Walters Ms. W.340, Rule of St. Augustine

W.340

Rule of St. Augustine

Authority name: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.

This manuscript, written in Italy at the end of the fifteenth century, contains three different texts attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE). Augustine was an early Christian theologian and scholar from Roman North Africa who is considered one of the most important Church Fathers. The texts in this manuscript are guidelines for Augustine's followers, monks and nuns alike, on how to live a simple and pious Christian life. The first and third texts are specifically written for his female and male followers respectively as indicated by the miniatures on fols. 1r and 26r. The fourth text in the manuscript is roughly the same as the first and seems to have been added later, perhaps in 1714, the date inscribed above the rubric (fol. 33r). On fol. 26r, the Augustine monk St. Nicholas of Tolentino (d. 1304, canonized 1446) appears in the lower margin, which suggests the Walters manuscript was originally for a monastery dedicated to this saint.

Ca. 1490 CE

Northern Italy (Ferrara?)

Book

Devotional

Theological

Scriptural

The primary language in this manuscript is Italian. The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin.

2. Transliteration: Amen

2. Transliteration: Amen

2. Transliteration: Amen

Parchment

Medium-weight, cream-colored parchment; the bifolium that forms the upper pastedown and flyleaf is from an account book (?) with entries for June 1397

Foliation: i + 41

Modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos; fol. 41 is blank

Formula: i + Quires 1-3: 10 (fols. 1-30); Quire 4: 8 (fols. 31-38); Quire 5: 2 (fols. 39-40); i (fol. 41)

Catchwords: Found throughout, written horizontally at the right edge of the lower margin, versos

Comments: Fol. 41 is blank and forms a bifolium with the back pastedown

14.5 cm wide by 23.0 cm high

8.8 cm wide by 14.5 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 25
3. Measurements for the first three (and older) works within the book (up to fol. 33r)

1. Title: Rules of St. Augustine
2. Author: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.
3. Hand note: Humanist script except for the last text (fols. 33v-41v), which seems to have been added later
4. Decoration note: Intricately detailed margins and illuminations before each of the first three texts: miniature of St. Augustine presenting his book of rules to a group of kneeling nuns, two medallions with Augustinian nuns, likely St. Monica in the bottom margin, a medallion with "ΙΣΧΣ" in gold letters flanked by putti in the upper margin, added floral detail in red, blue, green and gold leaf on three sides (fol. 1r); an inhabited inital "C" with a portrait of St. Augustine, a medallion in the top margin with "IHS" in gold letters, a detailed floral border similar to that on fol. 1r on two sides (fol. 7r); a miniature of St. Augustine presenting his book of rules to a group of kneeling monks, two medallions with Augustine monks, that in the lower margin depicting St. Nicholas of Tolentino (d. 1304, canonized 1446), a medallion with "IHS" in gold letters flanked by lions in the upper margin, a floral border in green, red, blue and gold leaf on three sides; each chapter begins with a small decorated initial in gold leaf (Roman square block capitals) on a background of red, green, and blue pigment with added detail in gold; incipits and explicits in red ink; main text in black ink

1. Title: Regola di sancto augustino per le suore
2. Author: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.
3. Rubric: Regola di sancto augustino per le suore
4. Incipit: Innanzi ad tutte le cose suore
5. Contents: Contains 23 individual chapters or "rules" and their short explanations

1. Title: Le constitutioni per le monache che del ordine di sancto augustino
2. Author: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.
3. Rubric: Queste sono le constitutioni per le monache che del ordine di sancto augustino & di sancta Monica tengono el sancto habito
4. Incipit: Consciosia cosa che per comandamento della regola
5. Contents: Contains 20 individual chapters or "rules" and their short explanations

1. Title: Regula sancti augustini
2. Author: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.
3. Rubric: Regula sancti augustini
4. Incipit: Ante omnia Fratres kmi [i.e. carissimi] diligatur Deus deinde proximus [sic]
5. Contents: Contains 30 individual chapters or "rules" and their short explanations

1. Title: Regola di Sant'Agostino per le suore
2. Author: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430.
3. Rubric: Regola di Sant'Agostino per le suore
4. Incipit: Inanzi a tutte le cose suore carissime
5. Contents: Contains 23 individual chapters or "rules" and their short explanations; Roughly the same text as in the first part of manuscript, "Regola di sancto augustino per le suore," with some variation; Date "1714" written above rubric and this, along with different hand, suggest this part of manuscript added later than the rest, perhaps in the eighteenth century

fol. 1r:

1. 
2. Title: St. Augustine Presenting his Book of Rules to Kneeling Nuns
3. Form: Miniature; medallions
4. Text: Regola di sancto augustino per le suore
5. Label: Miniature of St. Augustine presenting his book of rules to a group of kneeling nuns, two medallions with Augustinian nuns, likely St. Monica in the bottom margin, a medallion with "ΙΣΧΣ" in gold letters flanked by putti in the upper margin, added floral detail in red, blue, green and gold leaf on three sides.

fol. 7r:

1. 
2. Title: Inhabited Initial "C" with a Portrait of St. Augustine
3. Form: Inhabited initial "C," 7 lines; medallions
4. Text: Le constitutioni per le monache che del ordine di sancto augustino
5. Label: Inhabited initial "C" with a portrait of St. Augustine, a medallion in the top margin with "IHS" in gold letters, a detailed floral border on two sides.

fol. 26v:

1. 
2. Title: St. Augustine Presenting his Book of Rules to Kneeling Monks
3. Form: Miniature; medallions
4. Text: Regula sancti augustini
5. Label: Miniature of St. Augustine presenting his book of rules to a group of kneeling monks, two medallions with Augustinian monks, a medallion with "IHS" in gold letters flanked by lions in the upper margin, a floral border in green, red, blue and gold leaf on three sides.

fol. 33v:

1. 
2. Title: Beginning of "Regola di Sant'Agostino per le suore"
3. Form: Text Page
4. Text: Regola di Sant'Agostino per le suore

The binding is original.

Brown goat(?) leather binding created ca. 1490 in Italy; blind-tooled and stamped; on both boards an ovular stamp surrounded by sun rays and enclosing the inscription "IHS' with a cross above and three nails below; rebacked at a later period

Created in Northern Italy (Ferrara?) ca. 1490

Leo S. Olschki, bookseller, Florence, before 1912

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Leo S. Olschki ca. 1912 (list no. 59, inv. no 32938)

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 824, no. 402.

Principal cataloger: Berlin, Nicole

Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Polidori, Elisabetta; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Tabritha, Ariel

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.