Details
STATUTES OF THE CONFRATERNITY OF SANTA MARIA ROTUNDA, MILAN. Latin and Italian. [Milan, after 1520].
MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, 23 leaves (of 24), [1-3 8 lacking 3/8 (presumably blank)], vertical catchwords at the right end of the last line on the last verso of each quire. 230 x 160mm. (9 x 6 1/4 in.), written in brown ink in a humanistic bookhand, ruled in blind, single columns of 26 lines, justification (170 x 117mm.). One 8-line initial consisting of a faceted roman capital in liquid gold on a dark blue ground, ornamented with pearls and white and orange flowers and green and gold foliage, with an arabesque border in orange, green, blue and gold extending the height of the inner margin (f. 1r); one 4-line and several 2-line roman capitals in red or blue; rubricated. Carefully corrected in a contemporary hand. Marginalia in several early cursive hands. Cast off for printing. The first page slightly darkened, a few minor smudges, some bleed-through of initials, two wormholes touching single letters on ff. 1-3, a few other wormholes in margins. Bound with a printed text, described below.
BINDING
Pasteboard wrapper with vellum spine and corners, stained.
TEXT
Statutes of the Confraternity of Santa Maria Rotunda in the church of S. Giovanni Laterano in Milan. (f. 1r: Al nome de la sanctissima & indiuidua Trinitate e de la gloriosa uirgine Maria & de sancto Ambrosio & de tutta la corte celestiale. Cominciano li statuti & ordini facti per la Confraternitate & consortio intitulato sancta Maria Rotunda in la ecclesia de sancto Giouane retulano de milano confirmati per le bulle apostolice del tenore infrascripto).
[Bound with a printed copy of the same text:]
Al Nome della Santissima & Indiuidua Trinit, e della Gloriosa Vergine Maria, & di S. Ambrogio, & di tutta la Corte Celestiale. Cominciano le statuti, & ordini fatti per la Confraternit, & consortio, intitolato S. Maria Rotonda, nella chiesa di S. Gio. Laterano di Milano, confirmati per le Bolle Apostolice del tenor infrascritto. [N.p., n.d.] 4to. 200 x 148mm. (8 x 5 7/8 in.). A-C 8, 12 leaves.
The confraternity of S. Maria Rotunda, like most late medieval confraternities, had both religious and charitable purposes. Its activities centered around the altar from which it took its name, that of S. Maria Rotonda in the church of S. Giovanni Laterano in Milan, which in the Middle Ages, as in this manuscript, was called S. Giovanni Itolano. The confraternity employed a stipendiary to say mass at the altar, care for the liturgical vessels and vestments, receive offerings made on behalf of the confraternity, and carry out the instructions of the organization's officers. The principal feast observed by the group was that of the Purification of Mary (Feb. 2), at which time a solemn Mass was celebrated and wax candles distributed to the members; on the following day, the office of the dead was said for the souls of deceased members. The charitable activities of the confraternity included the distribution of alms, bread and wood to the poor, and the provision of dowries for ten deserving poor girls each year. These activities were funded by contributions made by the members, who could be men or women, of the laity or the clergy. In joining the confraternity, members also obligated themselves to visit the altar of S. Maria Rotonda and say certain prayers every day, to go to confession and communion at Christmas and Easter, to be present at the burial of fellow members, and to refer disputes among themselves to the officials of the confraternity rather than appealing to other authorities. Since the confraternity was a corporation, it had several officers and a council, whose election and duties were also detailed in the statutes.
The present manuscript includes the documents essential to defining the obligations and the legal status of the confraternity. It takes the form of a document, dated 2 June 1520, in the name of Ruffinus Belingarius, vicar general of the archdiocese of Milan, addressed to Ambrosio de Seregnio, rector of the church of S. Giovanni Itolano. This forwards, and includes the texts of, two bulls of Pope Leo X, both dated 13 August 1518, that confirm the statutes of the confraternity, the Italian text of which is given in full. To these documents is appended the text of a decree of the Duke of Milan, issued in January 1486, that regulated the status of charitable institutions, and this is further confirmed by a brief pronouncement, dated 2 March 1518, in the name of King Francis I of France, who was at that time the ruler of Milan.
When the statutes of the confraternity of S. Maria Rotunda were printed, this manuscript served as printers' copy. The text has been cast off corresponding to the page divisions of the printed text that is bound with it.
PROVENANCE
Confraternity of Santa Maria Rotunda, Milan -- No. 1160 in an unidentified collection, inscription on second front flyleaf verso -- Geo. A. Leavitt & Co., Auctioneers, New York, No. 51 in an unidentified sale, probably 1880s, printed label on front pastedown -- Byron Reed, acquired before 1892.
MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, 23 leaves (of 24), [1-3 8 lacking 3/8 (presumably blank)], vertical catchwords at the right end of the last line on the last verso of each quire. 230 x 160mm. (9 x 6 1/4 in.), written in brown ink in a humanistic bookhand, ruled in blind, single columns of 26 lines, justification (170 x 117mm.). One 8-line initial consisting of a faceted roman capital in liquid gold on a dark blue ground, ornamented with pearls and white and orange flowers and green and gold foliage, with an arabesque border in orange, green, blue and gold extending the height of the inner margin (f. 1r); one 4-line and several 2-line roman capitals in red or blue; rubricated. Carefully corrected in a contemporary hand. Marginalia in several early cursive hands. Cast off for printing. The first page slightly darkened, a few minor smudges, some bleed-through of initials, two wormholes touching single letters on ff. 1-3, a few other wormholes in margins. Bound with a printed text, described below.
BINDING
Pasteboard wrapper with vellum spine and corners, stained.
TEXT
Statutes of the Confraternity of Santa Maria Rotunda in the church of S. Giovanni Laterano in Milan. (f. 1r: Al nome de la sanctissima & indiuidua Trinitate e de la gloriosa uirgine Maria & de sancto Ambrosio & de tutta la corte celestiale. Cominciano li statuti & ordini facti per la Confraternitate & consortio intitulato sancta Maria Rotunda in la ecclesia de sancto Giouane retulano de milano confirmati per le bulle apostolice del tenore infrascripto).
[Bound with a printed copy of the same text:]
Al Nome della Santissima & Indiuidua Trinit, e della Gloriosa Vergine Maria, & di S. Ambrogio, & di tutta la Corte Celestiale. Cominciano le statuti, & ordini fatti per la Confraternit, & consortio, intitolato S. Maria Rotonda, nella chiesa di S. Gio. Laterano di Milano, confirmati per le Bolle Apostolice del tenor infrascritto. [N.p., n.d.] 4to. 200 x 148mm. (8 x 5 7/8 in.). A-C 8, 12 leaves.
The confraternity of S. Maria Rotunda, like most late medieval confraternities, had both religious and charitable purposes. Its activities centered around the altar from which it took its name, that of S. Maria Rotonda in the church of S. Giovanni Laterano in Milan, which in the Middle Ages, as in this manuscript, was called S. Giovanni Itolano. The confraternity employed a stipendiary to say mass at the altar, care for the liturgical vessels and vestments, receive offerings made on behalf of the confraternity, and carry out the instructions of the organization's officers. The principal feast observed by the group was that of the Purification of Mary (Feb. 2), at which time a solemn Mass was celebrated and wax candles distributed to the members; on the following day, the office of the dead was said for the souls of deceased members. The charitable activities of the confraternity included the distribution of alms, bread and wood to the poor, and the provision of dowries for ten deserving poor girls each year. These activities were funded by contributions made by the members, who could be men or women, of the laity or the clergy. In joining the confraternity, members also obligated themselves to visit the altar of S. Maria Rotonda and say certain prayers every day, to go to confession and communion at Christmas and Easter, to be present at the burial of fellow members, and to refer disputes among themselves to the officials of the confraternity rather than appealing to other authorities. Since the confraternity was a corporation, it had several officers and a council, whose election and duties were also detailed in the statutes.
The present manuscript includes the documents essential to defining the obligations and the legal status of the confraternity. It takes the form of a document, dated 2 June 1520, in the name of Ruffinus Belingarius, vicar general of the archdiocese of Milan, addressed to Ambrosio de Seregnio, rector of the church of S. Giovanni Itolano. This forwards, and includes the texts of, two bulls of Pope Leo X, both dated 13 August 1518, that confirm the statutes of the confraternity, the Italian text of which is given in full. To these documents is appended the text of a decree of the Duke of Milan, issued in January 1486, that regulated the status of charitable institutions, and this is further confirmed by a brief pronouncement, dated 2 March 1518, in the name of King Francis I of France, who was at that time the ruler of Milan.
When the statutes of the confraternity of S. Maria Rotunda were printed, this manuscript served as printers' copy. The text has been cast off corresponding to the page divisions of the printed text that is bound with it.
PROVENANCE
Confraternity of Santa Maria Rotunda, Milan -- No. 1160 in an unidentified collection, inscription on second front flyleaf verso -- Geo. A. Leavitt & Co., Auctioneers, New York, No. 51 in an unidentified sale, probably 1880s, printed label on front pastedown -- Byron Reed, acquired before 1892.