De miseria humane conditionis (On the Misery of the Human Condition), and other ascetic tracts
Title
De miseria humane conditionis (On the Misery of the Human Condition), and other ascetic tracts
Description
This ascetic miscellany contains a selection of works related to self-privation, and yet, its first page is decorated with vibrant white-vine motifs fashionable in central Italy around 1470. Five texts are included in the miscellany, beginning with the anonymous tract on the art of dying well, De arte bene moriendi, followed by an excerpt from the legend of Saint Bernard by Jacobus da Voragine. The manuscript’s longest text, the De miseria humane conditionis, was authored by Lothar of Segni (1160 or 1161–1216), who would reign from 1198 as Pope Innocent III. His text was extremely popular in the later centuries of the Middle Ages and survives in over 700 other copies. The other texts in this miscellany consist of a rhyming poem on the fifteen signs of doomsday extracted from Jacobus da Voragine’s writings and a dialogue between the body and the soul attributed to Saint Bernard.
Creator
Author: Lothar of Segni (Innocent III)
Date
ca. 1470
Format
Manuscript on paper paper, 56 fols.
Identifier
University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Codex 717
Coverage
Italy
Tags
Citation
Author: Lothar of Segni (Innocent III), “De miseria humane conditionis (On the Misery of the Human Condition), and other ascetic tracts,” Making the Renaissance Manuscript, accessed May 2, 2024, http://makingrenmanuscripts.exhibits.library.upenn.edu/items/show/13.
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