Notes on Old Books

Notes on Old Books TEDALDO DE CASA OF MUGELLO, O.F.M. CONV., COPYIST OF MANUSCRIPTS In the annals of Italian Humanism the Friar Minor Tedaldo de Casa of Mugello occupies a conspicuous place as a zealous transcriber of the works of the classical authors. He lived at Florence, where he came in contact with the leaders of the Renaissance movement. In 1378 he went to Padua to copy there some of the works of Petrarch with great accuracy to prevent eventual loss and to insure a good transmission of text to posterity. Apparently his friend Coluccio Salutato, the chancellor of the Republic of Florence, had suggested this work to him. In Florence he continued his transcription of Petrarca's writings from their autographs. Of classical authors he transcribed the tragedies of Seneca, the Heroides of Ovid, Latin translations of Xenophon and Lucian. Besides he copied Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and some works of St. Basil the Great. The zeal and patience displayed in this work of transcription must have been immense as he transcribed also a goodly number of theological works, among them the voluminous commentaries of Nicolas of Lyra on the Old Testament . The last mentioned work occupied him three entire years. Friar Tedaldo's transcriptions are scrupulously accurate and the friar gloried in this. He indicated by a sign that the author has accidentally omitted a word in the text; likewise he pointed out what should be changed or cancelled. If a word could be read in different ways, he placed the variant reading on the margin with an "alias." If the text contained an evident mistake, he placed the correct reading on the margin with a lege. Friar Tedaldo, moreover, compiled alphabetical indices to the works transcribed whenever this addition seemed necessary. Apparently Salutado inspired Friar Tedaldo in this matter also. It seems even probable that Friar Tedaldo could also transcribe in Greek letters the Greek quotations found in the Latin works. Such a copyist who fully understood the text of his author and followed the text with great fondness ranked immediately after the professional philological editor. Friar Tedaldo was no mercenary copyist; he labored privately and bequeathed his transcriptions to his confrères of Santa Croce in Florence. From the library of that monastery many of these manuscripts passed into the Laurentian Library of Florence where they are still preserved (Bandini, Catalogus codicum latinorum bibliothecae Medicae Laurentianae , Florentiae 1776, IV, 160, 163, 168, 174, 175, 180, 189, 196, 198, 207; Georg Voigt, Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums, Berlin , 1893, I, 397-398). On October 4, 1409, Alexander V nominated Friar Tedaldo Apostolic Chaplain describing him in his Breve as an old religious who spent many years in the service of God, in the study of Sacred Scripture, and in edifying his confrères by word and example (Wadding. Annales, Quaracchi, 1932, IX, 622). 108 MISCELLANEA109 ANTONIO DA RHO, ORD. MIN. (d.c. 1450), HUMANIST Friar Antonio, born in the village Rho near Milan (called in Latin Raudensis), was one of the four Franciscan Friars who took part in the Renaissance movement and for this reason found a place in the annals of classical scholarship. In 1431 Friar Antonio was nominated head of the school in Milan to succeed the celebrated Gasparino de Barzizza. He was principally a theologian, but he was also an excellent Latin grammarian , and well versed in classical lore. Little is known about his activity as professor of classical language and literature. Seemingly the duke Fillippo Maria Visconti who appointed Friar Antonio to his office took little interest in the school, and the scions of nobility for whom the school was intended likewise did not take much interest in classical scholarship. However, the writings of Friar Antonio created a sensation by his selection of peculiar topics. In 1443 this friar published his Three Dialogues on the Errors of Lactantius which he dedicated to Pope Eugene IV. The work is a series of dialogues in imitation of Cicero. The interlocutors are almost all laymen . Friar Antonio introduces himself as a mere listener and thereby he cautiously can waive the responsibility for the rather bold assertions made by his interlocutors. Thus not only St. Augustine...