National Library of Sweden, A 67
Canonization Bull, Office for St Birgitta, Sermo angelicus, and Revelations Books 1-8
Germany, Erfurt, 1424
paper
i, 161 leaves
405–415 × 285 mm
Latin
Most of chapter 1 and a few lines of chapter 2 are omitted. Book 8 ends with chapter 57, last chapter omitted.
f. 164v: guidelines but no text.
Secundo folio
CAdere quinque permittiturSupport
Textblock
Watermark 1
ff. 2,Watermark 2
ff. 66,Blackamoor's head with headband. Similar to WZMA 993 27 .
The ox head and moor's head appear alternatingly throughout the manuscript.
Foliation
Collation
Condition
Script
Textblock
Hand 1
Gothic cursive (possibly by several hands).Additions
Binding/Endleaves
Textblock
Decorations
Textblock
Main text in black ink, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red and some underlining in red.
(f. 1r): penwork A over 5 lines in red. (f. 13r): Puzzle initial B over 15 lines in red and black. (f. 30r): penwork H over 3 lines (+ extending above the line) in red. (f. 37r): puzzle initial S over 8 (+ extending below the line) in red and black. (ff. 1v–110v): plain initials with some flourishing over 2-4 lines (+ extending above and below the line) in red. (ff. 78r–142r): occasional plain initials in black or black and red over 2-3 lines (+ extending above and below the text). (ff. 142v–163v) initials outlined in red crayon. (ff. 110v–140r) space reserved for initials.
Binding
Medieval binding. Leather over wooden boards. 5 pairs of raised bands and endbands. 2 clasps. Brass plates on RCO with remains of straps and two metal plates on LCI.
LCO: Top edge, tooled and almost illegible: ‘Revelaciones (?)’; beneath this a fragment of a shelfmark label with illegible text in brown ink. Centre of cover, barely legible tooled shelfmark: ‘C XXX (?)’, partially covered by an illegible paper label. Bottom left corner: National Library book label.
Spine: paper label: ‘Revelacone (!) S. Brigittae MS. 1424’, (written by the same hand as the title and inscription on f. 1r); paper label with dark and almost illegible text: ‘Revela[ciones] S. Birgitte (?)’; part of torn paper lable with illegible text; brown ink on paper label: ‘57’; stamped in gold: ‘A 67’.
The pastedowns consist of two bifolia containing a 13th century commentary on the Decretals of Gregory IX; LCI: on Extra 1,38-2,7; 3,21-27; RCI: on Extra 1,8-22; 2,30-3,7.
Regarding the shelfmark label, see Lehmann (1936), p. 14.
Provenance
Place of origin or earliest known provenance is the monastery of Saint Peter and Paul (Peterskloster, OSB), Erfurt. The manuscript appears to have been kept at the monastery until the secularisation. It is listed in the monastery’s library catalogue of 1783: ‘De Gotha Joa.: Revelationes approbatae S. Brigittae’ as ‘no. 57’, (cf ‘57’ on the spine), see Theele (1920), p. 61 (though the manuscript is not identified by him); also listed in Krämer (1989), p. 231. The manuscript was bought by Friedrich Gottlieb Julius von Bülow zu Beyernaumburg(1760-1831) around 1803 after the secularization of the monastery.
The manuscript was then bought by Gustav Klemm (1802-1867), anthropologist and librarian at the royal library in Dresden at the sale of the Bibliotheca Büloviana in 1836. His signature is found on LCI. A catalogue for this sale was made by Georg Heinrich Schäffer whose name is found on f. 1r.
Acquisition
Bought at an auction in Dresden by the National Library in 1873 , cf. note on LCI.
- Hedlund (1980), p. 19.
- Lehmann (1936), pp. 14–15 (Edition of the additions on .).