London, British Library, Add. 15274
| Library | London, British Library |
|---|---|
| Shelfmark | Add. 15274-15275 |
| Century | saec. XIV |
| Terminus post quem | 1342 |
| Terminus ante quem | 1348 |
| Provenance | Barcelona |
| European region of origin | Iberian Peninsula |
| Collection | Gratian, Concordia discordantium canonum |
| Digital Images | not online as of early 2026 |
| Description at | mirabileweb.it |
| Description at 2 | searcharchives.bl.uk (summary description) |
| Author | Giovanna Murano |
London, British Library, Add. 15274/15275 is a two-volume luxury copy of Gratian's Concordia discordantium canonum.
Note that while there are no digital images of the while manuscript available online, images of single illuminations and sometimes whole pages are found on commercial sites like AKG Images (e.g. here) and Bridgemanimages (e.g. here), and often on social media. The images seem to go back to the British Library, perhaps even a digital copy lost in the 2023 cyber-attack against the BL.
Description
Parchment; ff. 232 + 179; 480 × 295 mm; 14th century, first half (1342–48); Spain (Barcelona). Rubricated and decorated. Illuminated in the workshop of Ferrer Bassa (1285–1348).
Frontispiece (D I): the pontiff wears the triregnum (a triple-crowned tiara, in use from the time of Clement V [1305–1314]) and is seated on a cathedra; above appear two luminaries (Gen. 1:14–15); below are depicted an emperor and three princes (or kings), together with ecclesiastics, members of religious orders, and a community of laypeople. The image does not represent the council (as suggested by Herbert), nor the pope promulgating the law, but rather the pope’s threefold power: “father of princes and kings, ruler of the world, vicar of Christ on earth.” The figure of the pontiff also dominates the miniatures introducing the causae.
Coats of arms of Saportella and Pinós on fol. 3 of vol. I and on fols. 1, 9, and 89 of vol. II. Purchased at the sale of the Duke of Sussex’s manuscripts, 1 August 1844, lot 241 (2 vols.).
History
On the probable commission by Francesca de Saportella y Pinós (1336–1364), second abbess of the Royal Monastery of Pedralbes (Barcelona) and niece of Queen Elisenda de Montcada i Pinós, founder of the monastery in 1326, see Bohigas 1965; Alcoy 2015.
The Decretum, however, does not appear in the inventory of the community of nuns drawn up shortly before the death of Elisenda and of the abbess in 1364 (Eulàlia Anzizu, Fulles Històriques del Real Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes, Barcelona-Sarrià 1897, pp. 76–87). The sumptuousness of the codex (as well as its content) is not suited to a convent of Poor Clares, but it may have been commissioned by the abbess and presented as a gift to the institution which, at the behest of Queen Elisenda, guaranteed protection to the monastery (the Consell de Cent of the city?), or to the procurator Ferrer Peyrón (on whose role see A. Castellano-Tresserra, “El projecte fundacional del Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes i el Palau de la Reina Elisenda de Montcada a través de dos inventaris del 1364,” Anuario de Estudios Medievales 44/1 [2014], p. 107 and passim).
A century later, the codex was sold through the mediation of a well-known stationer (Gilbert Çacoma) and a banker. The formal transaction, which took place in 1440, is recorded in two notes:
«Jo Gilbert Çacoma, libreter, atorch a vós, honorable mosenyor frare Gabriel Manera del monestir de Santa Ana, rector de sent Bartomeu de València, que per mans mias e mjgançant jo, aueu comprat un libre apelat Decret, per preu de seysanta lls. barçalonesas, lo qual a venut mosènyer an Mjquel Barmona (sic), beneficiat an la Seu de Barçalona, los quals hauets fets donar an la taula d’En Jacme de Casasaya, canbiador, e per ço com astà an ueritat faç lo present albarà, escrit de la mia mà, a .x. de Noembre a(n)y M.CCCC.XL» (I, Gilbert Çacoma, bookseller, attest to you, the honorable Messer Friar Gabriel Manera of the monastery of Santa Anna, rector of Saint Bartholomew of Valencia, that through my hands and by my mediation you have purchased a book called Decretum, for the price of sixty Barcelona pounds. This book was sold by Messer Miquel Barmona (sic), beneficiary of the cathedral of Barcelona. The said sum you have had paid to the bank of Jacme de Casasaya, moneychanger. And since this is true, I issue the present receipt, written in my own hand, on the 10th of November in the year 1440.)
This is followed by a note by Friar Gabriel Manera:
«Item donj jo, rector de sent Bartomeu, vuy die de sent Martj del any dessús dit, e’n Gujlem Çacama, librater, per corradures del present ljbre, present Mossèn lo prior de sancta Anna, dos florjns, ultra LX lls. que fouren (!) lo preu principal del dit llibre» (Item, I, rector of Saint Bartholomew, on the day of Saint Martin in the above-mentioned year, gave to Guillem Çacama, bookseller, for the brokerage of the present book, in the presence of the prior of Santa Anna, two florins, in addition to the sixty pounds which were the principal price of the said book.)
Contents
Decretum cum Gl. ord.; add. ad Gl. ord.
Literature
G. F. Warner, Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum, London 1903, [s.p.]. – F. Warner, Reproduction from Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum, II, London 1910, p. 15 e tav. xlii (f. 172) - J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts, London 1912, 263. – Kuttner, Repertorium p. 106 – Millard Meiss, "Italian Style in Catalonia and a Fourteenth Century Catalan Workshop," Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 4 (1941), p. 76-77 e figg. 33-34. – P. Bohigas, La ilustración y la decoración del libro manuscrito en Cataluña. Gótico y Renacimiento, Barcelona 1965, I, p. 182. - Cahn, Iconography of the Division of the Powers 61 e fig. b. – Melnikas, Corpus vol. 1 pp. 135 fig. 52 (fol. 91v). – Stickler, Ursprung 353. – Nordenfalk, Review of Melnikas p. 336. – G. Coll i Rosell, "El Decretum Gratiani de la British Library: un manuscrit il‧luminat a Barcelona entre 1342-1348," Lambard. Estudis d’Art Medieval, 6 (1991-1993), p. 265-290, 489-490. - Rosa Alcoy, "Ley y potestades eclesiásticas del trecento: Patrimonio visual y contexto jurídico en las causas de un Decretum Gratiani catalán (British Library, Add.15274-15275)," Hortus Artium Mediaevalium 21 (2015) 213-228. doi: 10.1484/J.HAM.5.107390.
