?Muratori (Lodovico Antonio) Capitolo Fratesco, manuscript on paper, I + 200 + I leaves, variable number of lines, written in cursive, by a single hand in brown ink, contemporary half calf over boards, paper spine label with ink inscription '1521. 12 Lodov. Ant. Muratori', a little rubbed and soiled, water-stain to last few leaves, front pastedown with large label with title 'Capitolo Fratesco del Lodovico A. Muratori. Anno 1788-1789', recto of first leaf with two paper strips, first tipped into the upper margin with the authorship inscription in capital letters 'lodovico antonio muratori', second, probably in a later hand, with the note 'Ant. Muratori'.4to, 210 x 141mm., Italy, 1788-89.

⁂ The manuscript, apparently unpublished, contains the first eight chapters or canti of the Capitolo Fratesco, a poem satirising the monks of the Franciscan order. The text of the poem as known from other sources consists of sixteen cantos in all, composed in stanzas. It is in effect possible that another volume, with the subsequent eight cantos, would be transcribed by the anonymous late 18^th-century copyist. Even if incomplete of a possible second volume, this manuscript displays an interesting feature: the attribution of the redaction to the outstanding scholar, historian and librarian from Modena, Lodovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750). Many recorded manuscripts have no indication of author, whereas in others the satyrical poem is ascribed to Sebastiano Chiesa (died c.1678), who wrote under the nickname of Tisabesano Sechia, and might have belonged to the Franciscan order, or to the Jesuits. We have been unable to locate manuscripts indicating Muratori as the possible author of the Capitolo Fratesco. Furthermore, this manuscript is supplemented with footnotes, explaining historical events or identifying names and places occurring in the stanze, possibly in view of a publication of the text. Both features merit further researches.

Text: inc: Canto primo. / Argomento. / Del Capitol Fratesco all' assegnato / Luogo arrivano i Frati a schiere, a schiere: / si grida, e rumoreggia in ogni Lato /

Literature: G. Coppini, Intorno a un saggio inedito di poesia satirico-giocosa del '600: IL CAPITOLO FRATESCO del padre gesuita Sebastiano Chiesa, Padova 1955.