St Birgitta, Revelationes I-IV

Germany, 15th century, late

Paper

viii, 169, vi' leaves

295 × 210 mm

Latin

1 (ff. 1r–168v) Birgitta Birgersdotter, Revelations, Books 1-4

1.1 (ff. 1ra–2rb) Magister Mathias, Prologue

Incipit: retinaculis se expediens et christum pauperem pauper sequens

Explicit: ab ipso factam ad verba eius ab eo missa fatebuntur et cetera

Final rubric: Explicit prologus

Note: First leaf missing. The text starts at §15 of the prologue.

Edition: Undhagen (1977), pp. 229–240.

1.2 (ff. 2va–45vb) Revelations, Book 1

Rubric: Incipit primus liber reuelacionum celestium domine Birgitte de swecia Rubrica primi capituli Verba domini nostri ihesu christi ad suam electam sponsam dulcissimam de certificacione sue excellentissime incarnacionis et de improbacione prophanacionis et fraccionis fidei nostre et baptismi Et qualiter ad sui dileccionem inuitat prefatam dilectam sponsam Capitulum primum

Incipit: Ego sum \cre/ator celi et terre

Explicit: usquequo veniat ad locum qui michi placuerit Explicit liber primus Incipit secundus

Final rubric: Explicit liber primus Reuelacionum Beate Birgitte de Swecia

Edition: Undhagen (1977), pp. 241–441.

1.3 (ff. 46ra–71va) Revelations, Book 2

Rubric: Incipit liber secundus

Incipit: Filius loquebatur ad sponsam dicens

Explicit: nondum est tibi licitum scire sed cum tempus fuerit loquendi Explicit 2us liber

Final rubric: Explicit liber Secundus

Note: Leaves torn out, gap in text between chapter 19:11 and 23:17.

Edition: Undhagen (2001), pp. 27–124.

1.4 (ff. 71va–92rb) Revelations, Book 3

Rubric: Incipit Liber Tertius

Incipit: Iesus cristus deus et homo qui venit ad terram

Explicit: vt verba dei per illud diffundantur et cetera Explict liber 3us celestium reuelacionum

Final rubric: Explicit liber 3us celestium reuelacionum

Edition: Jönsson (1998), pp. 84–190.

1.5 (ff. 92va–167rb) Revelations, Book 4

Rubric: Incipit liber 4us de celesti reuelacione

Incipit: Apparuit sponse persona quedam hominis

Explicit: appropinquant gracie et visioni maiestatis dei omnipotentis

Final rubric: Explicit liber quartus

Note:

Leaves torn out, gap in text between chapter 54:4 and 58:5; chapter 61:8 and 62:6. The text ends on f. 165r. On ff. 166r–167r the last part of the text (143:3 to 144:9) has been repeated, but then marked as superfluous.

f. 144v, 156v, 165v, 166v, 167v: blank.

Edition: Aili (1992), pp. 59–371.

1.6 (ff. 168r–168v) Index

Note: Alphabetical index, contains only the letter A and beginning of the letter B. Keyed to the text by referring to book and chapter. f. S169: blank.

Physical Description

Secundo folio

dedi diuicias ambiunt

Support

Binding/Endleaves

Locus: LCI, ff. SL1–SL8, SR1–SR6, RCI

Support: Paper

Leaf dimensions: 295 × 210 mm

Textblock

Locus: ff. 1–S169

Support: Paper

Leaf dimensions: 295 × 210 mm

Watermark 1

Locus: ff. 165v,

Motif: Bull's head with eyes; above, single line rod ending in star.

Note: Similar to Piccard, II:2, VI, nr. 123 and following (motif not completely visible).

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil.

Running titles in red ink in top margin and paragraph numbers in red and brown ink in inner and outer margins.

Collation

Formula: 1(12, lacks 1), 2-5(12), 6(12, lacks 6-10), 7-10(12), 11(12, lacks 4, 7), 12(12), 13-14(10), 15(12+2)

Note: Viscoll collation. Parchment guards.

Signatures: Contemporary quire signatures in the top left corner of every new quire (and sometimes under the catchwords).

Catchwords: Catchwords by the scribe or a contemporary hand.

Condition

Textblock

ff. S64A–S64E, f. S117A, f. S119A: pages torn out, text missing. f. S158A also seems to be a torn out leaf, but there is no gap in the text betwen ff. 158v–159r. Wormholes at the beginning and end, but do not affect legibility.

Layout

Layout 1

Locus: ff. 1r–167r

Columns: 2

Written lines: 37–41

Written area: 220/230 × 65/70 mm

Note: Guidelines in lead.

Layout 2

Locus: ff. 168r–168v

Columns: 1

Written area: 230/230 × 60/150 mm

Script

Textblock

Hand 1

Gothic cursive,

Additions

Binding/Endleaves

(f. SL2v) Top left corner, in pencil by a modern hand: ‘A 70 a.’; below: ‘kr 325’; ‘Birgitta Revelationes. LIber I-IV Haandskrift fra det 15 Aarh Paper ’(and an illegible signature); bottom right corner, in pencil: ‘K. 325’.

(f. SL3r) Upper page, in pencil on yellow glued-on note: ‘Obs. En annan från Buxheims Kartusianer kloster hänhörande codex af Revelationera stod upptagen i Rosenthals Katalog nr xvii (1899) under nr 2288.’; bottom right corner: National Library stamp dated ‘3 Feb. 1922’.

(f. SR6r) Bottom left corner, pencil on glued on paper note carrying National LIbrary stamp: ‘1979’, ‘583:13’.

Textblock

(ff. 1r–159v) Marginal additions in ink by a contemporary hand (possibly by the main hand). The additions consist of corrections and comments on the text. They usually consist of a single word, but sometimes longer, e.g. on (f. 10r).

(f. 165r) Bottom page, in pencil by a modern hand: illegible word.

(ff. 166r–167r) The text on these two leaves has been encircled in red ink and the word ‘vacat’ has been repeated in red ink around the text by a contemporary hand. On (f. 166v) a contemporary hand has added ‘ibi nullus est defectus’ and ‘ibi nichil deficit’ in brown ink.

Decorations

Textblock

Description:

Main text in brown ink, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red.

Initials:

(ff. 2v–168v): plain initials over 3-6 lines in red.

Edges:

(Tail), brown ink inside a red frame: ‘Reuelatio birgitte’

Binding

Description:

Modern binding. Limp parchment binding. Rebound in 1979. According to the National Library bookbinder's protocol, the previous binding was dated to the 19th century and was deemed unsatisfactory.

Binding dimensions: 300 × 220 × 60 mm

Contemporary: No

History

Origin

Germany, 15th century, late

Provenance

Origin uncertain, but as witnessed by the inscriptions on f. 1r the manuscript belonged to the Carthusian monastery in Buxheim. It seems to have done so from early on until at least the 18th century (see buxheimlibrary.org for more information). During the 19th century the manuscript belonged to his Jacques Rosenthal. It is listed in his catalogue 7 (1896) as ‘no. 1026’, and catalogue XVI (1897) as ‘no. 183’, and finally in his catalogue 31 (1903) as ‘no. 1218’. Later, the manuscript was acquired by Norrebros Boghandel in Copenhagen, Denmark.

This manuscript originally belonged together with MS A 70, which contains the second part of the Revelations and the Sermo Angelicus. The manuscripts were kept together in Buxheim, but were later separated until they were reunited at the National Library.