Beinecke MS 586
Italy, s. XVmed
Pier Candido Decembrio, Peregrina historia and Grammaticon

1. f. 1r-v	Petri Candidi in libris peregrine historie ad doctissimum Nicholaum Arcimboldum 
Parmensem iuris utriusque doctorem prefatio incipit. [Q]uantum inter se terrarum spatio 
seperantur amantes, tantum animis et corde coeunt ... Minus nempe et ocii et vit@ nostre penitet 
ea que passim haud cognita sunt etate nostra mandare litteris, quam inhertem illa in patria vivere, 
ubi minimus virtuti, nullus studiorum honos habitus est.

Preface to artt. 2-4, dedicated to Niccolo Arcimboldi, lawyer and counsellor to Filippo Maria 
Visconti, Duke of Milan.

2. ff. 1v-9v	[Table of Contents:] In Europa sunt regiones et provincie iste. Alunia, Dacia, 
Githa, Germania ... ; In Asia sunt regiones et provinti@ iste. Taprobane insula, Phimoca, Parthia 
... ; In Africa sunt regiones et provintie iste. Libia Cyrenaica et Pentapolis, Tripolina et 
Subventana provincia ... ; [Islands:] Cipros insula, Creta insula ... Corsica insula, Baleares insule. 
[f. 2r, text :]	Incipit tractatus de cosmographia veteri et nova. [O]rbis terrarum spatia breviter 
litteris comprehensuri principaliores eius partes veluti stilo quodam dessignabimus, quas veteres 
Occeano circumplexas tres numero imprimis statuere, Asiam scilicet, Africam et Europam ... ab 
Aquilone Mare Gallicum, a Meridie et Africo Tanicum pellagus, que cultu et memoria satis 
celebres habentur. Petri Candidi peregrine historie liber primus explicit de cosmographia veteri et 
nova.

3. ff. 10r-19v	Incipit liber secundus de hominis genitura. [P]ostquam in principio huius operis de 
cosmogrophia [sic] abunde dictum est a nobis, nunc, ut ordinem inceptum prosequamur, de 
hominis genitura dicere agrediemur. [Table of Contents:] Quomodo generatur homo. Qualiter 
concipiat mulier ... De statu lune quadripartito et quod eius dispositio in oppositione sit deterior. 
De virtute planetarum generaliter et influentia eorum ad utrunque. [f. 10v, text:] [S]atis constat 
hominem generari ex semine viri et mestruo mulieris secundum phisicos ... Luna planetarum 
ultima, cum velocis motus sit, natum vagabundum facit nullius ferme servitii, iocunda facie, 
statura mediocri, oculis inequalibus, unum altero maiorem perferentem. Petri Candidi peregrine 
historie liber secundus explicit de hominis genitura.  

4. ff. 19v-32r		Eiusdem tertius liber de muneribus rei publice incipit. [E]xplicatis his que 
de cosmogrophia [sic] genituraque hominis policiti eramus, quid prestantius ordiri aut disserere 
velimus, quam eius urbis mores institutaque referre, que toti orbi propemodum par fuit et que 
huiuscemodi viros protulit, ut eorum penuria pene lugeat aetas nostra nec similes deinceps natura 
edidisse videatur. [Table of Contents:] De origine urbis Rome. De dignitate regia ... De 
Lupercalibus. Epilogus de imperatoribus illustribus et poetis. [f. 20v, text:] [U]rbem Romam, ut 
inquit Crispus, condidere atque habuere in initio Troiani, qui Enea duce profugi incertis sedibus 
vagabantur ... [Iuvenalis opus:] ... Quod qui diligenter et penitus inspexerit, nec dulcedinem 
versibus, nec sententiis acumen, nec stilo gravitatem aut gratiam verbis sentiet defuisse. Petri 
Candidi peregrine historie liber tertius de muneribus Romane rei publice  feliciter finit.

Pier Candido Decembrio (Petrus Candidus Decembrius, 1392/1399-1477), Peregrina historia, 
probably written in 1430 and the following years and consisting of three rather unrelated Books. 
For Book I (art. 2), see F. Kretschmer, "Die Kosmographie des Petrus Candidus Decembrius", in 
Festschrift Ferdinand Freiherrn von Richthofen zum sechsigsten Geburtstag (Berlin, 1893), pp. 
267-305, with edition of the Preface to the Peregrina historia (art. 1). Book II (art. 3) was first 
printed in Rome in 1474 (GKW 8188). The other Books are unedited. About the Milanese 
humanist Decembrio, see Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, v. 33 (1987), pp. 488-503 (a 
discussion of the Historia on p. 492).

5. ff. 32r-54v	Petri Candidi gra[m]maticon primus incipit liber de usus antiquitate scribendi ad 
insignem iuris utriusque doctorem Guarnerium Casteloneum. [Q]ui amico detrahit ut alteri 
sufficiat, Guarneri virorum optime, non eque ab hominibus laudari consuevit quam qui paria fidei 
et benivolentie premia persolvit ... cum interim venusta liquo ere veneantur sola mors tempus ad 
se vendicat. [f. 32v:] Incipit tractatus. [A]ntiquis mos fuit, ut apud Asconium legimus, 
unumquenque domesticam rationem sibi totius vite su@ per dies singulos scribere ... [text :] 
Animus secundum veteres est quo sapimus. Anima qua vivimus ... Dextans 10, Deuns 11, As 12. 
Petri Candidi grammaticon liber primus explicit.

6. ff. 55r-67v	Petri Candidi grammaticon liber secundus de proprietate Latinorum verborum 
feliciter incipit. [Q]ui eloquenti@ studia diligentius aucupantur, vir insignis et eloquentissime, non 
tam scribendi lasciviam et inanes dicendi sonos consectari solent, quam verborum sensus  ac 
proprietatem imitari ... Is verborum ubertatem eandem sententiam innuere affirmat, nos 
sententiarum pluralitatem solis verbis dicimus contineri, de quibus arbitratu tuo utere. [f. 55v, 
text :] Anima est spiritus, anima anelitus oris, anima aqua vel sonus vel ventus ... Vis est celer 
impetus et vis celeritas. Vix cum labore et vix statim significat. Finis. Petri Candidi grammaticon 
liber secundus de proprietate verborum Latinorum feliciter explicit. Laus Deo.	ff. 68r-70v 
ruled but blank

Pier Candido Decembrio (Petrus Candidus Decembrius), Grammaticon. A Latin grammar in two 
Books, dedicated to the Milanese lawyer Guarniero Castiglione. Composed after 1433 and based 
on Nonius Marcellus, it consists of alphabetical lists of words (mostly substantives in Book I, 
mostly verbs in Book II) with their interpretations, synonyms, more correct forms etc.  Book I  
has an additional section containing lists of terms related to family, chronology, clothing, colours, 
ships, vases, weapons, army and weights. See the article in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 
quoted above, p. 492.


Paper,  ff. I (parchment  + I (paper) + 70 + II (paper), 220 x 145 mm. Watermark var. Briquet 
6654?? Parchment stays in the middle of the quires. The final pages and the endpapers in the 
front water-stained.

I-VII 10. Signatures of the type "a1"-"a5". Catchwords at right, horizontal in quire I, vertical 
between the inner bounding-lines in quires II-VI.

Board ruling for one column of 28 lines above top line, ruling type 31, 144 x 85 mm.

Copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva Libraria under some Gothic influence (occasionally 
uncial d). In the top margin of the first page the scribe has written "ipso meo" (doubtful reading).

Pale red headings and explicit formulas. The scribe wrote guide-letters but the initials (height: 2 
lines) are wanting.

Italian binding s. XV: brown morocco over wooden boards bevelled at the inside, blind-tooled 
with rope interlace and other tools, with some gold. Remnants of two brass clasps attached to the 
rear cover. Rebacked. On the spine a paper label with the handwritten title "Historia di Publio 
[sic] Candido". Parchment pastedowns. On theyellow-coloured fore-edge the title "P. Candid*" 
is inscribed.

After f. II a paper leaf is inserted containing a long note s. XVIII in Italian detailing the contents 
of the manuscript. On the blank f. 70v are s. XV/XVI notes and scribbles by various Italian 
hands: "Ars canticis (?) vult hoc et solummodo est ars brevis et praticha longha"; "amico fideli 
nihi"; "Omnis omines qui sese student" (repeated several times, Sallust, De coniuratione 
Catilinae, 1.1). From the library of Marchese Roberto Venturi Ginori. Purchased from Bernard 
M. Rosenthal, San Francisco, in August 1976, on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund.

Albert Derolez

R 05.06.08