Add MS 10286

This manuscript contains the only complete Middle Dutch translation of the German Lucidarius (ff. 115r-133r). The German text is a reworking of a Latin encyclopedic work, the Elucidarium, of Honorius of Autun (b. 1080, d. 1154). The Elucidarium presents its information through a dialogue between a pupil and a master, the former asking questions and the latter providing answers. While the Latin work only concerns theological questions, the German version, and its Middle Dutch translation, also discusses scientific subjects. For this reason, the Dutch version is known as the Artes-Lucidarius. The manuscript contains another text that discusses similar religious and scientific subjects in a didactic structure: a Middle Dutch translation of the Book of Sydrac (ff. 4v-114r). This anonymous work was translated from Old French into Middle Dutch in the first quarter of the fourteenth century. The work consists of a series of questions from Boctus, a Babylonian king, and answers provided by Sydrac, a philosopher. This manuscript contains the longer version of the different Middle Dutch translations (containing 421 questions and answers) which survives in three manuscripts. This manuscript, moreover, contains a unique copy of a text on the state of the world and a mock doctor's prescription (associated with the celebration of Carnival), and one of the two extant copies of the Middle Dutch Land of Cockaygne (ff. 135-135v), which describes a topsy-turvy world of plenty. It also includes a work about the evils of money, a pilgrim's guide to Jerusalem and a poem that uses colours as symbols for stages in mankind's lifecycle (also unique). The manuscript's concern for secular subjects suggests that it was produced for an urban lay audience. The manuscript was produced in the second half of the fifteenth century (another copy of the pilgrim's guide is dated to 1458), perhaps, as Herman Pleij argues, in the province of South Holland (Pleij, Dreaming of Cockaigne (1997), p. 48).

Contents:

ff. 2r-4r: Table of Contents for the Book of Sydrac.

ff. 4v-114r: A Middle Dutch translation of the Book of Sydrac, ‘Die versamicheit des vaders almachtich heeft gheweest van beghin der werlt ende sal sijn sonder eynde van te houden ende te behouden alle redelike creaturen den welcken hi verwilkoerde te gheven sijn hemelrijc ende waer dat bleve an hem selven [etc]’.

ff. 115r-133r: The Middle Dutch Artes-Lucidarius, ‘[rubric:] Lucidarius boeck [text:] Dit boeck heet lucidarius Dat is het is een voerluchter anderen boeken Anden boeke vint men menighe doghentlike dinghen die anderen boeken verborgen sijn Dat wiset ons dit boek van der scrift · ghewynne wij den gheesteliken sin Dat boeck is gheheten aurea gemma dat bedudet guldene gemme Beteykent is ons daer by hoe dure dit boeck sy · Want soe wat die scrift heeft bedect · dat heeft die lucidarius wt gherect [etc.]’.

f. 133r: Middle Dutch text, nydighe werlt, ‘Nota : Merket hoe die nydighe werlt staet doe mi goet ick doe di quaet Help my op ick werp di neder [etc.]. Uitgegeven door Schorbach 1894, 214-215.

ff. 134r-134v: A mock letter from a physician to a friend, ‘[underlined] Item hijr mach men vinden eenrehande medicinen ghescreven soe wie se wel crighen mach hi macht al ghesont maken van alre hande siecten die in die werlt comen moghen Nu hoert merkeliken toe als of ghi doef waert ende siet wel toe met blinden oghen ende hout u mont toe met vele lachens soe was een goet medicus die nye boecken sach van medicinen synen ontnomentlicke vrient die hi nye ghesach seynde tot een medecijn wt eenre J apoteken daer in vi dusent milen nye cruden en quamen’ [for an edition see De Flou and Gailliard, Beschrijving van Middelnederlandse en andere handschriften die in Engeland bewaard worden (1895), pp. 236-238 (no. 92)].

ff. 135-135v: A Middle Dutch version of the Land of Cokaygne, ‘[underlined:] Dit is van dat edele lant van cockaengen [text:] Die neringhe is menigherhande / Diemen doet in alle lande / Om dat lijff mede tondraghen / Hoert wat ic u sal ghewaghen / Ick quam laesten in een lant, Daer ic vreemt was ende onbecant [etc.]’.

ff. 136r-136v: A Latin text about the power of money, ‘Nummus que pars Praeposicio Quam Quia proponitur omnibus partibus orationis et sciencijs ex hiis conceptis [etc.]’.

ff. 137r-146r: A Middle Dutch translation of the Peregrinationes by Willem van Gouda (d. 1510), Canon Regular at the monastery of Emmaüs near Gouda, ‘[underlined: Die peregrinacie van Jherusalem [text:] Die gloriose ende die heylighe stadt van iherusalem ende dat heylighe lant der beloffenisse te versoeken off om pelgremaeds te trecken totten heylighen grave · die sal to Venedyen te schepe gaen om die tijt van ons hemelvaerts dach soe varen die gheleyden der pelgrims na iherusalem Ende die dit bescreven heeft · die heeft selve tot Iherusalem gheweest Jnt jaer Ons Heren M ·cccc· ende ·lviii·’.

ff. 146v-148v: A Middle Dutch poem on colour symbolism, ‘[rubric:] Een moy sprake van sesterhande verwe [text:] Ses verwen sijn op eerden / Die daer God op liet ghewerden / Met synen mynnentliker goede / Op dat die mensche mit vrien moede / Hem soude besinnen ende leren / Gode te dancken ende te eren [etc.]’.

f. 1r, 2r and f. 146r: 18^th-century notes in German on the manuscript’s contents; written by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (b. 1798, d. 1874), German poet.

[f. 114v and f. 136v are blank].

Decoration:

Large and small initials in red throughout the manuscript. Cadels with human faces.