A Sixth-Century Fragment of the Letters of Pliny the Younger: A Study of Six Leaves of an Uncial Manuscript Preserved; in the Pierpont Morgan Library New YorkRand, Edward Kennard
General
A Sixth-Century Fragment of the Letters of Pliny the Younger: A Study of Six Leaves of an Uncial Manuscript Preserved; in the Pierpont Morgan Library New York
Rand, Edward Kennard
Manuscripts, Latin -- Facsimiles; Manuzio, Aldo, 1449 or 50-1515; Paleography, Latin; Pliny, the Younger -- Correspondence
The unimportant entry occurs in the lower margin of folio 53r. The words
“_uir erat in terra_,” which are apparently the beginning of the book
of Job, are written in Carolingian characters of the ninth century. As
these characters were used during the ninth century in northern Italy as
well as in France, it is impossible to say where this entry was made. If
in France, then the manuscript of Pliny must have left its Italian home
before the ninth century.[31]
[Footnote 31: This supposition will be strengthened by Professor
Rand; see p. 53.]
That it had crossed the Alps by the beginning of the fifteenth century
we know from the second entry. Nay, we learn more precise details. We
learn that our manuscript had found a home in France, in the town of
Meaux or its vicinity. The entry is found in the upper margin of fol.
51r and doubtless represents a _probatio pennae_ on the part of a
notary. It runs thus:
“A tous ceulz qui ces p_rese_ntes l_ett_res verront et orront
Jeh_an_ de Sannemeres garde du scel de la provoste de
Meaulx & Francois Beloy clerc Jure de p_ar_ le Roy
nostre sire a ce faire Salut sachient tuit que p_ar_.”
The above note is made in the regular French notarial hand of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.[32] The formula of greeting with
which the document opens is in the precise form in which it occurs in
numberless charters of the period. All efforts to identify Jehan de
Sannemeres, keeper of the seal of the _provosté_ of Meaux, and François
Beloy, sworn clerk in behalf of the King, have so far proved
fruitless.[33]
[Footnote 32: Compare, for example, the facsimile of a French deed
of sale at Roye, November 24, 1433, reproduced in _Recueil de
Fac-similés à l’usage de l’école des chartes_. Premier fascicule
(Paris 1880), No. 1.]
[Footnote 33: No mention of either of these is to be found in
Dom Toussaints du Plessis’ _Histoire de l’église de Meaux_. For
documents with similar opening formulas, see ibid. vol. ii (Paris
1731), pp. 191, 258, 269, 273.]
[Sidenote: _Conclusion_]
Our manuscript, then, was written in Italy about the year 500. It is
quite possible that it had crossed the Alps by the ninth century or even
before. It is certain that by the fifteenth century it had found asylum
in France. When and under what circumstances it got back to Italy will
be shown by Professor Rand in the pages that follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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