holograph.

The author has been confused by Sansovino (Venetia, 1581, f. 255 b), Possevini (Apparet. Sac., ii, 1608, p. 252), and some later writers (including the writer of a note on f. 2, an inserted leaf) with Pietro Delfino, son of Vittore, General of the Camaldolese Order (b. 1444, d. 1525); but see Foscarini, Della Lett. Venez., iv, p.1752, P. 145, Mittarelli and Costadoni, Annales Camaldulenses 1755-1773, vii, . p. 268, viii, p. 41, and the 'Auuertimento' prefixed by a modern hand to the present MS. (f. 3), also the note on f. 8 (quoted below), in which the chronicler describes himself as being in his 78th year in 1505. Marino Sanuto refers in his 'Vite de' Duchi di Venezia' (Muratori, Rer. Ital. Scr., xxii, col. 583) to the 'Cronaca di Ser Pietro Dolfino Barone', and again (col. 806) to the 'Cronica Dolfina', evidently meaning the present work (cf. f. 193b); and his Diarii often mention 'sier Piero Dolfini, fo di sier Zorzi', once (vol. iii, col. 209, Apr. 1500) as 'capetanio di le galie dil trafego'. Foscarini claims to have seen two MSS. of the Chronicle ; and a third (or one of these) belonged to E. A. Cigogna, see his Delle Inscriz Venez., iv, p. 537, v, p. 123, vi, pp. 69, 73. On f. 4b is a note of the contents of the whole work, in the same hand as the text, headed 'Annalia Veneta hoc modo a me Petro Delphino Geor. f. sancti Canciani quatuor uoluminibus scripta sunt'. It describes part i as ending with the death of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo (15 Apr. 1423), 'ut patet in hoc uolumine et continet libros in cartis 330, et est perfecta' ; part ii as ending with the death of Francesco Foscari (1 Nov.

(1457), and complete ; part iii as extending to 1500, but incomplete; and part iv as beginning with the year of Jubilee, 1500, and extending 'usque ad hec tempora, in qua uita duce et comite fortuna prosequemur inceptum opus iuxta posse'. This is followed, in the same hand, by (a) Burial-places of the Doges, down to Agostino Barbarigo (d. 1501), with references to pages in the chronicle for those included in it. f 5;-(b) Chronological list of Doges, down to Leonardo Loredano, elected 1501. f 6;-(c) 'Catalogus summorum pontificum [to Julius II 1504 (sic)] extractus a cronica Martiniana, quem scripsi ego Petrus Delphinus q. d. Geor. s. Canciani in 1505, anno etatis mee lxxviii'. f. 8 (d) 'Repertorium huius cronice prima pars': an index nominum, locorum et rerum. f. 10;-(e) Alphabetical list of Venetian families, followed by an account of the origins of these and others (about 230 in all) 'che son in rerum natura a questo tempo 1491', with their arms in colour. Heading beg. 'La cita de Veniexia come nela cronica se leze '; text, 'Auanzago. Questi uene da Mantoa'. f. 26. The Chronicle begins on f. 40. At the top of the page, partIy cut away, 'd. P^o. Apl (?) 1487 cepta'. Heading: 'Incomenza la cronica de la nobele citade de Veniesia acopiada dal transonto de quela de miser Andrea Dandolo fo doxe de Ueniexia, scontrada cum molte altre croniche et libri annuali de la cancellaria ducal de Veniexia.... Et erit pars prima Annalium Uenetorum Petri Delfini Geor. f. s. Canciani'. Beg. 'Al tempo che Troia fo destruta, molti Troiani zentilomeni si uene in le parte de Italia'. f. 40. There is no regular division into books and chapters, but here and there such headings occur as 'Capitolo 40' (-45), ff. 83 b-93 b, and 'Libro 6, capitolo primo', f. 96 b, corresponding to lib. ix, capp. 10-15, lib. x, cap. i of the Chronicon of Andrea Dandolo (Muratori, xii, cols. 256-297). In a 'Digressio Auctoris' (f. 99) under the date 1178 are given the inscriptions composed by Petrarch in 1341 to commemorate the humiliation of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, being thus described : 'Verba scripta in capitellis picturarum Iiistoric picte in sala maioris consilii et aliorum spaciorum in facie que respicit uersus sanctum Georgium'. The Chronicle ends imperfectly at the foot of f. 379 b, in the year 1422: 'la dita prouixion non bastera. E dio uoglia che queli de qua '. Paper (f. 4 vellum) ; ff. 379. ff. 40-147 originally numbered 1- 108, while another old numbering (of the open double page, not of the leaf begins with ff. 74 b, 75 (no. 1), and goes on with some irregularities to the end, f. 379 b bearing the number 315. 11 in.

8¹/₄ in. A.D. 1487-1505. Large initial, slightly ornamented, in red and green on f. 40. On f. 3 b, 'Di Arrigo di Collalto S[ignore] di Vinc[iguerr]a. V. S.' and 'Vedi pag. 204' (i.e. f. 270, where the text mentions 'i conti de Colalto'). Vellum binding. Belonged to Joseph Smith, Consul at Venice, Bibl. Smith., p. cxliii, col. ii.