Details

Subjects:

Apocalyptic literature -- Early works to 1800.
Counter-Reformation -- Germany.
Prophecies.
Counter-Reformation.
Apocalyptic literature.
Germany -- Prophecies -- Early works to 1800.
Germany.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Manuscripts, German.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

German.

Summary:

First-person report by a schoolmaster of Lutheran (evangelischen) faith, about religious visions he experienced in Altenstadt an der Waldnaab, near Weiden, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, and in Nuremberg, told in an autobiographical narrative that extends from 18 December 1627 to 20 September 1628. The manuscript appears to differ somewhat in details from contemporary sources about Pscherer (or Bscherer) as recounted in Gottfried Arnold's Unparteyische Kirchen- und Ketzer-Historie (parts 3/4, p. 219-221). The manuscript falls into 2 parts (of which the title page refers only to the first): 1. events in Altenstadt (f. 1r-9v); and 2. further events in Nuremberg (f. 9v-10v; rubric: Volget ferner, was mir zue Nurnberg begegnet, f. 9v). In part 1, which is divided into 15 numbered sections, Pscherer experiences visions involving one or two boys (Knäblein) who sometimes speak to him, in the mornings when he goes to carry out his duty of ringing the bells at the church for prayer. Part 1 ends with an entry dated 16 May 1628 (f. 9r-v), which reports a vision that occurred on 5 March, but which he was told not to reveal until the proper time had come. It is a prophecy that those who persist in the true Lutheran faith, despite persecution, will be rewarded; and that the persecution will end in the year 1631 with the persecutors being punished. The narrative alludes to the Counter-Reformation, with reference to clergy driven out (den vertribenen exulanten Geistlichen; f. 3r). Scherer also tells of being removed from his post by Jesuits (f. 7r), of Catholic schoolmasters arriving in town, and of soldiers trying to take him prisoner because of his talking about his visions (f. 8v). Part 2 describes further visions that Scherer experienced during the week from Sunday 14 September 1628 through the following Saturday, when he was living in the vicinity of Nuremberg. Those visions concern an army (Hehr Kriegesvolckh, f. 9v) identified with midnight (Mitternacht), and an opposing army identified with evening and midday (Abendt unnd Mittag), with the former eventually displacing the latter and coming to be headed by a figure wearing a golden crown (f. 10v). The last page appears to be signed Lorentz Pscherer (f. 10v), with an attribution below that possibly reads: Exulanss (i.e. exile). On the title page, below the title, is a quote from the Book of Tobit 12:7 (Der Konigen unnd Fürsten Rath unnd Heimblichkeit solle man verschweigen, aber Gottes Werckh soll mann höchlich preissen unnd offenbahren, f. 1r), followed by a rhymed 8-line poem that contrasts the bluster of the world to a judge in heaven who will soon awaken (Der Richter aller siechen / Er ist schon auff der Bahn, f. 1r). The manuscript is enclosed in a paper cover (possibly contemporary) bearing writing in a different hand: on the front, the name Pscherer, along with an abbreviated variation of the title as given on the manuscript, and the parenthetical remark: Original-Manuscript; on the inside back, the word Fastnachtspiele (Schrovetide plays).

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (f. 1r).
Foliation: Paper, i (modern paper) + i (paper cover) + 10 + i (paper cover) + i (modern paper); [1-10]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Script: Written in a German cursive hand, evidently by Lorentz Pscherer (f. 10v).
Binding: Modern boards.
Origin: Written in Altenstadt an der Waldnaab and in Nuremberg, around 1628.

Penn Provenance:

Purchased, 1963.

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. 222 (Ms. Lea 378).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1216

OCLC:

232968300