I rotoli del «Compendium historie in genealogia Christi» di Pietro di Poitiers: origini e primo sviluppo dal testimone di Milano, Biblioteca Trivulziana, ms. 489

The complicated diagram known as «Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi», or simply «Genealogia Christi», created by Petrus of Poitiers at the end of the XII century, appears in a large number of manuscripts – many of which are rolls. The diagram consists of the genealogical tree of Jesus Christ – from Adam through the patres of the Old Testament – sided by diagrams describing some biblical stories. Only in recent years has resarch tried to verify the sources, the use and the meaning of this work. Further considerations about the manuscript tradition and the text lead us to think that the original form of this scholastic tool was a parchment roll. Moreover, a closer consideration of the sources, particulary of the works of Peter Comestor, indicates that the diagram was first drawn before 1183. Among the re-elaborations that can be found in the manuscript tradition, the contribution takes into account the roll of Milano, Biblioteca Trivulziana (ms. 489), where the central line runs as usual from Adam to Christ, and then beyond, representing the popes in the centre, and emperors and other kings on the sides. Through the analysis of the text and some of the additions it can be inferred with some precision that it was realized between 1216 and 1222, either in Veneto or in Emilia-Romagna. The objective of this particular version is to underline the line of the popes – and their power, which would come from Jesus Christ – that represents, in the view of the author, the central axis of history until his return.