Beinecke MS 415					Italy, s. XIII^^in
Laws and Statutes of Pisa

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Beinecke MS 415 contains the earliest known redaction of the Constituta legis
et usus of Pisa issued ca. 1146-56.  In the edition of F. Bonaini, Statuti
inediti della citta di Pisa dal XII al XIV secolo (Florence, 1854-70) neither
the Beinecke manuscript or a slightly later one discovered by A. Gaudenzi in
1894 (Vat. lat. 6385) were used to establish the text of this Pisan lawbook.
See also G. H. Pertz, Archiv der Gesellschaft fuer aeltere deutsche
Geschichtskunde 8 (1843) p. 766; R. Celli, Studi sui sistemi normativi delle
democrazie comunali, Secoli XII-XV, v. 1:  Pisa, Siena (Florence, 1976) p. 29,
note 20 and passim; P. Classen, "Kodifikation im 12. Jahrhundert:  Die
Constituta usus et legis von Pisa," Recht und Schrift im Mittelalter in
Vortraege und Forschungen (Konstanzer Arbeitskreis, 23) 1977, pp. 311-17.
G. Airaldi is preparing a new edition of the text.

1.  ff. 1r-17v  Constitutum de legibus liber incipit de in ius uocando.  Cum
actor iudicium ingressus reclamationem de aliquo fecerit...[final rubric:
Coniuratio siue sacramentum iudei] Coniuro te per deum unum et uerum et per
deum habraam...quia de hoc sacramento periurus non sum.  [followed by 21 lines
of text, now erased and illegible]


2.  f. 18r-v  Incipiunt capitula totius libri constitutorum usus pisane
ciuitatis.  De constitutis factis per tempora et ex quo
ualeant. .i.....li.  De penis publicis et ex quibus causis commune a
priuato exigere potest.  Expliciunt capitula.



     Table of contents for art. 3; Bonaini, op. cit., v. 2, pp. 811-12.

3.  ff. 18v-62v  In nomine domini nostri ihesu christi.  Anno incarnationis
domini M. C. LXI.  Indictione viiii...liber constituti pisane ciuitatis incipit.
Nobis pisanorum constituta facientibus equitas ortando suasit omnibus ea scire
atque intelligere uolentibus...iudicatum fuerit adimplere cogatur.  Quod si in//
catchwords:  fra .x. dies

     
Constitutum usus; lacking one leaf with text after f. 34 (containing
portions of ch. 22, De societate facta inter extraneos); manuscript ends
abruptly in ch. 49, De appellationibus.  Bonaini, op. cit., v. 2,
pp. 813-973.

     Parchment (thick, coarse), ff. i (paper) + 62 (f. 35 = modern parchment
insertion) + i (parchment) + i (paper), 275 x 183 (185 x 117) mm.  Written in
33-34 long lines.  Double vertical bounding lines, full length; ruled in
hard point on hair
side before folding; some single horizontal bounding lines, full across.
Remains of prickings in upper, lower, and outer margins.
     I-III^^8, IV^^10, V^^4 (-1, after f. 34), VI-VIII^^8.
     Written by three scribes in well formed bookhands.  Scribe 1:  ff. 1v
(1r erased)-20r, catchwords along lower edge near gutter; Scribe 2:  ff.
20r-38v, catchwords in center of lower margin surrounded by four dots and
squiggles symmetrically arranged; Scribe 3:  ff. 39r-62v, catchwords in center
of lower margin surrounded by short lines, dots and flourishes symmetrically
arranged.  Numerous corrections and additions in several hands.
     Decorative initial, 7-line, f. 1r, in red and black with simple foliage
designs in interior; red initial, 4-line, at beginning of art. 3, f. 18v;
rubrics throughout, some perpendicular to text in margins.  Plain initials,
2- to 1-line, and paragraph marks, in red; on f. 15v only, two initials, 1-line,
and paragraph mark in blue.  Guide-letters for rubricator in gutter or
margins.
     Folio 1r almost entirely erased and illegible.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Quarter bound with reddish-brown goatskin over wooden
boards.  Paper label, with title "Statuta Civitatis Pisanae An. 1186" written
in ink on spine.

Although the text of the Constituta legis et usus contained in MS 415 dates
to the second half of the 12th century, the codex itself appears to have been
produced at the beginning of the 13th century and then heavily corrected and
annotated throughout the first half of the 13th century; large portions of the
text have been erased, crossed out, or underlined, and there are later additions
in several hands in most margins.  Unidentified bookstamp consisting of the
initials "A. N." enclosed in a double circle, outer thick and inner thin; square
paper label with "112" in ink, on spine; "22/E  100" in ink on back
pastedown.  Purchased from Payne and Foss by Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 4582, on
front pastedown and spine;) "B34.296" in brown crayon on front pastedown).
Preserved in library files is a letter (six pages) from the editor F. Bonaini
(see text above) to Sir Thomas Phillips concerning this manuscript; Bonaini's
questions, in Italian, occupy the right half of the page (each sheet is folded
vertically through the middle) and the answers of Sir Thomas Phillipps, in
English, occupy the left half of the page.  It is unclear whether the response
of Phillips, dated 27 August 1846, was ever sent to Bonaini, since Bonaini says
little about the manuscript in his edition of the text (Bonaini, op. cit.,
v. 2, p. xxviii).  Acquired from H. P. Kraus in 1957 (Cat. 75, no. 84) by Thomas
E. Marston (bookplate) who presented it to the Beinecke Library in 1969.

secundo folio:  ad iustitiam

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 81, no. 148 (while in the possession of T.
E. Marston).
Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 188-89, no. 16.
     D. Herlihy, Pisa in the Early Renaissance (New Haven, 1958) pp. 13-14,
note 30.
     T. E. Marston, "The Earliest Known Laws of an Italian City State," Homage
to a Bookman.  Essays...for H. P. Kraus (Berlin, 1967) pp. 109-12, with pl.
of f. 7r.

Barbara A. Shailor