Benvenutus de Rambaldis de Imola: Libellus augustalis
Italian literary history considers the 14th century author (†1387–8) as one of the most excellent commentators of Dante. His activity as commentator is relevant in the classical and contemporary literature of Latin language, and the later generations of Humanists held his work on history in high esteem. His Romuleon is a summary of the Roman history from the destruction of Troy to Diocletian, his Histories of the Caesars (Liber Augustalis) relates the history of the Roman and Holy Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Wenceslaus IV (later the work was supplemented by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, a Humanist of Vienna who would become Pope Pius II, with the data up until his own era under the reign of Friedrich III).
Although the illumination of the codex had earlier been attributed to a Northern Italian or Florentine illuminator, the most recent results of research identified the master with the ”First Heraldic Painter”. It cannot be ruled out that also the copy was made in Buda as the scribe Antonio Tebaldeo, poet of Ferrara, had been to Matthias’ court and made the corrected version of this work on the special request of the king. (Ferenc Földesi)
The source of the data sheet below is the detailed description of the manuscript: PÓCS Dániel, “h14 (= Kalauz/Guide 2018, Kat. h14) Benvenutus de Rambaldis de Imola: Könyvecske a császárokról (Libellus augustalis seu imperatorum omnium a Iulio Caesare ad Venceslaum abbreviata descriptio)”, in ZSUPÁN, Edina, szerk., “Az ország díszére”. A Corvina könyvtár budai műhelye. Kiállítási katalógus (Budapest: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár, 2020.), 404–408.
DATA SHEET
Shelfmark: Lat. X, 235 (=3850)Country: Italy
City: Venice
Keeper location: Biblioteca Nazionale di San Marci
Digitized corvina: at the keeper location
Author: Benvenuto Rambaldi (or Rambaldis) de Imola (1320s–1387/1388)
Content: Libellus augustalis
Writing medium: parchment
Number of sheets: I + 54 + I*
Sheet size: 167 × 103 mm
Place of writing: Buda (?)
Date of writing: c. 1488/1489
Scriptor: Antonio Tebaldeo (1463–1537)
Illuminator: first heraldic painter
Place of illumination: Buda
Date of illumination: c. 1488/1489
Crest: coat-of-arms of Matthias Corvinus (King of Hungary 1458–1490, King of Bohemia 1469–1490) as King of Hungary and Bohemia with the Hunyadi raven in the inescutcheon (first heraldic painter)
Possessor, provenience: the manuscript begins with a dedication by the Ferrara poet Antonio Tebaldeo to King Matthias Corvinus, in which the poet claims to have written the text himself (probably in Buda); the codex is believed to have been taken as booty by the Ottoman army that sacked Buda Castle in 1526, from there it may have arrived in Venice in the sixteenth century; its first known modern owner was the abbé Jacopo Morelli (1745–1819), keeper of the library of San Marco, who bequeathed his library to the Biblioteca Marciana
Binding: late 18th or early 19th century parchment binding
Language of corvina: Latin
Condition: the upper part of the title page has suffered water damage, which a presumably 16th century hand has tried to repair with black ink