Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
II. i (modern paper) + 11 + i (modern paper) folios on paper, watermark, unidentified shape, original foliation in arabic numerals, top, outer corner recto, incorrect but complete, 323-329, *340-343, modern foliation, 1-11, in pencil (collation, i12 [-12, apparently with no loss of text]), no catchwords or signatures, frame ruled lightly in pencil, with all four rules full across on some folios (justification, 140-138 x 92-90 mm.), written in a quick gothic cursive script in twenty-eight to twenty-seven long lines by the same scribe who copied ff. 316v-319 in I, above, four- to three-line blanks for initials, decorative capitals in text ink, in good condition, legible throughout, water stains on upper lines of text. Bound in modern pasteboard covered with a leaf from an early printed book, in good condition. Dimensions, 211 x 127 mm.
These two, carefully written small volumes are complete, contiguous quires of a longer manuscript. Of the sermons included here, three are by well-known authors–Conrad of Brundelsheim, Bonaventure, and Franciscus de Mayronis–and two are unidentified and unpublished. This selection of texts could well repay efforts to identify the unknown sermons and offer the opportunity to study sermons which circulated broadly in the later Middle Ages, especially since the sermons by Conrad of Brundelsheim and Franciscus de Mayronis have not been studied extensively by modern scholars.
1.Now bound separately, these two short manuscripts are actually two quires removed from a longer manuscript in the late nineteenth or twentieth century, and bound in pasteboard covered with leaves from an early printed book. Original foliation in Arabic numerals shows that they were contiguous quires (ff. 311-322 in the first manuscript, continued with ff. 323-343, in the second); the texts in these quires are complete. The foliation in the second part skips from f. 329 to f. 340, but this is an original mistake, and does not reflect loss of text. The evidence of the script and watermark suggest that the texts described here are from a manuscript that was probably copied c. 1450-60 in Southern Germany or Austria.
2. Notes of dealers and/ or collectors include, in I, inside front cover, in pencil, “De sanctus stephano martyris, in Luc 2.2”; and front flyleaf, “in pencil “Theol. Lateinisch, M.30.” In II, front flyleaf in pencil, “M. 31”; inside front cover, in pencil, note on contents; and a paper tab stamped “157.”
3. The first volume was once “MS 31” and the second volume “MS 30” apparently in the same modern, though unidentified collection. Exactly when and where these items were removed from their various parent manuscripts and bound is still to be discovered.
[I.] ff. 1-6v (311-316v), incipit, “[S]tephanus plenus gratia et fortitudine faciebat prodigia et signa magna in populo, Act 6 [Acts 6:8].” De plenitudine eius omnes accepimus gratiam, Jo 1 [John 1:16].’ Experimur quod dum sacre scripture …. Stephanus plenus gratia et fortitudine, etc. Verbum istud est in hodierna epistola recitatum … cuius commune nos participes faciat meritis beati Stephani dominus noster Jhesus”;
Sermon for the feast of St. Stephen (not listed in Schneyer or Manuscripta mediaevalia).
ff. 6v-9 (316v-319), incipit, “Cum factus esset ihesus annorum duodecim, Luc ii [Luke 2:42]. In verbis huius ewangelii summati per strictis quatuor … dicitur plena est gratiarum semper aliud exhibet quod prius non est dabitus. Reliquam partes premissarii e diuisionis in sermonem alium reseruemus prolixitas quo … deuotionem extinguat in cordibus auditorium”;
Conrard of Brundelsheim, Sermon during the octave of the Epiphany; Schneyer 1:720, no. 51. Schneyer lists more than fifty manuscripts of the Sermons de tempore by Conrad, and they were printed six times in the fifteenth century (Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke 7408, 7409, 7410, M51410, M51413, M51416). There is no modern edition of these sermons, nor have they been the subject of a detailed modern study, despite their popularity during the Middle Ages.
Conrad of Brundelsheim was abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Heilbronn in southern Germany from 1303-1306, and again from 1317 until his death in 1321. He is referred to in some sources as “Frater Soccus,” a curious reference that has never been adequately explained. “Soccus,” in Latin means “shoe” or “slipper.” R. Bauerreis has argued that Soccus should be interpreted as a family name and suggests the sermons are actually by the Cistercian Johannes Bott, or Bottis (i.e. Boot), of the convent of Marienrode (see article listed below).
ff. 9-12 (319-322), incipit, “Propicio isto oraui et dedit mihi dominus petitioni meum quam postulaui eum. ‘Idcirco et ego accomodaui eum domino 1 R. 1 [I Kings 1:28].’ Verbum istud secundum litteralem sensum est diuine nostris samuelis prophete gratias deo agens pro filio nato. Secundum uero sensum allegoricum possunt esse vera virginis Marie …. Igitur spiritualis christus fuit commendandus domino quia ipse vnigenitus est domini etc. Rogemus ergo domini.” [Ends mid folio; remainder and f. 12v, blank];
Sermon (not listed in Schneyer or Manuscripta mediaevalia).
[II.] ff. 1-5 (323-327), incipit, “[S]urrexit rex in occursum matris et adoravit eam positusque thronus mater Regis et sedit ad dexteram eius 3 Regum 2 [3 Kings 2:19]. Quanta multiplici figura salomon ille nostrum respiciat salomonem patet per Augustinum 17 libro de ciuitate dei. … quibus hodie Mater Dei humilis Ancilla in sua Assumptione fuit sollempniter honorata. Et hii sunt Magnfica observatio … qui cum filio suo venit et regnat. Amen”;
Bonaventure, Sermon for the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin; a form of Schneyer 1:622, no. 429, also found in Freiburg im Breisgau, UB HS 333, datable 1446-8, and Vienna, National Bibliotek, Cod. Ser. n. 3924. Some sermons by Bonaventure were edited in Opera omnia, Quaracci, 1901, volume 9; more recently see the edition by Bourgerol, 1993, listed below (not available for consultation).
Bonaventure (c. 1217 to 15 July 1274), as he is generally known today (his given name was Giovanni di Fidanza), was a Franciscan friar, master of theology at the University of Paris, the seventh minister general of the Franciscans and a cardinal. During his lifetime he rose to become one of the most prominent men in Latin Christianity. In addition to his sermons, he was the author of numerous works, including a Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, a Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, the Breviloquium, and the Itinerarium mentis ad deum (“The Mind’s Road to God”), to mention only a few. His theology emphasized that the path to God, began in faith, was developed through reason, and culminated in the mystical union with God.
ff. 5-11 (327-343), incipit, “[A]d preceptum tuum eleuabitur aquila et ponet in arduis nidum suum, Iob. 3 [Job 39:27]. Scribitur istud verbum Quia vero mater domini in sua assumptione fuit exaltata super omnes … Quarum prima scilicet, Quid est eleuatio … Cuius precibus ad istam ciuitatem nos perducat christus eius filius. Amen.” [Ends mid f. 11, remainder and f. 11v, blank];
Franciscus de Mayronis, Sermon for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Schneyer 2:75, no. 133; also attributed to Petrus Aureoli, Schneyer 4:595, no. 158. The text ends as in Upsala C338, ff. 71v-76, where it is listed as a sermon; the form of this sermon is unusually detailed and addresses twelve “questions” in turn.
Franciscus de Mayronis (c. 1280-1327) was an important Franciscan theologian, who taught at the University of Paris. He was the author of numerous works, including a Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and he was known for his preaching during his lifetime. Petrus Aureoli (c. 1280-1322), also a Franciscan, taught at Bologna, Toulouse and Paris.
This is a carefully written manuscript on fine-quality paper. Although many medieval sermon manuscripts are organized according to the liturgical year, other collections are more loosely organized. These two quires of the original manuscript tell us that this is an example of the second type of collection since it includes two winter sermons (for the feast of St. Stephen on December 26 and a sermon during the octave of Ephiphany), followed by sermons for the Assumption, celebrated on August 15. The fact that there are three different scribes represented in these two quires suggests that this may have been a collection that evolved in an organic fashion as various people added sermons that they wanted to include.
Bériou, Nicole. “Les Sermons latins après 1200,” in Beverly Mayne Kienzle. The Sermon, Typologie des sources du moyen âge occidental 81-83, Turnhout, Brepols, 2000.
Baurreiss, Romuald. “Wer ist der mittelalterliche Prediger ‘Soccus’?” Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktiner-Ordens 65 (1954), pp. 75-80.
S. Bonaventurae opera omnia, ed. Collegii S. Bonaventura, Florence, Quaracchi, 1882-1902.
Bougerol, Jacques Guy. Introduction to the works of Bonaventure, translated by José de Vinck, Paterson, N.J., and New York, 1964.
Bourgerol, Jacques Guy. Saint Bonaventure: Sermons de diversis, Paris, 1993.
Canivez, Joseph-Marie. “Conrad de Brundelsheim,” in Dictionnaire de Spiritualité, Ascéteque et Mystique, Doctrine et Histoire, Paris, Beauchesne, 1953, volume 2, pp. 1543-1546.
Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, Leipzig, New York and Stuttgart, 1925- [in progress]. See also GW Manuskript, listed below, online resources.
Longère, Jean. La prédication médiévale, Paris, Etudes augustiniennes, 1983.
Rossman, H. “Die Quodlibeta und verschiedene sonstige Schriften des Franz von Meyronnes,” Franziskanische Studien 54 (1972) [p. 68].
Roth, B. Franz von Mayronis, O.F.M. Sein Leben, seine Werke, seine Lehre von Formalunterschied in Gott, Franziskanische Forschungen 3, Werl 1936.
Schneyer, Johannes Baptist. Repertorium der lateinischen Sermones des Mittelalters für die Zeit von 1150-1350, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters 43, Münster, 1969-80.
Piccard Online
http://www.piccard-online.de/ergebnis1.php
Manuscripta mediaevalia (online catalogue of manuscripts in German Libraries)
http://www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/handschriften-forum.htm
British Library, Incunabula Short Title Catalogue
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html
Gesamtkataloge der Wiegendrucke Manuskript
http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de
Noone, Tim and Houser, R. E. "Saint Bonaventure", in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition)
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/bonaventure/
Noone, Tim and Houser, R. E. "Saint Bonaventure", in
“St. Bonaventure” in the Franciscan Archive
http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bonaventura/
Sermones.net: Édition électronique d’un corpus de sermons latins médiévaux
http://www.sermones.net/
Medieval Sermons and Homilies; Bibliography, by Professor Charles Wright, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/cdwright/www/sermons.html
John M. Howe, Texas Tech University, Sermons; Bibliography
http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/howe/sermons.htm
