Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

/

Lot 124
  • 124

Treatise on the celibacy and chastity of the clergy, in Latin and Greek, manuscript on paper [western Italy (perhaps Rome or Lucca), c.1560]

Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Paper
60 leaves, 237mm. by 177mm., apparently complete (collation impracticable, but catchwords on nearly every leaf in agreement; that on fol.3 omitted), early foliation repeating 7 and omitting a leaf after 37, but followed here, single column, 19 lines in a large cursive hand, acidity of ink causing some minor shine-through from other side of leaves, first and last leaf slightly discoloured and edges in original rough-cut state and hence bumped and frayed (but with no damage to text), original limp vellum contemporary binding, with bookplate of Anthony Howe Denney (1913-90), and a nineteenth-century sale ticket pasted inside front cover

Catalogue Note

This anonymous treatise surveys the issue of clerical celibacy and chastity, a crucial point of difference between the ideologies of the Catholics and the Protestants in the sixteenth century. The author is well-read in both Latin and Greek and had access to some significant libraries, mustering the works of Jerome (fols.2v and 16r), Augustine (fol.2v), Origen (fol.3r), Clement of Alexandria (fols.3r and 6r: here Titus Flavius Clemens), Isidore of Seville (fol.18r), Sigebert of Gembloux (fol.28r), Peter Damian (fols. 35r-36r), Thomas Aquinas (fol.91v), as well as a copy of a letter of Pope Gregory VII sent to the archbishopric of Trondheim (fols.42v-43r) and a work by Bishop Aeneas of Trieste (d.1464, Pope Pius II from 1458) which was "extat in bibliotheca Marcelli secundi", ie. the library of Pope Marcellus II, 1501-55 (fol.55r). The text opens "Non novum aut recens inventum esse ..." on fol.1r and ends on 59r, "...coniugatos ad sacerdotium admittere."

It is worth noting that this may well be the author's own unique copy. Corrections to the text, such as that on fols.22r and 24r are in the main hand and are in a form inconsistent with errors made by a clumsy copyist.