Mammotrectus
The Mammotrectus super Bibliam is a manual for understanding and interpreting the Bible. It is one of the most important Franciscan teaching texts and was probably written at the end of the 13th century by Johannes Marchesinus in Reggio Emilia . Very little is known about Marchesinus. He taught novices and young friars in a convent school in Imola .
The Mammotrectus ("fed by a wet nurse ") contains around 1300 articles and is divided into three parts:
- Explanation of biblical terms and passages that are difficult to understand
- Excursions on Latin accents, notes on the interpretation and translation of the Bible
- Liturgy, hymns, saints-legends and sermons.
The first printed edition appeared in 1470 by the printer Peter Schöffer in Mainz , and the Mammotrectus is also the first (dated) printed book in Switzerland (November 1470 by Helias Helye ).
The Mammotrectus was criticized by various scholars - especially Protestants - including Desiderius Erasmus (in Synodus grammaticorum, 1515), François Rabelais (in the cycle of novels Gargantua and Pantagruel ) and Martin Luther (1524). According to Frans van Liere, the book was last printed in 1742. In La Bible au XVIe siècle (1879), Samuel Berger lists fifteen manuscripts of the work, all of which were in European libraries; since then, even more specimens have come to light.
Van Liere writes that a critical new edition of the book is necessary.
literature
- Frans van Liere (2003): Tools for Fools: Marchesinus of Reggio and His Mammotrectus. Medieval Perspectives.