Gregory the Great, Dialogi [Dialogues]

Type: Manuscript

Date: 14th Century (1320-1330)

Setting: Central Italy (Umbria, Perugia?)

Produced By/For: Pope Gregory I

Contents: Pope Gregory the Great, Dialogi (in four books) and guiding index

Language: Latin (main text, gloss, index, calendar, and diagrams)

Shelf Mark: Ms.Lat.6

Location: Call no. BR65 G54 1320

Description by Sarah Adam as Part of Coursework for a Manuscript Studies Class with Dr. Adrienne Williams Boyarin (ENGL)

Codicology

Poor-quality parchment, codex with 98 leaves of i (paper) + i (parchment) + 98 + i (parchment) + i (paper), modern foliation in pencil on the upper right corner of each recto. Bound like sides facing, FH'HF. Collation, ten quires; I-II10, III12, IV10, V12, VI-IX10, X4. The approximate size of each leaf is 151-154mm x 109-111mm. Each column measures 98-100mm x 35-37mm. Ruled in brown ink with horizontal and vertical bounding lines, prickings still visible. Bound in modern, nineteenth century binding, inscription of "S. Greg, Dialog., Codex, Sec XV" on the spine.

Paleography

Double columns of 31-32 lines per page, main text written by possibly more than one hand in Formata Italian Textualis Gothic Rotunda. Index on folios 92-98 in rapid Cursive Gothic script. Marginalia in both rapid Cursive Gothic script and Italian Gothic Rotunda. Second hand for rubrication, decoration, and illumination. Likely third hand for gloss and/or corrections.

Decoration

Decorated catchwords in brown and red ink at lower center versos (at the end of each quire except IX), some decorated with human figures. Cue initials and cue notes in margins for rubricating, red rubrics with black, red, and blue single-line paraphs. Red ink additions on capital letters. One to two-line initials in alternating blue or red with purple, red, and blue pen decoration. Four, 6-11 line illuminated initials with extensions, in pink ink with blue backgrounds, decorated with gold and red, orange, green, white, and black ink on folios 2r, 18r, 39r, and 65v. One, 13-line illuminated historiated initial on folio 1r, with floral decorated extension, extending into lower margin. Historiated initial is followed by gold capitals. First letter of each line in the index is marked with orange ink. Later calendar in orange and black ink on 97v; two later diagrams in orange and black ink on 98r.

Origin and Provenance

Colours and type of illuminated initials reminiscent of late Gothic style in Umbria, likely made in Perugia. Colophon indicating scribe, Johannes or Felix (ambiguous). Gloss, manicules, and index indicate medieval use. Second front flyleaf was a title page in some former binding. Damaged text occasionally written over in black ink in similar script by possible owner. Purchased by University of Victoria in 2017 from Les Enluminures.

Transcription

Transcription* by Jonathan Harmsworth and Asha Stewart, December 2018: fols. 1r-2rb9 and textual notes for fols. 1r-2rb9 and by Sarah Adam, December 2018: summary description, transcription of fols. 21r-23v, textual notes for fols. 21r-23v, paleography/script guide, and bibliography of consulted works, is available here.

* Transcription conventions follow those set out by Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham in Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca, 2007), pp. 75-78. Textual notes on manuscript features and scribal errors or corrections, a script guide, and a bibliography follow the transcriptions. The work has been checked and lightly edited by Dr. Adrienne Williams Boyarin.

Description from Vendor

A refined illuminated author portrait and delicate filigree initial grace this signed and complete copy of Gregory the Great's Dialogues, an influential collection of early saints' lives and miracles. Book two, on the life and miracles of St. Benedict, became a foundational text for Benedictine monasticism. Added computus diagrams, annotations, and an index furnish signs of early use and shed an intriguing light on how this text was being read and used in the late Middle Ages.

Bound in nineteenth-century half parchment over pasteboard, with a smooth spine bearing a brown leather label with gilt stamped inscription, “S. GREG. / DIALOG. / CODEX / SEC. XV,” similar identification on front parchment flyleaf, mostly effaced, slight staining, wear at hinges and edges, first quire slightly loose along the bottom.

Full description available through Lesenluminures.com.

Provenance: Purchased from Les Enluminures, 2017.

Images

Facsimile images available through UVic Libraries Digital Collections.

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