Overview
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Paris
France
RVF, Triumphi + Triumphus Fame Ia and Mortis Ia
Description
216x150 mm; I1 + I-VI [labelled A-F] + 246 fols.
parchment; humanistic script; Petrarch’s poems with one verse per line and prose texts; ten full-page illuminations, three architectural frames, and decorated initials.
<inc> Alphabetum sonectorum et cancionum Fran[cisci] Petrarce (fol. 3r)
fol. I1r: a bibliographical note by a nineteenth-century hand;
fol. I1v: blank;
fol. Ar: full-page illuminated coat of arms;
fol. Av: full-page illuminated face of Christ;
fol. Br: full-page illuminated map of universe (with the earth at the bottom and the elements (‘aqua’, ‘aer’, and ‘ignis’) and the nine heavens above it (from ‘Luna’ to ‘Saturnus’, ‘Firmamentum’, and ‘Celu[m] empireum’);
fols. Bv-Cr: blank;
fols. Cv-Er: full-page illuminated birds;
fol. Ev: blank;
fols. Fr-1r: full-page illuminated birds;
fols. 1v-2v: blank;
fols. 3r-10r: alphabetical index of the first lines of RVF poems (under each letter of the alphabet, poems are listed in order of appearance) (‘Alphabetum sonectorum et cancionum Fran[cisci] Petrarce’);
fol. 10r: alphabetical index of the capitoli of the Triumphi;
fol. 10v: blank;
fols. 11r-110v: RVF 1-263 (‘Sonetti Canzoni et Triomphi di Messer Francesco Petrarcha religati di voler di me Sertorio di Sertorii del’an[n]o M.D.LIIII [sic]’; title by a later hand);
fols. 111r-152v: RVF 264-366 (‘Sonetti et cancioni di Mes[ser] Fran[cesco] Pe[trarca] poeta laureato per la morte de la sua gloriosa Laura felicemente incominciano’);
fol. 152v: colophon: Deo gratias amen. absolui die xxiiij februarij 1453;
fols. 153r-154r: blank;
fols. 154v-156v: Orlandi’s canzone ‘Beato il prego tuo cortese et almo’ (‘Cancione composta per Alberto Orlando ad instança del M[agnifi]co Signore Berardo da Camerino sopra i triumphi’);
fol. 156v: colophon: finis deo gr[ati]as;
fols. 157r-193r: Triumphi (‘Triumphi di meser Francesco Pe[trarca] poeta laureato Fiorentino per la sua diva Laura felicemente incominciano’, order: Amoris I, Amoris III, Amoris IV, Pudicitie, Amoris II, Mortis I, Mortis II, Fame Ia, Fame I, Fame II, Fame III, Temporis, Eternitatis, Mortis Ia);
fol. 193v: Petrarch’s note on Laura (‘Epistola domini Fran[cisci] Pe[trarcae] in comemorationem mortis d[ominae] Laure’, <inc> Laura proprijs uirtutibus illustris et meis longum celebrata carminibus; <exp> inexpectatos exitus acriter ac viliter cogita[n]ti);
fol. 194r: [Lorenzo Segni’s] sonnet ‘Laureo segno tanto triumphale’;
fols. 194v-196v: blank;
Other contents:
fols. 197r-212v: Boccaccio’s epistle to Pino de’ Rossi (‘epistola de meser Giouanni boccacci ad meser pino de’ Rossi’, <inc> Io eximio messer pino; <exp> prego Idio che consoli voi et loro);
fol. 112v: Latin proverb (‘Qui puero seruit comuni uel mulieri / id totum perdid quod sperat inde mereri’), followed by a short prose text (<inc> Auaritie cecitas et da[n]nande ambitionis; <exp> exquisitis fraudib[us] usurpare conent[ur]);
fols. 213r-216r: a Latin epistle by Bernard of Clairvaux (‘Epistola beati Bernardi de cura et modo rei familiaris’, <inc> Generoso militi et felici d[omin]o d[omi]no [sic] Raimondo; <exp> dan[n]abilis senectutis);
fol. 216r-216v: Galeazzo Marescotti’s sonnets to Sante Bentivoglio (‘Se mai per me pieta ui strensel core’) and Cardinal Bessarion (‘Lalta uirtute del tuo nobil core’);
fol. 216v: Sforza’s epitaph in Latin (‘Clarissimi ducis armipotentis Sfortie epytaphion’, <inc> hic armis miraq[ue] animi virtute fideq[ue]);
fols. 217r-218r: Bedorus de Pretis’s letter to Sigismondo Malatesta (dated: Bologna 16 novembre 1451; <inc> Illustris et Excelse principis; <exp> cum ogni humilita sempre maricomando);
fols. 218v-223r: two letters of a woman (‘prestantissima donna’) in love with Galeazzo Marescotti (1. <inc> Io ho ueduto <magnifico et valoroso amante; <exp> p[re]sto a noi ui renda; and 2. <inc> Se io dicesse; <exp> di frat[er]no amore rima[n]go uostra);
fols. 223r-224v: Bedorus de Pretis’s letter to Marescotti (<inc> Io non pensaua; <exp> co gli altri spiriti uiuer c[on]tento);
fols. 225r-228r: three letters: one by Marescotti to a young woman (<inc> Io non posso negare; <exp> spera[n]ça de lanima inamorata), her reply to Marescotti (<inc> Poi che receuetti la uostra sugillata [sic] lettera; <exp> in quella parte doue dimorarete), and another letter by Marescotti to the same woman (<inc> Non so se dal di chio nacqui; <exp> come facto me ha uostro), followed by three lines from Horace;
fol. 228v: Bedorus de Pretis’s letter to Antonio di Sante Bentivoglio (<inc> Generoso Anthonio; <exp> al quale mi racomando);
fols. 229r-231v: another letter by Bedorus de Pretis’s to Antonio di Sante Bentivoglio (<inc> Io cognosco Magnifico et illustre confaloniere; <exp> del gran dio de le battaglie);
fols. 232r-242r: a letter by a jealous young woman to a Bolognese knight (‘Lettera mandata a un magnifico e prestante caualier bolognese da una sua leggiadra amorosa affaticata et uinta da gelosia souerchia’, <inc> E fortuna s piaceuole; <exp> basti a tanta letitia la vita) and his reply (‘Risposta del prefato magnifico caualiere’, <inc> Essendio nel lecto affaticato molto; <exp> per alchun caso o auenime[n]to se ne spenga);
fols. 242v-243r: Caterina Marescotti’s letter to Isotta Malatesta (<inc> Cognoscendo mag[nifi]ca et excelsa madon[n]a; <exp> humilmente maricomando);
fols. 243v-244r: Galeazzo Marescotti’s sonnets: one to Isotta (‘L’inclita fama che nel mondo sona’) and two to Sigismondo Malatesta (‘L’alta uirtute del tuo nobil core’ and ‘Principe illustre honor de italiani’);
fol. 244v: Galeazzo Marescotti’s canzonetta to Zohane Britti (‘Poi che per mie destino’);
fol. 244v: Pellegrino de’ Zambeccari’s sonnet (‘Chi Joue chi le stelle incolpa a torto’);
fols. 245r-246r: Bedorus de Pretis’s letter to Sigismondo Malatesta (dated: maggio 1454, <inc> Pensaua illustre principe; <exp> fidel servidore semp[re] maricomando);
fol. 246v: four Latin epigrams: three by Tommaso Seneca (1. ‘Suspicis aerias arces operamq[ue] minacem’, 2. ‘Quod natura potest virtusq[ue] afferre decoris’, and 3. ‘Sexus feminei decus et suprema venustas’) and one by Benedictus Morandus to Galeazzo Marescotti (‘Te felicet illustrent Galeas tot fortia facta’).
Material Copy
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Paris
France
Orlandi’s canzone summarizes the content of the Triumphi. In the second stanza Orlandi states that he will illustrate the five subjects of Petrarch’s work. The text of the canzone makes precise references to Petrarch’s work, with a particular focus on the mythological figures (such as Jupiter, Mars, Proserpine) mentioned in the Triumphi.
Two marginal annotations to Triumphus Amoris I and III by a later hand provide some content-based explanations to historical names mentioned in the capitoli.
Decorated initials for RVF 1 (fol. 12r), Triumphus Amoris I (fol. 157r), and Boccaccio’s epistle (fol. 197r); coloured initials for all the other RVF poems, the beginning of all the other Triumphi and each subsequent capitolo; at fols. 12r, 157r, and 197r is an architectural frame; at the bottom of fols. 12r and 157r is a coat of arms.
At fols. 58v and 74r-74v, RVF 114 and 136-138 are fully crossed out by pen.
Fol. 11 was remade in 1554 (see Pellegrin 1966, 170 [= II, 348]).
A microfilm (MF 13369) was used to create this entry.
Iter, III, 311a; Marsand, I, 783-85 (n° 682); Pellegrin 1966, 169-72 (= II, 347-50)