Fra la corte e l’Università: manoscritti miniati di età manfrediana , 2014, pp. 91 - 112.

This paper focuses on illuminated manuscripts from Manfredi’s age. Some of these manuscripts, commissioned by the Court, were probably written and illuminated in a royal scriptorium, which can be defined as a “scriptorium without scriptorium”: they include the De arte venandi cum avibus (BAV, ms Pal.lat. 1071), probably the De balneis (Rome, Bibl. Angelica, ms 1474) and the De preliis (Leipzig, Universitätsbibl., Rep. II.4° 143). Further manuscripts were written and illuminated in Naples, in a scriptorium of professional scribes working for the University (founded by Frederick II in 1224) and for the Studia (founded by the Franciscan and Dominican Orders in the fifth decade of the 13th century). Reassessing the activity of the scribe Johensis, the paper underlines the dynamic relations between the court and the university, foregrounds the figurative culture of the manuscript painters, and proposes a new chronology for the manuscripts.