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Burney MS 250

Record Id:

040-002237131

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-002236305

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001311.0x00012a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Burney MS 250

Title:

Nicholas Trevet, Commentary on Seneca’s Tragedies (incomplete); Hildebert of Le Mans, Epithaphium Senecae; L. Annaeus Seneca (and Pseudo-Seneca), Tragoediae; Coluccio Salutati, Letter concerning Seneca

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-3r: Nicholas Trevet (b. c 1258, d. c 1334), Commentaria in Senecae Tragoedias (Commentary on Seneca’s Tragedies), beginning: ‘Tria genera theologie distingui a Varrone’.

f. 4r: L. Annaeus Seneca (b. 4 BC, d. 65 AD), De materia et ordine tragediarum (On the Matter and Order of Tragedies), beginning: ‘Prima canit furias Alcide funera dantis’.

f. 4r: Hildebert of Lavardin (b. c. 1056, d. 1133), Epithaphium Senecae (Epitaph for Seneca).

ff: 5r-221v: L. Annaeus Seneca (and Pseudo-Seneca), Tragoediae (Tragedies), with contemporary marginal and interlinear annotations throughout: Hercules furens (lacking verses 484-536 due to the loss of a leaf after f. 12; ff. 5r-29r), Thyestes (ff. 29r-50r), Phoenissae (ff. 50v-62v), Phaedra (ff. 63r-86r), Oedipus (ff. 86v-106r), Troades (ff. 106v-128r), Medea (ff. 128v-147v), Agamemnon (ff. 148r-166r), Octavia (most likely Pseudo-Seneca; ff. 167r-185r), Hercules Oetaeus (most likely Pseudo-Seneca; ff. 185v-221v).

f. 223v: An anonymous letter in praise of Seneca, beginning: ‘O sacrum venerandumque poema’.

f. 223v: Coluccio Salutati (b. 1331, d. 1406), letter concerning Seneca, beginning: ‘Frater karissime. Sepe numero mecum reputans’.

[ff. 3v, 3*r-v, 4v, 13*r-v, 222v, 223r are blank].

Decoration:

The major textual beginnings are marked with large decorated initials in brown ink, or with space left unfinished for such an initial (e.g. 5r). Smaller initials in blue with red pen-flourishing inside and outside the letter. A diagram of the family relationships of Nero and Claudius (f. 166v). Marginal sketches of dragons, human faces, among other things, in dark ink (e.g. 76v, 81v, 82r, 94r).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Burney Manuscripts

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002236305
040-002237131

Is part of:

Burney MS : Burney Manuscripts

Burney MS 250 : Nicholas Trevet, Commentary on Seneca’s Tragedies (incomplete); Hildebert of Le Mans, Epithaphium Senecae; L. Annaeus Seneca…

Hierarchy:

032-002236305[0245]/040-002237131

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Burney MS

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

A paper codex

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1387

End Date:

1387

Date Range:

1387

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 225 x 150 mm (written area 150 x 85).

Foliation: ff. v + 229 + 3* + 13*; ff. i-ii, 228-229 are modern paper flyleaves; ff. iii-iv, 226-227 are parchment flyleaves; ff. v, 224 are original paper flyleaves; Burney table of contents pasted on f. 225r; former foliation in black ink, now crossed out.

Collation: i^five (ff. 1-4), ii-xviii¹² (ff. 5-207), xix^18-2 (last 2 leaves missing; ff. 208-223).

Script: Semi-humanistic. Partly written by Bartolomeo of San Gimignano, according to his colophon on f. 222r.

Binding: British Museum in-house: brown leather and dark brown cloth binding, with the Burney owner mark stamped in gold.

Custodial History:

Origin: San Gimignano, Central Italy.

Provenance:

Unknown owner, San Gimignano: written by Bartolomeo of San Gimignano in 1387 according to his colophon: ‘Per me Bartholomeum conplete fuerunt iste tragedie M.CCC.lxxxvii inditione deci(m)a Mensis Junii decima sexta die In santo geminiano ad vesperas. Presentibus testibus Acceffalo this. Elingui loquenti absq(ue) oculo videnti. Suffitiant isti q(uonia)m plures no(n) inveni. Qui scripsit hunc libru(m) gl(or)iet(ur) in paradisum. Manus scriptoris benedicat(ur) i(n) o(mn)ib(us) horis. Amen Joha(nn)is’ (f. 222r).

James Edwards (b. 1756, d. 1816), book collector and bookseller: his sale, 5 April 1815 lot 320, bought by Payne for £4 10s. Mr Payne most likely refers to Thomas Payne, Jr., (b. 1752, d. 1831), London bookseller and as of 1813 in partnership with Henry Foss under the bookselling business name Payne & Foss.

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), pp. 64-65.

The Palaeographic Society: Facsimiles of Manuscripts and Inscriptions, Second series, ed. by Edward Augustus Bond, Edward Maunde Thompson, and George Frederic Warner, (London: Cloves and Sons, 1884-1894), II: pl. 95.

Bénédictins du Bouveret, Colophons de manuscrits occidentaux des origines au XVIe siècle, 6 vols (Fribourg: Éditions universitaires, 1965-1982), I: no. 1681 (cf. I: no. 1786).

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), I: no. 509 (pp. 98-99), II: pl. 277.

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.

Nicolas Barker, 'The Aldine Italic', in A Millennium of the Book: Production, Design and Illustration in Manuscript and Print, 900-1900, ed. by Robin Myers and Michael Harris (Winchester: St Paul's Bibliographies, 1994), 45-59 (p. 56).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Places:

San Gimignano, Tuscany, 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), pp. 64-5:

‘Chartaceus, in 4to., ff. 4 et 231, anno 1387 descriptus.

1. Nicolai Triveti, Anglici, Proœmium in expositionem de Senecae Tragœdiis. fol. 1. Tit. “Expositio tragediarum Senece edita a fratre Nicholao Treveth Anglicho, ordinis fratrum predicatorum, theologie professorem.” Incip. “Tria genera theologie distingui a Varone narrat Augustinus libro sexto de civitate Dei.”

2. Ejusdem Nicolai, ut videtur, Expositionis in Herculem Furentem fragmentum. fol. 1. b.

3. Auctoris anonymi versus decem de materia et ordine Tragœdiarum Senecae. fol. 4. Incip. ”Prima canit furias Alcide funera dantis.”

4. Versus quinque de Seneca. fol. 4. Incip. “Incipit iste liber tragicus quem finxit Yberus.”

5. Epitaphium Senecae, versibus sex elegiacis. fol. 4. Impress. in ed. Delph. 1728, sign. n.

6. Lucii Annaei Senecae Tragœdiae decem, glossis notisque instructae; scilicet,

Hercules Furens. Fol. 1. Deest folium, quod continebat vv. 484-536.Thyestes. fol. 26. Thebais, sive Phœnissae. fol. 47. b. Hippolytus. fol. 60. Œdipus. fol. 93. b. Troades, sive Hecuba. fol. 114. b. Medea. fol. 136. b. Agamemnon. fol. 156.Octavia. fol. 175. Hercules Œtaeus. fol. 193. b. In fine, “Per me Batholomeum conplete fuerunt iste Tragedie m. ccc. Lxxxvij., inditione decima, mensis Junii decima sexta die in Santo Geminiano ad vesperas, presentibus testibus, Acceffalo This.” “Elingui loquenti . absque oculo videnti Suffitiant isti . quoniam plures non inveni.” “Qui scripsit hunc librum . glorietur in paradisum ; Manus scriptoris . benedicatur in omnibus horis.”

7. Anonymi Epistola in laudem Senecae. fol. 231 b. Incip. “O sacrum venerandumque poema, cujus exemplis.”

8. Lini Colucii Pierii Salutati Epistolae de Seneca fragmentum. fol. 231. b. Impress. exstat inter Epistolas, Florent. 1741, tom. ii. p. 121.’