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Detailed record for Harley 5644
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| Author |
Vitzentzos Kornaros |
| Title |
Erotokritos, romance in 15-syllable rhymed couplets, prededed by a table of contents (ff. 1-8) |
| Origin |
Greece, Ionian Isles |
| Date |
1710 |
| Language |
Greek |
| Script |
Greek minuscule |
| Decoration |
One tinted drawing (f. 9). 121 pen drawings. Title in display capitals (f. 10). Large initials with foliate decoration in brown or red. Tailpieces in foliate design in ink. Headpieces in geometric design in black and red. Initials, rubrics and running titles in red, black and brown. |
| Dimensions in mm |
220 x 150 (148 x 90) |
| Official foliation |
ff. ii + 264 (ff. i-ii are early modern flyleaves; + 2 unfoliated modern flyleaves at the beginning and 1 early modern and 2 modern at the end). |
| Collation |
Gatherings mainly of 8 or 10. |
| Form |
Paper codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1913; marbled endleaves. |
| Provenance |
The manuscript was copied in 1710 as suggested by the date in the title (f. 10).
Nikolaos Rhodostamo of Corcyra : purchased from him by Edward Harley on 23 October 1725 (see Wright and Wright 1966; Wright 1972).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley, ‘23 die Octobris, A.D. 1725’ (f. ii).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
The author of the poem has been identified as Vincenzo Cornaro (or Corner; b. 1553, d. 1613/4), member of the Greek branck of the Venetian family: see Gino Benzoni, 'Corner, Vincenzo', in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 129 (Rome: Treccani, 1983), pp. 262-67; David Holton, Erotokritos, Studies in Modern Greek (Bristol: Bristol Classical, 1991), pp. 3-6; Betts, Gauntlett and Spilias 2004, xi-xii.
Old pagination '1-509' (ff. 20-263), omits pp. '191-192' excised after f. 104.
Watermark: 3 Crescents.
The text was printed in Venice by Antonio Bortoli in 1713 from a manuscript no longer extant (see Summary Catalogue 1999). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III (1808), no. 5644.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, pp. 379 n. 3, 389 n. 15, 391 n. 7.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 285, 460.
Literature and Society in Renaissance Crete, ed. by David Holton (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 240, 297 [with further bibliography].
Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts (London: British Library, 1999- ), I, p. 153 [with further bibliography].
Vitsentzos Kornaros, Erotokritos. A Translation with Introduction and Notes, by Gavin Betts, Stathis Gauntlett and Thanasis Spilias, Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Byzantina Australiensia, 14 (Melbourne: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 2004), p. xvi. |
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f. 10
The author |
f. 14
Rotokritos and Polidoros |
f. 14
Rotokritos and Polidoros |
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f. 19
Rotokritos and Polidoros |
f. 23v
Rotokritos and Polidoros |
f. 25
Rotokritos and Polidoros |
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f. 30v
Rotokritos and Pezostratos |
f. 42
Rotokritos and Polidoros |
f. 67v
Nikostratis, Lord of Macedonia |
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f. 111
Haridimos and Nikostratos |
f. 154
Rotokritos and Aretusa |
f. 178v
Iraklis, Aretusa and Frosini |
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f. 181v
Aretusa and Frosini |
f. 188
Vladistratos, king of Vlachia |
f. 189v
Rotokritos |
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f. 193v
Rotokritos |
f. 235v
Rotokritos and Frosini |
f. 248v
Rotokritos, Aretusa and Frosini |
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f. 259
Rotokritos |
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