Codex Laurentianus Mediceus

Codex Laurentianus Mediceus

The individual manuscripts of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, which belonged to the historical basic holdings when the library was opened in 1571, are each referred to as Codex Laurentianus. The Codex Mediceus or Vergilius Mediceus is a Virgil (70-19 BC) manuscript written ca. 450 in rustic capitals preserved in the Laurentian Library, which contains the Georgics, Aeneid, and part of the Eclogues. A note at the end of the Eclogues records that the manuscript was corrected at Rome by Turcius Rufius Apronianus Asterius, who was consul in 494 during the reign of Theodoric the Great.

Form and Content of the Manuscript

Written in all capitals without punctuation or spaces between words, the manuscript contains the entirety of the Georgics and the Aeneid and only lacks the first five of the Eclogues and the beginning of the sixth up to verse 47. It is believed that the manuscript originally consisted of ca. 229 leaves, 220 of which are preserved, which measure 21.5 x 15 cm. The script is rather small in size making the manuscript appear less monumental than others, but this allows for 29 verses per page. It is a sophisticated text meant for private study rather than display, which is emphasized by the corrections made to the text for the sake of accuracy even at the expense of “marring” its appearance.

Coveted by Renaissance Humanists

The manuscript was recorded in Bobbio Abbey in the Emilia-Romagna region in 1467. In 1471, the manuscript found its way into the hands of the Italian humanist Julius Pomponius Laetus (1428-98) who made corrections of his own in red ink. It was first preserved in the Vatican Library, and later purchased by Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-74), the Grand Duke of Tuscany, from the heirs of Cardinal Rodolpho Pio da Carpi (1500-64), a prominent humanist and patron of the arts in his own right. Soon after 1587, it passed into the possession the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, where the parchment codex is kept today. There is also a folio in the Vatican Library listed Cod. Vat. Lat. 3225, f.76.