Codex Palatinus germanicus 7

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Cod. Pal. germ. 7, sheet 2r: 4 fortune tellers

The Codex Palatinus germanicus 7 is a late medieval manuscript from the former Bibliotheca Palatina in Heidelberg . The Codex belongs to the Codices Palatini germanici , the German-language manuscripts of the Palatina, which have been kept in the Heidelberg University Library since 1816 ; The signature of the Heidelberg University Library and the common scientific name is Cod. Pal. germ. 7 (short form: Cpg 7 ).

The illuminated manuscript reports a fortune-telling book ; it originated in the 15th century, probably in Bavaria.

description

Cod. Pal. germ. 7, sheet 3r: 6 fortune tellers
Cod. Pal. germ. 7, sheet 7r: Vogelbild Kuckuck
Cod. Pal. germ. 7, sheet 8r: animal picture donkey
Cod. Pal. germ. 7, sheet 13v: Wilder Mann; Initial with profile face

The Codex is a parchment manuscript . The foliation of the 17th century counts the 22 described leaves; the blank sheets in front and behind bear modern numbers.

The sheet size of the codex is 33.4 × 25 cm, a writing space of 23 × 18 cm is described, with 32 lines per page; pages 6v – 22r have line counts on the left margin, usually with the lines 5, 10, 20, 25 (v, x, xx, xxv), slightly different on pages 8r (additional 15: v, x, xv, xx, xv) and 9r (without 25: v, x, xx). Pages 1r and 6r show three-column tables, pages 6v-22r are described in one column with rows of rhymes. Continuous writing is a textura , written by one hand.

Sheets 2r – 4v bear 36 colored pen and ink drawings of wise men and prophets, arranged in page-filling groups of four (sheet 2r), six (sheets 2v – 4r) and eight (sheet 4v) full-body miniatures on pieces of green lawn. The hatched pen drawings are brightly painted with watercolors and opaque paints, the contours of the figures are drawn with clear pen strokes. The pictures have simple frames with a thin pen stroke, the picture backgrounds are filled with pen drawings of red tendrils. The figures wear fantasy robes, floor-length cloaks with draped folds. The faces of the wise men and prophets are designed with the clearly recognizable will to develop individualized facial features. All the characters hold written banners in their hands.

Journal 5v has in the left half of the sheet an upright narrow rectangle with fleuronnée -Besatz - a blue primed frame with stylized representations of the seven "planets" Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon in golden / yellow color.

Pages 6v – 22r each have a miniature above the text, a total of 32 images of birds (12), animals (9), signs of the zodiac (6), signs of the zodiac (4) and a wild man . These miniatures are more carefully executed than the full-page depictions of the wise men and prophets, possibly by the hand of a second draftsman.

The beginning of the text is marked on each page with an initial and additional red lombards , the latter usually extending over two lines. The initials are partly decorated with fleuronnée ornamentation (e.g. leaves 6v, 18v), on leaves 13r, 13v and 18r with grimaces of small faces. The worksheets 1r and 6r each have three initials corresponding to the number of columns.

The parchment binding from the 17th century is from Roman manufacture.

origin

The manuscript was written in the first half of the 15th century, the writing language is Bavarian. The information in the older literature on dating to the 14th century turned out to be untenable due to several characteristics - the writing, the language and the peculiarities of the illustrations.

The manuscript was probably originally created by Elector Ludwig III. acquired by the Palatinate (1378–1436). In 1589 it can be found in the catalog of the private library Elector Friedrich IV von der Pfalz (1574–1610), in 1610 it is recorded in the inventory of the Younger Palace Library.

Like the other manuscripts of the Electoral Palatinate Libraries, the Codex came into the possession of the Vatican Library in Rome after the conquest of the Electoral Palatinate in the Thirty Years War in 1622 and was only brought to Heidelberg in 1816 with the other German-language holdings of the Palatina as part of the regulations during the Congress of Vienna returned.

Content

The manuscript is a late medieval fortune telling or lottery book . In terms of structure, function and content, this manuscript was closely related to the older lot book Cod. Ser. nova 2652 (Vienna, Austrian National Library), created around 1370.

On the first page of the text (sheet 1r) there is a kind of table of contents: a catalog with 32 question headings in the first column of the table, next to it the names of 32 wise men and prophets (2nd column) and the ordinal numbers 1 to 32 (3rd column) .

The names of the prophets and wise men in the given order from top to bottom: "David", "Daniel", "Zacharias", "Amos", "Yasaias", "Jonas", "Abakuk", "Malachias", " Balaam "," Jeremias "," Sophonias "," Nachanel "," Zachoris "," Gedeon "," Nabuchodonoser "," Ismahelid "," Putipharr "," Welle "," Theodosy "," Olibrius "," Morel " , "Moyses", "Ysaac", "Abraham", "Ysrahel", "Fudlein", "Samuel", "Morsit", "Chorel", "Sawlin", "Nathon", "Yoseph".

The type of use is unclear, presumably the questioner was not tied to the prophet's name next to the respective question category, but could freely choose from the names, which led to a coincidence at this point. The names of the prophets are mostly taken from the Old Testament , but some could not be identified and are probably fantasy names.

This is followed by 36 illustrations of wise men and prophets (sheets 2r – 4v), 4 on the first page (the inscriptions of the banners in their hands in brackets):

  • "Katho" ( In orient machtu see what should happen to people. ),
  • "Aristotelis" ( in orient we tell you what history goes on in churczer. ),
  • “Plato” ( This propheten tanck customer what history in churczer hour. ) And
  • "Virgilius" ( you want to say. That should be asked of the prophet. ).

The following 32 miniatures are illustrations of the wise men and prophets who are also listed in the questionnaire. The inscriptions on their banners each point to one of the seven planets as well as to one of the four cardinal directions, additionally to northeast and northwest (for Saturn) and southeast and southwest (for the moon) to reach the number 32 here too.

The sequence of the miniatures mostly, but not always, corresponds to the order of the catalog of questions on sheet 1r ("Morel", ordinal number 21 in the catalog of questions, receives the ordinal number 20 in the illustrations and swaps places with the preceding "Olibrius" in the catalog of questions; "Yoseph ", Ordinal number 32 in the questionnaire, has the ordinal number 31 in the illustrations and swaps places with the preceding" Nathon "in the questionnaire).

This is followed by a double page with the row of the seven “planets” (sheet 5v), juxtaposed with an index (sheet 6r) that contains a search instruction for each of the 32 previously given cardinal points. For example, the first instruction says: Saturnus / North West. Look for the kemlein [camel]. Before in the puch.

The following 32 pages (sheets 6v – 22r) give the answers to the questions; 32 answers in rhyming verses for each question. These pages are decorated with miniatures above the text, specifically with:

  • 12 bird pictures (cuckoo, sheet 7r; nightingale, sheet 7v; falcon, sheet 8v; sparrowhawk, sheet 14r; crane, sheet 15r; eagle, sheet 15v; cock, sheet 16r; pigeon, sheet 16v; owl, sheet 18r; raven, Sheet 18v; parakeet, sheet 20v; magpie, sheet 21v)
  • 9 animal pictures (donkey, sheet 8r; fox, sheet 9r; deer, sheet 9v; dog, sheet 10v; unicorn, sheet 17v; ox, sheet 19v; camel, sheet 20r; hare, sheet 21r; goat, sheet 22r)
  • 6 images of the zodiac signs (bear, sheet 10r; cancer, sheet 11r; lion, sheet 11v; fish, sheet 13r; scorpio, sheet 17r; aries, sheet 19r)
  • 4 star sign images (Libra, sheet 6v; Virgo, sheet 12r; Gemini, sheet 12v; Sagittarius, sheet 14v)
  • 1 picture of a wild man (sheet 13v)

See also

literature

  • Karin Zimmermann : Cod. Pal. germ. 7. Divination book. In: Karin Zimmermann (arrangement), with the participation of Sonja Glauch, Matthias Miller, Armin Schlechter: The Codices Palatini germanici in the Heidelberg University Library (Cod. Pal. Germ. 1–181). Catalogs of the Heidelberg University Library, Volume 6. Reichert Verlag , Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 978-3-89500-152-9 , p. 14 ( digitized version ).

Older catalogs:

  • Karl Bartsch : Pal. germ. 7. Divination book in verse. In: Karl Bartsch: The old German manuscripts of the university library in Heidelberg. Catalog of the manuscripts of the University Library in Heidelberg, volume 1. Verlag von Gustav Koester, Heidelberg 1887, No. 5, p. 6 ( digitized version ).
  • Hans Wegener : fortune telling book. pal. germ. 7. In: Hans Wegener: Descriptive directory of the German picture manuscripts of the late Middle Ages in the Heidelberg University Library. Verlagbuchhandlung J. J. Weber, Leipzig 1927, pp. 33–34 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Cod. Pal. germ. 7  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Unless otherwise noted, the information in this section follows the description by Karin Zimmermann: Cod. Pal. germ. 7 . In: The Codices Palatini germanici in the Heidelberg University Library (Cod. Pal. Germ. 1–181) . Wiesbaden 2003, p. 14 ( digitized version ; accessed February 10, 2020).
  2. ↑ s. Hans Wegener: fortune telling book. pal. germ. 7 . In: Descriptive directory of the German picture manuscripts of the late Middle Ages in the Heidelberg University Library . Leipzig 1927, p. 34 ( digitized version ; accessed February 11, 2020).
  3. ^ [Johann Daniel Ferdinand] Sotzmann: The Loos Books of the Middle Ages (continuation). In: Serapeum Volume 12, Number 20, Leipzig 1851, p. 312 ( digitized version of the Internet Archive ; accessed February 11, 2020). According to Wegener, fortune telling book. pal. germ. 7 , Leipzig 1927, there is "no reason to ascribe it to a second draftsman".
  4. ↑ Unless otherwise noted, the information in this section follows the description by Karin Zimmermann: Cod. Pal. germ. 7 . In: The Codices Palatini germanici in the Heidelberg University Library (Cod. Pal. Germ. 1–181) . Wiesbaden 2003, p. 14 ( digitized version ; accessed February 10, 2020).
  5. ↑ s. Entry by Karin Zimmermann: Cpg 7 in the manuscript census (2014); accessed February 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Hans Wegener : The German pictorial manuscripts of the late Middle Ages in the Heidelberg University Library . In: Hans Wegener: Descriptive directory of the German picture manuscripts of the late Middle Ages in the Heidelberg University Library . Verlagbuchhandlung J. J. Weber, Leipzig 1927, S. VIf. (Introduction; digitized version ; accessed February 13, 2020).
  7. ^ UB Heidelberg : The Bibliotheca Palatina - Fates of a world-famous library ; accessed February 13, 2020.
  8. ↑ Unless otherwise noted, the information in this section follows the description by Karin Zimmermann: Cod. Pal. germ. 7 . In: The Codices Palatini germanici in the Heidelberg University Library (Cod. Pal. Germ. 1–181) . Wiesbaden 2003, p. 14 ( digitized version ; accessed February 10, 2020).
  9. ^ Digitized Cod. Ser. nova 2652 . Online catalog entry Cod. Ser. nova 2652 . Otto Mazal and Franz Unterkircher: Catalog of the Occidental Manuscripts of the Austrian National Library . Series nova (new acquisitions), part 2, Cod. Ser. n. 1601-3200. Vienna 1963, pp. 329-330 ( digitized version ). All web links accessed February 17, 2020.
  10. ↑ cf. Francis B. Brévart: 'Losbuch' . In: The German literature of the Middle Ages, author's lexicon , volume 5. De Gruyter publishing house , Berlin / New York 1985/2010 (VL 2 ), Sp. 912–913.
  11. ↑ The transcription of the names follows the picture descriptions in the digital copies of the Heidelberg University Library on pages 2v – 4v.
  12. ^ [Johann Daniel Ferdinand] Sotzmann: The Loos Books of the Middle Ages (continuation). In: Serapeum Volume 12, Number 20, Leipzig 1851, p. 311 ( digitized version of the Internet Archive ; accessed February 11, 2020).
  13. ^ [Johann Daniel Ferdinand] Sotzmann: The Loos Books of the Middle Ages (continuation). In: Serapeum Volume 12, Number 20, Leipzig 1851, p. 312 ( digitized version of the Internet Archive ; accessed February 11, 2020).
  14. ^ Catalog of questions, sheet 1r , sheet 4r , sheet 4v ; all digital copies of the Heidelberg University Library, accessed February 16, 2020.
  15. ^ [Johann Daniel Ferdinand] Sotzmann: The Loos Books of the Middle Ages (continuation). In: Serapeum Volume 12, Number 20, Leipzig 1851, p. 312 ( digitized version of the Internet Archive ; accessed February 11, 2020).