Manuscripts (Medieval Studies)

„Tu deinen Mund auf und iss, was ich dir geben werde.“ Der Adressat dieser Anweisung ist der alttestamentliche Prophet Ezechiel, der von Gott angehalten wird, eine Schriftrolle zu essen, ihren Inhalt sich einzuverleiben und die sich auf diese Weise angeeigneten Worte Gottes zu verkünden (vgl. Ez 2,8ff.). In jenen Texten des Mittelalters, die unter der literaturhistoriographischen Ordnungskategorie ‚mystische Literatur‘ subsumiert werden, steht das Geschriebene meistens nicht am Beginn des Offenbarungsprozesses, sondern ist sein Produkt. Bemerkenswerterweise stellt die Schriftwerdung des Offenbarten in den Texten ein Thema für sich dar. Anders gesagt: Die Texte reflektieren die Bedingungen ihrer Entstehung; sie legen Wert darauf, den Leser in die Umstände ihrer Genese einzuweihen.
Dies gilt auch für die Helftaer Offenbarungsliteratur, deren textintern präsentierte Buchentstehungsgeschichten die deutliche Signatur von Schwester N, einer namentlich nicht bekannten Konventualin, tragen, von deren schriftstellerisch-kompilierender Hand auch die vor Kurzem entdeckte Sonderedition des Legatus divinae pietatis in der Leipziger Handschrift Ms 827 zeugt. Für gewöhnlich werden die im Helftaer Schrifttum gemachten Aussagen über die Entstehungsumstände der einzelnen Werke als kulturgeschichtlich verwertbare Fakten referiert, die über tatsächliche Schreibprozesse informieren. Doch zeigt der Prolog der Sonderausgabe des Legatus, wie Autorschaft modelliert und Schreibszenarien kreiert werden können, was die Frage nach dem Referenzwert vieler faktisch anmutender Details rund um die Buchgenesen, aber auch in Bezug auf die Figurationen von Autorschaft aufwirft.
Ohne diese Implikationen des Themas aus den Augen zu verlieren, widme ich mich in meinem Vortrag den Produkten der um 1300 tätigen Literaturwerkstatt von Helfta. Einleitend werde ich Spuren literarischer Interessenbildung bei jenen Grafenhäusern nachgehen, aus deren Reihen sich die Gründer des Vorgängerkonvents von Helfta rekrutieren. Der Blick auf die Anfänge von Helfta ist insofern aufschlussreich, als die Akteure, mit deren Namen der Literaturbetrieb um 1300 verbunden ist, Nachfahren der Förderer von Helfta bzw. der Stifter des Vorgängerkonvents waren. Diese Akteure haben in verschiedenen Funktionen zur Entstehung eines Textcorpus beigetragen, das nach einhelliger Meinung der Forschung nicht nur Werke mit Offenbarungscharakter, sondern auch solche umfasst, die aus seelsorgerischem Anliegen heraus verfasst wurden. Welche Werke mit Helfta tatsächlich in Verbindung stehen und welche wohl nicht, möchte ich im Einzelnen erläutern. Dabei gilt es, sowohl den Inhalt der neu aufgefundenen Leipziger Handschrift Ms 827 zu berücksichtigen, als auch die Argumente auf den Prüfstand zu stellen, die die Forschung veranlasst haben, das Fließende Licht und die Exercitia spiritualia dem Helftaer Literaturbetrieb um 1300 zuzuschlagen.

In the first half of the fourteenth century, the most prestigious place of learning for Hungarian clergymen was Bologna. Clerics studying there not only became prominent ecclesiastical figures, but also fulfilled important roles in the chancery and diplomacy of the Hungarian Angevin kings. While in Bologna or after their
return to Hungary, many of these men of letters commissioned illuminated manuscripts from Bolognese workshops, and thus played a decisive role in the reception of the new sensibilities of Italian art in Hungary. The first of these patrons that can be clearly identified is Demeter Nekcsei, magister tavarnicorum of the Hungarian court. Work on Nekcsei’s two-volume Bible was most likely completed by 1338, the year of his death. The paper analyses this manuscript.

It was not until the second decade of the twelfth century that Carolingian script started to be used in Galicia, closing the cycle of more than 200 years of use of Visigothic script as the main graphic system in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. A new period of openness to European cultural currents put then an end to the graphical and liturgical particularism of the territories that would become Spain, meaning a drastic change for all literate and illiterate people that was not received with equal eagerness in all areas. Some ecclesiastical institutions, led by ambitious bishops and abbots, saw an opportunity to grow and present themselves as the new main cultural centres of the medieval Iberian Peninsula, taking away the political and cultural prominence of those that had once been instrumental in the reorganization of the Christian peninsular realms after the Muslims’ arrival. Others seem to have been reluctant to accept a new rite and to adopt a new script, neither of which was a national product. Caroline minuscule had not evolved gradually, like Visigothic script had, from the previous documentary and book hand writing systems used, but was imposed, like the Roman rite, mostly by political interests of kings, ecclesiastical elites, and cultural pressure. Acceptance of change would lead to a cultural unification in which the glorious Visigothic past, Visigothic script, and Visigothic rite were no more than a memory.
In analysing the extant manuscript sources, codices and charters, that speak of liturgical imposition and graphical acculturation, the present work discusses not only how the process occurred, but what it must have meant, politically and culturally speaking, for major cultural peninsular institutions both old and new, for those closer to the Carolingian Empire and those geographically distant but very much in the political and ecclesiastical centre of northern Christian Iberia. After a brief historical and graphical review of how the process of change developed in Septimania and Catalonia as early as the ninth century, and in Aragon, Navarre, and the Leonese-Castilian kingdoms well into the eleventh century, attention will be given to what was the old kingdom of Galicia, in the far north-western corner of the peninsula. A thorough look at the extant written sources produced in the two main Galician sees, Lugo and Santiago de Compostela, from the late eleventh to the mid-twelfth century, and their historical context, highlights the steps of graphical and cultural change, simultaneously providing valuable evidence about how the transition from the old Visigothic script system to the new European Carolingian one must have been experienced by the scribes and copyists who lived it.

Este artículo responde la frecuente pregunta sobre cómo se encontraron las soluciones para averiguar el sistema de escritura y el idioma del manuscrito medieval MS408, como se describió en el artículo de la revista Romance Studies titulado The Language and Writing System of MS408 (Voynich) Explained (Cheshire, 2019). Desvelar el enigma fue un proceso muy intuitivo, así que explicar cómo se hizo es un reto en sí mismo.

This article presents a manuscript that significantly enriches the textual corpus of ›Helfta Mysticism‹ with a series of hitherto unknown writings. Aside from this, it contains what is by some distance the oldest copy of the ›Legatus divinae pietatis‹, in the form of a ›special edition‹ that consists of excerpts from the known text as well as new material. This is preceded by a prologue and a florilegium which is marked in an epilogue as Gertrude’s own work. We argue that the epilogue of the florilegium, the prologue and the ›special edition‹ itself were probably composed by ›Sister N‹ of Helfta herself. The article provides a full description of the manuscript (Ms 827), a breakdown of the new ›special edition‹ of the ›Legatus‹-text, and an edition, translation, and close reading of the prologue.

Im Folgenden soll eine Handschrift vorgestellt werden, die die Textbasis der Helftaer Mystik mit einer Reihe von bislang unbekannten Schriften bereichert. Außerdem enthält sie die mit Abstand älteste Abschrift des ›Legatus divinae pietatis‹ in Form einer ›Sonderausgabe‹, die aus Exzerpten aus dem bekannten Textcorpus und aus weiterem bislang nicht bekanntem Material besteht. Dieser geht eine Vorrede und ein im Epilog als Gertruds Werk ausgewiesenes Florilegium voraus, Texte, die wie die ›Sonderausgabe‹ selbst von Schwester N von Helfta stammen dürften. Die vorliegende Studie bietet eine Beschreibung von Ms 827, die Aufschlüsselung der ›Sonderausgabe‹ des ›Legatus‹ sowie Abdruck, Übersetzung und inhaltliche Analyse der Vorrede.

So far, studies of Pelplin's manuscripts have focused exclusively on selected, most prominent volumes with signatures 23 (19), 43 (79), L 13. Some scholars have attempted to attribute to Pelplin's Cistercian scriptorium also manuscripts 2 (3), 3 (4), 5 (1), 8 (5), 28 (20), 30 (90), 50 (78), 85 (186), L 21, though their analysis tend to omit calligraphic decorations (M. Nierzwicka being a notable exception). The analysis of penwork, however, is an invaluable tool for identifying the provenance and dating of manuscripts.
The collection of volumes in Pelplin currently includes two manuscripts with confirmed origin and creation date: "Summa Confessorum" 30 (90) and Gradual L 13. The first one has a colophon while the latter was subject of extensive provenance studies. Both were written in Pelplin: "Summa" in 1319 and the Gradual in the 2nd half 14th C. Comparative studies of other codices indicate that they too were most likely made by local monks. Decoration of manuscript 57 (66) and 27 (44) are nearly identical with those adoring pages of manuscript 30 (90). Though executed with less skill, the penwork of a group of writings marked with signature 17 (27) and dating probably to before 1319, are also similar to those in the "Summa". Nicholas of Lyra's "Commentaries" [sygn. 5 (1)] were made later which is indicated by both their content and its decorations which appropriate elements from manuscripts 30 (90) and, at the same time, serve as source of inspiration for Gradual L 13. The latter volume's decorations are also linked with the characteristic motif of swelling bulbs drawn in the manuscript 67 (134). The decoration of the initial incipit from manuscript 67 (134) was copied with almost no alternation in Nicholas of Lyra's  "Commentaries" which, according to their colophon, were written in 1416 and are marked with signature 22 (11). It seems likely, that the distinct form of penwrok from the 'circle' of "Summa Confessorum", developed earlier. This process can be seen in volumes with signature 3 (4), 66 (116) and the Antiphonary L 9. Finally it can also be added that decorations in manuscript 20 (47) are analogous to some of those in L 9. It is very likely that the Antiphonary L 9 is either one of Pelplin's scriptorium earliest work or that it was used by local monks as a model for their works.

The Diocesan library in Pelplin contains several manuscripts which originate from its mother monastery in Doberan. They probably came here with the first monks from Doberan to the newly founded monastery in Pogódki (1258) which moved to Pelplin a few years later (1276). The stock consists of six manuscripts with a definite possession note of Doberan Monastery and seven further handwritings which are classified by research work as originating from Doberan. The article presents the manuscripts and the current state of research.

Ornament as Argument  explores notions of ornamentation and materiality in 10th and 11th-century Christian manuscript illumination. In particular, the book investigates the function and metaphoric meaning of so-called textile pages—images evoking the weave patterns of Byzantine and Islamic silk. An analysis of a broad range of objects situates textile pages in the context of medieval reading practice, visual exegesis, and worship. Based on various theological arguments that bear on the images and the book as an object in itself, the illuminations emerge as powerful textile metaphors. These concern material approaches to scripture, textile readings of the incarnation, and the physical book as body. Ornament as Argument thus contributes to a new understanding of the vital role illuminated manuscripts played in medieval material culture.

Hillel Zeitlin (1871-1942) was the leading figure of what may be called philosophical neo-Hasidism among Eastern European Jews in the pre-Holocaust era. A tireless author, journalist, and polemicist, he published constantly in both the Yiddish and Hebrew press, offering a bold new vision of contemporary spiritual life grounded in his reading of Hasidic sources. But Zeitlin sought to become an activist as well as a literary figure. He was especially concerned with the situation of the rootless Jewish youth. Throughout his career as a public figure, beginning shortly after World War I, he issued calls for a new organization of Jewish life. In a series of articles published in the 1920s he sought to form an elite Jewish spiritual fraternity to be called Yavneh, the most fully elaborated of his attempts at intentional community. The present study collects together Zeitlin’s Yiddish writings on the Yavneh fellowship, which are here re-printed and translated for the first time. Alongside these we present a newly discovered manuscript signed by Zeitlin, a single-sheet four-sided signed text in which he describes more succinctly and clearly the nature of the group and its intended function.

Script for video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjepyBwdpOY, which is part of the MOOC "Deciphering the secrets of medieval illuminated manuscripts", offered by the universities of Colorado (US) and Complutense (Spain) through www.coursera.org,

The International Conference The Impact of Arabic Sources on Divination and the
Practical Sciences in Europe and Asia was held in Erlangen (2014 January 21-23) at
the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities, in collaboration
with the Union Académique Internationale/International Union of Academies,
the Académie des sciences du monde islamique (Amman), the Centre for the
History of Arabic Studies in Europe (Warburg Institute, London) and Micrologus
(SISMEL, Florence)

The prayer book of Mary of Guelders dates, according to the colophon, from 1415 and has been written by Helmich die Lewe by order of Marie d"Harcourt, duchess of Guelders. It's an extremely big and ambitious prayer book that reflects the ideas of the patroness. This paper argues that Mary not only ordered the book, but that she played a significant role in the design of the book and it's religious programme.

L’article analyse un corpus de 122 manuscrits contenant le texte complet du Nouveau Testament latin. Ces manuscrits de format maniable constituent une production assez homogène du point de vue matériel et textuel et sont originaires de l’Italie du nord dans la plupart des cas. Ils ne semblent pas avoir été conçus en fonction de la liturgie, mais plutôt pour la lecture personnelle.

This brief essay describes minuscule 1780, a complete Greek manuscript of all 27 books of the New Testament.  This is one of only two such manuscripts in the United States.  Digital page-views are online, and this essay features an index of the New Testament books in the manuscript.  In addition, minuscule 1780's text of First Peter 1:1-12 is compared to the same passage in Codex Sinaiticus, and the outcome shows that in those 12 verses, 1780 has the more accurate text. 
(3 pages, with embedded links)

A través de la documentación conservada el artículo analiza cómo las fronteras entre las diferentes tareas relacionadas con el libro se flexibilizan en función de las necesidades de mandantes y artífices. A excepción de ejemplares muy notables que se encomiendan a profesionales de reconocido prestigio en las diferentes disciplinas, en general en la creación del libro medieval se aprecia una gran versatilidad y carácter práctico.

The principles of Saenger and Parkes on the analysis of word spacing in Insular manuscripts are here applied to the Irish ogam corpus.  Differences in the adoption of aerated text between that corpus and the Anglo-Saxon epigraphic corpus are examined and the reasons for these differences are explored.  Finally, the dating of the adoption of aerated text in both Insular manuscripts and the ogam corpus is compared.

Исследуется вятская оброчная книга, содержащая уникальные сведения за 7101–7124 (1592/93–1615/16) гг. Данные этой книги ранее не привлекались исследователями в их работах по вопросам оброчного землевладения в России. Для второй части книги применяется статистический метод исследования, на основе которого делаются выводы об особенностях раздачи угодий на оброк на Вятской земле в Смутное время. Подтверждается сделанное предположение о зависимости дачи на оброк от социально-политических событий, уменьшение количества оброчных записей в книге за отдельные годы коррелирует с периодами социальных возмущений в регионе. Фактические данные оброчной книги предоставляют разнообразные и часто уникальные сведения для изучения истории Вятской земли указанного периода.

Past and recent historiography on the fifteenth-century Wegestreit described early Parisian Albertism as an intellectual trend internal to the Arts Faculty and almost exclusively identified with the figure of Johannes de Nova Domo. Although historical documents hinted at the existence of a more established school, no further evidence could be provided. In this contribution we focus on the manuscript Brussel, Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, ms. 760, which contains a commentary to the Sentences given at Paris by Lambertus de Monte, albertista magnus, around 1423. This previously unnoticed source turns out to be the first important witness of the presence of Albertism in the Faculty of Theology at Paris, and testifies to a significant reception and development of the ideas of Johannes de Nova Domo. Moreover, the manuscript evinces an interesting constellation of marginalia, some of which bear traces of unknown works of the Albertist Heymericus de Campo. The article aims to present the source from a textual and material perspective, insofar as it investigates also some peculiar aspects of the history of the manuscript. The codex came from the Augustinian Canons’ Convent of Korsendonk, where it was partially copied, as we discovered, by the erudite Johannes de Meehrout.