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Harley MS 3949

Record Id:

040-002049786

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002049786

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0001cd

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3949

Title:

Collection of Classical grammatical and rhetorical texts

Scope & Content:

A composite manuscript, the first part of which (ff. 1-71) contains a humanistic miscellany comprising Classical grammatical and rhetorical texts, the second (ff. 72-103) preserves humanist Latin translations of Greek works relating to Classical education.

Contents:

ff. 1r-69v: written by Marchixius Pupagius de Martinengo between 1430 and 1431: colophon on f. 69v.

ff. 1r-45v: Pseudo-Cicero, Rhetorica ad Herennium, ends with the colophon 'MCCCCXXX die Mercurii XXVIII Junii finitum fuit hoc opus per me Marchixium prepagium de Martinengo.'

ff. 45v-47v: Petrus Franciscus de Urbe Vetere (active in Bologna around 1418), Ars memoriae artificialis, begins 'Reverende pater et domine, qualiter homo ad recordandum de pluribus rebus per memoriam artificialem...' cf. Sabine Heimann-Seelbach, Ars und scientia: Genese, Überlieferung und Funktionen der mnemotechnischen Traktatliteratur im15. Jahrhundert (Tübingen: Niemeyer 2012), pp. 18-20, no. 1.1.

ff. 47v-53v: An anonymous poem on how to live a good life, begins '(R)ecte vivendi doctrinam sive cavendi quae mala sunt...'.

ff. 53v-62v: Optimus tractatus de reprobatione amoris pluribus rationibus, in three parts, begins 'Cum per varias amoris vias...' The text seems to be a reworked version of Alexander Capellanus’s De Amore.

f. 62v: Italian verses, begin ‘La femena e la mulla en de mala natura’.

f. 62v: Latin verses (a distichon), begin ‘Nescio quid sit amor nec amoris sentio nodum ' (cf. Walther, Initia carmimum (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1960), no. 11741).

ff. 62v-69v: Vitalis of Blois, Geta, begins 'Graecorum studia nimiumque diuque….’, ends with colophon “explicit Biria sive Ovidius de procatione Iovis erga Alcmenam consortem Amphytrionis MCCCCXXXI die xiiii Marcii.’ Printed in Etienne Guilhou, La comédie latine en France, 2 vols (Paris, 1931), I, pp. 33-57.

ff. 69v-70r: Fragment of a prose treatise on Aristotle, beings ’Et habeamus cognitionem plenariam Aristotilis quae Alexandro existenti eius scholario voluit exhibere…’ ends ‘…sequentia supra in quinque praecepta.’

The rest of the manuscript was written by Johannes Petrus Prepagium, between 1447-1455: 'scriptus de mense marcii anni 1447 per me Johannem Petrum Prepagium Caravaziensem et Brixie civem (f. 75v).

ff. 71r-71v: Gasparino Barzizza (b. 1360, d. 1431), Parva orthographia, begins ‘Cor fragrans lenis pira saltans ad sibi mutat…’’ ends ‘nisi talis sit consona duplex.’

ff. 72r-75v: St Basil the Great, On the Education of Children, in the Latin translation of Leonardo Bruni, with preface, ends with colophon 'scriptus de mense marcii anni 1447 per me Johannem Petrum Prepagium Caravaziensem et Brixie civem.'

ff. 76r-84r: Pier Paolo Vergerio the elder (b. 1370, d. 1444), De Ingenuis moribus, begins 'Franciscus senior avus tuus...', ends with colophon 'explevi die p° aprilis 1449.' printed in Humanist Educational Treatises, ed. by Craig W. Kallendorf (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), pp. 2-90.

ff. 84r-88v: Plutarch, On the education of children (Moralia I. 1a-86a) in the Latin translation of Guarino da Verona, with a prologue to Angelo Corbinelli, begins ‘Maiores nostros Angele mi suavissime…’ Text (f. 84r), begins ‘Quidnam est quod de ingenuorum educatione liberorum quispiam dicere posset…’ ends ‘ends with colophon 'finis itaque habitus est XXVI maii 1449.’ (printed in Plutarchus, De liberis educandis [Cologne: Arnold Ther Hoernen, about 1473], ff. 1-16v. with marginal note in Greek supplying the original of a quotation in the Latin text on f. 88r.

ff. 88v-91r: Gasparino Barzezza, Compositionis opusculum, begins '(C)um omnis comode et perfecte ellocutionis...', ends with colophon 'Vigessimo Junii 1449 per me Johannempetrum scriptorem.' Printed in J. A. Furiettus, Gasparini Barzizii Bergomatis ... Opera, 2 vols (Rome, 1723), I, pp. 1-14.

ff. 91r-92v: Pseudo-Seneca (Martin of Braga), Formula honestae vitae, begins ‘Quatuor virtutum species…’ ends ‘...contemnat ignaviam’, ends with colophon '9 aprilis 1451 per me Johannem Petrum.' Printed in Claude W. Barlow, Martini episcopi Braracensis opera omnia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950), pp. 237-50, cf. Clavis Patrum Latinorum, number 1080).

ff. 92v-96r: Leonardo Bruni, (b. 1370, d. 1444), Isagogicon moralis disciplinae, begins 'Si ut vivendi, Galeotte, sic etiam bene vivendi cura nobis esset, infinitos pene labores...' 20 febr. 1455. At the end: 1455 Febr. 27. Printed in Montserrat Jiménez San Cristóbal, ‘El Isagogicon moralis disciplinae de Leonardo Bruni y sus versiones castellanas. Edición y estudio’, (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Madrid, 2010), pp. 359-84.

ff. 96r-96v: Leon Battista Alberti, Intercoenales: Virtus et Mercurius, begins 'Virtus dea per epistolas...', ends with colophon 'explicit querela virtutis.' Printed in E. Garin, Prosatori latini del Quattrocento, 8 vols (Torino: Einaudi, 1976-1977), V, pp. 636-57.

ff. 96v-98r: Jerome, Life of St Paul the Hermit, begins ‘Inter multos saepe dubitatum…’.

ff. 98r-99v: Jerome, St. Jerome, Epistula ad Heliodorum monachum (Epistle 22), begins ‘Quanto amore et studio contenderim…’. Printed in Patrologia Latina, vol. 22, col. 348.

ff. 99v-101r: Jerome, Life of Malchus the Monk, begins ‘Qui navali proelio dimicati…’.

ff. 101r-102r: Life of Paphnutius the Hermit, extract from the Historia Monachorum in Aegypto in the Latin translation by Rufinus Aquileia, begins ‘Vidimus et monasterium sancti paphnutii hominis dei…’

f. 102r: Life of St Paul the Simple, extract from the Historia Monachorum in the Latin translation by Rufinus Aquileia, begins ‘Cum quidam inter discipulos sancti Antonii…’

ff. 102r-103r: Jerome, De officio liberorum erga parentes epistola (Epistle 11), begins ‘Parentum meritis subiugans filios omnipotens…’ Printed in Patrologia Latina, vol. 30, 145-47.

Decoration:

Large red initials with reserved lines and designs (ff. 1r, 7r) or penwork decoration (ff. 17v, 25v, 45v, 53v), some not painted (ff. 84-103). Numerous smaller red initials (with penwork decoration on ff. 12v), and paragraph marks. Small initials unpainted (ff. 47v-48v). Manicula in red or brown ink (ff. 58r, 62v).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002049786", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3949: Collection of Classical grammatical and rhetorical texts" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002049786

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3949 : Collection of Classical grammatical and rhetorical texts

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3942]/040-002049786

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Italian
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1430

End Date:

1455

Date Range:

1430-1455

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 285 x 200 mm (225 x 140 mm).

Foliation: ff. 103 (+ 5 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end + 1 unfoliated ruled but unwritten paper leaf after f. 70 and 1 and a fragment after f. 103 (ff. [104-105]). There is an earlier foliation marked from the top right corner of f. 1r, starting with the number 249, and running across the whole volume up to f. 183r, with the number 362, suggesting that the manuscript was once part of a larger compilation.

Script: Gothic. ff. 1r-69v were written by Marchixius Pupagius de Martinego; ff. 69v-71v must have been written sometime between 1431 and 1447 by a different scribe; ff. 72r-103 were written by Johannes Petrus Pocpagius.

Binding: British Library in-house. Rebound in 1996.

Collation: from ff. 1-69: mostly in quires of 8.

Catchwords in the middle of the lower margin in the first part and vertical catchwords in the second part.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Northern Italy.

Provenance:

Part 1:

Mostly written by Marchixius Pupagius de Martinengo: colophon 'Deo gratias Am[en]. mccccxxx die mercurij xxviij Junij finitum fuit hoc opus per me Marchixium pupagium [first 3 letters written over erasure, 'i' written over 'a'?] de martinengo' (f. 45v), and 'Explicit biria sive ovidius de procatione iovis erga almena[m] et forte[m] amphitrionis. Mccccxxxi die xiiijor marzij' (f. 69v). According to Watson, another text, undated, was written in the same hand, following the poem 'Biria', from f. 70 to f. 71v, but these folios contain two texts in different hands.

ff. 69v-71v must have been written sometime between 1431 and 1447 by a different scribe (dates given by the colophons of the preceding and following texts).

Added manicula, annotations and diagrams throughout Cicero's De inventione, 15th century.

Part 2: Written by Johannes Petrus Pocpagius: colophons 'Divi basilij explicit liber feliciter [...] scriptus de mense marcii a[n]ni 1447 p[er] me Johan[n]empetru[m] ?pocpagium caravazie[n]ses [Caravaggio] et brixie [Brescia] cive[m]' (f. 75v). 'Petri pauli vergerij de Ingenuis morib[u]s feliciter explevi die p[rim]o aprilis 1449' (f. 84r). 'Deo gr[aci]as amen. finis itaque h[ab]itus e[st] xxvj maij 1449' (f. 88v). 'Compositionis opus finitum [...] ingessio [sic] Junij 1449. per me Joha[n]ne[m]petru[m] Mm.' (f. 91)r. 'Ethica minor Senece [...] explicit 9 aprilis 1451 per me Joh]ann]em petru[m]' followed by 'Leonardi aretini Isagogicon [...] felicit[er] incipit 20 febr[uari]j 1455' (f. 92v). 'deo gracias amen 1455 febr[uari]j 27' (f. 96r).

ff. 96-103 are in the same hand, but undated. This scribe may have been the son of the previous one (Watson, Catalogue (1979)).

Inscription added in Greek, 16th century (f. 88r).

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts: https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=4466&CollID=8&NStart=3949.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III (1808) , no. 3949.

Etienne Guilhou, La comédie latine en France, 2 vols (Paris, 1931), I, p. 121.

Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), no. 795.

Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum: Accedunt Alia Itinera: A Finding List of Uncatalogued or Incompletely Catalogued Humanistic Manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and other Libraries, 7 vols (London: Warburg Institute; Leiden: Brill, 1963-1997), IV (1989), p. 177-178.

Sabine Heimann-Seelbach, Ars und scientia. Genese, Überlieferung und Funktionen der mnemotechnischen Traktatliteratur im 15. Jahrhundert (Tübingen: Niemeyer 2012), pp. 18-20. no. 1.1.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names: