Beinecke MS 456               Padua, 1674
Diploma (in Lat.)

f. 1r blank; f. 1v  Full-page illumination (see below); ff. 2r-3v In Christi
nomine amen.  Vniuersis et singulis presens hoc publicum Doctoratus
Priuilegium uisuris lecturis, seu legi audituris Nos Io. Baptista Abb.
Candiottus I. V. D. et in Episcopatu Padue...et frequenti copia testibus
omnibus ad praemissa uocatis, et rogatis.  L. D. O. M.  [followed by
autograph signature of I. B. Abb. Candiottus and signed by the notary Faustus
Davinius].  f. 4r-v blank

     Diploma for a doctorate of Civil and Canon Law accorded to Franciscus
Adelasius (Adelasio) from the University of Padua, 27 Jan. 1674.

     Parchment, ff. i (paper) + 4 + i (paper), 243 x 174 (186 x 120) mm.  Written
in 38 long lines, with rulings in lead; written space and borders enclosed by
double parallel lines in mauve ink.
     Single quire of four leaves.
     Written in elegant italic script; headings and names of persons in humanistic
bookhand or square capitals, in gold.
     On f. 1v:  coat-of-arms of the Adelasio family of Bergamo (gules, per fess
3 pennants argent on staves or; in chief azure, an eagle displayed or)
surrounded by a full floral border in vivid shades of gold, brown, red, orange,
and blue, with two peacocks in lower panel and a framed oval miniature of the
Virgin Mary supported by griffins in upper panel.  On f. 2r similar treatment
of folio, but with text of diploma in center of page and a miniature of St.
Antony of Padua in upper panel; ff. 2v-3v surrounded by full floral borders of
less exuberant design than ff. 1v-2r.
     Binding:  s. xvii.  Brick-red sheepskin heavily gold-tooled with a central
medallion surrounded by floral arabesques and fan corners in multiple roll
borders of different designs, the outer one blind-tooled.  A red wax seal
(cracked), displaying the arms of Gregory, Cardinal Barbadicus (Barbarigo;
1626-97), and enclosed within the original gold-tooled circular holder (58 mm.
diameter) that matches the binding, is attached to the spine with twisted silk
cords.

Written in Padua in 1674.  Notation, in ink, inside back cover:  ".2293.";
unidentified catalogue entry, in English, pasted inside front cover.
Acquired from Dawson's
Book Shop, Los Angeles, in 1937, by the Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes (bookplate)
from whom it was purchased by Yale in 1956 with the Penniman Fund.

Barbara A. Shailor