Palermo, Biblioteca centrale della Regione siciliana, IV G 2, late 14th century (P).
Parchment manuscript, 209 ff. 375 x 260 mm. Written in two columns in early 15th century Italian Gothic script.
ff. 1ra–2ra: List of rubrics in Rev. I.
ff. 2ra–3rb: Prologus magistri Mathie by Mathias Lincopensis.
(Prologus magistri Mathie)ff. 3va–25ra. Rev. I by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)ff. 25va–26ra: List of rubrics in Rev. II.
- f. 26v: Blank.
ff. 27ra–42ra: Rev. II by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)- f. 42v: Blank.
ff. 43ra–43vb: List of rubrics in Rev. III.
ff. 43vb–57v: Rev. III by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)ff. 58ra–60vb: List of rubrics in Rev. IV.
ff. 61ra–97vb: Rev. IV by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)ff. 98ra–99va: List of rubrics in Rev. V.
ff. 99va–109vb: Rev. V by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)ff. 110ra–112vb: List of rubrics in Rev. VI.
ff. 113ra–141va: Rev. VI by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)- f. 142: Blank.
ff. 143ra–143vb: List of rubrics in Rev. VII.
ff. 144ra–153ra: Rev. VII by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)- f. 153v: Blank.
ff. 154ra–160ra: Epistola solitarii ad reges by Alfonso of Jaén.
(Epistola solitarii ad reges)ff. 160ra–161rb: List of rubrics in Rev. VIII by St. Birgitta.
(Revelationes)- f. 161v: Blank.
ff. 162ra–185ra: Rev. VIII by St. Birgitta. The text begins with an elaborate initial of Birgitta receiving the Regula Salvatoris and handing it over to a group of Birgittine nuns, dressed in the order's garb. The illustrator must therefore have been instructed in how their clothing should look.
(Revelationes)- f. 185v: Blank.
ff. 186ra–191ra: Regula salvatoris by St. Birgitta.
(Regula Salvatoris)ff. 191rb–199va: Sermo angelicus by St. Birgitta.
(Sermo angelicus)ff. 199va–202rb: Quattuor orationes by St. Birgitta.
(Quattuor orationes)ff. 202va–209rb: Relacio by Bishop Galhardus of Spoleto and Vita sancte Birgitte (Vita retractata, BHL 1334b) by Petrus of Skänninge and Petrus of Alvastra.
(Relacio Galhardi episcopi Spoletani) (Vita sancte Birgitte (Vita retractata, BHL 1334b))
Likely dating: 1384 (see provenance). Probably before the canonization of St. Birgitta in 1391 (Undhagen (ed.) 1978, p. 150). Lattanzi (1955, f. 10) dates the manuscript to the 1390s based on a style typical to the Naples school of illumination, describing the painted angels as "rigidi, legnosi, quasi rivi di muscoli". In Aili (ed. 2002), ca 1380.
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Likely Naples, where it belonged to Queen Joanna I. Can probably be identified as a manuscript dated to 1384 in a catalogue that belonged to San Martino delle Scale, a Benedictine monastery outside of Palermo (Lundén 1957, p. 1, Lattanzi 1965).
Related to New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 498 (signum Y in Undhagen (ed.) 1978), which includes similar miniatures indicating an artist from Naples (see Lattanzi 1955; 1965, pp. 62–64 & Nordenfalk 1961, pp. 373 f., 378 ff.). The manuscript Warszawa, Biblioteka Narodowa, 3310 (Tb) probably also has the same provenance.
Mentioned manuscripts:
Collijn, Isak (ed.). 1924–1931. Acta et processus canonizacionis beate Birgitte. (SFSS, Ser 2., Latinska skrifter I.) Uppsala, p. IV, n. 1. Available at Litteraturbanken.
Lattanzi, Angela Daneu. 1955. Il 'Liber Celestis Revelationum' di S. Brigida in un codice Campano della seconda metà del sec. XIV. Palermo.
Lattanzi, Angela Daneu. 1965. I manoscritti ed incunaboli della Sicilia. I. Roma, pp. 62–64.
Lo Cascio, R. 1953. La biblioteca di S. Martino delle Scale. Bolletino del Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani. I. Palermo, pp. 263–389.
Lundén, Tryggve. 1957. Den heliga Birgitta. Himmelska uppenbarelser. I–IV. Malmö, vol. I, p. 44.
Nordenfalk, Carl. 1961. Saint Bridget of Sweden as Represented in Illuminated Manuscripts. In: Millard Meiss (ed.), Essays in honor of Erwin Panofsky. Vol. 1. New York, pp. 373 f., 378 ff.
Sancta Birgitta. Opera minora. Vol. I. Regula Salvatoris. 1975. Sten Eklund (ed.). Stockholm, pp. 10, 35 ff. (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Opera minora. Vol. II. Sermo angelicus. 1972. Sten Eklund (ed.). Uppsala, pp. 10, 28 f. (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Revelaciones lib. I cum prologo magistri Mathie. 1978. Carl-Gustaf Undhagen (ed.). (SFSS, Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter VII:2.) Stockholm, pp. 150–152 (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Revelaciones lib. III. 1998. Ann-Mari Jönsson (ed.). Stockholm, p. 22 (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Revelaciones lib. IV. 1992. Hans Aili (ed.). Stockholm, pp. 23 f. (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Revelaciones lib. V. 1971. Birger Bergh (ed.). Uppsala, pp. 54–57. (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Revelaciones lib. VII. 1967. Birger Bergh (red.). (KVHAA & SFSS, Ser. 2, Latinska skrifter VII:5.) Uppsala, pp. 55 f., 58–60, 68 f. (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Sancta Birgitta. Revelaciones lib. VIII. 2002. Hans Aili (ed.). Stockholm, pp. 29–31 (MS P). Available at Litteraturbanken.
Schück, Herman. 1901. Några anmärkningar om Birgittas revelationer. (KVHAAH 33; NF 13:1). Stockholm, p. 54, note 59.
Svanberg, Jan. 1990. Initial med författarporträtt till magister Matthias prolog till Birgittas uppenbarelser. In: Hans Aili, Olle Ferm & Helmer Gustavson (eds.), Röster från svensk medeltid. Latinska texter I original och översättning. Stockholm, p. 127.
Westman, Knut B. 1911. Birgitta-studier. I. Uppsala, p. 270.