Incipit Secundus liber Rubrica primi capituli Informacio filli ad sponsam contra diabolum Et responsio filli ad sponsam quare non subtrahit malos antequam veniant in peccatum Et qualiter baptizatis morientibus infra annos discrecionis datur regnum celorum Capitulum primum
⟨F⟩Ilius loquebatur ad sponsam dicens
nondum est tibi licitum scire sed cum tempus fuerit loquendi
Incipit liber tertius Celestium reuelacionum domine Brigitte de Swecia monicio et informacio ad episcopum de modo tenendo in victu et vestito et oracione et qualiter se debet habere in mensa et post mensam et hoc idem de dormicione et qualiter in omnibus exerceat officium episcopale
IHesus christus deus et homo qui venit ad terram assumere humanitatem
Et nisi cauerit sibi [mut.]
The rubricator has marked the ‘addicio ’at the end of chapter 10 as ‘Capitulum XI’ (f. 60r), so from hereon, the chapter numbers are out of sync with the text.
At 31, 1 (f. 72vb) the rest of the text of the chapter is omitted and a reference to Rev. 8:23 given instead.
Due to a leaf missing, the text breaks off at the middle of chapter 33, 5 (f. 72vb).
Incipit liber sextus Verba matris dei marie virginis ad sponsam narrancia pulcritudinem christi et qualiter frequenter iudei in aliquo agone cordis positi ibant ad inspiciendum wltum eius et consolabantur Capitulum primum
MAter dei uirgo maria loquebatur ad sponsam dicens Ego sum regina celi
Et in omnibus et pre omnibus humilitas vera
Explicit sextus liber
The text of Book 6 proper ends with chapter 119. After this, and before the final rubric of Book 6, is added the last paragraph of chapter 10 of the Revelationes extravagantes.
Incipit liber septimus Reuelacio quam habuit domina Birgitta in Roma post annum Iubileum in qua virgo maria prenuncciat (!)ei quod itura esset in ierusalem Bethleem quando placuerit deo promittens ei tunc sibi ostendere modum quo ipsa perperit suum filium
Cvm esset in Roma beata Birgitta
Vidi palacium grande simile celo sereno Require libro ad Reges capitulo vltimo
Explicit liber septimus \celestium reuelacionum/
The text of Book 7 ends with the incipit to chapter 30 and then a reference to Rev. 8:58, where the same text is found.
Incipit liber celestis Imperatoris ad Reges reuelatus diuinitus Beate Birgitte de regno Swecie Summus Imperator christus per sponsam loquitur ad Reges ostendens se esse verum omnium creatorem et Regem in trinitate et vnitate regnantem et dicit qualiter mundum ordinauit regendum duplici potestate scilicet ecclesiastica et laycali que in apostolis petro et Paulo principaliter designantur capitulo
Vidi pallacium grande incomprehensibili magnitudine
videbitis in conscientia vestra quod ego sum suauis et mitis
Incipiunt Rubrice leccionum que legi debent nocturnatim in matutinis per totam ebdomadam per totius anni circulum in Monasterio Monialium Regule Saluatoris quam christus reuelauit Beate Birgitte de Regno Swecie
The rubrics which in the edition head the different sections of the text are placed here together after the body of the text. (The sections of the text proper are only headed by short rubrics starting at ‘feria secunda’ ( f. 221r )).
f. 230vGuidelines but no text. f. 230 has been cut off along the left guideline of column b.
f. 230raDe huius libri complecione Gloria laus et honor tibi sit rex christe redemptor et glorie laudes promo tue genitrici cuius adiutorio libri sunt scripta finita Anno domini Mo ccccxviiio Sabbato ante festum Decollacionis sancti Iohannis in Estuario domus Notarii Ciuitatis Nise
The outer and centre bifolium of quires 1-18 is parchment; the rest are paper. In quire 19, four of the bifolia are parchment (1, 4, 6, 8), the rest paper. In quire 20, f. 236 is parchment.
Repaired holes with traces of stitching on the occasional parchment leaf, some circled in red ink, e.g. f. 30r; first leaf of quire 7 missing (after f. 72) with loss of text.
(LCI)
Top of page, in black ink by an early modern hand, a note on the timeline of St Birgitta's life and a quotation from book 4 of Martín del Río's ‘Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex’, published in 1599, reporting the view of the theologians Henry of Langenstein and Bartholomaeus Sibylla on the status of Birgitta's revelations:‘ I. N. I. Delrius l. 4 disquis. Magicar. c. i. q. 3. s. 4. Henricus de Hassia et Sibyllanus ambo Catholici ambo religiosi volunt Brigittae et similium revelationes non debere haberi pro indubitanter veris. Claruit Brigitta haec circa annum C. 1350. Vide Fasc. Temp. f. cxxi a. Vixit in anno 1370. Vide Rev. l. 4. c. 41. Anno 1373 l. 4. c. 45 paulo post mortua l. 4. c. 57.’; below, in pencil by a modern
hand, a note on the acquisition:‘ Inköpt på auktion i Lyon 1891, dec. Anländ t. Sthlm och betald 1892 jan. Inskr⟨iven⟩ s⟨amma⟩ å⟨r⟩
’; below, in pencil by a modern hand: ‘Pericaud 1696 p 94’; below, in pencil by a modern hand, the current signum of the National Library: ‘A 66’; below, in brown ink by a medieval hand:‘ liber sancte Marie uirginis in lubene Celestium reuelacionum domine Brigitte’; below, in pencil by an early modern hand: ‘Anno domini 1418’; bottom left corner, National Library book label with the current signum.
(RCI)
Bottom centre in brown ink by a medieval hand: ‘X fo. perg.’
Textblock
(ff. 1r–230r)
Manicules and occasional contemporary marginal annotations of 1-6 words designating topics and notable points throughout. (ff. 1r–4r) Several marginal annotations by an early modern hand (possibly the same as on (LCI)) expanding medieval abbreviations.
(f. 159r)
A small, loose fragment in a different brown ink and a different, contemporary hand.
Decorations
Textblock
Main text in dark brown ink; rubrics in red; capitals touched in red.
(f. 1r): plain opening initial ‘S’ in green ink over 3 lines surrounded by flourishing in red ink extending into the margin.
(ff. 2v–232r): plain initials over 2-6 lines in red ink (a few missing).
Binding
Medieval binding. Red leather over wooden boards; the red dye may not be original, as it covers several holes in the leather and part of the medieval book label. 5 double raised bands and endbands. LCO and RCO, 5 round corner and centre metal bosses. 2 pin clasps, originally with leather straps, the remaining one with traces of red dye. The clasp is in a shape resembling a knight chess piece facing outwards. Top centre, contemporary parchment label with the title: ‘liber reuelationum brigittae’. Spine, in black ink by an early modern hand: ‘S. Brig[ittae liber reuelationum?]’; stamped in gold: ‘A 66’.
315 ×
235 ×
90 mm
Leather worn, some holes coloured over with red dye. The front cover has been separated from the spine. 1 clasp and strap missing.
The manuscript has belonged either to the Cistercian abbey at Lubiąż or the Benedictine abbey at Lubin, both in the province of Lower Silesia and both with a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary; Collijn (1918), p. 127 and Hedlund (1980), p. 19, read the place name on LCI as 'lubens', with Collijn identifying this as referring to Leubus, i.e. Lubiąż, while Westman (1911), p. 265, and Lehmann (1937), p. 149, read the name as 'Lubena/Lubene', with Lehmann identifying this as Lüben, i.e. Lubin. The manuscript eventually made its way to Lyon; judging by the reference to Péricaud, a historian of Lyon, and the year ‘1696’ on LCI, it seems likely that the book had reached the city by that time.
