Title

Treatise. De Illis Etiam

Benavente, Juan Alfonso de (Active in Salamanca)

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Hanc repetitionem de potestate et arbitrio confessorum et de canonibus penitentialibus et de actibus confessoris fecit Iohannes Alfonsi de Benavento decretorum doctor, unam de cathedris canonum prime in Salamantino studio actu regens, die Iovis xxiii. die Octobris Anno Domini millesimoquadringentesimoquinquigesimoquinto. Et copilavit (sic) et complevit canones penitentiales et actus confessoris anno seguenti quinquigesimosexto in loco de Tejares prope Salamanticam, cum Salamantice vigeret mortalitas a festo sante Marie de augusto usque ad medietatem octobris statim sequentis. Et omnes scribentes et legentes exoro ut pro me Pater et Ave Maria devote dicant. Laudetur Deus et benedicta virgo Maria amen.

Object history

This codex was described by Seymour de Ricci (1935) in Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada as follows: "Alphonsus de Benvenuto, Tractatus "de illis etiam , on confession. Vel. (after 1456), 75 ff. (21x14 cm.), written in Spain. Written in Spain, Ilium, initial and border. Orig. Spanish wood en boards and stamped brown mor". Later, Kuttner (García, 1962) identified which work it was, which has allowed its identification.

De Illis Etiam was written by Juan Alfonso de Benavente around 1456 in Tejares (Salamanca). Juan Alfonso held a doctorate in law and was a professor of philosophy and rhetoric at the University of Salamanca. It is unknown into whose hands the manuscript passed after the death of its author, but in 1859 it was acquired by Joaquín Gómez de la Cortina, Marquis of Morante, for his residence in Madrid. Part of the marquis's library was sold to Bachelin-Deflorenne, who had a bookstore in Paris. He regretted not having been able to buy all the volumes: "Il nous fout impossible d'amener à Paris, en 1871, d'un seul bloc, toute cette bibliothèque" (Bachelin-Deflorenne, 1872).

In 1872, the marquis's books were offered for sale at the Hotel des Commissaires Priseurs (Paris). The volume is listed in the auction catalog (no. 47): "BENAVENTE (Joh. Alphonsus). Tractatus de potestateet arbitrio confessorum, de canonibus poenitentialibus et de actibus confessoris. In-4, reí. en bois, recouverte de cuir gaufré, fermoirs. (Anc. rel.) MANUSCEIT SUR VÉLIN, belle écriture du quinziéme siécle. La lettre capitale du premier f. a été peinte en or et en couleur, ainsi que les ornements de ce Feuillet".

From that point on, the tract is lost track of until Henry Walters acquires it. It is unknown how and when he acquired it, but in 1931 he donated it to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where it remains today.

Description

De Illis Etiam deals with penitential canons and acts of confession. When Juan Alfonso de Benavente wrote the volume, the plague had spread in the city, so he asks for salvation through prayer. In the first folio of the manuscript there is an illumination inside a historiated initial, in which Juan Alfonso himself appears presenting the treatise to the bishop. It consists of 78 folios and has preserved the original red leather binding.

Locations

• ca. 1456 - ca. 1478

  private collection

  Juan Alfonso de Benavente, Salamanca (Spain) *

• ca. 1859 - ca. 1872

  private collection

  Joaquín Gómez de la Cortina, Marquis de Morante, Madrid (Spain) *

• ca. 1872

  dealer/antiquarian

  Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris (France) *

• Early XX^th c. - 1931

  private collection

  Henry Walters, Baltimore (United States) *

• ca. 1931 - present

  museum

  The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (United States)