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Add MS 25435
- Record Id:
- 032-002029758
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002029758
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000045.0x000140
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165147217.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 25435
- Title:
-
German book of fate
- Scope & Content:
-
This German ‘Book of Fate’ (also known as ‘Losbuch’ or ‘Punktierbuch’) features a vernacular translation of a Latin prognostic work attributed to a certain Bernardus Silvestris or Perphyrius. It contains advice from 28 Old Testament prophets, organised according to the 28 days of the sidereal month (the period of the moon's passage through 28 segments of the zodiac), in which readers can find answers about a wide range of questions. Readers are expected to use four tables, containing references from Classical and Christian authorities, in order to establish which prophet they should consult, and on which day of the lunar month, about their particular question. The same German translation can be found in a few other manuscripts – the complete text also survives in Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Cpg 3 (fourteenth century) and Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS Germ. fol. 563 (sixteenth century). Add MS 25435 is the only manuscript with a device for keeping track of the lunar month.
ff. 1r-2v: Four tables with references from Classical and Christian authorities.
ff. 3r-16v: Advice by 28 Old Testament prophets.
Decoration:
28 illuminations: one illumination features at the top of each page beginning on ff. 3r. Each illumination has a frame in a different colour, and features the prophet (his name written on a scroll) that is associated with the answer in the text below the miniature. Each prophet holds, in one hand, a scroll with his name, and, in another hand, a scroll that extends outside the miniature’s framework into the left margin of the text. These scrolls contain messages for the reader from the prophets themselves (for example, the prophet Isaiah holds a scroll that says: ‘Say, what is your question? I will answer it sooner or later’ ('Sich wez fragestu Daz sag ich dir spat der fru’). Next to each prophet is an image of the night sky, with planets, stars, sun and moon, sometimes in gold. The background of every other miniature is in gold. The background of the other miniatures is in a single colour (yellow, red or orange).
f. 3r: Isaiah.
f. 3v: Jeremiah.
f. 4r: David.
f. 4v: Baruch.
f. 5r: Hosea.
f. 5v: Joel.
f. 6r: Amos.
f. 6v: Obadiah.
f. 7r: Jonah.
f. 7v: Mica.
f. 8r: Nahum.
f. 8v: Habakkuk.
f. 9r: Zephaniah.
f. 9v: Haggai.
f. 10r: Zechariah.
f. 10v: Malachi.
f. 11r: Nathan.
f. 11v: Jacob.
f. 12r: ‘Salaad’.
f. 12v: Hananiah.
f. 13r: Abiathar.
f. 13v: Jonathan.
f. 14r: Isaac (?: ‘Abysaac’).
f. 14v: Meshach.
f. 15r: Achaz.
f. 15v: Ananias.
f. 16r: Joachim.
f. 16v: Zerubbabel.
The inside of the upper cover features a wooden panel with carved figures painted with colours: at the centre is a wheel with sections, featuring Roman numerals (I-XXVIII) for the 28 lunar mansions, surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists in gold (their names written on scrolls): Inside the wheel is a moveable wooden disk with a human figure against a red background who points towards the wheel with one hand. The figure (perhaps an angel) holds a scroll with his/her name on it in his/her other hand, but the name is illegible. The figure is damaged and its paint has faded probably because it functioned as the handle for moving the disk around inside the wheel, making the figure’s pointing hand a pointer for the lunar mansions.
Numerous small initials in red throughout the manuscript; Roman numerals and maniculae with red decoration.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002029758", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 25435: German book of fate" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002029758
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002029758
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Parchment manuscript
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165147217.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- German
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1345
- End Date:
- 1355
- Date Range:
- c 1350 - c 1450
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: text space: 250 x 200 mm (text space: 180 x 155 mm).
Foliation: ff. 16 (+ 1 unfoliated modern paper flyleaf at the beginning and at the end); foliated in July 1870 (f. [17]r).
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather binding with four copper bosses (perhaps original) on each cover (1 lost at the back), inscribed in gold at the British Museum: ‘LOOSBUCH OR BOOK OF FATE. GERMAN.’.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Germany, South (East Franconian dialect).
Provenance:
Henri Tross (fl 1860s), book and art dealer in Paris, in 1863: purchased from him by the British Museum on 14 November, 1863 (f. [i]r: ‘Purchased of M. H. Tross of Paris 14th Nov. 1863’) for £20.
- Publications:
-
Robert Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, 2 vols (Erlangen: Junge, 1896–1901), II, pp. 228-29 (no. 268).
Johannes Bolte, ‘Zur Geschichte der Lösbucher’, Georg Wickrams Werke, 4, Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, 230 (Tübingen: Laupp, 1903), pp. 267-341 (pp. 317-18).
Klaus Speckenbach, ‘Die deutschen Traumbücher des Mittelalters’, in Träume und Kräuter: Studien zur Petroneller Circa instans-Handschrift und zu den deutschen Traumbüchern des Mittelalters, Pictura et Poesis: Interdisziplinäre Studien zum Verhältnis von Literatur und Kunst, 4 (Cologne: Böhlau, 1990), pp. 121-210 (pp. 173-74).
Nigel F. Palmer, ‘Deutsche Prognostiken aus dem dritel Teil der Petroneller Circa instans-Handschrift’, in Träume und Kräuter: Studien zur Petroneller Circa instans-Handschrift und zu den deutschen Traumbüchern des Mittelalters, Pictura et Poesis: Interdisziplinäre Studien zum Verhältnis von Literatur und Kunst, 4 (Cologne: Böhlau, 1990), pp. 211-50 (fig. 21).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)