MS. Canon. Ital. 97

Summary Catalogue no.: 20149

(fols. 2r–193r)

Dante, Divine comedy

(fols. 2r–65v)

Inferno

(fols. 66r–128v)

Purgatorio

(fols. 129r–193r)

Paradiso

Fol. 1r-v blank except for later shelfmark and stamp.

No rubrics; canto numbers added in later hands in roman and arabic numerals.

Various manicules and notes, most apparently scribal, including consistent annotation of similes with 'comparatio'.

Language(s): Italian (Tuscan dialect according to Moore, possibly Romagnol according to Roddewig)

2a. (fol. 193r)

Bernardus de Canaccio

Rubric: Epitaffium ad sepulcrum dantis in Rauenna urbe factum per dominum Bernardum de Canatro[sic]

Incipit: Iura monarchie superos flegetonta lacusque

This is the only manuscript to give the author's name.

Language(s): Latin

2b. (fol. 193r–v)

Menghino Mezzani (attrib.)

Rubric: Sonettus de laude dicti domini Bernardi

Incipit: Vostro si pio officio offerto a dante

Language(s): Italian

2c. (fol. 193v)

Rubric: Responsio dicti domini Bernardi

Incipit: Quando 'l turbato uolto al bel palante

Language(s): Italian

Items 2a-2c printed from this manuscript in C. del Balzo, Poesie di mille autori intorno a Dante Alighieri II (1890), 72-77.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: i (unfoliated modern paper endleaf) + 1 + 192 + 1 + i (unfoliated modern paper endleaf) leaves

Dimensions (leaf): 230 × 150 mm.

Foliation: 1-194

Collation

1(8)-24(8) (fols. 2-193). Scribal catchwords (horizontal) in the centre lower margin.

Layout

1 col., 37-39 lines; ruled in very faint leadpoint; apparently written above top line; ruled space 160 × 82 (5 + 77) mm.

Hand(s)

Uniform Italian hybrida (single-compartment a, f and s below the baseline, b, k, h, l without loops, uncial d)

Decoration

Fine initials. (Pächt and Alexander ii. 207, pl. XIX): 10-line initial, fol. 2r, 5-6 line initials, fols. 66r, 129r.

3-line penwork initials (alternating red and blue, with flourishing in the contrasting colour) at the beginning of each canto.

Majuscules at the beginning of each terza stroked in yellow.

Binding

19th-century library binding.

History

Origin: 14th century, late, or 15th century, early ; Italian (Florence (?): see Pächt and Alexander)

Provenance and Acquisition

Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727–1805: source of acquisition not known.

Giuseppe Canonici , -1807

Purchased by the Bodleian in 1817

Record Sources

Adapted (Matthew Holford, Jan. 2025) from the following sources, with reference to published literature as cited, and limited additional description:

Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford, II (1970), no. 207

A. Mortara, Catalogo dei manoscritti italiani che sotto la denominazione di Codici Canoniciani Italici si conservano nella Biblioteca Bodleiana a Oxford, Quarto Catalogues XI, 1864)

Quarto Catalogue, col. 110

Quarto Catalogue, cols. 111–12

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 413

Bibliography

Printed descriptions:

Marcella Roddewig, Dante Alighiere: Die göttliche Komödie (1984), no. 514 (pp. 218-9)

E. Moore, Contributions to the textual criticism of the Divina commedia (1889), 517-20

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-01: Description revised for publication on Digital Bodleian.

A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges