Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

MS. 53
Works of Philip of Zara
Contents:
  1. In laude Boetii innocenter expulsi ab urbe romana
  2. Prologus super commentum novum Boetii
  3. Verses
  4. Objectio Fratrum Praedicatorum in Minoristas de Virgine Maria concepta
  5. Poem on eight virtues
  6. Petition for justice against a money changer in prose and verse
  7. Liturgical calendar and prayers
  8. Short works
  9. De consolatione philosophiae
  10. Metrical introduction to the commentary on Boethius
  11. Metrical paraphrases of Boethius' prose sections of the De consolatione philosophiae
  12. Verses
Date of origin:Late fourteenth or early fifteenth century and after 1484.
Place of origin:Venice, Italy

Support: Parchment codex
Foliation: Numbered in lead in a modern hand in the upper right hand corner of each leaf.
Dimensions:352mm x 238mm (leaves)
Collation: 112 2-710 812 Catchwords written on the bottom of the final leaf of each gathering, except for the first.
Script:There are many hands writing in several different scripts in the manuscript. The first gathering contains eight separate hands, essentially one for every separate text. The text of the De consolatione is written in a single hand while the commentary is in two hands, with the second one beginning at f. 44r. The texts on ff. 82v-83r are written in the second commentary hand, while the text on f. 84r is written in a separate hand.

Binding:Bound in calf with gilt triple filet around the outer edges of the covers and the edges of the boards. Gilt title and patterns on the spine. All edges gilt. Gold stamped arms of the Duke of Newcastle on both covers.
Additions:Frequent corrections throughout the Boethius text in a contemporary and a later hand. Frequent interlinear glosses in a humanist hand.
Provenance: The manuscript was bound for the Rev. Henry Drury and was in the Clumber Park library of the Dukes of Newcastle, whose arms are on both covers.