MS. Lat. hist. e. 1
Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession)
Burchardus de Monte Sion, Descriptio terrae sanctae, and Oliver of Paderborn, Historia Damiatina; Austria or Germany, late 13th or early 14th century
Contents
Language(s): Latin
MS. ‘A’ (i.e. Admont) in the edition, briefly described at p. LXIX: Die Schriften des Kölner Domscholasters, späteren Bischofs von Paderborn und Kardinalbischofs von S. Sabina, Oliverus, ed. by [H.] Hoogeweg, Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, 202 (1894), pp. 161–280, the present MS. ending at p. 248 line 12.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled with ink in 2 columns for 38 lines per page (39 on fols. 1v-3r)
Hand(s)
The first 23 lines in a formal Gothic bookhand, thereafter a much less formal one, perhaps by more than one scribe.
Decoration
A very fine ink drawing of Christ enthroned, blessing, partially coloured using two shades of blue-grey (fol. i recto), formerly pasted-down; a similar but cruder figure, without colour (fol. i verso), was traced through the leaf (the outlines are near-identical, but reversed). The finer drawing is reproduced by Pächt and Alexander i. 128, pl. IX, and MSS at Oxford, no. XVII. 2, fig 50.
Puzzle initial in red and blue with red and purple penwork (fols. 1v, 32r); smaller initials alternately in blue with red penwork or red with purple penwork.
Minor initials and paraphs alternately red or blue.
Binding
Medieval binding (14th? century). Sewn on three wide split straps laced horizontally into wood boards with rounded edges, covered with white (now dirty) leather, blind-tooled with a saltire design on each cover; with a strap-and-pin fastening (from the back to the front cover); the top of the upper cover with a title ‘Desc(ri)pc(i)o terre s(an)c(t)e’ inscribed on a piece of parchment (apparently covering an earlier title); the top of the spine with a paper label printed ‘401’, the next two compartments with paper labels inscribed in the 19th-cent. ‘Oliverii schol: | Hist: Damiatina’ and ‘Descriptio ter|ræ sanctæ’.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
A smudged three-line inscription, apparently begins ‘Thoma …’ and includes the word ‘⟨Ad⟩monten.’ at the end of the second line; the third line mostly consisting of a date apparently beginning “anno domini Mº….’ and ending ‘nonagesimo secundo’ (lower pastedown).
Probably identifiable in the Admont catalogues of 1376 and 1380: Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Österreichs, III: Steiermark, ed. Gerlinde Möser-Mersky (1961), 30.34 (‘Item descripcio terre sancte, incipit ‘Cum in veteribus’’), 56.43.
A 17th(?)-century hand has identified biblical passages, and sporadically highlights place-names, in the margins.
Admont, Stiftsbibliothek, their No. 401 (cf. spine label), with a blue paper shelfmark label printed ‘Admonter Bibliothek. || Schrank … || Nr. … ’ stuck to the inner face of the upper board, and with their heraldic ‘BIBLIOTHECA ADMONTENSIS’ ink stamp (fols. 1r, 45v); listed as MS. 401 in J. Wichner's handwritten catalogue of 1888, noted as sold to Goldschmidt (see below).
E. P. Goldschmidt, Catalogue 100 (1936), no. 24; inscribed in pencil at the Bodleian ‘P[urchased] 8.XII.36 Goldschmidt’ (fol. 1r).
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-08-04: Description revised for Polonsky German digitization project.