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MS. Lyell 68

Rule of St. Clare (in German); Germany (Klarenthal), 1457

Contents

(fols. 1r–51r)
Rule of St. Clare (German translation, ‘Klarissenregel’)
Rubric: Hie hiebet an die regel der swestern Sant Claren ordens
Incipit: Alle die dasz leben der swestern Sant Claren an sich wollent nemen
Explicit: zu vallen in die ungnade des almechtigen gottes Und siner Heylgen aposteln Petri und Pauli.
Final rubric: Hye hat eyn ende. Dye Regel der swestern sant Claren. Explicit Regula Sorores ordinis sancte Clare virginis. Sub anno ab incarnationis domini MºCCCCº Quinquagesimo septimo In die sanctorum martyrum Aurei et Iustine [16 June] Per manus fratris Iohannis Molmecher.

Pr. D. Brett-Evans, ‘Diu regel der sanct Clara swestern orden. Ein deutsches Prosadenkmal aus dem 13 Jh.’, Euphorion 54 (1960), 146–67. He only knew of three MSS.

Language(s): German
(fols. 51r–52v)
List of chapters

With folio numbers

Fol. 53 blank.

Language(s): German

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: eynes closters
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i + 53 leaves (fo. i is part of the first quire)
Dimensions (leaf): 170 × 120 mm.
Dimensions (written): 110 × 76 mm.
Foliation: Foliation by the scribe in roman numerals.

Collation

1⁸-6⁸, 7⁶; horizontal catchwords

Layout

14 long lines, ruled in ink.

Hand(s)

Large textura.

Decoration

Red initials, sometimes enclosing pen drawings. Miniature added in 1472. (Pächt and Alexander i. 171)

Pen drawings on fol. 8v, a bird; fol. 13v the head of a monk; fol. 15 stylized birds’ heads.

Added, a framed pen drawing of St. Clare, labelled ‘Sente Claren’ and dated 1472, fol. i verso. She is dressed as an abbess and holds a monstrance in her right hand and a book and pastoral staff in her left hand. She is accompanied by the verses: ‘Dit isz sente Claren de sal unsz bewaren vur Tufels list und varen ytzt und in allen J aren’.

Binding

Contemporary binding in bevelled wooden boards covered with calf; original sewing; pin for fastening (strap gone) in centre of upper cover; four bosses on upper and five on lower cover. Traces of a label on upper cover.

History

Origin: 1457 ; German, Klarenthal bei Wiesbaden

Provenance and Acquisition

Written by frater Johannes Molmecher: inscription, fol. 50v-51r. A Fr. Johannes Mulnmecher (d. 1479) was for thirty-six years confessor of the Convent of Poor Clares at Klarenthal, near Wiesbaden, in the diocese of Mainz (see F. Otto, Das Necrol. des Klosters Clarenthal bei Wiesbaden (Veroffentlichen der hist. Comm. für Nassau III), 1901, p. 57).

Maggs bros., booksellers: bought from them by James P. R. Lyell in August 1939: their Catalogue. 542 (1930).

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948

Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian by Lyell in 1948.

Record Sources

Description adapted (March 2020) from the following sources:
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford , 3 vols. (1966–1973) I, no. 171.
A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell (1971).
Catalogue, p. 205
Catalogue, p. 206

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2020-03-26: Description revised for Polonsky digitization project to include additional information from printed descriptions.