Collected Texts (Bavarian, 1471)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0103 MS GERM 1
Held at	: University College London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/special-coll ›
Full title	: Collected Texts (Bavarian, 1471)
Date(s)	: 13th century, 1471, 16th century
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 volume containing 188 leaves
Name of creator(s)	: Pfaldorffer | Nicholas | fl 1471 | of Ingoldstat, Bavaria | scribe

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Unknown.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Manuscript volume, dated 1471: Sammelhandschrift, a collection of miscellaneous texts, comprising
(1) Calendar for the year 1471 (German), followed by instructions for use and chapters on the zodiac, the seven planets, the four 'complexions', blood-letting, etc, with plain and coloured ink illustrations (some incomplete) (ff 1v-92v);
(2) Aristotelis Brief Am Kunig Alexander (letter purported to have been written by Aristotle to King Alexander, offering advice on his health, in prose and in verse, in fact part of one of Aristotle's suppositious works, the Secreta Secretorum) (ff 93r-106v);
(3) Calendar for 1439, 1458, 1477 and 1496 (Latin), accompanied by astronomical chapters, with tables and instructions for use (ff 109v-130r);
(4) Elucidarus (a summary of Christian theology by Honorius Augustodunensis, in the form of a dialogue) (ff 131r-159r);
(5) Epistel Des Juden Samuel (epistle of the Jew Samuel) (ff 160r-186v).
The content of the two calendars, (1) and (3), is nearly identical.
Folios 107r-109r, 130v, 159v and 187r-187v are blank.
Signed by the scribe, Nicholas Pfaldorffer (f 106v).The guards in the centre of each quire consist of strips cut from a 13th-century manuscript. Folio 188r has a 16th-century house charm, consisting of words taken from the Antiphon of St Agatha.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
German (Bavarian dialect) and Latin; Latin on parchment strips. Main text is Gothic cursive script; Gothic minuscule on parchment strips.

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

Finding aids:

Dorothy K Coveney, A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London (London, 1935), which details the contents of the manuscript and discusses the constituent texts; N R Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, i (London and Oxford, 1969); handlist at University College London Special Collections.

Archival Information

Archival history:

The manuscript apparently remained in a Cistercian monastery in Westphalia until 1853. It become the property of Guglielmo Libri and was sold at the Libri sale in 1861 (a cutting from the sale catalogue is pasted inside the front cover) to Mr Molini. He probably bought it for John Thomas Graves (1806-1870), mathematician and Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, whose collection included manuscripts dating from the 15th to the 19th century, relating mainly to mathematics. Formerly Graves 4661. With the Graves ex libris. Other pressmarks: 33.a.26 (crossed through); 149.c.1.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Graves' library was bequeathed to University College London in 1870.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Sep 2001