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Burney MS 239
- Record Id:
- 040-002237120
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002236305
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001311.0x00011f
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Burney MS 239
- Title:
- Cornelius Nepos, Liber de excellentibus ducibus exterarum Gentium
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-51r: Cornelius Nepos (b. c. 110 BC, d. c. 25 BC), Liber de excellentibus ducibus exterarum Gentium (Lives of Eminent Commanders), including the lives from Miltiades to Hannibal, beginning: 'Non dubito fore plerosque'.
f. 51r: Æmilius Probus (fl. c. 379-395), verse dedication of the work to Theodosius I (b. 347, d. 395), added by a 16th-century hand. This poem is often found in copies of the Liber de excellentibus ducibus exterarum Gentium after the life of Hannibal, and because of this the entire text of Nepos was thought, until the mid-16th century, to have been written by Probus. It begins: ‘Vade liber noster fato meliore memento’.
f. 51v: An added note in the same 16th-century hand: ‘Æmilii Probi liber foeliciter explicit.’
Decoration:
1 large historiated initial, in colours and gold, of a crowned emperor holding a gold staff or sceptre (f. 1r). Heraldic arms in bottom margin (f. 1r). Small initials alternately gold with blue pen-flourishing (e.g. ff. 1v, 33v), or blue with red pen-flourishing (e.g. ff. 4r, 11v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Burney Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002236305
040-002237120 - Is part of:
- Burney MS : Burney Manuscripts
Burney MS 239 : Cornelius Nepos, Liber de excellentibus ducibus exterarum Gentium - Hierarchy:
- 032-002236305[0234]/040-002237120
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Burney MS
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1430
- End Date:
- 1455
- Date Range:
- c 1435-c 1450
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 210 x 145 mm (written area 145 x 90 mm).
Foliation: ff. vi + 60; ff. i-iv, 57-60 are modern paper flyleaves; ff. v-vi, 52-55 are modern parchment flyleaves; Burney pagination in black ink, now crossed out; f. 56r contains an index added in 18th century, headed ‘Index Æmilii Probi’.
Collation: i-v10 (ff. 1-50), vi6-1 (last leaf missing; ff. 51-55).
Script: Gothic, written below top line.
Binding: Post-1600. Brown blind-tooled Burney binding of lightly diced polished leather.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: ?Milan, Northern Italy
Provenance:
Unidentified owner, 15th century: their arms party per fess, gules and vert, a letter 'B' or, the shield depicted as if hanging from a hook (f. 1r).
Unidentified owner, 16th century: added verses and note (ff. 51r-v).
Charles Burney (b. 1757, d. 1817), D.D., classical scholar.
Acquired by the British Museum as part of Burney’s library from his son Charles Parr Burney in 1818.
- Information About Copies:
- Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part II: The Burney Manuscripts (1840), p. 63.
P. K. Marshall, The Manuscript Tradition of Cornelius Nepos, Bulletin supplement, University of London Institute of Classical Studies, 37 (London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1977), p. 68.
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum: A finding List of Uncatalogued or Incompletely Catalogued Humanistic Manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and Other Libraries, 7 vols (London: The Warburg Institute, 1963; repr. 1977-1997) IV (Alia Itinera II): Great Britain to Spain (1989), p. 133.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Burney, Charles, classical scholar, 1757-1817
Nepos, Cornelius, c 110-c 25 BC
Probus, Æmilius - Places:
- Milan, Italy
Northern Italy - Related Material:
-
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part II: The Burney Manuscripts (1840), p. 63:
‘Membranaceus, in 4to., pp. 101, sec. xv. ineuntis ; elegans.
1. Cornelii Nepotis Vitae excellentium Graeciae Imperatorum viginti, Pomponio Attico dicatae. p. 1.
2. Ejusdem de regibus Persarum Graecorumque Commemoratio. p. 88.
3. Ejusdem Vita Hamilcaris. p. 90.
4. Ejusdem Vita Hannibalis. p. 92.
5. Æmilii Probi versus de libro C. Nepotis duodecim, manu longe recentiori additi. p. 101. Impress. in Fabricii Bibliotheca Latina, ed. Venet. 1727, tom i. p. 70.’