Beinecke MS 391               Italy, s. XV^^ex
Lazarelli, Fasti christianae religionis

View digital images from the Beinecke Librarys Digital Images Online database

1.  ff. 1r-3v Lodovici Lazarelli Septempedani Poetae Christiani ad inuictos
Principes diuum Ferdinandum de Aragonia Parthenopeum Regem et eius primogenitum
Alphonsum calabriae ducem super fastorum libris.  Argumentum.  Cum sepenumero
considerarem Serenissime Rex Ferdinande Tuque future Rex Dux chalabriae
inuictissime Alphonse, ita homines natos esse ut diuinae participes rationis per
omnem uitam in contemplatione uersarentur...et uestro clarij minimis iudicio
augustiori comprobate.  Hoc N. pacto Rhinocerotum cornua et canum luridi dentes
constringentur.

     Dedication to Ferdinand of Aragon and to his son Alphonse, Duke of
Calabria.

2.  ff. 4r-6v Poeta Musam Alloquitur.  I Mea musa precor Regem pete
Parthenopeum/ Ferdinandus is est gloria summa ducum/...Sic illi aduersum poterit
mitescere caelum/ Sic retrahet saeuas sors uiolenta uices.

     Dialogue between Lazarelli and his Muse.

3.  ff. 7r-42r Lodouici Lazarelli Septempedani Poetae Christiani Ad Pios
Ac Inuictos Principes Ferdinandum De Aragonia Siciliae Regem Eiusque
Primogenitum Alphonsum Calabriae Ducem Fastorum Christianae Religionis
Liber Primus.  O bruta mens curis vanos depone labores/ Et tibi nunc
subeant que meliora uides/...Dixerit et primi consumpta parte laboris/
Me laetum linquens Pieris alma volat.

     Books 1-3 on methods of counting time, moveable feasts, the ages
of the world, the Jewish patriarchs, popes (the latest, Paul II, 1464-71),
etc.

4.  ff. 42v-44v Hi sunt menses in quibus Christianae religionis mobilia
festa cadunt descripti secundum formam anni 1476... [f. 43:]
Describuntur in his mensibus exempli gratia festa mobilia iuxta usum ecclesie
colore rubeo iuxta decreta patrum colore nigro uelut in anno 1477 contigerit
[with calendar of moveable feasts for November-June].

5.  ff. 45r-230v Fastorum Liber Quartus.  Annua cum referam que sint data
festa tonanti/ Et natalitios sacrificosque dies/...Perpetuum mansura
mihi tunc fama resurget/ Cum tremet ob meritum iudice terra deo.  Finis.

     Books 4-16, March through February, and final book entitled Iudicium.


6.  ff. 231r-242v Calendar, March through February, with two series per
month, the first with Christian feasts, the second with agricultural, zodiacal
and historical (Roman and Jewish) information.  Among the Christian feasts are
those of Severinus, bishop of Septempeda (8 Jan.); Venantius "Camertini patroni"
(18 May); Bernardinus (20 May); Vincent Ferrer (5 Apr.); "Dedicatio ecclesie
Sancti Severini" (8 June, in the town of that name, formerly called Septempeda);
Antony of Padua (13 June); Clara of Assisi (12 Aug.); Louis of Toulouse
(19 Aug.); "[I]mpressio stigmatum sancti Francisci" (17 Sept.); Tryphon, Respicius
and Nympha (10 Nov.); Menas, hermit in the Abruzzi (10 Nov.);
Elisabeth of Thuringia (19 Nov.).

7.  ff. 243r-246r [Thirteen poems by others in honor of Lazarelli:]
Fabritius Varaneus.  Nunc celebrare facit consumpti nomen homeri/ Ilias
aeneis uirgiliumque refert/...Altius extollent tanto te laude minores/
Materia quanto clarius extat opus. [8 verses]; Platyna.  Nunc liquido
apparet sententia uera platonis/ Alternas rerum iam remeare uices...Hunc mage
commendat sed Christi uerior aetas/ Et scriptum uere religionis opus. [12
verses]; Sulpitius Verulanus. O cui caelesti conflagrat pectus amore/
Et qui cum signis annua festa canis/...Mistica non uulgo sic tu sanctissime
uates/ Vnica Piceni fama perennis agri. [16 verses]; Idem.  Loris
aetherei tonantis actus/ Missis prodigijs iocisque uatum/...Hoc uerum est
sapere haud labore uano/ Tot nugas aperire fabularum. [8 verses]; Paulus
Marsus.  Sic uicina mihi quamuis Nasonis alumni/ Natalis tellus dux
sit et ille mihi/...Si caneretis idem veterumque abscederet error/
Equatum parili lance sederet onus.  [16 verses]; Astreus.  Quid proceres
populis tribuit quibus ampla regendis/ Sceptra deus largas quiue
tenetis opes/...At tibi si desint nunc dona solubilis evi/ Praemia
perpetui te lodouice manent. [16 verses]; Ex C. Laurentij Eustothij silua
qua plurimi recentiores poetae laudantur recitata romae in Symposio
domini Francisci Diedi oratoris ueneti ad Sixtum iiii^^m Pontificem
Maximum.  Sed mens expectat uates seque inserit ultro/ Lazarellus inops
fastos namque ipse per omnes/...Ad tua iam Brenti proauus cui
caerula uentit/ Equor in adriacum turbatis flumina lymphis. [38 verses];
Lippus.  Hec uates nostri modo suscipe pignus amoris/ Carmina si nostrum
pignore pectus eget/...Duremus tamen his etiam finem afferet aetas/ Saepe
redit pulsa nube serena dies. [28 verses]; Sinthius.  Maxima iuliacis
creuere uolumina sacris/ Multaque telchinum mystica sacra notant/...Auguror
a Sixto dabitur tibi mitra bicuspis/ Et tua nec fugiet plectra secundus honor.
20 verses]; Pamphilus. Temporis o nostri uates clarissime carmen/ Hoc
nostrum expleto perlege iudicio/...Hinc tibi fama decus nummi noua gloria
surget / Sic tu defunctus nomine uiuus eris. [10 verses]; Macharius Camers
eques et Poeta.  Clara nouis caelo properat septempeda fastis/ Aurea dum
festos iungit ad astra dies/ Irrita cum causis valeant tua tempora sulmo/ Editur
aeternae relligionis [sic]
opus.  [4 verses, complete here]; Fabritius Varaneus Presul camerin
[us?].  Qui ueteres adamas tamen relegisque poetas/ Vatibus ingenium credis
abesse nouis/...Vincere materia non inficiabere nostrum/ Et rerum et serie
carminis ire pares. [14 verses]; Io. Georgius Cassianus.  Quondam iuliaco
suffusi flamine uates/ Non nisi quod sacrum est explicuere pii/...
Sic natale solum ciue hoc Septempeda gaude/ Huius et exemplo quisque
poeta mere [20 verses].  f.246v blank

     Eleven poets are represented; most of those identified in Cosenza are
associated with the Accademia Pomponiana in Rome in the 1480's; they are:
Fabrizio Varano, bishop of Camerino, fl. 1503-13; Bartolomeo Scacchi Platina,
historian of the papacy, 1421-81; Giovanni Sulpizio da Veroli (in Campania),
grammarian, fl. s. xv^^ex; Paolo Marsi, poet, 1440-84; P. Astreus da Perugia,
fl. s. xv^^ex; "Laurentius Eustothius's" poem recited in Rome before Sixtus
IV (1471-84); Lorenzo de' Lippi from Colle, near Florence, fl. s. xv^^ex; Pietro
Leoni Cinzio from Ceneda in the province of Treviso, fl. s. xv; a "Pamphilus"
wrote an epitaph on Aesop published in Rome 1475.  All but the 38 verses
by Laurentius Eustothius were published from this manuscript by
G. F. Lancellotti, L. Lazzarelli poetae laureati Bombyx... (St. Jesi,
1765).

     Parchment, ff. i (paper) + ii (parchment) + 246 + ii (parchment) + i
(paper), 215 x 130 (152 x 85) mm.  Written in 34 long lines or lines of verse.
Double inner and single outer vertical and double upper horizontal bounding
lines full length.  Ruled on flesh side in brown crayon or in lead, with two
additional rulings in upper margin for running titles.  Remains of
prickings in outer and lower margins.
     I^^6, II-XXXI^^8.  In XXVIII, unidentified a, b, c, e, d, g, f, in lower right
corner.
     Written in well formed humanistic script below the top line.
     Eighteen miniatures, the final six sketched in but unfinished, by an
accomplished artist whose identity remains uncertain.  Attributed by T.
de Marinis to Matteo Felice, active at the Aragonese court in Naples (T. de
Marinis, La Biblioteca Napolitana dei Re d'Aragona [Milan, 1947] v. 2,
pp. 90-91).  The attribution requires further study (see H. P. Kraus, Catalogue
117:  Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts [New York, n.d.] pp. 67-72,
no. 17, with photographic reproductions of ff. 41v, 19v, 57r, 122v, 142v, 152v,
194r; Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 238-39, no. 63, pl.22 of f. 5r).  The
miniatures, usually framed in a pink or mauve egg-and-dart molding and a thin
gold band, are as follow:  f. 5r Poet and Muse; f. 6v Presentation of work to
patron; f. 16r Entry into Jerusalem; f. 19v Last Supper; f. 25r Crucifixion;
f. 28r Empty Cross on Golgatha; f. 31r Resurrection; f. 33v Ascension;
f. 35v Pentecost; f. 38r Corpus Christi procession; f. 41v Sixtus IV exhibiting
the Volto Santo
from a pulpit in St. Peter's; f. 57r Annunciation; f. 122v Transfiguration; f.
131r Assumption; f. 142v Birth of the Virgin Mary; f. 194r Mary and Joseph
adoring the Child;
f. 202v Adoration of the Magi; f. 203r Baptism of Christ.  Dedicatory
inscription in gold Roman letters on a marble-patterned panel appears on f. 7r.
One historiated initial, below inscription, 10-line, of the author at work:
gold, edged in black,
against a purple and pink quartered ground with pink and purple filigree; all
framed in green. In lower margin is a coat-of-arms (see Provenance) supported
by putti.
Four initials all'antica, ff. 1r, 70r, 102r, 222v,
14- to 7-line, gold, black, purple, pink, orange and green with flowers and
acanthus.  Ten white-vine initials, ff. 45r, 58r, 88v, 115r, 137v, 155v, 170v,
182r, 200r and 213v, 10- to 8-line, colors as above.  Numerous 4- to 2-line
initials, gold, darkly edged in black, on orange-, pink-, and blue-flecked
grounds, with guide-letters; some with faces drawn in interior.  2- and 1-line
initials,
gold, red, and blue with acanthus serifs.  1-line paragraph marks red or blue.
Running titles in yellow, red, and blue.  Rubrics in margins in red, blue, and
purple.  KL monograms, 3-line, yellow, red, and blue.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Worn red velvet case.

Produced for Ferdinand of Aragon, King of Naples (arms on f. 7r:  argent, a
cross gules; type 2 in T. de Marinis, op. cit., v. 2, pl. A); illuminated
perhaps in Northeast Italy according to A. C. de la Mare, although attribution
to a specific artist or locale has proven difficult (see above).  The
text of the Fasti was
begun by Lazarelli in 1480, and completed in 1485 (f. 230r:  "Si seriem annorum
diuinae prolis ab ortu/ Nunc cupis ad nostros lector habere dies/ Mille
quatringentis iunge octoginta sciesque/ Tempore in hoc fastis imposuisse
mouerim [?]/ Quinque prius sed nostra manus iam cepat annis/ Scribere...").
This copy was therefore begun between 1485 and 1494, the year of Ferdinand's
death, and probably closer to 1494; several miniatures were left incomplete,
presumably when the news of Ferdinand's death was announced.  The planned date
of completion was possibly 1495, since the entry in the calendar for Rosh
Hashana ("Festum Hebreorum quod dicitur rosc Hasana" on f.237v) is on 1
September, and occurred on that date in 1495.  Owned in the 18th century by
the Jesuit College of Brera in Milan (dissolved 1773; erased inscription
partially visible on f. 1r) where it was seen by G. F. Lancellotti (L.
Lazarelli poetae Bombyx... [St. Jesi, Italy, 1765] pp. 14-15; see also G.
Tiraboschi (Storia della letteratura italiana [Florence, 1807] v. 6, p.
962).  Belonged to Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919; booklabel).  T. de
Marinis saw the manuscript in Zurich, "presso la libreria 'L'Art Ancien'
(1940)" (op. cit., v. 2, pp. 90-91; v. 3, pls. 128 and 129 of ff. 6v-7r,
4v-5r).  Sold at Sotheby's (11 July 1966, no. 266) to H. P. Kraus.
Purchased from Kraus in 1968 (Cat. 117, pp. 67-72) by Edwin
J. Beinecke for the Beinecke Library.

secundo folio:  a me exhiberi

Bibliography: Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 238-39, no. 63, pl. 22 of f. 5r.

Barbara A. Shailor