MS. Douce 186
Summary Catalogue no.: 21760
Michael Ott, Kriegsregiment, etc.; southern Germany, c. 1530
Contents
Language(s): German
Tract on the condition of Germany and on contemporary warfare
Pr. A. Jegel, 'Ein früher Vorläufer des Lazarus Schwendi', Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 40 (1943) 121–169. For other manuscripts see R. Leng, Ars belli: deutsche taktische und kriegstechnische Bilderhandschriften und Traktate im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (2002) II.78). The date 1527 on fol. 27r (‘Volendet an dem newen Jars tag Nach cristi geburt tausent funfhundert vnd In siben vnnd Zwainzigisten jar In dem Namen got des vatters des suns vnd des hayligen gaysts ·’) is also found in Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Mscr.Dresd.C.94b and is presumably the date of the text not this manuscript.
Entreaty from the author, an Imperial soldier, expressing hatred of the religious orders and especially of the Papacy for causing the present wars, to his brother
Jegel, 'Lazarus Schwendi', 169–70; Leng, Ars Belli II.79. The author bewails the loss of his family and friends in the war and clearly blames the religious for the wars that have destroyed his land and family: 'zu sollichem last haben mich vnd ander die gaystlichen gebracht Durch ir verkert Regiment'. He entreats his brother to stay on the path guided by the martyrdom of Christ and to avoid the papal insignia: 'es bedeyt nit die marter (christi) sunder des babsts herschaft pomp hofart vnnd sunst aller welt marter'. He declares his support for the Imperial forces and in the final line names himself Eckhart (?Ockeman), although this may well be a poetical device (‘eckhart’ to rhyme with ‘bewart’) rather than a statement of his real name. The illumination on 27r, the pastoral scene (see above) is clearly a pictorial representation of the author’s exhortation in this letter.
Leng, Ars Belli II.79. A later addition in a different hand. This is a brief tract, probably by a different individual but expressing the same anti-papal sentiments as the previous letter, though in more general terms and less directly tied to the rest of the book than the previous letter.
Fols. 29v – 30v blank.
Introduction
Fol. 32r blank.
Part One: Castles
Fol. 44r blank.
Part Two: Artillery
Cost calculation
"Summa sumaru(m) Vngeuarlich was ain monat lang auf das ganntz veldlager gepurt · als Geraysigen Artelorey vnnd fueßkhnecht · 64503fl "
An addition in a second later hand, calculating the cost of the troop numbers the treatise postulates across one month.
Fols. 73r – 75r blank.
Part Three: Infantry
Fols. 83r – 86v blank.
Items 1 (with similar illustration), 2 and 3 are also found with the Kriegsregiment in Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Mscr.Dresd.C.94b (KdiH 4/2, no. 39.10.5); and more fully Leng, Ars belli II.77–80). The Dresden manuscript (Augsburg?, c. 1530) is one of several copies of the text which Jacob Preuß seems to have prepared (and partly written and illustrated) himself for presentation to several high-ranking recipients (see KdiH). More research is required to ascertain if the present manuscript is one such copy.
Physical Description
Layout
Irregular number of lines per page (pages unruled). Written space c. 245–280 × 145–165 mm.
Hand(s)
Mostly in one cursive hand.
Two additions in a subsequent 16th century hand, on fols. 28v-29r and 72v; all in black ink.
Decoration
Illuminated arms fol. 1v and 83r (see below, Provenance). Four coloured pen drawings of individuals (a Turk, 2v; a herald, in Imperial dress, 30v; a master of artillery, 44v; a commander-in-chief of infantry, 75v). Depictions of military insignia on fols. 24r, 24v, 25v, 26r, 26v. Fol. 27r, a large coloured pen drawing: a pastoral scene, in which a pilgrim is directed by an older man towards a wayside shrine, bearing the image of the Crucifixion, and away from a hillock on which the papal insignia and a priest kneeling before them are to be found.
Binding
Contemporary blind-rolled leather on paper binding, with metal hasp (still functioning). The binding resembles in structure and design those of other early copies of the Kriegsregiment and related texts (e.g. Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 123), but the rolls differ.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Heraldry, fols. 1v (per pale, dexter bendy sinister of six gules and argent, sinister or a dimitiated imperial eagle sable) and 83r (Sankt Jörgenschild?).
On the inside front cover in modern German hand, 'Militairische Abhandlung mit wohlgezeichneten und illuminirten Figuren, die ich für eine Arbeit des Hans Burgmair halte'. The same hand has written Savoy? next to the arms on fol. 83r.
Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (13 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2020-09-20: New draft description for Polonsky German project.