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Making the Renaissance Manuscript

Title

Legenda aurea (Golden Legend)

Description

Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend was among the most widely reproduced late medieval texts. This manuscript reproduces an Italian translation of all 182 of de Voragine’s chapters. The present copy, which is dated in its anonymous colophon to 19 April 1459, predates the first printed edition of the work (Cologne, 1470) by over a decade. This volume bears several ownership inscriptions, including the from the library of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Ferrara from an early date. This foundation was home to the firebrand preacher Girolamo Savonarola (1452–98) who would serve as assistant master of novices from 1478 to 1482. Such a provenance is unsurprising, as the Golden Legend was used extensively by members of the Preaching Orders as a source book for constructing sermons.

Creator

Author: Jacobus de Voragine

Date

1459

Format

Manuscript on paper, 154 fols.

Identifier

University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Codex 434

Coverage

Italy (Ferrara?)

Tags

No tags recorded for this item.

Citation

Author: Jacobus de Voragine, “Legenda aurea (Golden Legend),” Making the Renaissance Manuscript, accessed April 30, 2024, http://makingrenmanuscripts.exhibits.library.upenn.edu/items/show/47.

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