Details
SOMMI, Maladobato (d. 1474). De Cremonensi obsidione, in Latin, MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER
Cremona, 12 December 1446
Chancery 4° (200 x 142mm). 12 leaves: 112, foliated 64-75 by a later hand (ff. 74v-75v blank), single columns of 30 lines, vertical ruling in lead, horizontal lines in pale brown ink, justification: 150 x 105mm, written in brown ink in a humanistic bookhand, in the margins a few corrections by the original scribe, calligraphic initials with delicate penwork decoration and drolleries in the same ink as the text (marginalia cropped, ink spots in the margin of f.64, waterstains in the extreme lower margin of ff.64-69). 19th-century brown morocco gilt, with the sides of an earlier gilt calf binding laid down (edges rubbed, slightly wormed).
PROVENANCE:
1. Maladobato Sommi: author's autograph (?) copy signed 'Malladobatus' at the end of the first prologue (f.64) and dated 'Cremone die xi decembris 1446' at the end (f.74); presented to:
2. Pier Giorgio Almerici da Pesaro: prologue addressed to him; by descent to
3. Biblioteca Almerici [Pesaro]: note on flyleaf (sale, Pesaro, ca. 1878); purchased by
4. Marchese Ciro Antaldi: note on flyleaf; given to
5. Marchese Guido Sommi Picenardi: note on flyleaf dated 29 August 1878, published edition of text.
CONTENTS:
THE ONLY RECORDED MANUSCRIPT, PROBABLY AUTOGRAPH, of Maladobato Sommi's account of the siege of Cremona in 1446. Filippo Maria Visconti had included Cremona in the dowry of his daughter Bianca Maria on the occasion of her marriage to Francesco Sforza. Repenting of this decision, he determined to retake the city, arranging, as he thought, to have Cremona betrayed to his troops by allies within the walls. When this plan failed, he attempted to take the city by siege, but was defeated after several months of campaigning. Maladobato, lord of Sommo, a small village near Cremona, was witness to the events of the siege, which he recounts, beginning with the sudden appearance of hostile troops before Cremona on 1 May 1446. He describes with vividness the terror of the citizens of Cremona, the feverish preparations for war, and the events that led to the isolation and defeat of the Milanese army before the end of 1446.
As indicated by the prologues, the work was written 'amore clarissimi viri Cichi Calabri', i.e., out of regard for that distinguished man, Cicco Simonetta, Francesco Sforza's secretary, to whom the second prologue was addressed. This copy was intended for presentation to Pier Giorgio Almerici of Pesaro, governor ['praetor'] of Cremona, the addressee of the first prologue. The manuscript must have been carried by him or his descendants to Pesaro, from which it returned to a descendant of its author in the nineteenth century.
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum, records only this work by Maladobato Sommi and only this manuscript. The Latin text of De Cremonensi obsidione was published in 1880 from this codex by Guido Sommi Picenardi, and this edition was reviewed by F. Novati in Archivio Veneto, vol. 19, 1880.
With:
Dell'assedio di Cremona: cronaca inedita di Maladobato Sommi. Firenze: A spese dell'editore, 1880. 32 pp., photographic frontispiece. 177 x 117mm. Edition of 300 copies. Tree calf, sides framed with ornamental gilt rules. (2)
Cremona, 12 December 1446
Chancery 4° (200 x 142mm). 12 leaves: 112, foliated 64-75 by a later hand (ff. 74v-75v blank), single columns of 30 lines, vertical ruling in lead, horizontal lines in pale brown ink, justification: 150 x 105mm, written in brown ink in a humanistic bookhand, in the margins a few corrections by the original scribe, calligraphic initials with delicate penwork decoration and drolleries in the same ink as the text (marginalia cropped, ink spots in the margin of f.64, waterstains in the extreme lower margin of ff.64-69). 19th-century brown morocco gilt, with the sides of an earlier gilt calf binding laid down (edges rubbed, slightly wormed).
PROVENANCE:
1. Maladobato Sommi: author's autograph (?) copy signed 'Malladobatus' at the end of the first prologue (f.64) and dated 'Cremone die xi decembris 1446' at the end (f.74); presented to:
2. Pier Giorgio Almerici da Pesaro: prologue addressed to him; by descent to
3. Biblioteca Almerici [Pesaro]: note on flyleaf (sale, Pesaro, ca. 1878); purchased by
4. Marchese Ciro Antaldi: note on flyleaf; given to
5. Marchese Guido Sommi Picenardi: note on flyleaf dated 29 August 1878, published edition of text.
CONTENTS:
THE ONLY RECORDED MANUSCRIPT, PROBABLY AUTOGRAPH, of Maladobato Sommi's account of the siege of Cremona in 1446. Filippo Maria Visconti had included Cremona in the dowry of his daughter Bianca Maria on the occasion of her marriage to Francesco Sforza. Repenting of this decision, he determined to retake the city, arranging, as he thought, to have Cremona betrayed to his troops by allies within the walls. When this plan failed, he attempted to take the city by siege, but was defeated after several months of campaigning. Maladobato, lord of Sommo, a small village near Cremona, was witness to the events of the siege, which he recounts, beginning with the sudden appearance of hostile troops before Cremona on 1 May 1446. He describes with vividness the terror of the citizens of Cremona, the feverish preparations for war, and the events that led to the isolation and defeat of the Milanese army before the end of 1446.
As indicated by the prologues, the work was written 'amore clarissimi viri Cichi Calabri', i.e., out of regard for that distinguished man, Cicco Simonetta, Francesco Sforza's secretary, to whom the second prologue was addressed. This copy was intended for presentation to Pier Giorgio Almerici of Pesaro, governor ['praetor'] of Cremona, the addressee of the first prologue. The manuscript must have been carried by him or his descendants to Pesaro, from which it returned to a descendant of its author in the nineteenth century.
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum, records only this work by Maladobato Sommi and only this manuscript. The Latin text of De Cremonensi obsidione was published in 1880 from this codex by Guido Sommi Picenardi, and this edition was reviewed by F. Novati in Archivio Veneto, vol. 19, 1880.
With:
Dell'assedio di Cremona: cronaca inedita di Maladobato Sommi. Firenze: A spese dell'editore, 1880. 32 pp., photographic frontispiece. 177 x 117mm. Edition of 300 copies. Tree calf, sides framed with ornamental gilt rules. (2)