The Fisher Antiphonary: A Gilded Window onto the Strozzi and Late Fifteenth-Century Florentine Politics

Sometime after its creation, the manuscript under investigation, a fifteenth-century Florentine antiphonary, received a remarkable new program of illumination, which included several heraldic devices and other images copied from or inspired by important Florentine works of art. Thus it lost its original liturgical role and was used simply as a canvas to demonstrate a more political and social purpose. This paper does not attempt to explain how this came about, but rather to explore the intricacies of this manuscript's new context. Besides dating its later illumination to the years around 1480, largely by identifying and analyzing the heraldic evidence, I argue that the manuscript must be placed within the humanist circle of Lorenzo de' Medici. By investigating the nuanced political atmosphere in Florence and the relations between wealthy, intellectual families of Lorenzo's circle, I furthermore conclude that Filippo Strozzi commissioned the illumination of this manuscript in order to solidify his political relationship with the Medici, to glorify his family, and to prove its devotion to Florence.

It is an exciting moment when one stumbles upon a gem that has lain hidden, undiscovered by anyone previously, and then initiates the task of uncovering the gem.¹ Latin MS 9700, formerly 9255, a large Italian antiphonary in the collections of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto, is such a find. MS 9700, henceforth referred to as the Fisher Antiphonary, has been at the University of Toronto for nearly fifty years, and was owned previously by the Royal Ontario Museum for almost sixty, yet its contents and significance are only just beginning to be explored. Although the Fisher Antiphonary appears in both De Ricci's, and Bond and Faye's catalogs, and later was included in both Elizabeth Leesti's Liturgical Manuscripts of the Middle Ages and Anne Jocz's short exhibition catalog for the Fisher Library, Fiat Lux, it has not been researched in depth, nor its particularly intriguing social and civic connections discussed (De Ricci and Wilson 2236, n. 9; Faye and Bond 533, n. 9; Leesti 41, n. 13; Jocz).

A brief description of the manuscript appropriately begins the discussion. The antiphonary covers the period from the first Sunday in Lent to the Sunday after Easter, with plainsong notation. It contains chants not only for the antiphons and responses, but also for all sung portions of the divine service. An almost illegible paper label glued on the back cover identifies the book as an antiphonary to be used through Ascension Day, whilst an Italian inscription on the inside of the front cover states that it covers the period between the first Sunday in Lent and the first Sunday after Easter.

The Fisher Antiphonary is a large choir book, measuring nearly 60 cm by 45 cm, roughly two feet by about one and a half. There are 147 thick parchment folia, or leaves, making this a sizeable tome indeed.² The manuscript has been bound in the original oak boards, which add a further 3.5 cm, or about an inch and a half, to the total thickness. The manuscript is most likely in its second binding, in which the original boards simply were turned upside down and reused. Ends of the original leather strips used in the first binding can be seen on the outer edges of the boards. The boards had been covered with brown leather in both bindings, and, as the original leather was merely covered over in the second binding, two layers of leather are visible. The edges are protected by overlapping, irregular metal plates, which are nailed unevenly to the wooden boards. Originally there were four brass quatrefoil bosses on each cover, of which half remain. A spine of light-colored, thin leather over burlap is nailed to the edges of the wooden boards. The manuscript was fitted with two large clasps during the rebinding. Paper pastedowns exist inside both the front and back covers. They are each composed of two overlapping sheets. The bottom sheet on the inside of the front cover has an Italian inscription in...