‘Magis oblectatur questiones scientiarum, quam negotiis papatus’: Medical, Scientific, and Philosophical Books in the Thirteenth-Century Papal Court

Abstract

By taking as a starting point a census of thirteenth-century Roman scientific illuminated manuscripts, this article focuses on the illustrations and decorations of codices produced for cardinals’ private libraries, or for members of the papal curia. It also investigates the cultural and artistic melting pot evidenced by the illuminations of these manuscripts in their agenda of emphasizing curiositas in scientific thought - a particular interest that can be traced back to the Studium Viterbiensis’s speculative activities and to the research carried out in the papal court at Avignon.