by Francesco Paolo Magnanti
The “Liber amicorum” of Casanatense: travel notes of a 17th-century student.
The manuscript we present today belongs to a typology not very well known in Italy, which goes under the name of Libri amicorum. The Liber amicorum of Casanatense is part of a group of manuscript documents that circulated in the university circles of Padua and Siena in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The protagonist of this story and owner of our manuscript is Franz Christoph von Teuffenbach (1586-1651), scion of one of the great noble families of Styria, who began his studies in Padua in 1608. During his academic education, Franz entered into relationships with the Paduan student circle and with other young people who, like him, had come from northern Europe to study at one of the oldest and most prestigious universities of the time. Frequent contacts, circulation and exchange of ideas in a spirit of openness towards different forms of culture, led the young Teuffenbach to enrich his notebook with dates and meetings that allow us to grasp a cross-section of social life that until now had remained in the shadows.
As the historian Wipertus Rudt de Collenberg (1916-1994) rightly pointed out, the libri amicorum were a symbol of prestige and social influence: the owner of the liber sought to obtain subscriptions from illustrious people, which testified, in black and white, to belonging to a circle of friends and exclusive relationships.
And like everyone else, our Franz also asked his friends to write on the pages of his little notebook their name, the date and place, a dedication, a motto, a popular proverb, a classical quote or a quote from religious texts.
The inscriptions are surprising not only for the variety of languages in which they are expressed: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, the students’ favorite languages; Italian and French, considered elegant and cosmopolitan languages; but also because they are the demonstration of an intercultural dialogue that was in progress in a Europe torn apart by religious wars. To support and decorate the text we find watercolour drawings representing coats of arms and scenes of daily life. The manuscript consists of 75 inscriptions, 55 of which are accompanied by coats of arms.
The 9 small, very lively watercolour scenes constitute the most fascinating part of the book: in the fourth, for example, a student is depicted returning from the market, followed by a servant carrying a basket full of food. The student is certainly von Teuffenbach, who we also find later while taking a fencing lesson from a Paduan master. A gentleman could also have two libri amicorum: one reserved for illustrious people, the other dedicated to the entourage of friends and relatives. This is the case of the young Franz Christoph who in fact owned two, the one kept in Casanatense, which belongs to the category of books reserved for meetings considered “of minor importance” (friends and university colleagues) and another dedicated to people considered of greater importance, which is in London, at the Library of the British Museum.
Two drawings from the Liber amicorum are shown on two decorative panels placed to protect the bookcases in the corridor leading to the monumental hall of the Library. [foto di Francesco Volpi]