Checking dedication inscription

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Examining dedicatory inscription. Your text was created using a single letter stamp.

The Kontrollingen consecration inscription is a high medieval inscription that was created in 1119, over three hundred years before Johannes Gutenberg , according to the typographical principle . The inscription plaque is in the monasteryprüfung in Regensburg ( Bavaria ).

description

The Latin inscription can be found in its original location in the convent, a former Benedictine abbey ; it contains the consecration for the monastery church built by the bishops Hartwig von Regensburg and Otto von Bamberg in honor of St. George . The inscription plate attached to one of the church pillars indicates the year of the consecration and thus its own date of creation as 1119 (• MCXVIIII •). The red and white painted plate with a crack is made of fired clay and is approx. 26 cm wide, 41 cm high and 3 cm thick. The font is the classic Roman monumental font , the letters are recessed. Copies of the plate are in several German museums, including the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.

typography

The unusually sharp font of the inscription has repeatedly led to the assumption in epigraphy that the letters were not carved into the clay by hand. The typographical character of the inscription could finally be clearly demonstrated in a systematic examination of the text body by the typesetter and linguist Herbert Brekle . Accordingly, it is an early form of letterpress printing, as it was already used for the Phaistos disk : The 17-line text was pressed into the still soft tone using individual letter stamps (probably made of wood), with the occurred more than once, the same stamp was used again. This fulfills the relevant typographical criterion, namely the consistent reuse of letters for text creation. It is irrelevant that theprüfungingen inscription was produced by impressions in the clay and not - as was later practiced by Gutenberg - printing on paper , since neither the technical design nor the material of the printing body define the printing with movable letters, but the criterion of the Type identity :

“The decisive criterion that a typographically produced print must meet is that of the type identity of the letter forms that appear in the printed text. In other words: all letter forms appearing in the text must prove to be copies (" tokens ") of one and the same letter type, precisely the type or letter that shows a reversed image of the printed letter. "

By projecting the letters appearing in the text on top of each other (e.g. all "A" on top of each other) at high magnification, the consistent type identity of theprüfungingen dedicatory inscription could be demonstrated beyond doubt. An additional indication that the creator of the inscription worked with reused letters is the noticeable inclination of some letters to the right or left; in these cases he had not succeeded in placing the letter stamps completely parallel to the side edges of the plate. The indications of the shaky indented letters, but above all the fulfillment of the type-specimen criterion, prove the "typographical production method of the Prüfingen consecrated inscription".

A fragment of another inscription plaque found near the Prüfingen monastery indicates that the dedicatory inscription was not an isolated case, but that the typographical production method must have been used more frequently, at least in the local area.

More medieval techniques

In the cathedral of the Italian city of Cividale stands the silver altarpiece of Pilgrim II from around 1200, whose Latin inscription was stamped with the help of individual letter punches. In addition to the punches and the Punzentechnik yet another typographical technique is known: In the now destroyed Chertsey Abbey in England there are remains found one from letter tiles composite patch , which in the 13th century after the Scrabble was moved principle. The technique has also been documented for the Zinna monastery near Berlin and the Aduard monastery in the Netherlands .

text

The Latin wording of the inscription reads with full abbreviations:

"+ Anno domini MCXVIIII, IIII idus mai, consecratum est hoc monasterium in honore sancti Georgii a venerabilibus episcopis Ratisponensi Hartwico Bambergensi Ottone. Continentur in prinicipali altari de ligno Domini; reliquiae sanctae Mariae; apostolorum Petri et Pauli, Andreae; Mathei, Marci, evangelistarum; Barnabae; sanctorum martyrum Stephani, protomartyris, Clementis, Dionysii, Rustici, Eleutherii, Laurentii, Vincentii, Sebastiani, Crisogoni, Pancratii; sanctorum confessorum Ermachorae, Fortunati, Salini, Albini, Fursei, Gundolfi, Drudonis, Juventii; sanctarum virginum Genofevae, Gratae, Columbae, Glodesindis. "

In the German translation:

“In the year of the Lord 1119, on the 4th day before the Ides of May, this minster was consecrated in honor of St. Georg from the venerable bishops Hartwig von Regensburg and Otto von Bamberg. There are relics from the cross wood of the Lord , St. Mary , the apostles Peter , Paul and Andrew , the evangelists Matthew and Mark , Barnabas , St. Martyrs: Stephen , the arch-martyr, Clement , Dionysius , Rusticus, Eleutherius, Laurentius , Vincentius , Sebastian , Chrysogonus , Pancratius ; the St. Confessors: Ermachora, Fortunatus, Salinus, Albinus, Furseus, Gundolf, Drudo, Juventinus; the St. Virgins Genoveva, Grata, Columba, Glodesindis. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brekle (2005), p. 25:

    “With these observations and conclusions, the typographical production method of theprüfungingen consecrated inscription is proven beyond doubt. It has been shown that the typographical principle, that is to say letters "typen" - in whatever material manifestation - in necessarily always the same (type-identical) forms on a print carrier in rows, was realized in the convent ofprüfunging in 1119. "

  2. ↑ Brekle (2005), pp. 7-11
  3. ↑ Hupp (1906), pp. 185f. (+ Fig.); Lehmann-Haupt (1940), p. 96f.
  4. ↑ Brekle (2005); Brekle (1997), pp. 62f.
  5. ↑ a b c d Brekle (2005), pp. 22-25
  6. ↑ Brekle (2005), p. 23
  7. ↑ Brekle (1995), pp. 25f.
  8. ↑ Lipinsky (1986), pp. 78-80; Koch (1994), p. 213; Brekle 2011, p. 19
  9. ↑ Lehmann-Haupt (1940), p. 96f.
  10. ↑ Klamt (2004), pp. 195–210; Meijer (2004)
  11. ↑ Brekle (2005), p. 8
  12. ↑ a b Companion of Dyonisius of Paris

literature

More medieval techniques

Web links

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