Liber de miraculis Beatae Virginis Mariae / Potho of Prüfening.

Format
Manuscript, Book
Language
Latin
Published/​Created
[Lambach, Austria] : [producer not identified], [between 1100 and 1200]
Description
1 volume (103 leaves) : parchment, illustrations, ; 20 cm

Details

Subject(s)
Attributed author
Former owner
Donor
Bookseller
Notes
  • Includes a miscellany of shorter texts from various sources.
  • Script: Protogothic.
  • Decoration: On fol. 61r,* Charlemagne (r. 768-814) and Alcuin (735-804) are On fol. 61r,* Charlemagne (r. 768-814) and Alcuin (735-804) are depicted together in a historiated initial Q, tinted in vermilion and brown: Charlemagne wears a crown and points with right hand toward modified scepter, held in his left hand. Next to him is Alcuin, who wears a cap and points with right hand to a scroll, held in his left hand.
Binding note
Austria, 15th century. The boards are covered in calfskin that has been blind stamped and tooled to a form resembling an oak leaf; the background of cuir-ciselé within a rectangle formed from three lines top, bottom, and each side.
Contents
  • 1.1r-61r: “Incipit libellus de miraculis sanctae Mariae. Prologus. Ad omnipotentis dei lavdem cum sepe recitantvr miracula sanctorum quae per eos egit diuina potentia ... largiente domino recitare studeamus. De archiepiscopo Hildefonso. Fuit in Toletana urbe quidam archiepiscopus qui vocabatur Hildefonsus, religiosus ualde et bonis moribus ornatus ...” Explicit: “... quatinus hoc memorabile miraculum fidelium cordibus omni tempore ad laudem christi semper feruentius inherere potvisset. Explicit liber de miraculis sanctae mariae.”
  • 2.61r-74r: “Incipit disputatio karoli regis et albini magistri sui de dyalectica et uirtutibus. Karolus. Quia mentionem phylosophyae in priori disputationis nostrae sermone fecimus ...” Explicit: “Contradictio est af- firmationis uel negationis obpositio, ut socrates disputat, socrates non disputat. Explicit disputatio Albini cum Karolo de dyalectica.”
  • 3.74r-78v: “Ut a magistri uerbis exordium sumat sermo, qui non amat dominum deum, anathema sit. valde mihi amandus est per quem sum uiuo et sapio. Si ingratus sum et indignus ...” Explicit: “... nec de- teriora scriptis uirgilii et vari, nec minus recipienda, nec p[rae]nestina (?) scripta.”
  • 4.78v-79v: “Alius Sermo de sancta Maria. Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet filium et vocabitur nomen eius emmanuel. Butyrum et mel comedet ut sciat reprobare malum et eligere bonum [Is. 7:14-15] Duo sunt in lacte ouis, butyrum et caseus. Butyrum sanum, pingue et humidum; caseus econtra est infirmus, aridus, et durus ...” Explicit: “... te quoque intercedente participes nos faciat glorie et beatitudinis sue, Iesus Christus.”
  • 5.79v-81r: “Alius Sermo Caelum, sydera, terra, flumina, dies, nox, et quaecumque humanae potestati sunt obnoxia, uel utilitati, in amissum decus sese gratulantur ...” Explicit: “... et in hoc consumetur uita mea, ut in eternum psallat substantia mea. Benedictus dominus in eternum. fiat, fiat.”
  • 6.81r-82v: “Sermo de purificatione sanctae Mariae. Postquam impleti sunt dies purgationis Mariae ... [Luke 2: 21]. Dominus qui non uenit legem soluere sed ad implere in omnibus actionibus suis, aliquo modo uitam nostram informans, uoluit octauo die circumcidi quadragessimo in templo presentari ...” Explicit: “... ut filium quem in templum presentauit faciat nobis placabilem, ut cum iusto Symeone uidere mereamur salutare dei, Dominum nostrum iesum christum. Qui cum p[atrem] ...”
  • 7.82v-83r: “Fecit Rex Salomon thronum de ebore grandem et uestiuit illum auro fuluo; et erat rotundus a parte posteriori; et erant due manus hinc inde tenentes sedile, et duo leones iuxta singulas manus; et erant vi gradus, et super illos xii leunculi. Non fuit tale opus in uniuersis regnis. [3 Reg. 10:18-20] Salomon exprimit christum, cum nominis interpretatione, tum operum celebritate. Ipse est enim qui pacificauit illam inexorabilem gratiam inter homines et deum et angelos ...” Explicit: “Ipsa est stella, cuius ducatu et interuentu ad patriam transeamus; ipsa deum patrem nobis fecit fratrem; orat et deprecatur dominum pro seruis, filium pro filiis; sed naturalem pro adoptiuis.”
  • 8.83v-85v: “Rex dives et potens deus omnipotens filium sibi fecit hominem quem creauit. Cui sicut puero delicato pedagogos delegauit, legem prophetas, ceterosque tutores et actores, usque ad praefinitum tempus consummationis eius. Instruxit eum et monuit dominum paradysi eum constituens ...” Explicit: “... deinde trepidus est et pusilla nimis in aduersis; postremo prouidus et eruditus et perfectus in regno karitatis.”
  • 9.85v-86v: “Inter Ierusalem et babylon ordinatae sunt acies ad bellum terribilem et ordinatam.” Explicit: “... ubi beati pacifici filii dei interius et exterius omnibus pacificatis ingressi gaudium domini sui celebrant sabbatum sabbatorum.”
  • 10.86v-88v: “Simile est regnum caelorum homini regi, qui fecit nuptias filio suo. Cumque dies instaret nuptiarum, consuluit pater filium, quam uellet ducere. Ille se elegisse et preelegisse ecclesiam respondit a seculo. At pater, Sed captiua inquit tenetur in Egypto, ibique in luto et latere uenundata sub peccato ...” Explicit: “Qui iam mysterium iniquitatis operatur, praenunciis eius undique ecclesie sugillantibus ecce hic et ecce illic.”
  • 11.89r-95v: “De Unione. Ad maiorem eorum euidentiam que de domini incarnatione credenda sunt. Hec prius considerare oportet. Quis assumpsit. Quid sit quod assumpsit ...” Explicit: “... non quia iurauit, sed quia male iurauit, non tamen hoc fecit aliqua uoluntate, si ivro me daturum tres marcas, non iuro me debere dare duas aut unam, et tamen ex iuramento teneor dare unam, dare duas.”
  • 12. 95v-103r: “Principium et causa omnium deus ante omnia aeternaliter in omnibus inuariabiliter et post omnia est interminabiliter. Vita uiuens in se antequam essent tempora ipse fuit sine principio, una et simplex aeterna et uera substantia ...” Explicit: “Omnes quippe in eo peccauerunt quia in eo omnes fuerunt non personaliter sed materialiter, quia omnium materia in eo fuit.”
Provenance
Princeton MS. 51 was written at the Benedictine Abbey at Lambach, Austria, judging from decoration and medieval provenance. The earliest surviving Lambach catalogue prepared about 1210 records the “Libellus de miraculis S. Mariae [et] Disputatio Albini cum Karolo de dialectica.” The manuscript was listed as no. 143 in the handwritten catalogue prepared by Felix Resch in the 18th century; the paper label on the spine was apparently made in 1827, as is indicated by a note on fol. 2v of the Lambach catalogue: the names of the issuing prelates. But there is no information about provenance. Sometime in the first quarter of the 20th century, after it had been used in Admont by Franz Bliemetzrieder for his 1919 edition, this manuscript was removed from the monastery. It was not generally known to be missing from Lambach until 1953 when an inventory was made and each entry in the catalogue was identified as “vorhanden” or “fehlt.” Long before this inventory, Lambach MS. 143 had gone onto the market and was sold by Sotheby's, London, at a sale beginning on 16 July 1928. The London booksellers Maggs Bros. acquired the manuscript at that sale. Senator David Aiken Reed (1880-1953), of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, Class of 1900, acquired the manuscript at an unknown date; his name is written in blue ink on the front pastedown. His gift to the Princeton University Library in 1946 (Acc. no. AM 13258 written on fols. 1r and 2r).
Source acquisition
Gift; David Aiken Reed, 1946.
References
Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 2, pages 240-243.
Cite as
Princeton MS. 51, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Other title(s)
Libellus de miraculis Sanctae Mariae
OCLC
1107180211
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