THE MEDIEVAL LIBRARY OF SAVOY
During the course of the later Middle Ages the counts and dukes of Savoy acquired, by purchase, commission and inheritance, a collection of manuscripts and incunabula that, since it included such treasures as the Heures de Savoie and the Très Riches Heures, was surely one of the finest private libraries in Europe. It was a collection of such magnitude that it could be considered from several angles, and has been so treated in specialized studies by such authorities as Manno, Vayra, Mugnier, Bayot and Bruchet (1). Their articles were, however, limited in scope; no complete survey of the medieval Savoyard collection has as yet been attempted. Moreover, many documents concerning the collection have remained while of those available, many appear in faulty or conflicting versions. Therefore this article presents a general discussion of the of the Library of Savoy up to 1500 and, in succeeding issues, a critical review of the documents and a catalogue of extant manuscripts which were once part of the collection.
Information about the number and kinds of books owned by the House of Savoy up to the end of the fifteenth century derives from several sources. Foremost are twelve inventories made between 1431 and 1498 in various ducal residences on both sides of the Alps. These inventories can be further supplemented by more than one hundred contemporary entries in the accounts of the Treasurers-General of Savoy and similar records. This documentation from contemporary sources can to some extent be verified by material resulting from the subsequent history of the collection.
After the death of Duke Philibert II in 1504 his widow, Margaret of Austria, returned to the Low Countries, and inventories of her library at Malines indicate she brought with her at least fifteen manuscripts which had once belonged to the House of Savoy. The main body of the Savoyard collection was also moved, at some time in the sixteenth century, from Chambéry to Turin, where, ever increasing, it was first housed in the "Galleria Grande del Castello" (2) of the ducal palace. Following a fire
(1) For bibliography see the next issue. The research for this article was begun with the assistance of an Italian Government Grant and was completed while the author was the holder of the Founders Fellowship from the American Association of University Women ; to both sponsors the author wishes to express her deep gratitude. The patient and generous assistance of the staff of the Archivio di Stato, Torino, is hereby also gratefully acknowledged. A part of the material contained in this article was submitted in a doctoral dissertation to Columbia University.
(2) So called because it then joined the palace (now the Palazzo Reale) to the Castello di Torino (now called Palazzo Madama). The treasures of the Gallery (today serving a similar function as the Armeria Reale) were enthusiastically but loosely described by Aquilino Coppini, who visited Turin in 1613 : "Hodie me in speculam et bibliothecam ducis esse ingressum ; quem
318
