Details

Subjects:

Imperial cities (Holy Roman Empire).
Roland (Legendary character).
Bremen (Germany) -- History.
Weser River (Germany).

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Manuscripts, Latin.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

Latin, with an introductory passage in German (p. 7-8).

Summary:

An in-depth refutation of allegedly falsified privileges for the city of Bremen in northwestern Germany, preceded by a short section in German. The document recounts the history of cities in the region back to the reigns of Charlemagne and Henry I the Fowler (the Duke of Saxony from 912, and King of Germany from 919-936), the history of Bremen and its historical rights and privileges with respect to the emperor, and the city's statues of Roland, a symbol of civic liberty and freedom within the Holy Roman Empire. The text refutes the traditionally-asserted privileges of Bremen with respect to the Roland statues. The document also addresses the right of Bremen regarding the Weser River and uses the Wümme River and the district of Stade in Lower Saxony to discuss the boundaries of Bremen and the background of territorial demarcations in the region. The document concludes with a history of the falsified privileges and the means of their production, the composition of the forgeries, and evidence against their validity. The end of the codex contains a copy of the privileges of the city of Speyer granted by Emperor Henry V.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (p. xi).
Pagination: Paper, 227; [i-xii], 1-115, 115-439; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners; modern pagination in pencil.
Layout: 17-20 long lines.
Script: Written in a cursive script.
Binding: Contemporary boards (Zacour-Hirsch).
Origin: Probably written in Northern Germany, circa 1700 (Zacour-Hirsch).

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by H.E. Lentz, Oldenburg, 1790 (p. iv).
Sold by Helmuth Domizlaff (Munich), 1968.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800, Supplement A (1). The Library Chronicle 35 (1969), p. 18 (Ms. Latin 244).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1244

Contains:

Privilegia Spirensia.

OCLC:

241306631