Parole e immagini del perduto Liber instrumentorum porte Cumane (Milano, metà del secolo XIII)

The paper aims to analyze a reused limp vellum binding of a S. Ambrogio monastery register of Milan (1283). On this parchment we can see words – title and sumary – and drawinings – two heraldic coats of arms of Porta Comasina in Milan and a semi-woody sow, a legendary animal adopted until the end of the Visconti kingdom as a founding symbol of Milan –. These words and drawinings refere this reused limp vellum binding to the lost Liber instrumentorum porte Cumane, datable back to the middle of the 13th century. This bookbinding is the only survived witness of the 13th century registers of the municipality of Milan. The codicological and historical-institutional study aims to understand the context of the primitive use of the bookbinding and through the analysis of its texts and drawings to hypothesize the content and structure of the lost Liber. Finally, the paper provides a hypothesis on the moment when the membrane was first discarded and then considered as reuse material