Walters Ms. W.22, Macrobius' Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

W.22

Macrobius' Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

Macrobius' Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

Authority name: Macrobius, Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius

Supplied name: Macrobius

This copy of Macrobius' Commentarii in somnium Scipionis was produced most likely in northeastern France in the late twelfth century. The manuscript includes seven major diagrams, of which four are original to the manuscript (fols. 38v, 41r, 43v, and 47v) and three others, including a map of the world, were added early in the history of the manuscript (fols. 64v, 65v, and 66r). Additional minor diagrams demonstrating relationships in philosophical ideas or other concepts introduced in the text appear throughout the manuscript in the margins, added by later hands.

Last quarter of the 12th century CE

Northeastern France (?)

Book

Literary -- Prose

Philosophical

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Thin to medium-weight calfskin, reasonably well prepared, with hair follicles often visible on folio surfaces; fols. 53 and 64 were inserted early as replacements, sewn onto stubs still visible in the spine; significant yellow-brown stains throughout from rubbing and use; some damage to folio edges with occasional trimming of upper or lower margins

Foliation: i+66

Evidence for endleaf i affixed to fol. 66v and later removed; fragments of the paper leaf still cling to the parchment folio

Formula: Quire 1: 2 (fols. 1-2 ); Quires 2-9: 8 (fols. 3-66)

Signatures: Roman numerals mark quires at lower right of versos, II-IX

Comments: Fols. 1-2 are bifoliate and were added in the thirteenth century; fol. 1r is a palimpsest; quires 6 and 7 have been reversed

11.5 cm wide by 20.25 cm high

8.0 cm wide by 15.0 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 31
3. Fol. 1r has 48 ruled lines

fols. 1r - 66v:

1. Title: Macrobius' Commentarii in somnium Scipionis
2. Incipit: Inter platonis et ciceronis libros quos de re publica uterque constituit. eustachi fili mihi uitae dulcedo pariter et gloria. hoc interesse prima fronte perspeximus. quod ille rem publicam ordinauit. ille retulit. alter qualis esse deberet. alter qualis esset instituta a maioribus disseruit.
3. Hand note: Textura, with rustic capitals and uncials used for the first words of principal text divisions
4. Decoration note: Seven monochromatic diagrams in brown ink; letters initiating text divisions colored with small amounts of red ink; text in brown ink

fol. 3v:

1. 
2. Title: Marginal diagram glosses
3. Form: Marginal diagrams
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 8v:

1. 
2. Title: Marginal diagram gloss
3. Form: Marginal diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 9v:

1. 
2. Title: Marginal diagram glosses
3. Form: Marginal diagrams
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 10v:

1. 
2. Title: Marginal diagram gloss
3. Form: Marginal diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 20r:

1. 
2. Title: Marginal diagram gloss
3. Form: Marginal diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 38v:

1. 
2. Title: Diagram of climatic zones
3. Form: Marginal diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 41r:

1. 
2. Title: Diagram of five celestial and five earthly zones
3. Form: Half-page diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 43v:

1. 
2. Title: Diagram of the twelve zodiacal and seven planetary spheres
3. Form: Half-page diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 47v:

1. 
2. Title: Diagram of the earth and atmosphere
3. Form: Intertextual diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 50v:

1. 
2. Title: Lambda diagram of the world-soul from Plato's Timaeus
3. Form: Marginal diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 64v:

1. 
2. Title: Map of the world
3. Form: Half-page diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 65v:

1. 
2. Title: Diagram of the Diatessaron
3. Form: Full-page diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

fol. 66r:

1. 
2. Title: Lambda diagram of the world-soul from Plato's Timaeus
3. Form: Half-page diagram
4. Text: Commentarii in somnium Scipionis

The binding is not original.

Rebound in France in the nineteenth century in brown calfskin; seven groups of gilded bands on the spine, interspersed with gilded images of wheels and vessels; the title "CODEX PERGAMIN M.S." appears on the red label at the top of the spine; labels showing W.22, 1029, and 749 appear at the bottom

Created in the last quarter of the twelfth century, probably in northeastern France (French Flanders)

Owned by a Franciscan monk in the fourteenth century, as indicated by the inscription at the top of fol. 66r: "fratris Raymundi Iustardinis minorum fratrum"

Owned by Abbot Luigi Celotti (ca. 1768-1846) in the nineteenth century, as indicated by "Celotti" written in pencil on the pastedown of the upper board

Sold by Abbot Luigi Celotti at Evans' London auction on March 14, 1825 (lot no. 478), to Thomas Thorpe (1791-1851), a London bookseller

Acquired by Sir Thomas Phillipps sometime between 1825 and 1903; the Phillipps book stamp appears on the front pastedown, along with the manuscript number 1029, which also appears at the bottom of fol. 1r and on the label at the base of the spine

Sold by Sir Thomas Phillipps at Sotheby's London auction on April 30, 1903 (lot no. 749), to Bernard Quaritch Ltd., a London bookseller

Henry Walters, Baltimore, between 1895 and 1931, by purchase from Quaritch

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest

De Ricci, S., and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 840, cat. no. 477.

Munby, A. N. L. The Formation of the Phillipps Library from 1841 to 1872. Phillipps Studies, vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956, pp. 50-51.

Faye, C. U., and W. H. Bond. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1962, p. 197, cat. no. 477.

Macrobius. Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis. Vol. 2. Edited by J. Willis. Leipzig: Teubner, 1963.

Destombes, Marcel. Mappemondes, A.D. 1200-1500: Catalogue. Monumenta cartographica vetustioris aevi, A.D. 1200-1500, vol. 1. Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1964, p. 44, pl. XIIIc (fol. 64v).

Cameron, Alan. "The Date and Identity of Macrobius." Journal of Roman Studies 56 (1966): 25-38.

Phillipps, Thomas. The Phillipps Manuscripts: Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in biblioteca D. Thomae Phillipps.... Edited by A. N. L. Munby. London: Holland Press, 1968, p. 12.

Reymond, Georges, and Jean-Édouard Dugand. Monaco Antique: Essai sur l'histoire ancienne de Monaco.... Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines de Nice. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1970, p. 61, pl. 9 (fol. 64v).

Kish, George. La carte: Image des civilisations. Paris: Seuil, 1980, pp. 209-210, pl. 28 (fol. 64v).

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 1. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989, pp. 22-23, cat. no. 9, fig. 18 (fol. 47v).

Macrobius. Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. Edited and translated by William Harris Stahl. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Eastwood, Bruce. "Manuscripts of Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, before 1500." Manuscripta 38, no. 2 (1994): 138-155.

Caluzzo, Irene. "Appendice 2: Listes de Manuscrits." In Lectures médiévales de Macrobe: les glosae colonienses super Macrobium. Edited by Irene Caluzzo, 291-299. Paris: Libraire Philosophique VRIN, 2002; p. 291.

Eastwood, Bruce, and Gerd Grasshoff. Planetary Diagrams for Roman Astronomy in Medieval Europe, Ca. 800-1500. Transactions of the American Philosophical Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Knowledge, Volume 94, Part 3. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004; pp. 61, 149.

Chekin, Leonid S. Northern Eurasia in Medieval Cartography: Inventory, Text, Translation, and Commentary. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2006; p. 103, cat. no. VII.2.29, 419 (fig. VII.2.29).

Florea, Luminita. "Virtus Scriptoris: Steps Towards a Typology of Illustration Borrowing in Music Treatises." In Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation. Edited by Bruno Buckaert and Eugeen Schreurs, 77-96. Leuven: Alamire Foundation, 2008; p. 90 (n. 50).

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Dennis, Nathan S

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Wiegand, Kimber

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.