B_OB_MS420 - [Cronica fratris martini ordinis predicatorum dicta martiniana; De regibus Francorum]
[Cronica fratris martini ordinis predicatorum dicta martiniana; De regibus Francorum]
Martinus Oppaviensis - gest. 1278 (VIAF: 2614028) - auteur
Manuscript 420 is a collection of two historical texts. The first (ff. 1r-114v) is the Chronicon Pontificum et imperatorum of Martin of Opava (Martinus Oppaviensis). Of this famed chronicle, Bruges holds a second copy (ms. 48). Unlike the latter, ms. 420 does not present the history of the papacy and the emperors in parallel columns on the verso and recto pages, but consecutively. Each part is introduced by a list of the dignitaries: the popes (ff. 1r-6v) from Saint Peter to Nicholas V, and the emperors (ff. 81r-83v) from Augustus to Frederick II, with the year of their ascension. The lists show preferences and ideals. The list of popes lacks the period 1342-1409 and then lists the papal claimants in Pisa, rather than the Roman pontiffs. The list of emperors portrays the idea of 'translatio imperii' as it suggests a seamless transition of supreme imperial dignity from the Roman emperors to the Eastern-Roman/Byzantine emperors, and from 801 (sic) to Charlemagne and the Holy Roman emperors. The full text of the chronicle on the emperors is taken from Martin of Opava. The chronicle on the popes follows Martin's text until Nicholas III; the rest of the text is by an anonymous continuator. This continuation, however, does not follow the Continuatio Pontificum Romana as edited in the MGH and has not yet been identified. The scribe enlarged the chronicle with other information. Many coronation dates have been checked with other sources, as they are followed by 'alibi' and a variant date (often a few years earlier or later). Others having been marked as correct: 'bene'. In other instances he refers directly to his other source(s): on f. 82v he notes in the margin that he could find almost nothing about the emperors Nicephorus and Michael: 'de istis duobus imperatoribus in alia cronica nichil inueni nisi quod ', while he mentions an alternative list of popes: 'In cronica fratris bernardi guidonis de qua addictions (sic) infrascripte sunt extracte: ponitur post benedictum II Iohannes V, qui '. Many marginal references are made to other chronicles. The second - much smaller - text is a chronicle on the kings of the Franks. It is introduced as 'De regibus Francorum', but this title is not found in the other known copy of the text: BnF Latin 1523. The chronicle presents an abridged history of the 'first king' Pharamund, a (most likely legendary) fourth-century leader of the Salian Franks, and runs until the year 1481 and the reign of Louis XI. The manuscript dates to the fifteenth century; as the list of popes ends with Nicholas V (r. 1447-1455), it is likely to have been written in the written in the years following 1447. Both texts were copied simultaneously by a single scribe, in a gothic hybrid script. The text is written in a single column per page, but with many entries in the margins. Decoration is sparse but consistent: red lombards have been added throughout the manuscript, and the majuscules have been highlighted in the same colour. Between the texts are several blank leaves. The binding is seventeenth- or eighteenth-century brown leather over cardboard. There are no provenance or ownership marks. [Summary by Dr. Mark Vermeer]