The Early Circulation of Andrea Dandolo’s Chronica per extensum descripta in the light of the ms. Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, J.IV.7

Abstract

This article examines the early circulation of the universal chronicle of the doge and prehumanist Andrea Dandolo (1306–1354). The focus of the present study is to give new insights in the transmission of Dandolo’s chronicle – and in general in the Venetian textual culture of the period – by analysing its second oldest manuscript witness, the ms. J. IV. 7 of the Turin National University Library. It will be argued, furthermore, that the Turin copy is closely linked to an early reworking of Dandolo’s chronicle, the Chronica Venetiarum attributed to the Gran Chancellor Benintendi de’ Ravagnani (c. 1318–1365). Both Chronica Venetiarum and the Turin copy reflect the response of contemporary readers to Dandolo’s chronicle as it started to circulate outside the ducal chancellery.