Orationes ad Nicolaum V (Oration to Nicholas V) and other texts

Orationes ad Nicolaum V (Oration to Nicholas V) and other texts

This mid-fifteenth-century manuscript contains six texts relating to papal affairs in the first half of the century, each written by a prominent literary figure of the day. The first, by the diplomat and scholar Giannozzo Manetti (1396–1459), consists of an oration to Nicholas V, who was widely admired for rebuilding Rome and establishing the Vatican Library during his pontificate (1447–55). The second text consists of another oratio in praise of Nicholas V, Poggio Bracciolini’s oratio ad summum pontificem Nicolaum V, which is followed by Franciscus Florentinus’s Letter to Nicholas V. The final three tracts are shorter works by Leonardo Bruni and deal with the circumstances surrounding the Council of Basel and its convocation by Martin V (r. 1417–31). The coat of arms depicted here, a red unicorn rampant on a silver field, suggests that the manuscript’s first owner was a member of the Picenardi family of Cremona.

Authors: Giannozzo Manetti, Poggio Bracciolini, and others

ca. 1450–60

Manuscript on parchment, 32 fols.

Bryn Mawr College Library, Special Collections, MS 41

Italy