Beinecke MS 145                                                       Italy, ca. 1475
Corvinus Tacitus

Restricted material. May not be seen without the permission of the appropriate curator.

     1. ff. 1r-82v    [Added later:] Annal. L. xi. [text:] Nam Valerium
     asiaticum bis consulem fuisse quodam adulterum eius credidit...graues
     cruciatus afferente obuersis in demetrium. [at side, slightly smaller:]
     Hic multum deficit.

     Annales XI-XVI; E. Koeestermann, ed., Teubner, v. 1 (1936) pp. 200-382.

     2. ff. 83r-191r    [added later:] Historiarum L. i. [text:]
     Initium
     michi operis seruius galba iterum Titus Iunius consules erunt. Nam post
     conditam urbem...quae mucianus in syria aponius in moesia flauianus in
     parma. [in slightly smaller script, same hand:] gratias ago deo. f.
     191v blank, except for a Greek inscription (="The illiterate man is
     like a barren tree") and an erased Latin inscription, illegible.

     Historiae I-V; E. Koeestermann, ed., op. cit., v.2 (1936) pp. 1-219.

          Parchment (thin, good quality), ff. ii (contemporary parchment) +
     191 (including 67 bis and 105 bis) + i (contemporary parchment), 261 x
     192 (180 x 113) mm. Written in 28 long lines; ruled in ink; double
     vertical bounding lines, full across. Prickings at upper edge.
          I-XXIII^^8, XXIV^^8 ( + 1, f. 191). Catchwords, accompanied by
     delicate flourishes, perpendicular to text between inner bounding
     lines.
          Written by a single scribe in a well formed humanistic script.
          Twelve initials, 7- to 2-line, at beginning of each book (2 at the
     beginning of the Annales), gold edged in black, with white vine
     ornament, against a panelled ground of blue, green and mauve, with
     white dots, outlined with one or two thin white and one black line;
     ivy, drawn or pen, with triangular gold leaves or dots, projecting from
     corners into margins. On f. 1r, the initial includes a putto in the
     vinework; in the lower margin, coat of arms of Corvinus, type A
     (quarterly, first and fourth barry of 8 gules and argent [Hungary];
     second and third gules, a lion rampant and queue-fourche argent
     [Bohemia]; an inescutcheon azur with raven sable holding an annulet or,
     with bordure or [Hunyadi family]; K. Csapodi-Gardonyi, Biblioteca
     Corviniana [New York and Washington, 1969], notes to pl. XLIX).
     Workmanship of fair quality; style Northern Italian?
          Binding: s. xv. Sewn on three tawed, slit straps laid in channels
     in beech boards. The straps are pegged and the channels filled in with
     plaster as are the endband grooves and the edge channels cut out for
     the clasps. The primary endband is plain, wound, and sewn on a tawed
     core and the secondary is beaded and colored. The core is laid in a
     groove and pegged. The square spine is given a slightly round shape by
     the bevelling of the boards and is lined with a tawed skin. Covered in
     dark, brick-red goatskin with a cusped shield azur, charged with a crow
     sable [Hunyadi family], in the center of each board; blind-tooled rope
     work, punch dots and other ornamentation gilt, gold-tooled or painted.
     "Cornelius Tacitus" is tooled along the head of the lower cover and is
     also written down the fore-edge with black ink. There are four
     fastenings, the brass catches on the lower board, with three of them
     covered over with added leather. The clasps are the same color as the
     cover and are reinforced with parchment. They are pegged in channels at
     the edges of the board, underneath the cover. The clasps and a little
     leather of the spine and the upper board are wanting. Described and
     reproduced The History of Bookbinding, 525-1950 A.D., The Walters Art
     Gallery (Baltimore, 1957), pp. 91-92, no. 205, pl. XXXIX; cf. I.
     Schunke, "Vom Stil der Corvineneinbaende," Gutenberg Jahrbuch (1944/49)
     p. 213, Abb. 2.

          Written for King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1458-90; arms on
     binding and f. 1r), ca. 1475, perhaps by Italians at his palace of
     Buda. Removed from Buda by Jacob Spiegel (b. 1483), apparently when he
     visited the palace in 1514. Spiegel's gift in 1518 to Beatus Rhenanus
     (1485-1547), who used it for his printed edition of 1533. Notes of
     Beatus Rhenanus in the text and on f. 1r include, "Beati Rhenani sum,
     nec muto dominum. Ex dono Iacobi Spingellii Iureconsulti. An. Salut. M.
     D. XVIII. Hic liber sumptus est ex Biblioteca Budensi..."; hence the
     name Budensis formerly used for this manuscript. Two inscriptions (the
     second badly rubbed) dated 1534 appear on last flyleaf, verso, in
     cursive: "Victoria Philippi Hessorum Lentgrauii restituentis Udalricum
     Ducem Wirtenbergensem accidit die 13 Maij Anno 1534, cedente exercitu
     Ferdinandi regis," and "Andreas Tasenprat Thras// et Weneslaus
     Prudensis [?] bd tr// hc enus fuerunt hic in re**rh// dij An: 1534 in
     vigilia Ascension// quae erat decimo quinto die Maij." Belonged to J.-
     P. Dorsner (b. 1750), who gave it to Jeremias Oberlin (1735-1806) by
     whom it was used in 1801 to revise J. Ernesti's edition of Tacitus (see
     W. Allen, "The Yale Manuscript of Tacitus (Codex Budensis Rhenani),"
     Gazette 11 [1937] p. 85). Acquired in 1805, in Strasbourg, by Samuel
     Teleki (1739-1822), Lord Chancellor of Transylvania, for his library of
     Marosvasarhely (no. 140 A/2, square tag on spine; see Bibliotheca
     Corviniana, no. 96, p. 61). Obtained from the Teleki family in 1934 by
     Gabriel Wells of New York. Bought from him with funds collected by Mrs.
     Edward S. Harkness and a group of alumni, and presented to Yale in
     1935.

     secundo folio: Nam cuncta

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, no. 145, pp. 34-35. Exhibition
     Catalogue,
     p. 235, no. 60.
          W. Allen, Jr. "The Yale Manuscript of Tacitus (Codex Budensis
     Rhenani); Its History and Affiliations," unpublished D. Phil.
     dissertation (Yale, 1936). 
          Idem, "Beatus Rhenanus, Editor of Tacitus
     and Livy," Speculum 12 (1937) pp. 382-85.
          Idem, "The Four Corvinus
     Manuscripts in the United States," New York Public Library, 1938, pp.
     3-11.
          Idem, "Tacitus, Histories IV, 46-53," Yale Classical
     Studies 6 (1939) pp. 31-38.
          K. Csapodi-Gardonyi, ed., Bibliotheca Corviniana (New York and
     Washington, 1969) p. 61, no. 96, and pl. 49, with extensive
     bibliography.

     Barbara A. Shailor