COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Document Collection
Record
Identifier:
exwsms023_bk
Manuscript Identifier:
MS 023
Title:
Preces Monialis
Alternative Title:
Prayer Book for Nuns
Alternative Title:
MS 023
Incipit:
In sacratissima ac iocundissima, auriflua et excellentissima vigilia pascalis sollempnitatis que
Origin Date:
1500?
Origin Location:
Germany
Description:
Fifteenth or early sixteenth-century German prayerbook for nuns containing meditations and prayers based on office and mass texts of the Easter and Easter season liturgy in Latin and Eastfalian, a dialect of Low German spoken near the River Elbe.
Provenance:
Written for private devotion in a Cistercian convent in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Vernacular was initially identified as Ripuarian Low German with Rhenish influences, characteristic to the upper Rhineland; see Waddell, "The Vidi aquam and the Easter Morning Procession: Pages from the Prayerbook of a Fifteenth-Century Cistercian Nun," Liturgy OCSO 21:3 (1987), 4-5. This identification has been clarified as Eastfalian, a dialect spoken in the area around the River Elbe. The convent in which it was written is with high probability the Cistercian convent Medingen near Lüneburg where more than a dozen parallel Easter prayer-books were written, identified by Dr. Henrike Laehnemann in correspondence on March 29, 2012. Folios 241v-242v feature a lengthy colophon, "Scripto et finito libro... Gaudia mansura confert nobis hic dies iubilosa et diliciosa." Given by J. Christian Bay to the Abbey of Gethsemani in the early twentieth century; front pastedown notes: "Gift from our good friends, Mr. J. Christian Bay, Chicago Ill."
Explicit:
et fluenta divine gracie conserva
Secundo Folio:
ut miserabiliorem
Extent:
380 leaves
Subject:
Liturgies
Subject:
Cistercians--Prayers and devotions
Subject:
Catholic Church--Liturgy--Texts--Manuscripts
Subject:
Manuscripts, Latin--Germany
Subject:
Manuscripts, Low German
Subject:
Cistercian nuns
Subject:
Metal clasps (Binding)
Subject:
Bosses (Binding)
Language:
lat
Language:
nds
Dimensions:
160 x 100 mm
Material:
paper
Collation:
1-6⁸, 7⁸ wants 4, 8⁸, 9⁸ wants 8, 10⁸ wants 1, 11-26⁸, 27¹º wants 1 and 9, 28-30⁸, 31⁸ wants 6, 7, and 8, 32⁸ wants 3, 33-40⁸, 41⁸ wants 6 and 7, 42-46⁸, 47¹º wants 1, 48¹º + 1 after 10.
Foliation:
ff. 38, foliated: (1), 2-380
Binding:
Bound in tooled sixteenth-century calf over boards. Metal bosses and clasps lacking, portions of leather straps remain, fastening back to front.
Decoration Description:
f. 62v: Simple black ink drawing of rising sun, washed with red, blue, yellow, and green. Initials: 1- to 8-line crudely drawn pen flourished initials in red, blue, and green passim, one-line single color initials in red passim.
Description of Hands:
Written in various hands, primarily in gothic hybrida, gothic cursiva after f. 361r.
Is Part Of:
Manuscript 23, The Obrecht Collection of Gethsemani Abbey, Trappist Kentucky.
Publisher:
Western Michigan University
Date-Issued:
2013
Type:
Text
Format:
image/jp2
Is Referenced By:
Medingen Ms HHL = US-Cah (Harvard Houghton Library), Ms. Lat. 395, http://hcl.harvard.…
Is Referenced By:
Lähnemann, Henrike. "Bilingual Devotion. The Relationship of Latin and Low German in Prayer Books from the Lüneburg Convents, in: Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany in the late Middle Ages," ed. by Elizabeth Andersen et al. (Brill's Companions to Christian Tradition) 2013.
Is Referenced By:
Schlotheuber, Eva. "Intellectual Horizons. Linguistic Competence and Spiritual Instruction in Northern German Convents." Mysticism, 15; Medingen Manuscripts, http://research.ncl…
Access Rights:
The book is in the public domain. Western Michigan University holds the right to the image and reproduction. The images that are provided here are for non-profit, educational use only. For all other uses please contact Special Collections, Western Michigan University.
Rights Statement:
No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only. http://rightsstatem…