Cronica compendiosa dall'anno nel quale io Domenico Mancini entrai nella Comp[agnia] di Giesù.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Mancinus, Dominicus, active 1478-1491.

Contributor:

Rainsford, Charles, 1728-1809, former owner.

Northumberland, Hugh Percy, Duke of, 1742-1817, former owner.

Charles Rainsford Collection of Alchemical and Occult Manuscripts (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

Italian

Latin

Subjects (All):

Naples (Italy)--History--1503-1734.

Naples (Italy).

Jesuits--Italy--Naples.

Jesuits.

Genre:

Codices.

Diaries.

Manuscripts, Italian.

Manuscripts, European.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly housed in the library of the Jesuit College of Naples (note, f. 1r).

Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.

Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 578, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014.

Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.

Physical Description:

303 leaves : paper ; 184 x 100 (168 x 80) mm bound to 201 x 154 mm

Place of Publication:

[Naples], 1668-1732.

Language Note:

Italian, with a few leaves in Latin.

Summary:

Diary written by Jesuit brother beginning with his induction into the Society of Jesus in 1668 (f. 180r) and chronicling events up to the year 1732 (f. 68v). Entries discuss current events such as eruptions of Mount Vesuvius including a particularly severe one in 1698 (f. 212r), the deaths and successions of various popes and important figures, the canonization of saints such as the Jesuit Saint Francis Borgia in 1671 (f.161v), incidents involving the poison acqua tofania (f. 109v), regular reports of the liquefaction of the blood of Saint Januarius (f. 296v), the patron saint of Naples, and the prevention of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius by displaying the head of Saint Januarius, and numerous other military and civil events.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title from title page (f. 180r).

Foliation: Paper, ii (modern paper) + 303 + ii (modern paper); [i, 1-302]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto. Partial contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners.

Script: Written in a semi-cursive script.

Binding: Modern half leather. Boards warped and spine leather cracking. Extremely fragile due to severe water damage to lower portion of all folios with significant loss of text.

Origin: Written in Naples, from 1668 (f. 180r) to 1732 (f. 68v).

Local Notes:

Purchased with support from the B. H. Breslauer Foundation.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1667.

OCLC:

905911574

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.

Online:

Unique at Penn blog post