In the transmission of Mussato\u2019s "De gestis Henrici VII Caesaris" two families of manuscripts preserve two stages of composition of the text. Some variants (especially the ones concerning Margaret of Brabant\u2019s portrait) permit to establish which is the older stage, handed down by two manuscripts (Padova, Biblioteca Civica, B.P. 935; Citt\ue0 del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 2962) and probably spread by Albertino Mussato himself to a narrow circle of friends before December 1315. We suppose in this first circulation Mussato\u2019s work was already followed by the books I-IV of "De gestis Italicorum post Henricum VII Caesarem". The second stage, differing from the first one for several additions and many other variants, is included in a complete edition of the Mussato\u2019s historical works maybe dating back to the scriptorium of the author in the last months of his life (Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, A 261 inf.; Padova, Biblioteca del Seminario, I A; Modena, Biblioteca Estense, lat. 433 [\u3b1.Q.4.16])
