• Cronica Venetiarum / Benintendi Cancellarium.

Extent:
  • 19 leaves : parchment, illustrations ; 265 x 187 (170 x 120) mm bound to 277 x 192 mm.
Date:
  • 1350-1400
Language:
Author:
  • Ravignani, Benintendi, approximately 1317-approximately 1360
Abstract:
  • Venetian chronicle. The chronicle is a brief paraphrase or abridgment of a portion of Andrea Dandolo’s Chronica per extensum descripta or Cronica Estesa and far more detailed than the Andrea Dandolo’s own Chronica brevis.
Description:
  • Incipit: “Cronica Venetiarum secundum Benintendi Cancellarium eius. Ihesus dominus deus noster quaque in re pro fundamento suscipitur necesse est ibi bonorum operum edificium subsequatur. Nec est admirabile iudicandum si de sanctorum uirorum piis ex causis cumulatio consortio gloriosi fructus et uberes in odorem suauitatis prouenisse cernuntur…”
  • Explicit: “Qui in domo propria ultra riuum ex palacii opposito habitans destructas ecclesias et palatium renouare curauit. Hic habuit coniugem Feliciam nominem que unicum”
  • Ms. codex.
  • Title from caption (fol. 1r).
  • A few contemporary corrections and annotations; marginal note in later humanistic hand on fol. 8v.
  • Collation: Parchment ; fol. iii + 19 + 11 ; 1–28, 34–1 (leaf 4 cancelled). Stubs from flyleaves are wrapped around quires 1 and 3, after fol. 8v and before fol. 17 ; in the 18th century, the manuscript was misfoliated in ink ; modern foliation in pencil.
  • Layout: 32 long lines per page ; ruled in leadpoint with single vertical bounding lines, horizontals very faint and do not extend beyond verticals.
  • Description: Written in brown-black ink.
  • Decoration: Text opens on fol. 1r with a 5-line gold initial I enclosing the bust of a saint (Mark?), with nimbus, dressed in red cloak over a green robe; three-quarter foliate border with light and dark blue, rose, pink, green, and orange-red, encircling an erased heraldic shield in the upper margin. Plain 2-line initials alternating between red and blue; some paragraph marks, alternatively red and blue.
  • Origin: Produced in Venice in the second half of the 14th century.
Binding note:
  • Italy (Venice), late 15th century. Brown calf over beveled wooden boards (4-5 mm thick). Blind-stamped and blind-tooled design on covers. Remnants of 4 clasps and leather strips on top, bottom, and edge.
Provenance:
  • The erased heraldic shield on fol. 1r was described by de Ricci in 1935 as possibly being for the Baldovino family of Venice (de gules aigle d'or). Owned by: Abate Matteo Luigi Canonici, S.J. (1727–1805); purchased in 1835 by Rev. Walter Sneyd (1809–1888); Sotheby's sold from Sneyd's collection in 1903 to Charles William Dyson Perrins (1864–1958); sold from Perrins through Sotheby's in 1907 to the London booksellers Ellis; purchased by William Harris Arnold (1854–1923); sold from Arnold's collection to the New York bookseller Ernest Dressel North; purchased from North in 1924 by Robert Garrett (1875-1961). Garrett's gift to the Princeton University Library, 1942.
Source acquisition:
  • Gift Robert Garrett, Princeton Class of 1897, 1942.
Former owner:
  • Canonici, Matteo Luigi, 1727-1805
  • Sneyd, Walter, 1809-1888
  • Arnold, William Harris, 1854-1923
  • Perrins, Charles William Dyson, 1864-1958
Contributor:
  • Princeton University. Library. Manuscript. Garrett MS. 156
References:
  • Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 1, pages 365-366.
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