Beinecke MS 540
Italy (Florence), 1482
Laurentius, Meditationes

1. ff. 1r-37v		Laurentius sacerdos indignus lectori plurimam in Christo salutem. 
[Prologue :] [H]omini preclarius nihil esse [corr. from esse nihil] volunt a natura tributum quam sit 
ea sapientia, qua pro captu nostre mentis Deum cognoscimus ... plurimum letabere. Nunc autem 
libellum lege feliciter. [f. 2r, text:] Quid non sit Deus et de eius simplicitate. [U]nicum esse nature 
principium christiana religio predicat. ... Nam quis alius est noster finis nisi provenire ad regnum, 
cuius nullus est finis ? Gloria sit ergo et honor Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, omnipotenti Deo in 
secula seculorum. Amen.  Hic est opusculi finis scripti VIII idus Iulii M CCCC LXXXII hora 
ferme XIIIa, Sixto pontifice maximo regnante. Datum apud Sanctum Laurentium Florentie 
predicta die.

2. f. 38r-v		Capitula antecedentis  opusculi. Primum ... Expliciunt capitula numero 
triginta unum. Laus @terno Deo. LA.

Laurentius, Meditationes. This treatise contains a Christian humanistic philosophy dealing with 
God, the angels, cosmography, man, mind, the soul and happiness. Authors quoted are Averroes, 
Socrates, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Cicero, Pythagoras, Mohammed, the Bible etc. 
About the author, see below.


Paper, ff. I (paper) + 40 + I (paper), 215 x 145 mm. Watermark??

I-IV 10. Vertical catchwords written between the inner bounding-lines. Simple signatures "1" to 
"5" in the lower outer corner of the recto pages, repeated in every quire, often trimmed off.

Board ruling for one column of  25 lines below top line (type 31, 145 x 87 mm.), applied on the 
versos of the first half of the quires and on the rectos of the second half.

Uneven Humanistica Cursiva Libraria using e.g. the ampersand as well as Tironian et, round and 
straight s in final position, probably by one hand working in several campaigns.

Rubrics and marginalia in pale red. Art. 2 written in alternately red and brown ink.  Guide-letters 
in the left margin, but initials lacking.

Original binding: brown calf over cardboard made of fragments of a s. XIV/XV paper register in 
Latin, dealing with a Clara Birgerynne and a master Michael Birger in Bratislava. Blind-tooled; 
the front cover has a more elaborate decoration than the rear cover. Yellow edges.

The work was finished in the church of San Lorenzo in Florence on 8 July 1482 by a priest 
Laurentius. The uneveness and the unprofessional character of the handwriting, the corrections 
and the subscription after the explicit of the Table of Contents ("LA" = Laurentius?) are not easy 
to explain, unless the manuscript is an autograph. So it is possible that its author is not the 
humanist and author Lorenzo da Pisa (Laurentius Pisanus, c. 1391-1465),  a canon of the chapter 
of San Lorenzo in Florence and lector of the Divina Commedia in the Studio fiorentino, but a 
younger namesake attached to the same chapter. On the front fly-leaf r  is written in pencil (s. 
XX): "Mss. del 1482. Carte 40 compreso 2 bianche piu due di guardia" and the price "$ 160". 
Purchased from Bernard M. Rosenthal in New York. Library of Thomas E. Marston. Presented 
by Thomas E. Marston, October, 1973.

Albert Derolez

Updated 29.11.2007