National Library of Sweden, A 32
Sancta Birgitta, Revelationes 5-8, Sermo Angelicus
Sweden, Vadstena, 15th century, middle of
Parchment
i, 311, i' leaves
240 × 160–170 mm
2 units
Latin
Unit 1
Unit 2
Secundo folio
audiam cum eisSupport
Foliation
Unit 1
Running titles in red ink (occasionally also in green).Collation
Condition
Unit 1
Holes in the parchment throughout the manuscript, but no loss of text. Some of the holes are circled with red ink, e.g. on f. 226. Text legible. Several leaves have been cut out (see collation), but this has been done before the text was written. There is no loss of text.Layout
Script
Unit 1
Hand 1
Hybrida.Unit 2
Hand 2
Gothic cursive.Additions
Binding/Endleaves
Unit 1
Decorations
Unit 1
Main text in black ink, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red. (f. 138r): final rubric in green speech scroll.
(f. 2r), (f. 13r), penwork initial ‘I’ over 8-9 lines in green with red flourishing;
(f. 32r): penwork initial ‘M’ in red over 6 lines;
(f. 145r): inhabited initial ‘C’ in red and green over 10 lines. Enclosed in the letter a ram and hound drawn in black ink, as well as foliate ornamnets in red and green ink. Initial placed in red frame with flourishing and foliate ornaments in green and black;
(f. 192r): knotwork initial ‘O’ over 10 lines, outlined in black ink, then filled with foliate ornamnets in red and green. Initial placed in black and red frame with flourishing and vegtative ornaments in green and black;
(f. 213r): vinestem initial ‘V’ over 7 lines in black ink. This initial has not been filled in with colours;
(ff. 2r–31v): plain initials over 3-4 lines in green with red flourishing or red with green flourishing;
(ff. 2v–10v): plain initials in black with red flourishing over 2-3 lines;
(ff. 32r–293v): plain Initials over 2-4 lined in green or red.
Binding
Contemporary binding from Vadstena Monastery. Brown leather over wooden boards. 4 pairs of raised bands and endbands. 2 hook-clasps with long clasps and short leather straps. Spine, in brown ink: ‘CC’; in black ink: ‘131’; stamped in gold: ‘A 32’; brown ink on torn label: ‘32’.
Binding probably by Niels Bookbinder, active in Vadstena at the end of the 15th century; see Collijn (1903), pp. 144–145. Several examples of stamps used by Niels are found in Sten G. Lindberg’s archive, Kungliga Biblioteket, Band 10:4 Niels–band och andra gnidebilder, Acc. 2005/28.
Blind-tooling. LCO: Double frame filled with stamps of fleur-de-lis and roses. Panel blind stamped with large lozenges filled with vegetative shapes. RCO: Multi-line frame. Diamond pattern panel filled with multiple stamps of fleur-de-lis and roses. Head, Tail, and Fore-edge: Blind-tooling also found on the edges of the cover.
Provenance
The manuscript belonged to the library in Vadstena. In 1620 the manuscript was transferred to the National Archives by Johannes Bureus, see Gödel (1916), pp. 283–286.
Later the manuscript was transferred to the Antiquities Archive and is listed in its inventories and catalogues. There are 3 unique signa on the Spine, two of which have been identified. The older, ‘131’, is found in the inventory from 1720 (U 90:2, f. 12v) and the current signum, ‘A 32’, was first established in Helin’s catalogue from the 1720s (U 91:2:2).
Also mentioned in the following catalogues and inventories: U 90:1, ‘MSS in folio, nr. 145’; U 90:4, p. 58, ‘nr 131’; U 91:1, ‘nr. I 131’.
Acquisition
Transferred from the Antiquities Archive to the National Library in 1780.
- Lindqvist Sandgren (2006), p. 125.
- Lindqvist Sandgren (2010), pp. 139–141.