MS. Germ. d. 4
Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession)
Iacobus de Theramo, Processus Belial (in German); Germany, c. 1450–1470
Contents
A sheet of modern tracing paper, on which is traced a large rubricated initial I and the incipit Hye hebt sich an ein recht puech vnd ist aus den juristen puechern gezogen vnd sagt von Jesu vnd von Belyal (etc). The rest of the page and the verso (this being translucent paper) are blank. This tracing has been made from another manuscript, identified by M. Heiles as Harvard, Houghton Library MS Ger 47.1.
The prologue actually covers 6 columns on 3 sides (2r, 2v and 5r) as the misfoliation means there are no fols. 3 or 4.
The translator discusses the difficulty of translating juridical terms and phrases out of Latin and their much greater equivalent length in German, providing some examples. He discusses further the intended audience and the purpose of producing the translation, but provides no specific evidence to locate him as a historical individual.
German translation, as pr. Augsburg, 1472 (Proctor 1530), ends imperf. in the last chapter, the missing portion being supplied by a tracing made from another MS.
Ed. Paul Bernard Salmon, Belial. An Edition with Commentary of the German Version of Jacobus de Theramo’s Consolatio Peccatorum (unpublished doctoral thesis, London 1950).
Three sheets of modern tracing paper, on which the work has been completed by tracing from another manuscript. As the paper is translucent, the verso sides are blank.
A piece of modern paper, dated 1st December 1909, describing (though not identifying) the second manuscript from which the tracings have been made. Fol. 91v blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
2 cols, 29–36 written lines per page, the first line sometimes above and sometimes below the top of the frame ruling.
Hand(s)
Two hands, which change on fol. 18ra; both are cursive book hands.
Decoration
Until 12rb, black ink, red initials.
Some rubricated majuscules and Latin phrases underlined in red and black.
Thereafter, no rubrication (though space left for initials); Latin phrases underlined in black alone.
Binding
Contemporary binding: sewn on three double cords and bound in wood boards covered with red-stained leather; five bosses on each cover now missing, as are a pair of clasps and straps (fastening bottom to top) at the fore-edge; the edges of the boards with the remains of metal re-inforcements; the spine with an old paper label inscribed in ink, now mostly covered by a Bodleian label
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Produced in the second half of 15th century, probably before 1470: watermark and script.
Schleithnersches Archiv, Nordstetten. This archive was held in the ancestral home of the family of the Keller von Schleitheim, the present chateau being built in 1739/40 in place of the castle formerly on the site; Nordstetten is now part of Horb in the Neckar, Baden-Württemberg: an inscription in an 18th-century hand, Schleitheimschen Archiv zu Nordstetten (inside front cover: 'dies inter opera rarissima gezählte Werk. das Gespräch Salomonis mit dem Teufel aus dem Schleitheimschen Archiv zu Nordstetten. giebt dechan (?) Johler der Bibliothek des Kapitels'). The latter are have not been identified.
Unidentified press mark(?) in modern pencil: I. B, 8 (inside front cover).
Antiquariat Ludwig Rosenthal, München: No. 1138 in Ludwig Rosenthal, Katalog 65. Auswahl seltener Werke aus der älteren deutschen Sprache und Literatur. Nebst Anhang: Histor. u. satyr. Flugblätter (Einblattdrucke) mit gereimtem Text, (München [ca. 1889]), p. 113.
Library of Edmund Langer (1855–1932), Braunau (Böhmen), Ms. 5. The library was dissolved in the 1930s and probably sold by the auction house H. Gilhofer & H. Ranschburg AG, Lucerne. See M. Heiles [n.d.], p. 4.
H. P. Kraus.
Bought from Kraus by the Bodleian in 17th March 1936: P. 17. III. 1936 Kraus (fol. 2r))
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2020-10-06: Modified provenance description based on Heiles and information from Max Schmitz.