Manuscripts of John Tiptoft

John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, is sometimes described as England’s first ‘Renaissance prince’ — and that is not meant as a compliment. It is intended to suggest instead that, owing to his time in Italy in 1459 – 61, he learnt Renaissance style and Renaissance realpolitik, and then imported them to an innocent England: he was, in short, all manners and no morals. As will be clear, I have no truck with that interpretation but there is a fascination in both his book-collecting and the political activities of his circle.

As a progress report on my work on the library of Tiptoft, I provide here the list which was circulated as a hand-out when I spoke in Philadelphia in November 2007 at ‘The Treasured Hunt’ symposium, organised by the Free Library. As will be clear, several manuscripts have recently come to light; most important are the group now in Paris which can help revise our understanding of the fortunes of his collection, as well as new insight into humanism in the north-east of Italy, c. 1460.

There is one further manuscript that should be added to the ‘probable’ list below: that is Leiden: Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS. Voss. O. 59 (Tibullus, Catullus).

List of manuscripts owned by John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester

Recent discoveries are noted in bold. Rejected manuscripts are not listed.

[1]. Cambridge: Gonville & Caius College, MS. 152 / 202 (Apuleius, De Deo Socratis)

[2]. Cambridge: St. John’s College, MS. I. 38 (James 226) (humanist miscellany)

[3]. Dublin: Trinity College, MS. 438 (humanist miscellany produced in Oxford, 1450 / 1)

[4]. Kobenhavn: Kongelige Bibliothek, MS. GL. Kgl. S. 2154 (Sallust; produced in the workshop of Vespasiano da Bisticci, Florence, 1450s)

[5]. London: British Library, MS. Harl. 103 (devotional tracts; England, s. xiv) – the evidence to relate this to Tiptoft is the donor note at the foot of the contents list at fol. I^v which reads: Ex dono Illustris domini Johannis comitis / Wigornie domini Tiptot & de powis 1470.

[6]. London: British Library, MS. Harl. 2639 (Suetonius, De Grammaticis; Tacitus, De Oratoribus; s: John Free, Ferrara, ante 1462)

[7]. ?London: British Library, MS. Royal. 18. D. iv (Lydgate, Fall of Princes; England, s. xv¹) – coat-of-arms at fol. 1 includes those of Tiptoft

[8]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Arch. Selden. B. 50 (Ognibene da Lonigo, commentary on Juvenal; Padua, c. 1460)

[9]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 1. 7 (Plutarchus Latinus, Vitae; Florence, s. xv^med)

[10]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 1. 13 (Lucretius; s: ‘V. f. I’, Padua, s. xv^med)

[11]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 2. 19 (Cicero, Tusculan Disputations; Padua, c. 1460)

[12]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 2. 27 (Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones; Florence, s.xv^med) – Tiptoft annotations at fol. 26, 27^v, 28, 28^v.

[13]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 5. 4 (Juvenal; s: Bartolomeo Sanvito; Padua, s. xv^med) – John Free adds Greek at fol. 50; erased notes at fol. 87^v by Tiptoft.

[14]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Bodl. 646 (Basinio of Parma, Astronomica; Padua, 1455 x 1461)

[15]. [15]. Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Bodl. 866 (Augustine; Jerome; s. xi)

[16]. Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MS. 66 (Manilius, Astronomica; s: ‘V. f. I’)

[17]. Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MS. 82 (Quintus Curtius; s. xii)

[18]. Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MS. 91 (Nonius Marcellus; Florence, s. xv^2/4) – Tiptoft’s manicula at fol. 46; notes by him at fol. 40, 41.

[19]. Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MS. 253 (Eusebius, De Preparatione Evangelica, trans. George of Trebizond; s. xv²) – written by the scribe of Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Arch. Selden B. 50; probably identifiable as the manuscript given to Syon Abbey by Tiptoft [see V. Gillespie ed., Syon Abbey [Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, ix] (London, 2001), no. 512 [p. 149].

[20]. Oxford: Jesus College, MS. 109 (Tacitus, Augusta Historia; Ferrara, 1458)

[21]. Oxford: Magdalen College, MS. lat. 64 (Servius, Grammatica; Padua, s. xv^med)

[22]. Oxford: Merton College, MS. 315 (Eusebius, Chronicle; s. ix)

[23]. Oxford: Queen’s College, MS. 314 (Silius Italicus, Punica & Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica [incomplete]; Padua, s. xv^med)

[24]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 5714 (Thucydides, trans. Valla)

[25]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 5728 (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, dec. IV)

[26]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 7525 (Valla, Elegantiae) – annotations throughout by Tiptoft and John Free.

[27]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 7725 (Quintilian) – notes by John Free at fol. 16^r-v, 22.

[28]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 7966 (Servius) – copiously annotated by a range of hands, with Tiptoft himself present at fol. 158, 159^v, 160, 161 – 70, 171^v – 180, 184, 217.

[29]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 8064 (Lactantius, In Statium) – with Tiptoft annotations at fol. 4?, 9^v, 14, 15, 33, 44^v.

[30]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. lat. 8524 (Cicero, Epistolae Familiares) – annotations throughout by Tiptoft and John Free.

[31]. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. lat. 8677 (Macrobius, Liber Saturnaliorum etc) – with annotations by Tiptoft and John Free.

Manuscripts probably from his library:

[32]. Cambridge: University Library, MS. Mm. III. 4 (Homer, trans. Pilato; s: V f I; Padua, s. xv^med) – format very similar to Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F. 1. 13.

[33]. Oxford: Corpus Christi College, MS. 79 (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, dec. I; s: Antonio Farina, Ferrara, 1458) – annotations by John Free, and others (fol. 20^v – 24^v, 74) in a hand that also appears in MS. Arch Selden B. 50.

[34]. Pisa: Biblioteca Universitaria, MS. 531 (Lucian & Libanius, trans. Francesco Griffolini; s: Bartolomeo Sanvito) – appears to be a dedication copy for Tiptoft but no internal evidence to confirm it.