Language
Origin
Delft, Netherlands;
Utrecht, 15th century (1460 c.-1480)
Physical description
Format: Non digital + Digital, reformatted digital
- Script: Gothic book hand; two hands; hand I: ff. 3-11; 13-48; hand II: ff. 2r-v; 11r-v; 49-293.
- Collation: 25 quires: I: 12 (ff. 1-12), II: 12 (ff. 13-24), III: 12 (ff. 25-36), V: 12 (ff. 37-48), VI: 5 (ff. 49-53), VII: 12 (ff. 54-65), VII: 12 (ff. 66-77), VIII: 12 (ff. 78-89), IX: 12 (ff. 90-101), X: 14 (ff. 102-115), XI: 12 (ff. 116-127), XII: 12 (ff. 128-139), XIII: 12 (ff. 140-151), XIV: 12 (ff. 152-163), XV: 13 (ff. 164-176), XVI: 10 (ff. 177-186 ), XVII: 12 (ff. 187-198), XVIII: 13 (ff. 199-211), XIX: 10 (ff. 212-221), XX: 10 (ff. 222-231), XXI: 10 (ff. 232-241), XXII: 15 (ff. 242-256), XXIII: 12 (ff. 257-268), XXIV: 12 (ff. 269-280), XXV: 13 (ff. 281-293); f. 294 added later.Collation is uncertain since the manuscript has been rebound.
- Foliation: Foliated in pencil in upper right corner by modern cataloguer, probably in connection with the rebinding in 1964. The present foliation thus does not agree with that used in the quoted bibliography.
- Columns: 1
- Lines: 24
Notes
Literature
Borchling, C.: Mittelniederdeutsche Handschriften in Skandinavien, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg und Vorpommern. Zweiter Reisebericht Nachrichten von Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse. Beiheft 1900. pp. 1-204 (p. 137).
Gyldne Bøger. Illuminerede middelalderlige håndskrifter i Danmark og Sverige. Nationalmuseet, København 5 april - 4 maj 1952 København, 1952. p. 72 (n. 136).
Jansen-Sieben, R.: Repertorium van de Middelnederlandse Artes-literatuur Utrecht, 1989. pp. 404-405 (n. L1200).
Kernkamp, G. W.: Verslag van een onderzoek in Zweden, Noorwegen en Denemarken naar archivalia, belangrijk voor de geschiedenis van Nederland s'Gravenhage, 1903. p. 3.
Rooth, E.: Medelnederländska trubadurdikter funna i Universitetsbiblioteket i Lund Nordisk tidskrift för Bok- och Biblioteksväsen 1927. 14 pp. 142-146 (p. 143).
Rooth, E.: Mittelniederländische Reimsprüche aus Lund Niederdeutsche Mitteilungen 1946. 2 pp. 123-134.
Stooker K. and Verbeij, T.: Collecties op orde. Middelnederlandse handschriften uit kloosters en semi-religieuze gemeenschappen in de Nederlanden. Vol. 2 Miscellanea Neerlandica Leuven, 1997. 16 p. 243 (n. 736).
Book binding
Binding: Blind-tooled brown calfskin binding, preserved decorated covering Netherlands contemporary with the manuscript. Rebinding most likely Sweden 20th century. Size: 200 x 150 x 65 mm.
Brown calfskin binding over rounded wooden boards. Rebinding with leather covering of former binding preserved on the new covers. Two preserved metal hook-clasp fastenings at fore-edge, straps and nails new. Rounded spine. Tight back with five raised bands. Blind-tooled library cloth label at the tail of the back. Embroidered endbands of white linen. Trimmed edges. Front flyleaf of parchment and back flyleaf of paper, both mounted on guards, separate parchment pastedowns. Front flyleaf and pastedowns from former binding. On front paste down a white label with the present shelf mark and the former call number (cfr. above). Below the Meck number a faded note on the contents of the ms.:
på Hålländska and below another former callnumber: Bibl. Ms. Th. 4:o 1 .All along sewing on five double cords laced through the boards. Textblock with paper restorations.
The covers are blind-tooled to a triple fillet panel with corners. The frame of the panel is decorated with a repeated rosette, leaf, star and lily. The panel is divided into lozenge-shaped triple fillets compartments and the central compartment is stamped with a repeated rosette.
Decoration
One full page border with a half-length figure; 101 highly accomplished initials with pen flourishing and filigranated pattern, executed by four different artists. Frontispiece with initial by artist A, 14 intials from ff. 1r - 50 by artist B (ff. 15v, 19r, 22v, 28r, 34r, 38r, 40v, 42r, 43r, 44r, 45v, 46r, 47r, 50r ), from f. 54 initials alternately by artists A (ff. 68r, 72r, 76r, 79r, 83v, 87r, 88r, 90r, 93r, 94v, 96r, 98r ; 153v, 156v, 159v, 160v, 163r, 167r, 167v ), C (ff. 54r, 55r, 56r, 64v ; 102r, 104r, 107r, 113v, 114r, 114v, 115v ; 128r, 128v, 129r, 129v, 130v, 131r, 136v, 139v, 141r, 142r, 143v, 145v, 149r ; 177r, 178r, 179v, 180v, 190v, 193r, 198r, 202r, 204r ; 223r, 224r, 226r, 227v ; 259v, 282r, 283r, 284v, 286r, 287r, 289r, 290r, 291r ) and D (ff. 116r, 116v, 119r, 119v, 121v, 125v ; 212r, 217r, 217v, 218r, 219v, 220v, 222r ; 233v, 235r, 246r, 247v, 248r, 251r ). The different artists use somewhat different gradations between larger, 5-7 line initials (with exceptions up to 10 lines (e.g. f. 56r ), and smaller initials, 3-5 lines. Only artist C clearly distinguish between large and small initials.
Detailed description: f. 13r (parchment): full page border by Artist A with elegantly twisting, symmetrically arranged leaf and flower decoration in alternating blue and red pen drawing with gilt dots; an intarsiated 9-line initial (S), with filigranated filling in red (upper field) and blue (lower field) with flowers in contrasting colours with gilt centres. Along the right side of the textblock, inside the marginal decoration, a stem in brownish red with leaf-endings in red, green and yellow extend vertically into the decorated area. In the right margin, covering roughly the second top quarter of the decorated area, an illuminated half-length figure representing the prophet Zachariah appearing from a tripartite gilt cloud, holding a scroll inscribed with the dutch translation of Zach. 14:5, and dressed in a blue cloak heightened with gilt strokes and a bright red soft hat with big flaps in ochre suggesting fur.
Style: Initials by artist A are highly detailed with dense patterns and organically fluent pen flourishes in thin distinctly drawn lines.
Artist B uses a third colour (mauve, green), intarsiated letters in blue and red with fillings of leaf-ornaments rather than filigranation and stiff pen flourishes dominated by repeated curls.
Artist C uses diverging straight or slightly curving lines interspersed with numerous dots.
Artist D, like artist B, uses leaf-ornaments instead of filigranation in the letter-fillings, intarsiated letter-forms and occasionally a third colour, though never green. The pen flourishes of artist D often show distinctly naturalistic features, less stylized than those of artist A, but executed with the same skill. Triangular fields of parallel thin strokes beside the letters are characteristic.
All the decoration in Medeltidshandskrift 32a, especially that of artists A and D clearly belong to the "Delft block group" usually ascribed to the convent of St Agnes in Delft. The style of artist B show a tendency towards the "Delft scallop group", whereas the rather coarse style of artist C is more genrally Dutch in character.
Artist A is identical to the main artist in Den Haag, KB, 128 D 28 (ff. 1r, 44r, 73r, 121r ) made for the Tertiaries of the Convent of St Ursula in Delft 1476; in Den Haag, KB, 133 E 19 (the decorated initial pages) dated to 1460-80; in Den Haag, KB, 135 E 22 (with a Utrecht calendar), and in Den Haag KB, 135 F2, Leiden, UB, LTK, 288 (the frame on f. 221r ); possibly in Huntington Library HM 1127 (Dutschke 1989) and in Cleveland Museum, The Jeanne Blackburn Collection 1999.133 (Stephen N. Fliegel, The Jeanne Miles Blackburn Collection of Manuscript Illuminations, 1999).
Artist B is possibly identical to the artist of Leiden, UB, Ltk, 262, and similar, but not identical, to the main artist in Den Haag, KB, 78 J 47 (dated 1440-60) and Den Haag KB, 135 F2, suggesting perhaps a somewhat older artist than A.
Artist C is less accomplished and close to one of the artists in Leiden, UB, Voss. Germ. Gall. Fol. 7, (e.g. f. 5r), dated to 1459.
Artist D is more flamboyant than artist A, and show similarities with manuscripts from Schoonhoven such as Leiden UB Ltk 244, although these features do fit into a Delft context.
The blend of the more modern artists A and D, active around 1460 - 80, and the sligthly older features of artist B and C, probably active mainly around 1440 - 60, suggests a date for Medeltidshandskrift 32a around 1460 - 70, during which the two tendencies overlap, although a sligthly later date cannot be excluded.
Considering the fact that the space left to be filled by a similar half-length figure in Leiden, UB, Ltk. 288, f. 176r, and the fact that the half-length figure on f. 13r in Den Haag, KB, 135 F2 is executed by the same artist active in Medeltidshandskrift 32a (whereas the decorative border is not) the half-length figure on f. 13r in Medeltidshandskrift 32a is not necessarily executed by artist A, but could be attributed to a separate artist. However, since artist A is identified in the border on f. 221r in Den Haag, KB, 135 F2, and the caracteristic style of the half-length figures otherwise occurs in numerous manuscripts in immediate connection to borders decorated by artist A, the half-length figures must be attributed to artist A. This artist is not likely to be identical with the anonymous Master of the Delft Half-length Figures, although a close relationship between the two is obvious.
Iconography: The half length figure in the margin on f. 13r is identified as the prophet Zachariah through the quotation. The prophet's dress with its original hat is to be understood as an orientalizing feature, often associated with persons of the Old Testament.
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Location
Lund University LibraryHelgonabackenBox 3
221 00 Lund
St. Laurentius Digital Manuscript Library
- Shelfmark: Medeltidshandskrift 32a
- Previous shelfmark: Ms. Th. 4:o 1, Biblioth. Meckiana No. XX
Identifiers (general)
urn:nbn:se:alvin:portal:record-14464 (nbn)
Identifiers (local)
alvin-record:14464 (alvin)
Licensing of the work
Public Domain Mark (No Known Copyright)