Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts
MS. 8
The Aurora of Peter Riga
Contents:
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Prologue to the Aurora
author:Peter Riga
extent:ff. 1r-1v
incipit:
Frequens sodalium meorum
explicit:
fulgur patentur illuxere
decoration:On f. 1r, the capital letter F of "frequens" is painted in red with outline and designs in blue ink. The stem of the "F" descends the entire length of the text column (39 lines).
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Aurora
author:Peter Riga
extent:ff. 1v-147v
rubric:
Incipit biblioteca metrice composita a magistro petro remense quam intitulatum Aurora de operibus vii dierum
incipit:
Prima facta die
explicit:
.o. que uocetur
decoration:Decorated capital letters of 2 or 3 lines follow after rubrics indicating a new section of the poem. The initials are either red bodies with blue foliate decoration or vice-versa. Special cases of capital decoration are observed at the beginnings of poetry dealing with a new book of the Bible. These initials vary in height from 5-12 lines with one unique case of a 19 line "P" on f. 65r. They, too, alternate color between red and blue. Capital letters with tails often extend in the margins several lines below the formal end of the letter. On f. 65r, the capital letter P of "post" beginning the book of Joshua is 19 lines tall with a tail that descends in the inside margin the entire length of the text column. The letter body is red with blue decorative features. On f. 68r, the capital letter P of "post" beginning the book of Judges is 9 lines tall with blue body and red decorative features. The tail of the "p" is embellished into the bottom margin of the page and terminates with a face.
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Prologue and Versification of Job (Inserted by Peter Riga in second recension of the Aurora)
author:Aegidius of Paris
extent:ff. 148v-168r
rubric:
Incipit prologus in librum iob
incipit:
Librum iob moysi
explicit:
praebeat illa michi
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Aurora of Peter Riga
author:Peter Riga
extent:ff. 168r-225v
rubric:
Incipiunt recapitulationes ueteris testamentis versus. sine. A.
incipit:
Principio rerum post
explicit:
uersus uermiclosus eris
decoration:At f. 177v, the design and color of the 2 and 3 line capital letters introducing new sections change. Black initials now alternate with red. The hue of red letters no longer matches that of the red ink employed by the rubricator. In some cases, letters are single-colored and not decorated in opposing color. From f. 209r (sic, 207r) to the end of the manuscript, spaces left for initials are not filled. On f. 185v, the capital letter P of "progressi" is 3 lines tall in red and black ink. The initialler has drawn a detailed face inside the lobe of the "p". On f. 187v, the capital letter Q of "qualiter" is 2 lines tall in red ink. The initialler has drawn a detailed face in black inside the lobe of the "q".
Date of origin:Last half of 13th century
Place of origin:Spain
Support:
Parchment codex.
Foliation:
Folia are numbered in top right corner of recto. First 12 folia are numbered in ink; from 13 on, numbering is in several modern hands in lead.
Dimensions:230mm x 150mm (leaves), 175mm x 70mm (ruled space)
Collation:1-78 810 (-3, -7) 9-118 128 (±1, ±2) 13-238 2410 (-9) 2514 2610 278
Script:Written by three hands in a littera gothica textualis media. Hand #1 covers f. 1r to f. 96r and 99r-177r. Hand #2 is on what appears to be a pair of cancel leaves between fol. 96 and fol. 99. Hand #3 appears in the last 1.5 lines of f. 177r, finishing the line "Set monet..." begun by Hand #1.
Binding:The binding is of limp parchment, and the fragile covers are detached from the main body of the codex. The pastedowns (front and back) of the codex are scrap folia from a legal manuscript containing the text of Justinian's "Digests" with formal marginal glosses and smaller informal glosses beneath the marginal glosses. The bookhands are clearly gothic, the main text in textualis formata, the formal glosses in textualis media, and the informal glosses in cursiva currens.
Additions:Marginal annotations and corrections appear throughout beginning on f. 1r. There are at least nine annotative hands in addition to those of Hands #1 and #2, some of which are in later gothic hybrid hands, but others are clearly later hands like that on ff. 62v and 63r which simply clarifies the readings of the medieval hand. On the very last folium (225v), one hand has written "1220 postridie idus Aprilis" and above 1220, in a later hand and ink the number/year "1824" is written. Below this, the 1220 has been subtracted from the 1824 to yield the number "0604."
Provenance:
On the front pastedown, there is a name written at the top-center in a later hand--"Pedro Re[...]". At some point the codex belonged to English artist and poet William Morris (1834-1896); a bookplate with his name is attached to the inside front cover.
Bibliography:Beichner, Paul E. Aurora Petri Rigae Biblia Versificata: A Verse Commentary of the Bible, 2 Vols. Notre Dame, 1965.
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