Collection of Sibyllic prophesies, some apocalyptic and concerning the coming of the Antichrist, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, mid-fifteenth century (probably after 1456)]

Collection of Sibyllic prophesies, some apocalyptic and concerning the coming of the Antichrist, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, mid-fifteenth century (probably after 1456)]

16 leaves (plus one early nineteenth-century paper endleaf at front and back), complete in itself but perhaps once part of a larger compendium, collation: i-ii8 (last leaf blank), single column of 21 lines of a skilled semi-humanist hand, marginalia and interlinear additions made in tiny hairline script, many with penwork symbols to show where they attach to main text, simple penwork initials in last few leaves, spaces left for initials, watermark tri-lobed hill/Golgotha surmounted by a Cross, some spots and small stains, else excellent condition, 223 by 150mm.; early nineteenth-century card binding with blue edged collection label (84 / D.1) at base of spine

The main text here is a personal scholars copy of a collection of the prophecies of the Sibyls, in the same form as found in Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, San Marco, MS. 621, fols. 402v-05r. Here it has been substantially added to interlineally and in the margin by its first owner over some time. The Sibyls were the prophetesses of the Ancient Greek world, first mentioned in writing in the fifth century BC., and their recorded prophecies were transmitted through Roman accounts of them to the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Along that path, these prophecies were amalgamated with Christian belief and the medieval history of the various European nations, with some fuelling the legends of the coming of the Antichrist. Here on fols. 3v-4r when reporting the prophecy of the Erythraean Sibyl concerning the rise of a marvellous star bearing the image of the four creatures of Revelation (lion, ox, man, eagle), that would proceed the arrival from the East of a terrifying beast with 663 feet, the text interprets this as an account of the coming of the Antichrist and the End of Days. Our scribe contextualises this even further within his world, adding the words macometus and saraceni observatus leges machometi in tiny script above bestia. Constantinople had fallen to the Turks in 1453 and it clearly influenced his glossing here; further mention is made of the kings of Jerusalem and Sicily on fol. 5r, and Constantinople on fol. 6r.

Another hand adds a lengthy near-contemporary note on the works of Valerius Maximus on fol. 10r, before carrying on to alphabetically list subject matters in that work (A-T but without accidental loss at end). The book ends with a copy of the tombstone inscription of St. Umberto Accarigi of Siena (d. 1348).