Orationes ad nicolaum V, etc., 1425 - 1475

The contents of this manuscript may be compared to manuscript 928, Biblioteca Riccardiana in Firenze, which includes all six of these texts, and H VI 31, Biblioteca Comunale in Siena, which includes articles 1-4. See Iter Italicum, vol. 1, p. 211, and vol. 2, p. 154.

Parchment support, ff. ii (paper, i= frontpastedown) + 31 + ii (paper, ii= back pastedown).

Modern calf. Vertical gold stamp on spine: Oratio Florentinorum ad Nicolaum V. Note on verso of f. i: Restored by J. McDonald Co. East Norwalk, Conn.

i+31+i; 215 x 140 mm bound to 225 x 150 mm

Single column written in twenty-one lines, ruled with single vertical bounding lines in ink; written area: 140 x 85 mm

Humanistic script. Written by a single scribe in a small, round, humanistic bookhand below the top line, with many spelling errors, some corrected by an almost contemporary hand. Marginal notes, perhaps by the hand responsible for the corrections.

F. 1r includes a 4-line gold initial on a blue ground entwined with white-vine stems on a pink, green, and dark blue ground; vine work and ground extend beyond the letter into the upper margin and downward about 2 lines. In the lower margin a border in the same style surrounds a shield, argent, with a unicorn rampant gules. This coat of arms appears to be a later addition. Similarly styled 4-line initials may be found on f. 11r and 28r; 3-line initials on f. 19v and 24r. On f. 26v a simpler gold initial infilled with green and pink stands on a square blue ground to which a few thin gold lines have been added. Headings in pale red.

Modern foliation in ink, upper right recto