Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
i (paper) + 161 + i (paper) folios on parchment, modern foliation [cited in this description] in black ink, in Arabic numerals, upper fore-edge recto, 2-162, text is complete, missing one leaf, numbered f. 1, likely a flyleaf, and the last leaf of the final quire, a cancelled blank (collation i6 ii12-xiii12 xiv12 [-one leaf at end, cancelled blank]), quires ii-xi numbered at lower fore-edge verso of final leaf (ff. 19v, 31v, 43v, 55v, 67v, 79v, 91v, 103v, 115v, 127v), in brown ink in a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand, no leaf signatures, no catchwords, ruled in dark brown ink (justification c.100 x c.65 mm.), pricking visible along fore-edges in quires ii-xiv, written below top line in three Northern Textualis (Textura) hands (ff. 2-5v, 9-157v, 157v-161v), all textualis semiquadratus, but varying in level of execution, the first perhaps slightly later than the others, all in dark brown ink, in two columns of 21 lines at ff. 1v-5v, one column of 21 lines at ff. 1 and 6-162v, rubrics, paraphs, and marginal glosses in red ink, underlining in red or (at ff. 152v-161v) brown ink, majuscules heightened red, one large parted red and dark brown ‘I’ (f. 9), one 2-line initial with brown pen flourishing (f. 97v), numerous 2- or 3-line initials in plain red ink, remnants of knotted-twine EARLY FIXED PAGE-MARKERS (ff. 15, 17, 45, 56, 64, 81, 115, and perhaps 21), scribal corrections via strikethrough and interlinear (e.g., f. 81, lines 5-6, 15) or marginal insertion (e.g., f. 134, line 8), with the rare subpunct (e.g., f. 145v, line 17), occasional early annotations (e.g., ff. 21, 145v, 152v -153), sewn medieval repairs to parchment (e.g., ff. 8, 35, 84, 100, 104, 108), with some irregularities remaining such as natural edge gaps (e.g., ff. 8, 10, 22, 96, 119) and holes (e.g., ff. 64, 80, 89, 139), slight water-related fading of ink at ff. 2-3, overall very good condition. Bound in modern glossy, reddish-brown marbled paper over pasteboard, spine with five compartments separated by gilt-tooled rules, with a red label stamped “Liber b. virg. MARIAE” between second and third rules, binding in sound condition with some peeling and scuffing to the covers. Dimensions c.145 x c.100-104 mm.
Medieval authors found many ways to engage with “the book” or the Bible – glosses, commentaries, concordances, sermons, and of course copies of the Bible itself. Probably created and used in a Dominican environment and well-suited to aid in the composition of sermons, this unusual compilation combines the Bible with the later medieval devotion to the Virgin Mary, pairing an alphabet of words from the Bible associated with the Virgin with allegorical references to her in biblical order, followed by sermons about her. Its appeal lies also in its materiality (or physical realization) and its signs of active reader engagement.
1. Copied, very likely in Germany, in the middle of the fourteenth century (ff. 9-161v), with the opening section (ff. 2-5v) possibly copied towards the end of the period or slightly later, based on paleographical and decorative evidence.
2. Modern (20th- or 21st-century) bookseller or owner annotation, in pencil, “2 Saſe 2” or “2 Sole 2,” circled (inner front cover).
3. Private collection.
ff. 2-5v, incipit, “Genesis. Adiutrix, archa saluationis, … Exodus, altare holocausti, … vidua pauper, Mr, virgo parturitionis, luc[as], vitis, Jo[hannes]”; [ff. 6-8v, blank, but ruled];
Alphabetical list words and phrases associated with the Virgin Mary that (almost certainly) are discussed in the Biblia mariana, usually paired with the name of a book of the Bible; see further discussion below. The text and quire 1, beginning on f. 2, are complete, and the missing leaf numbered as f. 1 was a flyleaf.
ff. 9-130v, incipit, “IN principio creauit deus celum et terram. Genesis. primo. celum scilicet empyreum per quod intelligitur domina mundi virgo maria. Est enim similis celo empyreo multis de causis. … et ad gloriam sempiternam me famulum tuum perducas amen. Tu quoque o lector quicquid in eo emendandum est caritate fraterna studeas emendare. Explicit liber beatissime virginis marie”;
Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Biblia Mariana (Biblia beatissimae Mariae virginis); edited, Jammy, 1651, vol. 20, c, pp. 1-40; online edition at The Catholic Library Project, CatholicLibrary.org. The text was popular and survives in at least thirty-nine manuscripts: thirty-two listed by Stegmüller (1950, no. 1054), six manuscripts reported by Mirabile (s.v., “Biblia Mariana”), and Seitenstetten, Benediktinerstift, Cod. 192 (“Albertus Magnus OP (†1280),” Manuscripta.at). It appears to be very uncommon on the market (there are no sales reported in the Schoenberg Database identified as “Bonaventure” and “Biblia Mariana” although it is possible this text was included in manuscripts and listed by other titles and/or authors).
ff. 131-161v, [Eight sermons], Sermo de beata virgine, incipit, “Erat navis in media mari et cetera. [Mark 6:47] Sicut dies dominica dedicata est dominice resurrectioni… status supradictos ipsi beatissime trinitati”; f. 133v, Item sermo de beata virgine, incipit, “Hic est filius meus dilectus in quo mihi bene complacui [Matt. 17:5] Christus in celis patrem sine matre et in terris matrem sine patre … assumpsit ad suam dexteram”; f. 136, Item sermo de beata maria, incipit, “Fili tu semper mecum es et omnia meam tua sunt [Luke 15:31] Quamvis ista verba dixit pater filio suo qui secum remanserat … et quam misisti Ihesum Christum”; f. 139v, Item de beata virgine, incipit, “Ihesus autem inclinans se deorsum digito scribebat in terra [John 8:6] Ista inclinatio Christi significat humilitatem … ideo ipsa dicit Ecc. 24 et usque ad fu[turum] se[culum] de et cetera”; f. 144, De beata virgine, incipit, “Ego sum lux mundi [John 8] Si secundum beatum augustinus tanta est u/n\itas capitis ad membra et membrorum ad caput … et sic ille sententiam revocavit et placatus est”; f. 148v, incipit, “Sublevatis oculis in celum dixit. Pater venit hora clarifica filium tuum ut filius tuus clarificet te. Jo. 17 [John 17:1] Quia vero in isto ewangelio sepe fiet mencio … quia illa laus magno pretio est remuneranda. Ecc. 24. Qui elucidant me vitam eternam habebunt”; f. 152, Sermo de beata virgine, incipit, “Omnia maria tua sunt et tua mea sunt Jo. 17 [John 17:10] Quamvis ista verba dixerit Christus ad patrem possunt tamen dici ad matrem … tum quia caritate dei repletus”; f. 157v, incipit, “Fasciculus mirre dilectus meus mihi inter verba mea commorabitur. Botrus cypri dilectus meus mihi in vineis engadi. Cant .i. [Song 1:12-13] virgo in Christi passione multam habuit amaritudine. Ideo dicitur. Fasciculus myrre et cetera … et assertuti sunt consortium anglorum”;[f. 162rv, blank, but ruled].
Jacobus de Voragine, Sermones quadragesimales, sermon nos. 8, 22, 36, 50, 64, 77, 78, 92, spanning the Sunday after Ash Wednesday to the fifth Sunday in Lent, then the Easter vigil (Schneyer, vol. 3, 1971, pp. 238-246, nos. 203, 217, 230, 244, 258, 271, 272, 286); edited: Maggioni, 2005; and Clutius, 1760; with an electronic edition at Sermones.net. First printed with Sermones de sanctis: Johannes Treschel, Lyons, [c.1491] (ISTC ij00198000), then alone: Angelus and Jacobus Britannicus, Brescia, 1483 [i.e., 1493?] (ISTC ij00186000).
Our manuscript’s central text is the Biblia Mariana, also known as Biblia beatissimae Mariae virgini, that is, “The Bible of the most blessed Virgin Mary,” a compilation and explication of words in the Bible, probably composed in the later thirteenth-century, which can be interpreted as tropological or allegorical references to the Virgin Mary, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, omitting Amos, Obadiah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Malachi (Fulton Brown, 2019, p. 127, n. 6).
It was once attributed to St. Albertus Magnus, O.P. (c.1200-1280) (Jammy, 1651; Borgnet and Borgnet, 1898), a German Dominican theologian, philosopher, Bishop of Regensburg, and Doctor of the Church (dubbed Doctor universalis). However, in 1954, both Albert Fries and Bruno Korosak O.F.M. separately showed that the Biblia Mariana could not have been written by the saint. Their assessment has been upheld in Albertus-Magnus-Institut of Bonn’s Cologne Edition (1951-), now regarded as the best critical edition of Albert’s work, which omits the Biblia Mariana as non-authentic. Neither of the two alternative attributions – Christian of Lilienfeld (d. 1330), an Austrian Cistercian and Prior of Lilienfeld Abbey; and Engelbert of Admont, Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Admont, Styria (c.1250-1331) – are supported by the available evidence (Fries, 1954, p. 81). The work itself offers little aid in establishing authorship. Its author reveals initial sources within the text, directing readers to, for instance, Richard of Saint-Laurent’s (d. c.1250) De laudibus beatae Mariae virginis, but provides no clues as to their own identity. The Biblia Mariana evinces close dependency on the Mariale, another Pseudo-Albertine work (Fries, 1954, pp. 81-84, citing Desmarais, 1935).
The first text in the manuscript (ff. 2-5v) is an alphabetical list of three hundred and eight words and phrases associated with the Virgin Mary that (almost certainly) are discussed in the Biblia mariana, usually paired with the name of a book of the Bible. This list very likely was compiled to serve as a type of subject index to the Biblia Mariana, which is arranged according to the order of the Bible. To choose one example, the list tells the reader that the word “celum,” is discussed in the section of the Biblia Mariana on Genesis, and in fact, “celum” is copied in the margin on f. 9. Further study is needed to show if there is a one-to-one correspondence between the terms in this list and the marginal words in the Biblia Mariana, and to determine why some of the words in the list do not include a reference to a book of the Bible (it is possible that this is a working copy that was never completed). This alphabetical list would have been especially valuable when composing sermons, allowing preachers to efficiently search the Biblia Mariana.
The importance of preaching in our manuscript is also underlined by the group of eight Marian sermons drawn from the Sermones quadragesimales et paschales of Jacobus de Voragine, O.P. (born c.1230 in Varazze, near Genoa; died c.1298), a travelling Dominican preacher, and educator in the Order’s schools, who also enjoyed a distinguished career in ecclesiastical service. One of the most influential authors of the thirteenth century, he is now best known for his collection of saints’ lives, Legenda aurea (The Golden Legend), though his three collections of model sermons were indisputable medieval bestsellers, together surviving in hundreds of copies. The sermons excerpted here all focus on the Virgin and feature frequent marginal annotations of terms pertaining to Mary.
The clear spotlighting of the Virgin Mary in our codex, as well as its usefulness for preaching, suggests a connection to the Dominicans, the Order of Preachers, which was characterized by “a distinctive Marian devotion” since its founding by St. Dominic de Guzmán (1170-1221) in the wake of a vision of the Virgin (Wiseman, 2001, pp. 248-252, quote at p. 262). Even now, Dominicans are enjoined to seek Mary’s intercession daily, particularly via the rosary – gifted, per tradition, to Dominic in a 1208 vision at Prouille, the site of the Order’s first foundation – the spread of which has been attributed to their preaching (Zagano and McGonigle, 2006, pp. x-xi; Wiseman, 2001, pp. 249, 263).
Our well-copied and equally well-organized manuscript’s lower-quality, frequently repaired, parchment; static page-markers of undyed yarn; frequent annotations and corrections; and additions (at ff. 157v-161v and 2-5v) reveal a pragmatically motivated working text likely produced for and relied upon by multiple users. This collection will reward study by researchers and collectors interested in the history of Marian devotion, particularly within the Order of Preachers, as well as late medieval book production, signs of reader engagement, and the materiality of parchment.
Borgnet, Augustus, and Aemilius Borgnet, eds. Biblia Mariana, in B. Alberti Magni Ratisbonensis Episcopi, Ordinis Praedicatorum, Opera omnia 37, Paris, 1898, pp. 365-443.
Burger, Maria. “Albert the Great – Mariology,” in A Companion to Albert the Great: Theology, Philosophy, and the Sciences, ed. Irven M. Resnick, Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 38, Leiden, 2013, pp. 105-136.
Desmarais, Marcel-Marie. S. Albert le Grand. Docteur de la Médiation Mariale, Paris and Ottawa, 1935.
Fries, Albert. Die Gedanken des Heiligen Albertus Magnus über die Gottesmutter, Thomistische Studien, 7, Freiburg, Switzerland, 1959.
Fries, Albert. “Die andern selbständigen mariologischen Schriften: I. Biblia mariana,” Die unter dem Namen des Albertus Magnus Überlieferten Mariologische Schriften, Literarkristische Untersuchung, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters, 37, part 4, Munster, 1954, pp. 81-84.
Fulton Brown, Rachel. “Mary and the Body of God: Servasanctus of Faenza and the Psalter of Creation,” Medieval Franciscan Approaches to the Virgin Mary: Mater Sanctissima, Misericordia, et Dolorosa, ed. Steven J. McMichael and Katherine Wrisley Shelby, The Medieval Franciscans 16, Leiden, 2019, pp. 125-149.
Glorieux, Palémon. Répertoire des Maîtres en Théologie de Paris au XIIIe Siècle, vol. 1, Paris, 1933.
Graef, Hilda. Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion, London, 1994, 2 vols.
Jammy, Petrum, ed. Biblia Mariana, in Beati Alberti Magni, Ratibonensis Episcopi, Ordinis Praedicatorum … Operum Tomus Vigesimus, Lyon, 1651, section c, pp. 1-40.
Korosak, Bruno. Mariologia S. Alberti Magni eiusque coaeqalium, Bibliotheca Mariana Medii aevi 8, Rome, 1954.
Resnick, Irven M. “Albert the Great: Biographical Introduction,” in A Companion to Albert the Great: Theology, Philosophy, and the Sciences, ed. Irven M. Resnick, Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 38, Leiden, 2013, pp. 1–11.
Schneyer, Johann Baptist. Repertorium der Lateinischen Sermones des Mittelalters: für die Zeit von 1150–1350, Heft 3 (Autoren: I–J), Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters 43, Münster, 1971.
Stegmüller, Friedrich. Repertorium Biblicum Medii Ævii: Tomus II: Commentaria, Auctores A-G, Madrid, 1950, no. 1054.
Varazze, Iacopo de. Sermones quadragesimales. Edizione critica, Edizione Nazionale dei Testi Mediolatini 13, ser. I, 8, ed. Giovanni Paolo Maggione, Florence, 2005.
Voragine, Jacobus de. Sermones aurei in omnes Quadragesimae Dominicas and Ferias, De praecipuis sanctorum festis et Laudibus deiparae virginis, ed. Rudolph Clutius, Augustae Vindelicorum-Cracoviae, 1760.
Wiseman, Denis Vincent. “Devotion to Mary among the Dominicans in the Thirteenth Century,” Marian Studies, 52 (2001), pp. 246-263.
Zagano, Phyllis, and Thomas C. McGonigle, O.P. The Dominican Tradition, Spirituality in History, Collegeville, MN, 2006.
“Albertus Magnus OP (†1280),” Manuscripta.at: Mittelalterliche Handschriften in Österreich
https://manuscripta.at/bibliotheken_search.php?gnd=118637649
“Biblia Mariana,” Mirabile: Archivio digitale della cultura medievale
https://www.mirabileweb.it/title/biblia-mariana-title/3918
Casagrande, Carla. “La Vie et les Œuvres de Jacques de Voragine, o.p.,” Sermones.net
http://sermones.net/content/la-vie-et-les-oeuvres-de-jacques-de-voragine-op
Catholic Library Project. Biblia Mariana. Webmaster Seth Cherney
https://catholiclibrary.org/library/view?docId=Medieval-OR/AlbertusMagnusSBibliaMariana.00000003.la.html
ISTC: International Short-Title Catalogue
https://data.cerl.org/istc/_search/
“Jacques de Voragine,” Sermones.net: Édition électronique d’un corpus de sermons latins médiévaux
http://sermones.net/content/jacques-de-voragine
(edition of the Quadragesimale)
http://sermones.net/thesaurus/list.php?coll=voragine%2Fquadragesimale
Voragine, Jacobus de. Sermones quadragesimales, Brescia, [1493], ISTC ij00186000; Subiaco, Biblioteca Statale del Monumento Nazionale di Santa Scolastica, XVII.A.17 (digital surrogate)
http://digitale.bnc.roma.sbn.it/tecadigitale/libroantico/FOGE034801/FOGE034801/1
TM 1318
