“The ninth form” of the Rvf: Vat. Lat. 3195 (1373-July-1374)

For Wilkins this is the “ninth and final form of the Rvf.” It coincides with the manuscript Vat. Lat. 3195 on which Petrarch worked in different period until the end of his life. Petrarch’s work on this manuscript is divided by Wilkins in sixth periods, four of them precede the Malatesta and two are subsequent to the Quiriniano form; thus, the ninth “form” represents the fifth and sixth of these periods. In 1373- early 1374 (fifth period) Petrarch added to the manuscript the Malatesta supplements.

This “form” includes 366 as for the first time were added to part one sonnets 246-254, the sonnets that foretell the death of Laura in part one. Thus, the death of Laura becomes at this stage the turning point of the entire story told in the Rvf. Petrarch added also poems 199 and 228 in the white spaces he had pre-disposed, and the following poems copied in leaves that were added: 337-349 and 356-365. Moreover, Petrarch wrote the poems 121, 246 and 327 on erasures of previous poems. Finally, Petrarch changed the order of the last 31 poems (from 336 to 366) adding a new numbering on the margins. The goal of this revision was to prepare a more coherent sequence of poems before the prayer to the Virgin that concludes the Rvf.

 

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