Codex Hersfeldensis

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Folio of the Hersfeld Quaternio from the Codex Aesinas ( Agricola c. 19, 2 - 21, 1)

The Codex Hersfeldensis was an early medieval manuscript of the 9th century. The codex was written between 830 and 850 and was in the Hersfeld monastery in the first half of the 15th century . Brought to Italy by Enoch from Ascoli in 1455 , the codex was split up, copied and has since been lost. The Codex Hersfeldensis is considered to be the original manuscript for today's surviving manuscripts of the Opera Minora - the smaller works of Tacitus , including the so-called Germania .

In 1425, the apostolic secretary, humanist and collector of Latin manuscripts, Poggio Bracciolini, was informed of the discovery of copies of ancient works by the Hersfeld monk Heinrich von Grebenstein during his stay in Rome. Grebenstein sent Poggio an inventory of the writings. Poggio recognized the value of the finds and then sent his agent Niccolò Niccoli to Hersfeld for a detailed inventory. In 1431, he named three writings by Tacitus and a fragment of Suetons De grammaticis et rhetoribus from De viris illustribus with their incipit and volume in folia as works contained in the codex :

  • Cornelii Taciti De origine et situ Germanorum liber, [...] xii folia
  • Cornelii Taciti De vita Iulii Agricolae, [...] xiiii folia
  • Dialogus de oratoribus, [...] xviii folia
  • Suetonii Tranquilli De grammaticis et rhetoribus, [...] folia vii

Poggio tried in vain to acquire the manuscript for himself personally. The codex came to Rome through Enoch from Ascoli as part of Pope Nicholas V's search for books in Germany and northern Europe. Afterwards and after making a few copies of the individual works, every trace of the handwriting is lost.

The only existing manuscript today that is considered a direct copy from the Codex Hersfeldensis is the Codex Aesinas Latinus 8, discovered in 1902 (Cod. Vitt. Em. 1631 of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma ). The Aesinas was created by the humanist Stefano Guarnieri in the period following the description of Decembrio by 1474 at the latest and contains parts of the Agricola and the full Germania and another script. In the Agricola part, eight slides in Carolingian minuscule letters are integrated. This Agricola fragment is generally considered to be the only original piece of the Codex Hersfeldensis that has survived today.

literature

  • Ludwig Pralle: The rediscovery of Tacitus. Parzeller publishing house, Fulda 1952
  • Bernhard Bischoff : Benedictine monasticism and the tradition of classical literature. In: Studies and Communications on the History of the Benedictine Order 92 (1981), pp. 165–190, here p. 181.
  • Michael Fleck: The Codex Hersfeldensis des Tacitus: an adventurous story from the time of the Renaissance. In: Hersfeld history sheets . Volume 1 (2006), pp. 98-113.
  • Heinz Heubner : The tradition of the Germania of Tacitus. In: Herbert Jankuhn , Dieter Timpe (Hrsg.): Contributions to the understanding of the Germania of Tacitus. Report on the colloquia of the commission for the antiquity of Northern and Central Europe in 1986. Part 1. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1989, ISBN 3-525-82459-9 , pp. 16-26.
  • Harald Merklin: 'Dialogus' problems in recent research . In: Wolfgang Haase et al. (Ed.): Rise and Fall of the Roman World, Second Principal, Volume 33.3. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1991. ISBN 3-11-012541-2 , pp. 2255–2283.
  • Dieter Mertens : The instrumentalization of the “Germania” of Tacitus by the German humanists. In: Heinrich Beck (Hrsg.): On the history of the equation "Germanic-German": language and names, history and institutions. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2004, ISBN 978-3-11-017536-3 , pp. 37-101 ( supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , 34; online as PDF ).
  • Charles E. Murgia: Review Article: The Minor Works of Tacitus. A Study in Textual Criticism Cornelii Taciti Opera minora by M. Winterbottom, RM Ogilvie. In: Classical Philology 72, 4 (1977), pp. 323-343.
  • Charles E. Murgia, RH Rodgers: A Tale of Two Manuscripts. In: Classical Philology 79, 2 (1984), pp. 145-153.
  • Rodney P. Robinson: The Inventory of Niccolo Niccoli. In: Classical Philology 16, 3 (1921), pp. 251-255. ( online )
  • Franz Römer : Critical problem and research report on the transmission of the Taciteic writings. In: Wolfgang Haase et al. (Ed.): Rise and Fall of the Roman World, Second Principal, Volume 33.3. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1991, ISBN 3-11-012541-2 , pp. 2299-2339.
  • Rudolf Till : Handwritten studies on Tacitus Agricola and Germania, with a photocopy of the Codex Aesinas. Berlin-Dahlem 1943.
  • Michael Winterbottom : The Manuscript Tradition of Tacitus' Germania. In: Classical Philology 70, 1 (1975), pp. 1-7.