Beauty Imagined

The noble ladies of the south of France were praised in song by male troubadours employed by the courts and themselves composed verse which was a full part of this woman-led courtly ritual.

No portraits of these women of celebrated intelligence and beauty survive, but a 13th-century Venetian miniaturist at least attempted to visualize one of the latter ladies, Maria de Ventadorn, long after her lifetime:

Her image appears in Vat.lat.3207, a manuscript of Provencal troubadour poetry just digitized by the Vatican Library, which depicts the trobairitz, the female poet. The arrival of this extraordinary codex online has already been noted by @DigitaVaticana (below).

The two images below represent Tibors de Sarenom (described on Wikipedia as the earliest attested trobairitz), and ...

... Iseut de Capio (according to @DigitaVaticana, relying on the scholarship, I can't find the names in the text at first glance):

The existence of the codex points to the high value set on women's poetry in medieval Italy. Read Francesca Gambino's review of Elizabeth Poe's study of the text of this codex for a feel of its uniqueness and importance. The fact that half a page of this codex was ripped out long ago suggests someone might have removed one image as a kind of pin-up, but perhaps it was simply careless treatment of what is now a priceless book.

Last week, 56 manuscripts arrived online in full color. My list:

1. Barb.lat.4287,
2. Ross.19,
3. Ross.20,
4. Ross.30,
5. Ross.76, church music. Jeffrey Wasson drew on this manuscript to point out variations in a medieval chant used as a gradual
6. Ross.114,
7. Vat.lat.2342,
8. Vat.lat.2348,
9. Vat.lat.2349,
10. Vat.lat.2378 (Upgraded to HQ), Galen in Latin translation, eTK-listed incipit: "Que namque optima compositio nostri ...", also one Hippocratic and one anonymous text
11. Vat.lat.2444.pt.2,
12. Vat.lat.2574,
13. Vat.lat.2651, Johannes Calderinus, Consilia, listed by Brendan McManus, also a text by Antonio da Butrio
14. Vat.lat.2698,
15. Vat.lat.2722,
16. Vat.lat.2734,
17. Vat.lat.2759 (Upgraded to HQ),
18. Vat.lat.2853 (Upgraded to HQ),
19. Vat.lat.2953 (Upgraded to HQ),
20. Vat.lat.3039 (Upgraded to HQ),
21. Vat.lat.3207 (Upgraded to HQ), 13th-century manuscript of Provencal troubadour poetry (above)

    Maria de Ventadorn, Tibors de Sarenom, Lombarda, Iseut de Capio. 💁🏻💁🏼🙋🏻🙋🏼#Miniature di trobairitz (#donne poetesse e compositrici vissute tra XI e XIII secolo).
    
    Vat. Lat. 3207: Canzoniere Provenzale (manoscritto trobadorico H), sec. XIII, Veneto. #LatestDigitizedManuscripts pic.twitter.com/G2PLdMQ1Wu

    — Digita Vaticana (@DigitaVaticana) October 26, 2018

22. Vat.lat.3513,
23. Vat.lat.3604,
24. Vat.lat.3904,
25. Vat.lat.3953 (Upgraded to HQ),
26. Vat.lat.3956,
27. Vat.lat.3961,
28. Vat.lat.3987,
29. Vat.lat.3990,
30. Vat.lat.3994 (Upgraded to HQ),
31. Vat.lat.3996,
32. Vat.lat.3997,
33. Vat.lat.4012 (Upgraded to HQ),
34. Vat.lat.4013,
35. Vat.lat.4015 (Upgraded to HQ),
36. Vat.lat.4017,
37. Vat.lat.4023,
38. Vat.lat.4024,
39. Vat.lat.4062,
40. Vat.lat.4065 (Upgraded to HQ),
41. Vat.lat.4070,
42. Vat.lat.4089, an elaborate tabulation of Easter dates by Ricciardo Cervini 1454-1534: Tabulae annorum solarium pro inveniendo die Paschatis ad Clementem VII, see Jordanus 
    
43. Vat.lat.4093,
44. Vat.lat.4099,
45. Vat.lat.4112.pt.1,
46. Vat.lat.4113.pt.2,
47. Vat.lat.4126,
48. Vat.lat.4134,
49. Vat.lat.4135,
50. Vat.lat.4142,
51. Vat.lat.4152,
52. Vat.lat.4162, 12th-century codex compiling ecclesiology and penitentials, also includes Bede's Arithmetic, in Jordanus
53. Vat.lat.4165,
54. Vat.lat.4177,
55. Vat.lat.4227 (Upgraded to HQ),
56. Vat.lat.13721, a 1727 catalog of the manuscripts then present in the library/archive of Sassovivo Abbey in Umbria, a foundation from about 1070 which was more or less defunct by 1800
    

In addition, DigiVatLib has imported 19 manuscripts which have already been online for over a year at Heidelberg:

1. Pal.lat.417,
2. Pal.lat.580,
3. Pal.lat.582 (Upgraded to HQ),
4. Pal.lat.584 (Upgraded to HQ),
5. Pal.lat.585,
6. Pal.lat.586,
7. Pal.lat.587 (Upgraded to HQ),
8. Pal.lat.588,
9. Pal.lat.589,
10. Pal.lat.590,
11. Pal.lat.591,
12. Pal.lat.593,
13. Pal.lat.594,
14. Pal.lat.595,
15. Pal.lat.596,
16. Pal.lat.601,
17. Pal.lat.602,
18. Pal.lat.604 (Upgraded to HQ),
19. Pal.lat.605,

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 183. Thanks to @gundormr for harvesting. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.