Goffredus de Trano, Summa super Rubricis Decretalium, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

195 leaves, plus 2 medieval flyleaves, 223 mm. by 148 mm., lacking first leaf and single leaves after fols. 133 and 153, else complete, collation: i^{11 [of 12, lacking i], ii-xi12, xii11 [of 12, lacking iii], xiii11 [of 12, lacking xii], xiv-xvi12, xvii6 [of 8, vii-viii cancelled], with horizontal catchwords in decorative cartouches and some leaf signatures, double column, 48 lines, ruled in plummet, written-space 162 mm. by 102 mm., beginning below top ruled line, written in dark brown ink in a small rounded gothic bookhand, some panels of decorative penwork, headings in red, capitals touched in yellow, paragraph-marks and running titles with numbers of books alternately red and blue}, illuminated initials throughout, 3-line, in gothic leafy designs in colours and burnished gold sometimes with branching marginal extensions, about 20 of them historiated with busts or faces of people (kings, bishops, priest, women and peasants), about a dozen enclosing animals or birds or fish, many initials formed of or including dragons or fish, many with marginal figures of people (a priest in a tall hat on fol. 114v, a young man with club and shield on fol. 142r, a cardinal on fol. 160v, etc.), about 25 marginal birds, about 20 marginal grotesques, etc., in an endless variety of forms, two large historiated initials, 8 lines high, enclosing a priest between two men (fol. 57r) and priests at an altar (fol. 96r), two very large miniatures for the Tables of Affinity and Consanguinity, each about two-thirds of a page in size, a few medieval sidenotes, table on chapter headings added on flyleaves at front, corners of fols. 89 and 122 torn away with slight loss of text, occasional minor stains and signs of use but generally in excellent state, bound in eighteenth-century French sheep, spine in compartments gilt, red morocco title label "de iure cano", vellum pastedowns from a fourteenth-century legal manuscript in a scholastic hand (probably transferred from an earlier binding, that at front with a late medieval title written sideways, apparently "S[ecund]a p[ar]s albe sup[er] li[bros] decr[etalium]", paper endleaves (frayed), binding scuffed, in a full green morocco fitted case, title gilt

provenance

(1) The manuscript is difficult to localise.  The parchment, script and some decoration appears southern European, even Bolognese; other decoration looks entirely French, and might easily have been Parisian.  The book could have been begun in Bologna and sent for completion and sale in Paris, or perhaps it was made in one of the law schools of southern France, such as Montpellier, where canon law had been taught from c. 1160, and where the Summa of Goffredus appears on the fairly short list of peciae texts available from the university stationers (G. Murano, Opere diffuse per Exemplar e pecia, 2005, p. 103, no. 37).

(2) In Châtillion-sur-Seine during the French Revolution, inscribed on the flyleaf "J'appartien à aquosa sufisite a Chatillon le 9 pluvois an 7 de la liberté 1792" and still there fifty years later, "Chatillon sur Seine, Cote d'or 1844, 25 fevrier" (fol. 38r).  Châtillon is in Burgundy, between Troyes and Dijon, in the department of the Côte d'Or.  It is very likely that the manuscript had belonged to the Augustinian abbey of Notre-Dame (or St-Vorle, whose relics were kept there) in Châtillon-sur-Seine, which became Génovéfain in 1634, and was suppressed at the Revolution, when the library was scattered.

(3) From a private collection, and by descent to the present owner.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

text

Goffredus was born in Trani, in Apulia, and studied canon law under Azo in Bologna, where he taught for some years.  He was later subdeacon and chaplain in the household of Gregory IX.  He was created a cardinal by Innocent IV in 1245, and died that year in Lyons.  His usable and comprehensive Summa on Gregory IX's decretals was compiled between 1241 and 1243, and was a standard guide to countless questions of medieval canon law.  The text remained in print until the sixteenth century, but there is still no modern edition.  Cf. J. F. von Schulte, Die Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des Canonischen Rechts, II, 1875, pp. 88-91; G. Le Bras, C. Lefebvre and J. Rambaud, L'âge classique, 1140-1368, Sources et théorie du droit (Histoire du Droit et des Institutions de l'Eglise en Occident, VII), 1965, p. 308 ; and Murano, as above, pp. 452-4, no. 399.  The present manuscript lacks the first leaf of Book I, continuing with Books II (De iudiciis, fol. 57r), III (De vita et honestate clericorum, fol. 96r), IV (fol. 134r, lacking first leaf) and V (fol. 154r, lacking first leaf), ending on fol. 195v, "... Explicit summa".

illumination

The very numerous small initials are filled with engaging whimsy.  The larger historiated initials are on fols. 57r and 96r.  The large miniatures are in the style of the 'Bari' workshop of Paris; cf. R. Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris during the Reign of Saint Louis, 1977, pp. 102-07 and 229-30, citing another manuscript of the present text, also illuminated in the same style, now Luxembourg ms 92.  For miniatures of comparable subjects, cf. H. Schadt, Die Darstellung der Arbores Consanguinitatis und der Arbores Affinitatis,  Bildschemata in juristichen Handschriften, 1982.

The miniatures are:

Folio 144r, The table of affinity, 122 mm. by 101 mm., a king standing between two plants holding an arrow-shaped placard inscribed with 36 red circles ranged around the head of a king, the king's feet resting on two dragons.

Folio 145v, The table of consanguinity, 104 mm. by 104 mm., a man and a woman standing among trees, holding plant stems which emerge from a lion's mouth, standing on a placard inscribed in red with two pillars and 21 circles connected at the top by arcs (supporting two dragons), two priests below.