Sachsenheim prayer book

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Sachsenheim prayer book, page 16r: John the Evangelist on Patmos.

The Sachsenheim prayer book is a Latin book of hours that was created in Flanders around 1460 . The illuminations were created by Liévin van Lathem and two unknown artists. The book was originally in the possession of a Mr. von Sachsenheim and was purchased by the Württemberg State Library in 1960.

description

  • Liturgy of Ghent . Belgium, around 1460. Parchment, 173 sheets, 145 × 100 mm, layer order:, writing area: 85 × 50 mm, 12 lines, writing: Bastarda formata.
  • 24 calendar pages, 18 pages with miniatures and frame borders, 29 text pages with picture initials and frame borders, calendar and text pages with letter initials and cadelles.
  • Württemberg State Library , Stuttgart , Cod.brev.162.

The Sachsenheim prayer book is a Latin book of hours intended as a prayer book for the use of non-clerics. “The naming of the manuscript is based on the assumption that a member of the von Sachsenheim family, whose coat of arms appears several times, was the client. However, it is very likely that the prayer book was made for a customer from Flanders, because the calendar and the litany clearly point to this region; In addition, scratches and overpainting can be seen on the coats of arms on 80v and 81r, which indicate subsequent changes. Since the manuscript served as a template for the sample book of Stephan Schriber, who was in Urach around 1470, it must have come to Württemberg fairly soon. ”See also history .

The Sachsenheim prayer book contains a calendar section (see #Calendar ) and a prayer section with prayers for the hours . The prayer section contains excerpts from the Gospels, the St. John Passion and the weekday offices, the 7 penitential psalms , the All Saints litany and 20 prayers with intercession to saints.

The book is richly illustrated with miniatures , initials and framed borders. The thumbnails and the image initials represent the author or the content of the text they are placed in front of. For example, the Gospel of Luke is preceded by a miniature of the Evangelist Luke, the Office of the Holy Spirit is introduced by a miniature Pentecost and the Office of the Dead with an initial of the awakening of Lazarus.

calendar

The Sachsenheim prayer book begins with a 3-page table of contents (pages 1v – 2v). It is followed by a 24-page calendar (pages 4r – 15v). Each month is shown on 2 pages. The first page of a month begins with two headers placed next to the initial KL, for example:

  • Sachsenheim prayer book, 7r, Kopfzeilen.jpg
  • The initial KL denotes the beginning of the month. The abbreviation is derived from the word Kalenden , which stood for the 1st day of the month in the Roman calendar.
  • The two lines of text are: Aprilis xxx luna xxix = The month of April has 30 days and 29 lunar days.

The daily table, which is continued and completed on the next page, is arranged under the headers of a calendar sheet. The table does not contain any day numbers, you have to determine it by counting the day lines. The 3 columns of the table have the following meanings:

column content meaning
1 1-19 Golden number for calculating the new moon.
2 AG Sunday letter for calculating the day of the week. The series of Sunday letters begins on January 1st with A and continues cyclically until the end of the year. The Sunday letter A stands for Sunday and is highlighted by an initial.
3 Holidays Designation of the names and holidays. Important festivals are highlighted in red.

A red, crossed-out D (dies = day) in a day line indicates unlucky days, days that supposedly promised unhappiness. The calendar of the Sachsenheim prayer book contains 4 unlucky days: February 4th, March 1st, April 12th and May 25th.

The calendar also contains two personal entries of the owner, on April 13th the note: obitus matris mee = death of my mother (page 7v), and on June 5th: obitus patris mei = death of my father (page 9r). See also history .

April calendar sheet, 1st page.
Examples for the 1st page of the April calendar sheet
Day line Golden
number		 Sunday
letter		 description
1. - G -
2. xi A (as initial) -
11. - C. Leonis pape = Pope Leo
12. x D. red, crossed D: unlucky day
13. - E. Entry of the owner: obitus matris mee = death of my mother

The calendar contains two errors:

  • In the March calendar sheet, the clerk forgot the 6th line of the day. In addition, the golden numbers are shifted up by one day.
  • The November calendar sheet shows 31 days in the headers instead of 30, but the number of day lines is correct.

Emergence

The illuminations were created by three artists, the Flemish Liévin van Lathem and two unknown painters referred to as painter B and painter C. Painter B is identical to Painter C of the Grammont Breviary. The vast majority of the illuminations come from Liévin van Lathem: he created 13 miniatures and 14 initials. Painter B created 3 miniatures and 14 picture initials, and Painter C created 2 miniatures and one picture initial. Most of the time, the painters of the miniatures and picture initials also created the corresponding borders, in a few cases Liévin van Lathem did not create the borders himself, but left the execution to the painter B.

Most researchers assume that the Sachsenheim prayer book was created "around 1460". Individual experts date the prayer book to “something after 1450” or to 1470–1475.

history

The Sachsenheim prayer book does not contain any owner or origin notices from the time it was made. There are also no oral or written evidence of ownership and origin from this period. A "Herr von Sachsenheim" is assumed to be the first owner for two reasons:

  • Page 58r.

  • Page 80v.

  • Page 81r.

  • Page 87v.

  • The buffalo horn coat of arms of the Lords of Sachsenheim appears in four illustrations of the Sachsenheim prayer book :
    • Page 58r. Initial "D": a lady who bears the coat of arms of the Sachsenheimer buffalo horns and the coat of arms of the Straubenhardts (the second wife of the poet Hermann von Sachsenheim was Anna von Straubenhardt).
    • Page 80v. Left border: coat of arms of buffalo horns, above a helmet with red buffalo horns.
    • Page 81v. Initial "D": kneeling donor figure, next to it a coat of arms of a buffalo horn, above a helmet with red buffalo horns.
    • Page 87v. Border on the top left: An angel carries the coat of arms of the buffalo horn.
Page 7r. 13th line of the day: "obitus matris mee".
Page 126v. The donor of the prayer book kneels in front of Mary with the child.
  • In the calendar of the prayer book, necrological entries were subsequently added to indicate the date of death of the owner's father and mother (7r, 9r): "obitus patris mei" (death of my father) on June 5 [1458] and "obitus matris mee" (death my mother) on April 13 [1459]. These dates agree with the dates of death of the poet Hermann von Sachsenheim and his second wife Anna von Straubenhardt.

One could therefore assume that one of the two sons Jörg and Hermann was the owner of the Sachsenheim prayer book. Anna Mönch, the poet's first wife, died in 1431. In the same year the poet Anna von Straubenhardt married. Therefore Jörg von Sachsenheim (born 1427) and his brother Hermann von Sachsenheim (born around 1428–1430) must have been sons from their first marriage. Anna von Straubenhardt was her stepmother, so that the calendar entry “Death of my mother” cannot apply to the two sons. Jörg von Sachsenheim was long considered the owner of the Sachsenheim prayer book because he was seen as the “owner of a library that is now completely scattered”. In any case, the Württemberg State Library keeps two early Bible editions from his possession, see # Sachsenheim Bibles .

Michael von Sachsenheim, who is attested as a monk in Hirsau Monastery from 1460 to around 1482 , was, according to his own statement, a son from the poet's second marriage, so that the calendar entry “Death of my mother” would apply to him and he as the owner in Question would come.

It cannot be ruled out that the poet was the first to own the prayer book. The authors of #Fiala 1977 rule out this possibility because the donor kneeling in front of Maria on page 126v represents, in their opinion, “a man in his prime”. But since it is not certain that the donor portraits in the prayer book (81r, 126v, 127r) can be considered portraits, there is no convincing reason to exclude the poet as a possible first owner.

Eva Wolf suspects that “the manuscript - if at all as a commissioned work - was originally made for a southern Dutch user” and that the buffalo horn coats of arms of the Sachsenheimers were added later.

  • Conclusion: Possible first owners of the Sachsenheim prayer book are the poet Hermann von Sachsenheim and his son Michael, who after the death of Anna von Straubenhardt added the dates of the parents' death to the calendar entries.

The further history of the Sachsenheim prayer book lies in the dark until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1908 it was exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in London as owned by Jeffery Whitehead. In 1913 the Munich antiquarian Jacques Rosenthal sold it to Dyson Perrins. When the Dyson Perrins collection was auctioned off at Sotheby’s on November 29, 1960, it was acquired by the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart.

content

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Side
of		 Side
up		 content painter miniature painter initial
1v 2v contents
4r 15v calendar
16r 25v Gospel pericopes
16r John 1: 1-14 van Lathem Evangelist John on Patmos
18v Luke 1: 26-38 van Lathem Luke
21r Mark 2: 1–12 van Lathem Markus
23r Matthew 16: 14-20 van Lathem Matthew
26r 40v St. John Passion
chapters 18-19		 van Lathem Cross nailing with 8 passion medallions
42v 93v 7 weekday officers
42v 48r Trinity Office (Sunday) van Lathem Mercy seat Painter B Visit of the three angels to Abraham
50r 56r Office of the Dead van Lathem Funeral mass Painter C Awakening of Lazarus
57v 63v Holy Spirit Office Painter B Pentecost van Lathem Lady with the coat of arms of the Sachsenheimers and the Straubenhardts
64v 72v All Saints Office van Lathem Christ, Mary and saints in the Church Painter B Vision of John the Evangelist
73v 78v Sacrament office van Lathem Sacramental blessing Painter B High priest blesses the paschal lamb
80v 86r Office of the Cross Painter C crucifixion Painter B Praying donor with buffalo horns coat of arms
87v 93v Mary's Office Painter C Annunciation Painter B Rebekka and Eliezer
95r 102v Marian mass Painter B Maria in the Hortus conclusus
103v 125v 7 penitential psalms Painter B Last judgment Painter B David in prayer. - Medallion: Slaying Goliath
104r Psalm 6
105v Psalm 31
107v Psalm 37
110v Psalm 50
113r Psalm 101
117r Psalm 129
119v Psalm 142
119v 125r All Saints Litany
126v 138v Marian prayers van Lathem Praying donor in front of Mary with the child Painter B Praying donor in front of Mary with the child
139r 169v Suffrages (Holy intercession)
139r Holy Three Kings van Lathem Holy Three Kings
141r Anthony and Paul the Hermit van Lathem Paul the Hermit
143r John the Baptist van Lathem John the Baptist
145r Michael van Lathem Michael
146r Andreas van Lathem Andreas
147r Jerome van Lathem Jerome
148v Mary Magdalene van Lathem Mary Magdalene
150r Francis van Lathem Stigmatization of St. Francis
151r Peter Painter B Peter
152r Paul of Damascus Painter B Paul
153r James the Elder Painter B Beheading of James the Elder
154r Laurentius Painter B Laurentius
155r George Painter B George
156r Sebastian Painter B Sebastian
158r Christophorus van Lathem Christophorus
160r Hadrian Painter B Hadrian
161v Nicholas van Lathem Nicholas
162v Antony van Lathem Antony
163v Hubert van Lathem Hubert
164v Anna van Lathem Anna herself the third
167r Margareta van Lathem Margareta
168r Barbara van Lathem Barbara
169r Katherina van Lathem Katherina

Sachsenheim Bibles

Jörg von Sachsenheim was not only the son of a poet, but also an educated man who, according to the local researcher Kurt Bachteler from Sachsenheim, was considered "an important friend of valuable books" and "must be seen as the owner of a library that is now completely scattered". For this reason he was long considered the owner of the Sachsenheim prayer book. After all, a copy of the first two pre-Lutheran Bibles in German has been preserved from his library : a Mentelin Bible and an Eggestein Bible. Both Bibles are now kept in the Württemberg State Library.

Mentelin Bible

Mentelin Bible, gift poem, 1489.

The Mentelin Bible by the Strasbourg printer Johannes Mentelin is the first pre-Lutheran Bible in German and the first ever printed Bible in a vernacular. It appeared in 1466, just ten years after the Latin Gutenberg Bible and 68 years before the first Luther Bible , which came out in 1534. Like all pre-Lutheran Bibles, the Bible was printed as a pure text edition; the book decorations were later added by hand, so that each copy received its own stamp.

Jörg von Sachsenheim acquired the Bible from the Dominican convent of St. Margaretha and St. Agnes in Strasbourg. The heavily trimmed sheet hung in the Bible according to sheet 406 contains a donation poem. According to this, Jörg von Sachsenheim gave the Bible to his sister Margarethe von Sachsenheim and the convent in Lauffen am Neckar , which she presided over as prioress:

"... iörg von sachsenhain gave ain buoch the bible is called and ... gen Louffen sent ... tusent four hundred and in the lxxxviiii iar ... his sister margarethe von sachsenhain and also the whole conuent ..."

Eggestein Bible

The Eggestein Bible by the Strasbourg printer Heinrich Eggestein is the second pre-Lutheran Bible in German. It appeared in 1470 at the latest as a “mostly roughly columnar, improving reprint” of the Mentelin Bible.

Jörg von Sachsenheim acquired the Bible from an unknown previous owner. In the head of the printed list of the psalm titles (sheet 403b) he made a handwritten note of ownership:

This book is Jorgen von Sachsennheim

He had the first page of the Bible (sheet 1a) decorated with a tendril border made of leaves and flowers and a floral chapter initial. On the lower edge he had the Sachsenheim buffalo horn coat of arms, crowned by a helmet with buffalo horns, and the year 1472, the year in which he had acquired the Bible.

  • Eggestein Bible, sheet 1a with the Sachsenheim coat of arms.

  • Eggestein Bible, sheet 403b, list of psalms with ownership note from Jörg von Sachsenheim.

literature

  • Kurt Bachteler: History of the City of Großsachsenheim. Großsachsenheim: Handels- und Gewerbeverein, 1962, especially pages 69–71.
  • Kurt Bachteler: Sachsenheim: Gate to the Stromberg. Sachsenheim: Stadt, 1975, pages 63-80.
  • Peter Burkhart: Sachsenheim prayer book. In: Manuscripta Mediaevalia , 2016.
  • Virgil Ernst Fiala; Wolfgang Irtenkauf: The manuscripts of the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. Row 1, Volume 3: Codices breviarii: (Cod. Brev. 1 - 167). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1977, pages 195–197, online .
  • Sachsenheim prayer book. [Ghent? around 1460], manuscript, 173 sheets, 145 × 100 mm, Württemberg State Library, call number Cod.brev.162, online .
  • Stefan Strohm: The Bibles Collection of the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart. Department 2, Volume 1: Deutsche Bibeldrucke 1466-1600. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1987, Pages 3–5.
  • Eva Wolf: The picture in the late medieval illumination: the Sachsenheim prayer book in Lievin van Lathem's work. Hildesheim: Olms, 1996, pages 1–95, 293–298, figures: 1–4 (color), 1–8 (black and white).

Web links

Commons : Sachsenheim-Gebetbuch  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , p. 294.
  2. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , p. 294.
  3. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , page 36, #Fiala 1977 , page 195.
  4. ↑ Curlicues, wickerwork and leaves as ornamental extensions of letters on the edges of the text area.
  5. ↑ #Burkhart 2016 .
  6. ↑ In contrast to pure letter initials, picture initials contain small miniatures.
  7. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , pp. 39, 296.
  8. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , page 39.
  9. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , pp. 38-40.
  10. ↑ #Fiala 1977 , page 195.
  11. ↑ 13th line after the two headers ("Aprilis xxx / Luna xxix"): "obitus matris mee" = April 13th, anniversary of my mother's death.
  12. ↑ #Bachteler 1975 , page 45.
  13. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , pp. 35-36.
  14. ↑ #Wolf 1996 , page 36.
  15. ↑ #Bachteler 1962 , page 253.
  16. ↑ #Bachteler 1962 , page 69.
  17. ↑ #Strohm 1987 , pages 3–4, #Bachteler 1962 , page 253, #Bachteler 1975 , page 62, INKA (incunabula catalog of German libraries) .
  18. ↑ Illustrative example: Mentelin Bible of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / download.digitale-sammlungen.de  
  19. ↑ #Strohm 1987 , page 4.
  20. ↑ #Strohm 1987 , page 5, #Bachteler 1962 , page 68-69, #Bachteler 1962 , page 62, INCA (catalog of incunabula German libraries) .