Beschreibung:

Lorenzo Zanardi, Compendio del Tratterimento della Fiandra, in Italian, manuscript on paper [Italy, early eighteenth century] 101 leaves (plus an endleaf at front and back), textually complete, wanting only cancelled blanks at end of some sections, single column of 20 lines in an italic hand, titles in same, small spots and scuffs, else good condition, 200 by 145mm.; contemporary limp parchment binding with yapp edges, gilt and coloured doublures and red speckled fore-edges Provenance: 1. Walter Sneyd (1752-1859), of Keele Hall, Staffordshire, MP. and book collector (see S. de Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts , 1930, pp. 136-7): his circular bookplate on pastedown; his large library was sold at Sotheby's, 16 December 1903, the present manuscript as lot 292. 2. Sold in our rooms, 14-15 December 2011, lot 62. Text: A collection of twelve Italian tracts on the history and geography of Flanders as well as Holland and Frisia including Utrecht (with entries town by town), the state of heresy (ie. Protestantism) there, contemporary politics of the region and the elite families of Flanders, by Lorenzo Zanardi, an officer in the Flemish forces (see J.J. Poelhekke, Twee Bolognese manuscript-tractaten over de Nederlande , 1965, describing the copy in the Archiginnasio Library, Bologna). The rule of the Catholic Spanish Hapsburgs over the southern Netherlands in the so-called long seventeenth century (1598-1713), made the region a key player for the Italian elites in Protestant northern Europe, leading to great demand for lengthy and comprehensive studies such as this one. The present text refers in the second tract to Charles II of Spain (d. 1700) as presently ruling, and so the work most probably dates to the very early eighteenth century To view a video of this item, click here.