Healing mirror

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Speculum Humanae Salvationis , facsimile of Codex Cremifanensis 243 ( Kremsmünster Abbey Library )

Salvation mirrors were a type of Christian edification books widespread since the late Middle Ages . The original version, Speculum humanae salvationis ( Latin for " mirror of human salvation "), written in Latin rhyming prose, is believed to have been written by a Dominican or Franciscan in Italy at the beginning of the 14th century. The older attribution (by Perdrizet / Lutz, 1907) to the German Ludolf von Sachsen and the year of origin 1324 are no longer supported by the more recent research. The work served as an illustrated salvation story for laypeople.

construction

In the extension of the typological representation in the poor Bibles , mirrors of salvation are structured according to the pattern of the prefiguration , i.e. H. they extend the analogies to the New Testament beyond the Old Testament to include examples from Greek and Roman mythology and history. In most of the 45 chapters of the Latin original there are three other scenes (the “types”) in addition to a New Testament scene (the 'antitype'), mostly from the life of Mary and Jesus. Each chapter consists of 100 verses, so that the picture-text sequence could be linked with a fixed layout. The first and last chapters have a different structure: the first two chapters each describe four scenes from the Book of Genesis , the last three chapters each have eight pictures and contain devotions to the Passion of Christ and the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of Mary.

In most manuscripts, each chapter takes up a double page, with the four images at the top and the text below.

Speculum humanae salvationis. - mid 15th century. Provenance: Mainz Jesuit College. Scientific City Library Mainz , signature: Hs II 10, fol. 1r.

Some of the series of images in the manuscripts were also incorporated into other genres of art, including a. in the salvation depiction of Lent cloths or in the late Gothic tapestry of the Wienhausen monastery .

Vernacular salvation mirror

The oldest surviving vernacular salvation mirror was the early New High German Speculum translation Eyn Spiegel der Menschen Selikeit (middle of the 14th century), which reproduced the Latin rhyming prose. As a result, verse and prose translations originated on Middle High German and Middle Low German as well as Middle French by Jean Miélot . Konrad von Helmsdorf ( The Mirror of Human Salvation ), Andreas Kurzmann and Heinrich Laufenberg created independent verses in Middle High German . In addition, several printed healing mirrors appeared from 1473, which speak for the popularity of the house books and their word-picture combination.

literature

Historical works

  • Paul Perdrizet , Jules Lutz (eds.): Speculum humanae Salvationis . Paris 1907
  • Axel Lindqvist (ed.): Konrad von Helmsdorf: The mirror of human salvation . Berlin 1924
  • Margit Krenn (Ed.): Speculum humanae salvationis . Darmstadt 2006. ISBN 3-534-19126-9
  • Gregory T. Clark, Hans-Walter Stork : The healing mirror from Einsiedeln monastery. Cod. 206, Einsiedeln Abbey Library. Facsimile edition . Lucerne: Quaternio Verlag Luzern 2015. ISBN 978-3-905924-22-0 .

Secondary literature

  • Edgar Breitenbach: Speculum Humanae Salvationis. A type-historical investigation . Strasbourg 1930
  • Horst Appuhn: healing mirror. The pictures of the medieval book of edification Speculum humanae salvationis . Dortmund 1981. ISBN 3-88379-267-5
  • Adrian Wilson / Joyce Lancaster Wilson: A medieval mirror. 'Speculum humanae salvationis' 1324–1500 . Berkeley 1984. ISBN 0-520-05194-7 ( online )
  • Peter Wiesinger: A few comments on Andreas Kurzmann's rhyming translation of the “Speculum humanae salvationis” on the occasion of the edition project . In: Alfred Ebenbauer et al. (Ed.): The medieval literature in Styria. Files of the International Symposium Seggau Castle near Leibnitz 1984 . Bern / Frankfurt am Main 1988. pp. 299-315.
  • Hans-Walter Stork / B [urghart] Wachinger: Art. Speculum humanae salvationis . In: The German literature of the Middle Ages. Author's Lexicon 9, Sp. 52-65.
  • G. Roth / M. Markus / M. Grams-Thieme: Art. Speculum humanae salvationis . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters 7, Sp. 2088f.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Joost Roger Robbe: The central Dutch mirror onser behoudenisse and its Latin source. Münster 2010, pp. 61–113.

Web links

Commons : Speculum Humanae Salvationis  - collection of images, videos and audio files