The Regia Carmina

A complete illuminated manuscript in 60 full page color plates



The Regia Carmina is a poem of praise for Robert of Anjou King of Naples (1278-1343) from the town of Prato in Tuscany. It beseeches the King to protect Prato, to unite Italy under his rule, and to restore the papacy to Rome from Avignon, where it had relocated 30 years earlier. The poem's author, Convenevole da Prato (c.1270-1338) was a writer, ambassador and educator and is well known as the boyhood teacher of Petrarch. The manuscript's illuminator, Pacino da Bonaguida (c.1300-c.1350) was a prolific Florentine artist to whom a large number of altarpieces, miniatures and illuminations are attributed. There are three surviving copies of the manuscript. The present copy, lavishly illustrated and almost 50cm in height, is held by the British Library, London.