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:
between 1500 and 1599
Origin Location:
Germany
Description:
Fifteenth or early sixteenth-century German prayer book 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 Prayer book 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 paste down 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…
Rights Statement:
Rights Status:
No Copyright - United States
Access Rights:
Digital reproduction published by Western Michigan University and made available for private study, scholarship or research use under applicable U.S. Law. Access to digital reproductions provided by Special Collections at Zhang Legacy Collections Center, Western Michigan University.