Add MS 46805

HILL HERALDIC COLLECTIONS. Vol. I. Armorial of Venetian families with extracts from chronicles and painted coats of arms; circ. 1570 (see artt. 3 and 7 below). Italian. The contents include:(1) Miscellaneous genealogical and other information relating to the history of Venice, 4th-16th centt., including a copy of a letter [of Pietro Gradenigo, Doge of Venice] to Georgio Delfino, bailiff of Armenia, 27 June 1310 (printed from MS. Vatic. Lat. 5842 in L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, new ed., Bologna, 1941-1949, xii, part i, fasc. 4, pp. 377-378); notices of Venetian citizens who offered military service in 1379 and 1381; lists of various offices, etc., and a brief list of notable events in the history of Venice, 1433-1529. ff. 1-16;(2) Short histories of Venetian noble families with notices of their origins and painted shields of arms, arranged in alphabetical order (Anafesto-Zustignani). A similar collection in Add. MS. 18659, which also includes the preceding genealogical items (cf. C. Foligno, Nuovo Archivio Veneto, N.S., xi, 1906, pt. 2, p. 173). ff. 16b-72b;(3) List of doges beginning 'Qui sotto se notera el n^o Ser^mi Dosi de Veniesia dal primo sino a quelo se Trova al presente . . .', extending from Paulutius Anafesto to '1570, Alvise Mocenigo dose LXXX' (Alvise Mocenigo I, Doge 1570-1577). ff. 78b-80;(4) Extracts from chronicles of the history of Venice covering the years 827-1442, the sources for which include that of Andrea Dandolo (printed by L. A. Muratori, op. cit., xii, part i, fascc. 1-8). ff. 81 b- 111b;(5) A brief account of the origins of Venice and of the eight churches whose foundation was traditionally ascribed to St Magnus, Bishop of Oderzo (see F. C. Hodgson, Early History of Venice, 1901, p. 147). ff. 112-114b;(6) Note concerning the state of Venice in 1433 with further histories of noble families, arranged alphabetically but without coats of arms. ff. 114-130;(7) List of papal elections, 1549-1566, ending with Pius V (d. 1572). f. 131. Paper; ff. xi+131. Circ. A.D. 1570. Water marks similar to nos.760-762 in C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes, Paris, 1907. A note on the flyleaf (f. x) in the hand of Sir George Hill states that the MS. previously belonged to Horatio Brown, the Venetian scholar (d. 1927), who bought it in 1882 (bill of sale, f. v.). On Brown's death the MS. was acquired by the donor whose signed bookplate is at f. ix; Quaritch cat., February 1928, item 444.

Venice: Armorials of nobility: 16th-17th cent.

Bookplates and Book-stamps: Hill (Sir George Francis), K.C.B.; d. 1948.