MS. Germ. d. 1
Summary Catalogue no.: 30530
Guardbook of fragments: A Der Heilegen Leben; Germany, 15th century. B Guido delle Colonne, Historia destructionis Troiae; Germany, c. 1440
Physical Description
Collation
Binding
Late 19th-century brown cloth over pasteboard, the spine lettered in gilt with the shelfmark and ‘15th Cent. Fragments’.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
‘Part of a series of unreferenced fragments &c. arranged as Palæographical Specimens, which was broken up in 1895’ (see S.C. no. 30479). According to a note inserted after fol. 6, a fragment of ‘J[acob] v[an] Maerlant’s Spiegel Historiael, Pt. I, Bk VI, §4,17–§17,11 [formerly in this volume, was] removed to MS. Dutch b. 2’ on 16 Feb. 1923.
MS. Germ. d. 1 (fols. 1–4)
Contents
Fragments: St. Nicholas and St. Ambrose.
Sts Nicholas and Ambrose’s feast-days are 6 and 7 December.
R. Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, I (Erlangen, 1896), p. 185 no. 183.
W. Williams-Krapp, ‘Studien zu ‘Der Heiligen Leben’’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur, 105 (1976), 274–303 at 288 no. 140.
Listed with siglum ‘O2’ in: W. Williams-Krapp, Die deutschen und niederländischen Legendare des Mittelalters: Studien zu ihrer Überlieferungs-, Text- und Wirkungsgeschichte, Texte und Textgeschichte 20 (Tübingen, 1986), p. 224 no. O2; M. Brand, K. Freienhagen-Baumgardt, R. Meyer, and W. Williams-Krapp, Der Heiligen Leben, I: Der Sommerteil, Texte und Textgeschichte, 44 (Tübingen, 1996), p. xxiii; and vol. II: Der Winterteil, Texte und Textgeschichte, 51 (Tübingen, 2004), p. xxi. Text here equivalent to II.283.8-289.21 (St Nicholas), I.3-4.24 (St Ambrose).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in ink for two columns of 36 lines. Ruled space 245 × 165 mm. , with c. 20 mm. between columns.
Hand(s)
Gothic cursive (bastarda), capitals on the top line often with calligraphic cadels.
Decoration
A space left blank for a rubric and a 2-line initial.
History
MS. Germ. d. 1 (fols. 5–6)
Contents
Miniature with caption
"Wie Paris und sein gesellen mit grossem schall in den tempel kumen und vahen ma⟨n⟩ und frawen auch das gut etc. Vnd Paris underwindt sich Helenen gar zuchtiglich und bringen daz zu den schiffen"
Ed. N. E. Griffin (Cambridge, MA, 1936), p. 75.
Miniature with caption
"Wie die kun⟨i⟩g auß kriechen nach dem als sy alle besamnet warn Achillen schickten in die inselen Delphos zu dem aptgot Apollo umb zu erfaren ob sy fur Troien ziehn solten vud wie es in würd⟨e⟩ ergeen"
Ed. Griffin (1936), pp. 90–91.
F. Saxl and H. Meier, Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters, III: Handschriften in englischen Bibliotheken, ed. H. Bober (2 vols, London, 1953), I, p.. 383f., II, Tafel XXVII (Abb. 74).
V. Zapf, ‘Buch von Troja nach Guido de Columnis’, in Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon: Das Mittelalter, V: Epik und Kleinformen, ed. by W. Achnitz (Berlin and Boston 2013), cols. 1275–78, cited at 1276.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Text in one column, width of the written area c. 120 mm.
Hand(s)
Formal cursive with many loopless forms.
Decoration
Two fine miniatures, executed as ink drawings with colour washes:
(fol. 5r) Paris in armour abducts Helena (they are both identified by captions) away from the temple, in which his men are seizing two other women, and in which is an altar with a statue of a pgan god holding the sun and moon.
(fol. 6r) Achilles in armour (identified by a caption), kneeling at an altar above which is a statue of Apollo (captioned ‘deus Apollo’); behind him a crowd of his men, also in armour, and next to the altar a priest (‘pontifex’), with an open book; a scroll in front of Apollo is inscribed with his words: ‘Achilles Achilles revertere ad Grecos tuos et dic eis infallibile decimo anno eos Troianis esse victores’.
Pächt & Alexander (Pächt and Alexander, i, no. 158) compare the type of illustration to a copy of the same text in Munich (Staatsbiblliothek, Clm 61 and compare the style to the Wurzach Altarpiece, of 1437, signed by Hans Multscher of Ulm (Berlin, Gemäldgalerie).
The beginning of Book X with a 3-line initial in blue with red penwork flourishing.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Fol. 6r will be on display in the Bodleian Libraries exhibition "Oracles, Omens and Answers" (ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library) from 6 Dec. 2024 to 27 April 2025, and will not be orderable between those dates or for a short period before and after.
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (2 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-04-21: Andrew Dunning New description by Peter Kidd.