Prosdocimus saw as the earlier theorist’s abandonment
of “Pythagorean” tuning and his faulty logic.
The manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea-Lau-
renziana, Ashburnham 206, written by Prosdocimus in
1409, is an anthology of the curriculum of the Paduan
college of arts and medicine at the time. It includes
the Algorismus de integris of Johannes de Sacrobosco,
the Algorismus de integris of Johannes de Lineriis, the
Canones supra tabulas Alphonsi and the Scriptum su-
per Alkabicium of Johannes de Saxonia, the De septem
planetis of Messahala, the Tractatus quadrantis novi
and the Canones de almanach perpetuum of Profatius
Judaeus, and the De prognosticatione mortis et vite
secundum motum lune of Pseudo-Hippocrates, among
shorter works on arithmetic, astronomy, and astrology
and several compilations of medical prescriptions.
Further Reading
Editions and Translations
Algorismus de integris magistri Prosdocimi Debeldamandis Pa-
tavi simul cum Algorismo de de [sic] minutiis seu fractionibus
magistri Ioannis de Lineriis. Venice, 1540.
Algorismus Prosdocimi de Beldamandis una cum minuciis Jo-
hannes de Lineriis. Padua, 1483.
Coussemaker, Edmond de, ed. Scriptorum de musica medii aevi
nova series, Vol. 3. Paris: Durand, 1869. (Reprint, Hildesheim:
Olms, 1963. Includes Tractatus de contrapuncto, pp. 193–199;
Tractatus practice de musica mensurabili, pp. 200–228; Trac-
tatus practice de musica mensurabili ad modum Italicorum,
pp. 228–248; Libellus monocordi, pp. 248–258; Brevis sum-
mula proportionum, pp. 258–261.)
Gallo, F. Alberto, ed. Prosdocimi de Beldemandis “Expositiones
tractatus practice cantus mensurabilis magistri Johannis
de Muris.” Prosdocimi de Beldemandis Opera, 1. Bologna:
Antiquae Musicae Italicae Studiosi, 1966.
Herlinger, Jan, ed. Prosdocimo de’ Beldomandi: Contrapunctus.
Greek and Latin Music Theory 1. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1984.
——, ed. Prosdocimo de’ Beldomandi: Brevis summula proportio-
num quantum ad musicam pertinet and Parvus tractatulus de
modo monacordum dividendi. Greek and Latin Music Theory
- Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.
——, ed. Prosdocimo de’ Beldomandi: Tractatus plane musice
and Tractatus musice speculative. (Forthcoming.)
Huff, Jay A., trans. Prosdocimus de Beldemandis: A Treatise on
the Practice of Mensural Music in the Italian Manner. Musi-
cological Studies and Documents, 29. American Institute of
Musicology, 1972.
Spherae tractatus Ioannis de Sacro Busto Anglici..., Prosdocimi
de beldomando patavini super tractatu sphaerico commen-
taria.... Venice, 1531.
Critical Studies
Baralli, D. Raffaello, and Luigi Torri. “Il Trattato di Prosdocimo
de’ Beldomandi contro il Lucidario di Marchetto da Padova
per la prima volta trascritto e illustrato.” Rivista Musicale
Italiana, 20, 1913, pp. 707–762. (Includes Tractatus musice
speculative, pp. 731–762.)
Berger, Karol. Musica Ficta: Theories of Accidental Infl ections
in Vocal Polyphony from Marchetto da Padova to Gioseffo
Zarlino. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Favaro, Antonio. “Intorno alia vita ed alle opere di Prosdocimo
de Beldomandi matematico padovano del secolo XV.” Bullet-
tino di Bibliografi a e di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche e
Fisiche, 12, 1979, pp. 1–74, 115–251. (Includes Canon in quo
docetur modus componendi et operandi tabulam quondam,
pp. 143–145; and De parallelogrammo, p. 170.)
——. “Appendice agli studi intorno alla vita ed alle opere
di Prosdocimo de Beldomandi matematico padovano del
secolo XV.” Bullettino di Bibliografi a e di Storia delle Scienze
Matematiche e Fisiche, 18, 1985, pp. 405–423.
Gallo, F. Alberto. “La tradizione dei trattati musicali di Prosdo-
cimo de Beldemandis.” Quadrivium, 6, 1964, pp. 57–84.
Herlinger, Jan. “What Trecento Music Theory Tells Us.” In Ex-
plorations in Music, the Arts, and Ideas: Essays in Honor of
Leonard B. Meyer, ed. Eugene Narmour and Ruth A. Solie.
Festschrift Series, 7. Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon, 1988, pp.
177–197.
Lindley, Mark. “Pythagorean Intonation and the Rise of the
Triad.” Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, 16,
1980, pp. 4–61.
Sartori, Claudio. La notazione italiana del Trecento in una re-
dazione inedita del “Tractatus practice cantus mensurabilis
ad modum ytalicorum” di Prosdocimo de Beldemandis.
Florence: Olschki, 1938. (Includes Tractatus pratice cantus
mensurabilis ad modum Ytalicorum, pp. 35–71.)
Jan HerlingerPTOLEMY OF LUCCA
(c. 1236–1327)
Ptolemy Fiadoni of Lucca (Tolomeo, Tholomeo,
Ptolomeo, Bartolomeo) was a member of a family that
belonged to the Lucchese commercial elite, though not
the aristocracy. He entered the Dominican convent of
San Romano at Lucca at an unknown date, but obviously
before he accompanied Thomas Aquinas on a journey
from Rome to Naples in 1272. He remained in Rome
with Aquinas until 1274, probably helping him set up
a studium of theology in the Neapolitan convent of San
Domenico. Ptolemy included a long account of Aqui-
nas’s life and works in his Historia ecclesiastica nova.
Ptolemy may also have visited or lived in Rome during
the time of Pope Nicholas III (r. 1278–1280), since his
Historia ecclesiastica contains interesting descriptions
of Nicholas’s building projects. Libellus de iurisdictione
imperii et auctoritate summi pontifi cis (usually called
Determinatio compendiosa), written at about this period,
seems to breathe the spirit of Nicholas’s pontifi cate.
In 1283–1285 Ptolemy visited Provence. In 1285 he
was made prior of San Romano in Lucca. In 1288 he
was named preacher-general of his order and attended
its general chapter in Lucca; he was a diffi nitor at the
general chapters of 1300 at Marseilles and of 1302 at
Cologne. During the years 1287–1307 there are frequent
documentary references to his presence in the Lucchese
convent, often as prior; he was also (from 1300 to 1302)
prior of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. During this
period he made other trips outside Lucca; for example,
Ptolemy witnessed the election of Celestine V at PerugiaPROSDOCIMUS DE BELDEMANDIS