Lübeck Bible (1494)

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Genesis 13 with woodcut by the A master

The Lübeck Bible is a Middle Low German edition of a glossed Bible printed by Steffen Arndes in Lübeck in 1494 . The translation follows the Vulgate . In terms of its language, print and illustration quality, the Lübeck Bible occupies a special position among the pre-Lutheran German Bibles . It is considered to be “the most important vernacular Bible before the Reformation” and also “one of the most outstanding testimonies” of the literary genre of the late medieval edification book.

text

Among the 18 pre-Lutheran Bibles in German, the Lübeck Bible is the third of four Middle Low German Bibles published. The others are the two Cologne Bibles (around 1478) and the Halberstadt Bible from 1522. It was intended as a vernacular Bible for the entire Middle Low German-speaking area, which largely coincided with the trading area of ​​the Hanseatic League .

In terms of content, the Lübeck Bible is largely based on the North Lower Saxony ( unde ) edition of the Cologne Bible, which also contains the glosses of Nikolaus von Lyra as well as models for four woodcuts that can be seen in the New Testament of the Lübeck Bible. To a large extent, however, the editor carried out his own translation and compilation work. This distinguishes the Middle Low German editions from the 14 pre-Lutheran (Middle) High German Bible prints, which are essentially all based on a translation, the Mentelin Bible from 1466.

The Lübeck Bible contains extensive titles and glosses, most of which refer to the Postilla litteralis of Nikolaus von Lyra, but also to the Glossa ordinaria and other commentaries such as those by Hugo von St. Viktor . In the books from Genesis to 2 Samuel 7 as well as in the Song of Songs and the non-canonical books 3 and 4 Ezra , a particularly uniform choice of words and an independent translation and glossing performance can be seen.

editor

Since the research of Olaf Schwencke it has been undisputed that the editor can be assigned to a group of late medieval writers of edification whose spiritual and spiritual focus was in the Franciscan St. Catherine's Monastery and in the Devotio moderna and whose publications were mainly printed and printed in the poppy head printer of Hans van Ghetelen were relocated. Schwenke believed that after the coauthor of the custodian of the Lübeck Franciscan Custody Nicholas Bucholt stands.

Illustrations

Foreword by Hieronymus with woodcut by the B master

The Lübeck Bible not only impresses with the detailed commentary and the meticulous print image, but is also famous for its illustrations. 152 woodcuts and initials are artfully integrated into the text.

Compared to the model, the Cologne Bible from 1478, six representations are new and 20 were not adopted. The illustrations are mainly limited to the Old Testament; In the New Testament, apart from repeated depictions of the Evangelists and Saint Jerome, there are hardly any images. In the Psalter , the artistic, also printed initials catch the eye. All illustrations are only colored in individual copies.

After Bernt Notke was occasionally seen as the author of the illustrations for a while , since the research of Axel L. Romdahl , a distinction has been made between two different, nameless artists, called by him for short A master and B master . The A master, often referred to alone as the master of the Lübeck Bible , was also involved in Des Dodes Dantz from the poppy head office of Hans van Ghetelen. 47 drawings are ascribed to him (4-39,41,42,44-55); he probably worked on the Lübeck Bible in the years 1489–1492. The B master had previously been commissioned by Steffen Arndes with the 200 woodcuts for the Passional (1492) that he printed . For unexplained reasons, he, the “significantly weaker”, then replaced the A master.

Both masters knew how to use light and shadow to create space and perspective; With the A-Meister, however, there is a somewhat more free design overall. Max Hasse put forward the thesis most accepted today that this master came from the Flemish-Burgundian culture, received his training as a miniature painter at the court of King Rene von Anjou and only worked briefly in Lübeck. For the B master, Johnny Roosval suspected it was Heinrich Wylsynck ; Max Hasse, on the other hand, sees a closeness to the painter of the Schlutuper ( clan ) altar.

pressure

Last page, with printer's note

The printing was done by Steffen Arndes , and for a long time he was thought to be the editor himself. Ever since he returned from Schleswig around 1490, Arndes owned a workshop on the corner of Königstrasse and Fleischhauerstrasse . It was one of five printing works in Lübeck at the time that made the city the center of book printing and book distribution in the Baltic Sea region. His printing of the Bible certainly represents the high point of Lübeck book art in the early modern period. Arndes uses a Gothic type for the headings in the Lübeck Bible (approx. 22 points) and a Schwabacher type (approx. 12 points) for the text is derived from the Upper Rhine italic . Ornamental initial jewelry in the tradition of late Gothic ornamentation sets the individual text sections apart. The print does not have a printed page number, the running headings in Gothic textura serve as a guide , they indicate the name of the corresponding biblical book. According to information from the colophon , the printing was completed on the day of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia , November 19, 1494.

literature

  • Max J. Friedländer : The woodcuts of the Lübeck Bible from 1494 to the 5 books of Moses. Annual gift of the German Association for Art History 1917, Berlin 1918.
  • The Lübeck Bible. With an introduction by Max J. Friedländer. Piper, Munich 1923, (major woodcut works).
  • Albert Schramm : The printers in Lübeck: 2. Steffen Arndes. In: The picture decoration of the early prints. Volume 11. Leipzig 1928, No. 948-1047.
  • Axel L. Romdahl: The A master of the Lübeck Bible from 1494 In: Göteborgs Högskolas Arsskrift XLVII. 23. Elander, Gothenburg 1941.
  • Olaf Schwencke: The glossing of Old Testament books in the Lübeck Bible of 1494: Contributions to the piety history of the late Middle Ages and the author's question of pre-Lutheran Bibles. Berlin: E. Schmidt 1967, plus dissertation, Hamburg
  • Max Hasse : Lübeck St. Anne's Museum. The sacred works. In: Lübeck Museum Guide Volume I. 2nd edition. Museums for Art and Cultural History of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, Lübeck 1970.
  • Henning Wendland, Walter Eichenberger: German Bibles before Luther. The book art of the 18 German Bibles between 1466 and 1522. 2nd improved and expanded edition, Wittig, Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-8048-4149-X .
  • Bodo Brinkmann: News from the master of the Lübeck Bible. In: Yearbook of the Berlin museums. Mann, Berlin 1987/88, ISSN  0075-2207 , pp. 123-161.
  • Alken Bruns, Dieter Lohmeier: The Lübeck book printers in the 15th and 16th centuries. Letterpress for the Baltic region. Boyens, Heide in Holstein 1994, ISBN 3-8042-0668-9 .
  • Henning Wendland: 500 years of the Lübeck Bible 1494-1994. In: Philobiblon 38 1994, pp. 310-317.
  • Hans Wahl (ed.): The 92 woodcuts of the Lübeck Bible from 1494 by an unknown master. Gustav Kiepenheuer, Weimar 1917, reprint: Weltbild, Augsburg 1999.
  • Olaf Schwencke: Lübeck Bible. In: Author's Lexicon . Volume 6. pp. 983–985, sv Niederdeutsche Bibeldrucke.
  • Sabine Lütt, Andreas Wulff: The Lübeck Bible from 1494. In: The library of the Augustinian canons of Bordesholm. Catalog accompanying the exhibition in Kiel 2002, pp. 23–26 ( digitized version ; PDF; 1.0 MB).

Web links

Commons : Lübecker Bibel (1494)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Digital copies
  • De Biblie with vlitigher achthinge: right na deme latine in dudesck averghesettet With vorluchtinghe vnde glose: the hochghelerden postillator Nicolai de lyra vnde other velen hilighen doctoren.
Copy from the Bavarian State Library (rar. 880)
urn : nbn: de: gbv: 8: 2-1315703 Copy of the Kiel University Library from the Bordesholm Monastery (TypBo34, incomplete)
Copy from the Austrian National Library (Ink 6.D.2)
Copy of the City Library (Lübeck) (I.-K. 254 a)
Copy of the Library of Congress , Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection 168, ex Von Bülow'sche Bücherei , Herrenhaus Goldenbow , before that Princely Schaumburg-Lippische Hofbibliothek
Copy from the Bodleian Library , Oxford, donated to the Hamburg Cathedral Library in 1642 by Lector Secundarius and Cathedral Preacher Gerhard Grave with a personal dedication. Acquired in 1850 from the Bodleian Library in Oxford through Adolf Asher

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Olaf Schwencke, sv Niederdeutsche Bibeldrucke (lit.), Col. 978
  2. ↑ Brinkmann (lit.), p. 123
  3. ^ Hasse (Lit.), pp. 39 and 888
  4. ↑ Lohmeier (Lit.), p. 71
  5. ↑ 1964 purchased replacement copy; Previous owner: Börries von Münchhausen , acquired in 1914 by the Hanover City Library (as a duplicate ), came there in 1851 with the Bibliotheca Sanctae Crucis of the Kreuzkirche (Hanover) , donated in 1628 by Curt Götz von Olenhusen
  6. ↑ Entry in the incunabula catalog of the Bodleian Library; Digitized