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MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 274

Summary Catalogue no.: 18855

Contents

(fols. 2r–115v)
Vegetius, De re militari
Rubric: Flavii Vegetii Renati viri illustris comitis Etolii epythoma institutionum rei miliaris li. incipit l. f. [in capitals]
Incipit: Primus liber elec[in capitals]tionum edocet iuniorum

Followed by capitula for the first book.

Rubric: Incipit liber primas ad Theodosium imp. [in capitals]
Incipit: Antiquis temporibus [in capitals] mos fuit
Final rubric: Flavii Vegetii viri illustris comitis Atilii epythoma de institutis rei militaris libri quinque expliciunt feliciter de commentariis Augusti Traiani Adriani Catonis Cornelii Celsi Fortiniani Frontini Paterni et aliorum abstracti [in capitals]
Colophon: Iacobus Curlus mandato serenissimi regis Alfonsi Aragonum et utriusque Sicilae triumphantissimi transcripsit Neapoli xii kal. Augusti [in capitals]

Ed. M. D. Reeve, Oxford Classical Texts (2004).

Divided into five books (IV.31-46 treated as book V; on the division see Reeve, ed. cit., p. liii).

M. Reeve, 'The transmission of Vegetius’s Epitoma rei militaris', Aevum 74, 1 (2000),: 243-353 at 297 comments briefly on the textual affiliations of the manuscript.

Fol. i r-v blank; fol. 1r blank; fol. 1v with miniature, see Decoration.

Fols. 116r-117v blank.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
i (unfoliated paper endleaf of the date of the binding) + 118 (fols. ii, 1-117) + i (unfoliated paper endleaf of the date of the binding)
Dimensions (leaf): 280 × c. 198 mm.
Foliation: i-ii, 1-117

Collation

1(2) (fols. ii-1, with miniature on fol. 1v), 2-15(8) (fols. 2-113), 16(4) (fols. 114-117). Catchwords (horizontal, in lower inner margin); occasional remains of leaf signatures (?) (fols. 28r, 43r)

Layout

1 col. of 20 lines; ruled in hard point; written above top line; ruled space 181 × 98 mm. with two columns of c. 8 mm. to each side of the main ruled area.

Hand(s)

Humanistic script by Jacobus Curlus (Jacopo or Giacomo Curlo) (active in Naples from 1445), fol. 115v.

Decoration

Gennaro Toscano has tentatively attributed the miniature to the Maestro di Isabella di Chiaromonte (in La bibliotheca reale di Napoli ... (exh. cat., 1998), p. 374, and in Dizionario biografico dei miniatori italiani: secoli IX-XVI, ed. M. Bollati (Milan, 2004), pp. 691-2).

Miniature, fol. 1v: Alfonso V of Aragon, I of Naples, in armour, on horseback.

Full border of floral designs, fol. 1v; two angels support a shield with the arms of Aragon and Calabria quartered.

Full border of coloured interlace and scrollwork, fol. 2r.

White-vine initials, 4-line for books, 2-line for chapters. 4-line initial P on scrollwork background, fol. 2r.

Binding

For Canonici (?) (see Provenance): green leather over pasteboards; gilt tooling around the edge of each cover, and on the spine; red leather label on the spine 'FL. VEGETII DE RE MILITARI', and below, in gilt on the spine itself, 'COD. M. PRO REG. ARAG'. Endleaves of laid paper, watermarked with bow and arrow (?) and initials A M or M A (cf. https://www.wasserzeichen-online.de/?ref=DE0960-PreissJA1M_23r). Pastedowns of decorated paper in red and yellow with a zigzag design.

History

Origin: 1442 or 1445 × 1458 ; Italian, Naples

Provenance and Acquisition

Written for Alfonso V of Aragon and I of Naples (r. 1442-1458) (colophon, fol. 115v).

Library of the Kings of Aragon at Naples: perhaps identifiable in 'inventory A' (1481), no. 144, and 'inventory B' ('Index regalium codicum Alfonsi regis ad Laurentium Medicem ex Neapolitana eius bibliotheca transmissus'), Historici 146 (T. de Marinis, La biblioteca napoletana dei re d'Aragona, II, 190, 197).

Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727–1805 (source of acquisition not known; not from Jacopo Soranzo).

Giuseppe Canonici , -1807

Purchased by the Bodleian in 1817

Record Sources

Description by Matthew Holford (Jan. 2025). Previously described:
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford, II (1970), no. 363
H. O. Coxe, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ pars tertia codices Græcos et Latinos Canonicianos complectens, Quarto Catalogues III, 1854)
Quarto Catalogue, vol. 3, col. 226
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 323

Availability

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Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (5 images from 35mm slides)

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-01: Matthew Holford: description revised for publication on Digital Bodleian.