Codex B (Second Half 15th Century) by Not identifiedFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
A gentleman and his books
Documents and clues for a collector's Carnet de Voyage
Capitulary Library: codex B gifted by De Gregory
The Imitation of Christ is one of the best sellers of the Middle Ages. The Vercelli Capitulary Library preserves, Thanks to Gaspare De Gregory, many copies. Codex B is the most important and was probably produced in the half of 15th Century.
1349 or 1400?
For De Gregory, this version was dated 1349. However we know that the book was written around the mid-15th century and then passed to a canon of Ivrea in the mid-16th century. Later the manuscript came to a Parisian antiquarian workshop that sold it to De Gregory in 1832.
Gaspare De Gregory donated to the Capitulary Library not only the texts of the Imitation of Christ but also various manuscripts. Among the property is a tiny and valuable Book of Hours, made in an English scriptorium, probably in Yorkshire, in the first quarter of the 15th century. De Gregory acquired it in Paris between 1832 and 1836.
Codex CCXXV (First 15th Century) by English scriptoriumFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
Codex CCXXV
The manuscript is very important: it collects prayers and suffrages with miniatures and also includes a prayer written in red ink in Middle English.
Codex CCXXV (First 15th Century) by English scriptoriumFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
Latin and Middle English
Another manuscript with two tradition, as the Vercelli Book
Codex CCXVII (First half 15th Century) by Unkonwn scriptoriumFondazione Museo del Tesoro del Duomo e Archivio Capitolare
Codex CCXVII
Cordiale - Ars moriendi
The volume donated by the collector is remembered as Cordiale and preserves a manuscript version of the Ars moriendi, a kind of compendium on how to prepare well to die. Composed by an anonymous author in the first half of the 15th century, this exemplar is probably one of several coeval transcriptions circulating throughout Europe.
Gaspare De Gregory from 1798 to 1800 was in charge of Roman law and political economy in the College of Provinces. Following the French occupation of Piedmont, he was appointed sub-prefect of Lanzo in 1801, thus beginning a brilliant career in the Napoleonic era.
Politics and history
He did not only deal with politics and legislation: between 1819 and 1824 he published his Istoria della vercellese letteratura ed arti, a compendio with illustrations, born from the pen of a man who spent much time studying local history.
Valuable sources for learning about the official entry of the codices into the holdings of St. Eusebius Cathedral are the Capitulary Acts. Compiled by the canon secretary, they include the reports of the meetings of the Chapter even today as in the Middle Age. These include the one recording the donation following the opening of Gaspare De Gregory's 1846 will and the letter from his wife, Teresa Valpreda dated 23 June 1847. The letter fulfills the will of the collector: he wanted to donate the entire library to the Cathedral of Vercelli, including the part that is still located in Paris.
De Gregory and others
The Imitation of Christ collection does not end with the De Gregory legacy. There are also many volumes donated by other.
Stories of books, of men, of documents.
Story created for the Festival of Archives - Archivissima 2023
