Preacher Book

Bernardino Albizeschi was Italy's great public preacher of the 15th century, a kind of Billy Graham who travelled the country, working up the crowds to repent. This year the Vatican Library announced it had obtained his long-lost journey book, awarding it its newest shelf-number, Vat.lat.15495.

This codex, still with its old clasps, has just been digitized.

Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444), as he was known after his canonization, lingered long in folk memory, which explains why his personal planner in his own handwriting was judged so precious by its private Italian owners.

It later went abroad. The latest Vatican Newsletter says the book, evidently not recognized as a saintly relic, changed hands multiple times at Sotheby's sales and was finally recognized for what it is by Sophie Delmas and Francesco Siri of the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes in France.

The Vatican Library then bought it with the help of a large donation of money.

The full list of 39 new digitizations:

1. Pal.lat.321,
2. Pal.lat.524.pt.1,
3. Pal.lat.524.pt.2,
4. Pal.lat.567,
5. Pal.lat.576,
6. Pal.lat.579 (Upgraded to HQ),
7. Pal.lat.581,

   #Medieval scribes knew how to embellish their rubrics: a few lovely titles from a late 9thC square #manuscript copied in northern #Italy. It contains a canonical collection ("Anselmo dedicata", mutilated) and a few excerpts of #Roman laws.
   H/T @JBPiggin
   🔗https://t.co/eiacESSHnc pic.twitter.com/1QgSbwjh5A

   — GiorgiaV (@ParvaVox) October 23, 2018

8. Vat.lat.2380 (Upgraded to HQ), a 14th-century collection of medical works by Galen, translated into Latin by Niccolò da Reggio. See eTK, incipits: "Sicut animalium singulum unum esse dicitur" and "Quia liber Galieni de utilitate"
9. Vat.lat.3156,
10. Vat.lat.3157, noted already by DigitaVaticana:

    Rainbow #colours and beautiful details from Vat. lat. 3157 (15th cent.): Triumphs by #Petrarch (1304 - 1374). North Italian #Illuminations. #LatestDigitizedManuscripts 🤩🌈🖌️https://t.co/OAtoNPcdz3 pic.twitter.com/q0FftQeWTx

    — Digita Vaticana (@DigitaVaticana) October 18, 2018

11. Vat.lat.3524.pt.1,
12. Vat.lat.3837, Letters of Ivo of Chartres (1040-1116)
13. Vat.lat.3959,
14. Vat.lat.3965 (Upgraded to HQ),
15. Vat.lat.3971 (Upgraded to HQ),
16. Vat.lat.3972 (Upgraded to HQ),
17. Vat.lat.3973 (Upgraded to HQ), in Beneventan script, datable to shortly after 1178: Romualdus Salernitanus, Chronicon. Listed by Lowe.
18. Vat.lat.3980,

    Vat. lat. 3980 contains four quires that belonged to a university exemplar. The first page indicates number of the pecia, the last has the corrector's mark at the bottom. Found in the list by @JBPiggin.https://t.co/NDe7WUiwbLhttps://t.co/Ep3iQpIhZV pic.twitter.com/8LNmc2J69X

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) October 23, 2018

19. Vat.lat.3985,
20. Vat.lat.3998,
21. Vat.lat.3999 (Upgraded to HQ),
22. Vat.lat.4001 (Upgraded to HQ),
23. Vat.lat.4003,
24. Vat.lat.4032,
25. Vat.lat.4053,
26. Vat.lat.4056,
27. Vat.lat.4063 (Upgraded to HQ),
28. Vat.lat.4066 (Upgraded to HQ),
29. Vat.lat.4067,
30. Vat.lat.4081,
31. Vat.lat.4087, Jordanus lists 22 scientific works in this codex datable to 1320.
    
    One is the short text, apparently of Arabic origin, listed by Ptolemaeus, and dealing with the projection of rays, 31r-31v. Note also the six entries (under "Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana 4087") in eTK.
32. Vat.lat.4092, Roger Bacon, see Jordanus
33. Vat.lat.4109 (Upgraded to HQ),
34. Vat.lat.4111,
35. Vat.lat.4120,
36. Vat.lat.4132,
37. Vat.lat.4143,
38. Vat.lat.4145,
39. Vat.lat.15495, Bernardino of Siena, new acquisition (above)

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 182. 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.