Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
ii + 220 paper folios, watermark unidentified, modern foliation in pencil at top recto corner, possibly incomplete (i-viii8 xvi8 [perhaps lacking a singleton at quire end with text loss] xvii-xxvii8 xxviii4), most catchwords and some quire signatures remain, most folios ruled in brown ink with some sections only frame ruled and others unruled (justification c. 100 x c. 70 mm.), written in 19-23 long lines in dark brown ink in a neat Dutch hybrida bookhand by one scribe, majuscules and some punctuation touched with red, red paraphs and rubrics, simple red two- to four-line Gothic initials throughout, major incipits at ff. 1, 113, 122, 185 and 200 with five- to eight-line blue initials with blank-paper foliate patterns in the bodies of the letters, framed by and enclosing red flower-and-vine penwork which extends into the margins, mild discoloration, smudging and spotting throughout but especially affecting the first quire, rodent damage to bottom corner, minor worming on first two folios, small tears in the upper margin of the first quire mostly repaired, smudging of the initial on f. 1, all text intact and overall good condition. CONTEMPORARY BINDING of dark brown leather covering beveled wooden boards, double-fillet tooled frame and diamond pattern enclosing two sizes of flowerheads (large rosette similar to EDBD s034434, Nazareth convent in Geldern and s035628, Gaesdonck), stars in circles (similar to EDBD s035629, Nazareth convent in Geldern and s034443, Gaesdonck), and fleur-de-lys (similar to EDBD s035625, Gaesdonck), remains of a single brass clasp and leather strap once closing from back to front, sewn on three alum-tawed split thongs raised at spine, now-lifted pastedowns of two leaves from a fourteenth-century pocket Breviary with discoloration and worming especially to front pastedown, half of first flyleaf missing with worming to both flyleaves, covers lightly scratched, wormed and discolored, splits to spine edges exposing sewing, middle thong split at hinge of front board, endbands loose with some instability at top, overall fair condition. Dimensions 140 x 105 mm.
A pocket-sized collection of prayers and readings (many of them unique or rare) in Middle Dutch, this diminutive manuscript in its original binding is a charming witness to the devotional practices of the Modern Devotion in the late fifteenth century. Containing affective prayers focused especially on the Body of Christ, the Passion, and on the suffering of the votary’s soul, this personal book was made for, and probably by, an Augustinian canoness in Geldern in the Lower Rhine near the Netherlands. It includes an inscription of an early owner in her native tongue.
1. Written c. 1475-1500 in the Lower Rhine, very likely at the Nazareth convent in Geldern, or perhaps at the near-by priory near Goch, for use by the nuns of Geldern. It was copied by one experienced scribe, probably in two parts (the last four folios added after completion of the main text) in a script typical of its period, language, and region. The initials and rubrics were probably added by the same hand. Based on the southeastern Dutch dialect (called South Guelderish), the manuscript was almost certainly produced in the Lower Rhine region in the general vicinity of Cleves. Based on its contents, it was likely made for (and probably also by) a religious woman affiliated with the Modern Devotion movement.
The manuscript’s contemporary binding also supports this origin, as the stamps are very similar (perhaps even identical to) several used on other bindings from the Nazareth convent in Geldern and its confessor house of Gaesdonck, an Augustinian priory near Goch affiliated with Windesheim (the canons of Goch provided pastoral care for the nuns, or more properly, canonesses of Geldern). The nuns of Nazareth, and of their sister-house St. Andreas at Sonsbeck, are known to have copied their own manuscripts, including vernacular translations of Augustine and other theological texts (Costard, 2011; Beißel, 1987, p. 127). The canons of Gaesdonck were known to have done their own bookbinding (Beßelmann and Hermes, 1992). It is probable, then, that this manuscript was made either entirely at Gaesdonck, or copied at Geldern or Sonsbeck and bound at Gaesdonck. The pastedowns, two leaves from a fourteenth-century pocket Breviary in an expert Gothic bookhand, are also consistent with production in this region.
There were three beguine communities in Geldern, from c. 1300. Two combined in c. 1400 and were granted a piece of land against the city wall in 1418, and then became Sisters of the Common Life. In the 1450s, when informal communities were required to adopt a monastic rule, the Nazareth sisters became a community of Augustinian canonesses. Numerous manuscripts from Nazareth survive, now mostly in institutional collections, in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Bonn and Krakau, Universitätsbibliotheken, and Darmstadt, Hessische Staatsbibliothek (Costard, 2011, identified 44; the list now has grown, see BNM-I, Online Resources).
2. Following the text on f. 218, an ex libris reads: “Dit bocken hort toe mettel van zoutelande 1520.” Mettel’s script indicates she was inexperienced at writing; signing her name may have been among the only occasions for her to do so. The date is in another ink but appears to be (roughly) contemporary with the rest of the ex libris, is of a similar quality, and may have been added by Mettel herself. No further evidence of Mettel is found, but Zoetelande is a coastal town on the former island of Walcheren (connected, along with the other islands of Zeeland, to the mainland Netherlands within the twentieth century). She may well have been a member of the Geldern Nazareth or Sonsbeck St. Andreas community. Besides a pen trial (an ‘I’ or ‘II’ with infilling) on f. 116v, there are no further marks by medieval or early modern readers.
It is unclear whether the manuscript was present at Nazareth when it was abandoned in 1578 during the Dutch occupation of Geldern, or at Gaesdonck and St. Andreas at their secularization in 1802. Many of the region’s monastic books were absorbed by Gaesdonck’s library thereafter and remain onsite in the Collegium Augustinianum (est. 1849, today a boarding school). It has not, as of yet, been identified in library inventories but could perhaps be found through closer study (see Costern, 2011 for Geldern and Sonsbeck; and Beßelmann and Hermes, 1992 for a bibliography of Gaesdonck inventories).
3. On the second flyleaf a nineteenth- or early twentieth-century Kurrentschrift inscription in blue pencil (or crayon) reads “Die Soli loquia D[eum?] H[eiliger] Augustintus” in an apparent mix of German and Latin. Various shelfmarks or catalogue numbers from owners or auctioneers added over recent decades, including “7,” “148/15606 [62971]” and “532,” appear in pencil on the remnant of the first flyleaf.
ff. 1-112v, Hier beghynt dat boeck der vereninge mit gade des gloriosen heiligen vaders sunte Austinus in latyn soli loquium dan erste ca[pittel], incipit, “O myn god myn here en myn scepper … [f. 9] van den gotlicken licht Dat derde capittel O licht dat thobias sach doe hi mit blynden ogen synen … [f. 18v] van dat beschowen des gotliken ansichts dat vii ca[pittel] Mer alst comt dat volmacht is … [f. 43] Dat god is licht der gherechtiger en vanden schalicht des vianes xvi ca[pittel] O myn here myn licht ondechet mij myn ogen dat ic sien ... [f. 71v] van engelen ons te behoeden xxviii ca[pittel] O einighe getrouwe ... [f. 90] van den kersten gelove dat sonder niemant en mach behalden noch salich syn in der ewicheit Dat drie en dertichste capitel Ic bedanck u O myn licht want gi mi verlickt hebt ... [f. 111] Een schoen gebet totter glorioeser heiliger drievoldicheit Dat xxxviii ca[pittel] [f. 111v] O Drie gelycke en ewige persoenen een gewaerich god vader soen heilige geest ... [f. 112v] en sneke want hii den wort die sinde aldus werlt af genomen” [probably ending abruptly];
Pseudo-Augustine, Alleen spraken der sielen tot God, edition Simon Cock, Antwerp, 1548 (Dutch translation of Soliloquia animae ad deum, in Migne, PL 40, 863-898). The manuscript’s rubrics and text vary from that of the edition, as it is a much earlier vernacular translation that may have been completed at the institution where the book was produced. Although variations in the text make it unclear whether, or how much of, the last chapter is lacking, the text’s ending without an explicit suggests at least a singleton once followed f. 112, although there are no visible remnants of a lost folio found in the gutter.
ff. 113-121v, Hier begynt dese gebit dat sunte bernart gemackt heuet medere begeeren die passie ons heven heren ... incipit, “Gyegruet systu myn selicheit o lieve here ihesu cristi weest gegruet ... [f. 133v] Ick neyghe my voer dyn voeten mit anxte ... [f. 114] Weest gruet heilighe Conynck der hemelen ... [f. 115v] totter heiliger syden ihesu Weest ghegruet overste gudertierenheit du bist altoes bereyt te vergenen ... [f. 116v] Totter heiliger borst ons heren ihesu [f. 117] Got myn here ihesu cristi: myn suete mynner ... [f. 117v] totten herten ihesu Weest gegruet overheilighe hert myns heren ... [f. 119] totten handen Weest gegruet gi heilige hande myns heven heren ... [f. 120v] totten bu[st] ihesu O eerber van dy ihesu die werdich bust dat men dy altoes sueke dencke ... [f. 121v] die leves en regniers ewelick amen. nota bene Egidius seit die vruchtberst arbeit boven allen arbeit ... Die vrede en effenheit halden wil die moet allen menschen boven hem rekenen te wesen”;
Attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, prayers of indulgence to the five wounds of Christ. In the northeastern Netherlands (including the now-German lower Rhine region), meditation on the five wounds of Christ was extremely popular among enclosed or semi-enclosed (i.e. Beguine) women affiliated with Windesheim’s Modern Devotion movement. They are always attributed to St. Bernard, but are not actually translations of his own meditations on Christ’s body. Rather, these prayers are inspired by St. Bernard’s mystical vision in which, while Bernard prayed before a crucifix, Christ pulled his arms free of the cross and leaned down to embrace Bernard.
This set of prayers, or versions of it, are well-attested in vernacular prayerbooks from this area and period. An unknown, but certainly very large, number are found in institutions and private collections throughout the Low Countries; see, for example, Heverlee, Park Abbey, MS 18 and Amsterdam, UB, MS 1 G 35, both used to illustrate Rudy’s extensive discussion of these prayers in particular, and other similar devotions to the body of Christ in the Middle Dutch tradition (2017, esp. pp. 97-100; see the Appendix for transcriptions).
ff. 122r-184v, Hier beghint dat prologus Ancelmus des eertschen bischop van cantelen berch in synen ghebede of gepeynsen nota bene, incipit, “Die bedinghe of gepense die hier gheschreuen strael syn ghemackt om des menschen herte te verwerken totter mynen gads of tot syns selves ondersoeken ... [f. 122v] Hier beghint syn gebet of peynsinge die een mensche ontsteckt totten mynen gads O here ihesu cristi myn verloefinghe ... [f. 178] en benedien en glorificieren in ewicheit amen. Een gebet tot maria als een beswart wort in den licham O heilige maria en sunderlinghe heilich onder ander heilighen naest gade ... [f. 180] totter rechter hant gads syns almechtige vaders die laeflick en glorioes is in ewicheit amen; Sunte bernart saet alsoe onmogelick alst is te comen sonder schyp over dat meer ... [f. 184v] over die gei die dit gescheven heft.”;
Prayers attributed to Anselm of Canterbury (ff. 122r-178). In the same tradition as the Bernardine prayers in the previous section, these prayers attributed to Anselm are influenced by him but are not direct translations of his original Latin; the precise works from which they derive is unclear. The prayers, here including a prologue and five short ‘chapters,’ are focused on working one’s heart towards the love of God or for pious self-examination (f. 122v: “om des menschen herte te verwerken totter mynen gads of tot syns selves ondersoeken”), and heavily emphasize the votary’s pain in heart, soul, and even body, especially should one be cast into hell. The horrors of hell receive considerable attention: as described in the third chapter, there is noise, flames, and worms, and one is bitten and “als een rat lopen,” runs around like a rat (f. 138).
It is unclear if the prayer to Mary for a “beswart” (f. 178, blackening) in the body is likewise here attributed to Anselm, although it is unlikely to be linked to him. The nature of the ‘blackening in the body’ it refers to is unknown, but the text itself pleads to Mary to heal sinners’ souls (e.g., “hoer mi vrouwe, make gesont die ziel des sunders,” f. 180). Last is a list of ‘notae bene’ (or dictae) attributed to Sts. Bernard, Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory the Great and John Chrysostom, as well as several by or concerning Seneca, Cato, Aristotle, King Solomon, Albertus [Magnus?], Terence, Plato, and a “Iutanus” (Justinian? Jordanus?). These range from one to a few sentences, and several rhyme. They have not yet been identified elsewhere.
ff. 185-200, Hier begingt [sic] dat aventmael ons heven heren soe als di iiii ewangelisten bescrieven, incipit, “Ende het ghescharch den doe ihesus al dese worde volbracht. Doe sprach hi tot synen iongheren ... [f. 216v] En al den gansen saterdach bleven si dan te huys naeden gebade van der e[weg]e.” [remainder of folio blank];
A recounting of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday from the Last Supper through to the Passion. Immediately following the explicit are six red dots arranged [• : • :]. Given the Bernadine prayers on the wounds of Christ in this manuscript, they may represent the wounds on his head from the crown of thorns, those of his hands and feet from the nails, and that in his side. Abstracted representations of his wounds are common in manuscripts containing similar content (see Rudy, 2017, pp. 83-86).
ff. 217-218, ii, incipit, “Ic vernaen en danck dy lieve here des groete lidens dattu haddes doe ... op dat ic bloet nae volge dynen bloeten cruce amen. [f. 217v] iiii Ic vernaen en danck u here ihesu christi dattu dyn cruce voert ... vi Ic verrnaen en dank dy heve here ihesus cristus ... [f. 218] en in allen gneden werken totten eynde myns levens amen” [ff. 218v-220 blank].
Variation of Den aflaet der heiliger stat Jherusalem ende des berchs van Calvarien (The Indulgence of the Holy City Jerusalem and Mount Calvary), transcription in Rudy, 2000. This final text contains three of the twelve prayers (Nos. 2, 4 and 6) in a cycle that was intended to substitute for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The prayers take the form of a conversation with Christ at each of twelve stations of the cross (not aligning with the canonical fourteen Stations of the Cross) and are attested in manuscripts from Augustinian convents under the influence of Windesheim, in particular St. Agnes at Maaseik, where they may have originated in the latter half of the fifteenth century (Rudy, 2000, p. 214). Rudy identifies twelve manuscripts containing this text, with one additional manuscript identified by the BNM-I.
The ‘stations’ here include: the second, at which Christ’s purple clothing (“purper cleet,” f. 217) was ripped off at Pilate’s house, deepening his wounds, and causing him to bleed more as he picks up the cross; the fourth, at which Helen later erected a monument to where Christ was condemned amongst a crowd of murderers (“mordenaers,” f. 217v); and the sixth, where Caiaphas ridicules Christ and Simon of Cyrene helps him carry the cross (an apparent conflation of the sixth and seventh stations in other manuscripts).
This pocket-sized, or hand-held prayerbook is a charming personal artefact of the late medieval Devotio moderna, New or Modern Devotion, a movement that took place in the Dutch-speaking regions of the present-day Netherlands and Lower Rhine region of Germany. Founded by Dutch theologians Geert Groote (1340-1384) and his student Floren Radewyns (c. 1350-1400), the movement initially attracted lay men and women who lived communally (known as the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life). They established a house in Windesheim near Deventer, which shortly after Groote’s death joined the Augustinian Order of Canons Regular. Their approach to faith – which centered around the Life of Christ and the Passion – became increasingly popular in the region throughout the fifteenth century. The Windesheim Congregation and those within its sphere of influence practiced affective piety, an emotional, first-person and sometimes performative identification with Christ’s suffering through prayer. Followers of the Modern Devotion privileged vernacular translations of the Bible and devotional texts (Groote had himself made a Dutch Book of Hours translation) and produced a significant number of manuscripts; book production was part of their devotional practice (see Light and Hindman 2012, pp. 62-63).
That a Dutch translation of Augustine’s (supposed) work comprises the main text of this manuscript is therefore unsurprising, given the manuscript’s attribution to one of the Augustinian houses of the Lower Rhine affiliated with the Modern Devotion. Augustine’s canonical Soliloquia (also known as the Cassiciacum dialogues) was one his early works and comprises two books in which Augustine engages in conversation with his reason as he seeks self-knowledge and examines the nature of truth and the soul’s immortality. However, the Soliloquia animae ad deum (found here in translation) is falsely attributed. Composed in the thirteenth century, it was largely influenced by the works of twelfth-century authors like Hugh of St-Victor and John of Fecamp (Van Neer-Bruggink, 2014). Written in a confessionary style, it takes a mystical tone and was consequently immensely popular in the late Middle Ages and fits well alongside the other affective and self-reflective prayers found in this small manuscript.
No full Middle Dutch copies of the Soliloquia animae ad deum are indicated in the catalogues of Kurz, 1976-9, or Wieser, 2000 (Latin copies are, however, plentiful), although it appears that this manuscript’s chapter 38 (here with a slightly different incipit) appears frequently alongside other vernacular prayers attributed to (Ps.-)Augustine; it is found in some 15 manuscripts in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg (Wieser, 2000). It is possible that additional chapters of the Dutch Soliloquia animae ad deum can be found in these or other manuscripts but have not yet been identified as translations of this text. This manuscript’s diminutive size, original binding, and unedited texts make it an attractive witness to personal (and probably female) devotional practice in the fifteenth-century Lower Rhine.
Beißel, S. “Lieder der Devotio moderna aus Klöstern im Gelderland,” Geldrischer Heimatkalender (1987), pp. 125-132.
Beßelmann, K.-F. and F. Hermes, “Bibliotheca domus presbyterorum Gaesdonck,” in S. Corsten et al., eds. Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland, Bd.3, Nordrhein-Westfalen A-I, Hildesheim, 1992. Available at https://fabian.sub.uni-goettingen.de/fabian?Domus
_Presbyterorum_Gaesdonck.
Costard, M. Spätmittelalterliche Frauenfrömmigkeit am Niederrhein. Geschichte, Spiritualität und Handschriften der Schwesternhäuser in Geldern und Sonsbeck, Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation 62, Tubingen, 2011.
Kienhorst, H. “Mystiek op schrift in vrouwenkloosters uit de traditie van de Moderne Devotie Een oriënterende vergelijking van drie collecties: Arnhem, Geldern en Maaseik,” Ons Geestelijk Erf 81 (2010): 38-63. Available at https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/86140/86140.pdf?sequence=1.
Kurz, R. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke des heiligen Augustinus. Bd. VI (2 vols): Bundesrepublik Deutschland und Westberlin, Vienna, 1976-1979.
Light, L. and S. Hindman. Before the King James Bible. Chicago and Paris, 2012. Available at https://www.textmanuscripts.com/enlu-assets/catalogues/tm/tm-2-kingjames/tm-2_bible-catalogue.pdf.
Migne, J.-P., ed. Sancti Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis episcopi opera omnia... , [Patrologia latina = PL 40]. Turnhout, 1982.
Oerschkes, K., N. Schulze, and P. Verhoeven. Vom Kloster Nazareth zum Kapuzinertor, Geldern, 2021.
Rudy, K. M. Rubrics, Images and Indulgences in Late Medieval Netherlandish Manuscripts, Leiden, 2017.
Rudy, K. M. “Den aflaet der heiliger stat Jherusalem ende des berchs van Calvarien: Indulgenced Prayers for Mental Holy Land Pilgrimage in Manuscripts from the St. Agnes Convent in Maaseik,” Ons geestelijk erf (2000), pp. 211-254.
S. Augustijns Vierighe meditacie[n] oft aendachte[n]. En[de] die alleensprake[n] der siele[n] tot God. En[de] dat ha[n]boecxke[n] vand[er] aenscouwingen Christi..., Antwerp, 1548 [Copy held by Ghent University Library available at https://lib.ugent.be/catalog/rug01:001633506, with Alleen spraken der sielen tot Godt is found on pp. 138-247 of the digitization].
Tervooren, H., Kirschner, C., & Spicker, J. Van der Masen tot op den Rijn.: ein Handbuch zur Geschichte der mittelalterlichen volkssprachlichen Literatur im Raum von Rhein und Maas, Berlin, 2006.
Van Neer-Bruggink, I. “Pseudo-Augustinus: De meditationes,” Augustinus in het Nederlands 6. Eindhoven, 2014. Available at https://www.augustinus.nl/pathtoimg
.php?id=922.
Wieser, M.Th. and B. Giorgi. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke des heiligen Augustinus. Bd. VIII: Belgien, Luxemburg und Niederlande, Vienna, 2000.
Binding Stamps from Nazareth Convent, Geldern (North Rhine-Westphalia)
https://www.hist-einband.de/werkstattdetails.html?entityID=w004692
Binding Stamps from Gaesdonck (North Rhine-Westphalia)
https://www.hist-einband.de/werkstattdetails.html?entityID=w007138
Manuscripts from the Nazareth Convent, Geldern, BNM-I
https://bnm-i.huygens.knaw.nl/lexicontermen/LEXI000000005376
Klosters Nazareth today
https://www.geldern.de/de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/refektorium-ostwall/
TM 1155
