Details

Subjects:

Virtues -- Early works to 1800.
Virtues.
Confession -- Early works to 1800.
Confession.
Judaism -- Controversial literature -- Early works to 1800.
Judaism -- Controversial literature.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Treatises.
Polemics.
Manuscripts, German.
Manuscripts, Medieval.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

German.

Summary:

A treatise on the cultivation of virtue and avoidance of sin within the framework of Christian teachings, divided into two books, with the first book (f. 1v-28r), in three sections, addressing the three Christian virtues faith, hope and love; and the second book (f. 28r-193r), in four sections, discussing the cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. In each instance an explication of the virtue itself is followed by a detailed consideration of the various kinds of sins that constitute a failure of that virtue. The treatise is accompanied by a table of contents (f. 196v-210v). Interposed between the closing rubric of the treatise and the beginning of the table of contents is a guide on how to properly make one's confession (f. 193r-196r); the guide to confession is not included in the table of contents and seems to be an afterthought to the work. The second work in the codex is apparently a German translation of the anti-Jewish epistle commonly known by either of two Latin titles, "Epistola contra Judaeorum errores" or "Epistola Samuelis Maroccani," and assumed to be the work of Alfonsus Bonihominis, who claimed to have translated it into Latin from an Arabic original that he came upon in Morocco. In the present manuscript, the opening rubric (f. 211r) makes reference to an original in Hebrew rather than in Arabic, and indicates that the work was translated into Latin by Alfonsu von hÿspanie. Divided into 28 chapters, the epistle purports to be written by a Jew named Samuel (Meister Samuel der Jude), from the city of the king of Morocco, addressed to Rabbi Isaac (Ysaac dem meister der gemeinschafft der iuden in dem vorgenanten riche). The codex bears handwritten headings that were added later, around the 16th century (Zacour-Hirsch), in four places, marking the beginning of the first work (Dieses Buch weiset von allen Rechten der Menschen, und ob dieses, oder jenes, Sünde seÿ, oder nicht, f. 1r), of the guide to confession (Die Catholische Beichtel, f. 193r), of the table of contents (Das Register wo jedes Capitel an zu träffen ist in diesem buch, f. 196v), and of the second work (Allhier hebet sich die Bottschafft an, so aus hebraeischer und lateinischer sprach in teutsche, von einen Mönch, prediger Ordens, mit nahmen Alponsu von hispanie ist übersetzet worden, f. 211r).

Contents:

1. f.1r-210v: [Von den Tugenden]
2. f.211r-226v: [Die bottschafft die Meister Samuel der Jude den Israheliten schreib der geboren wad wy seis der statt des kungs von marroch zu babylom] / Samuel Marochitanus.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title for manuscript from opening chapter rubric of predominant work (f. 1v).
Collation: Paper, i + 227 + i; 1¹,² (-1), 2¹², 3¹² (-7, torn out), 4-19¹²; [i], 2-29, 31-144, 149, 151-199, [x], 199-210, [xii]; contemporary roman foliation in ink, upper center recto and upper center verso of preceding leaf; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto, and often also upper left verso. Gatherings 3-20 are sewn into the binding with thin strips of parchment from another manuscript as guards. Catchwords on verso of last leaf of gatherings 1-18, with the exception of gathering 3.
Layout: Written in 2 columns of 30-34 lines (the table of contents, f. 196v-210v, is written in only one column); frame-ruled in ink.
Script: Written in a German cursive hand.
Decoration: 5-line initial embellished in red, blue and green ink (f. 1r); 4-line initial in blue and green ink (f. 28r); 3- and 4-line initials in red and blue (f. 1v, 3r, 4v), red and green (f. 20r), or blue and green (f. 160v, 163r); initials throughout the codex generally 2-line (occasionally 3-line), in red, blue, or green ink (occasionally a combination of two of those colors); two initials filled in with a non-figurative design (f. 10v and 153r); initials of entries in the table of contents (f. 196v-210v) in red, green, or blue ink, with those of the major headings in two colors; section rubrics and closing rubric in first work and chapter headings in second work in red ink; initial letters of sentences usually highlighted with red pen stroke, and sometimes also with a red decorative marker; proper names usually underscored in red. At the end of the codex (f. 226v) the year is written out in Latin in red ink, followed by a statement in Latin about the completion of the book before the feast of Saint Martin, in blue ink.
Binding: Contemporary pigskin over wooden boards (Zacour-Hirsch), with two strap-like clasps, one missing its peg.
Origin: Written in Germany in 1433 (Zacour-Hirsch).

Penn Provenance:

Signature of Dr. Puhlmann, 1836 (f. 1r).
Sold at auction by Hauswedell & Nolte, 4 November 1954, sale 109, lot 2.
Sold by Helmuth Domizloff (Munich), 1954.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 79 (Ms. German 3).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1079

Contributor:

Samuel, Marochitanus.
Alfonsus Bonihominis, Bishop of Marrakech, -1353.

Related Work:

Samuel, Marochitanus. Epistola contra Judaeorum errores. German.
Alfonsus Bonihominis, Bishop of Marrakech, -1353. Epistola Samuelis Maroccani.

OCLC:

182539632