Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A recent discovery at Heidelberg University Library has brought renewed attention to a medieval manuscript. The fifteenth-century codex, purchased from an antiquarian bookseller in 1937, has now been identified as part of the Bibliotheca Palatina, the most significant German Renaissance library.
Most of its holdings are currently held by the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome and the Heidelberg University Library. At the time of acquisition, this connection was not recognized, and the codex, notable for its elaborate binding, was added to the library’s general manuscript collection. Dr. Karin Zimmermann, Head of the Department of Historical Collections, has now confirmed its link to the Bibliotheca Palatina.
Credit: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
“The manuscript was probably written in Constance and Basel for a certain Johannes Zeller, who held a number of offices in the dioceses and prince-bishoprics there in the fifteenth century,” explains Dr. Thorsten Huthwelker, a member of staff in Historical Collections, who has undertaken a more detailed study of the manuscript.
Johannes Zeller’s advisory role to the Bishop of Constance is evident in the selection of texts within the codex. Among its contents is the “Tractatus de iuribus regni et imperii Romanorum” by the legal scholar Lupold of Bebenburg, written between 1338 and 1340 during the conflicts between the emperor and the Pope. Dr. Huthwelker notes that this work asserts the elected Roman king’s full authority over the kingdom and empire, without requiring papal confirmation. The codex also includes additional texts of constitutional importance.
The codex’s ornate binding dates to Elector Ottheinrich of the Palatinate (1502 to 1559), who lived in Heidelberg. This suggests the manuscript was part of the Bibliotheca Palatina by the mid-sixteenth century. In 1623, during the Thirty Years’ War, the collection was taken to the Vatican as a war trophy.
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By 1798, the codex was listed as missing in the Vatican’s inventory. It later appeared in the collection of English aristocrat Frederick North (1766 to 1827). After changing hands several times, the codex was acquired by Heidelberg-born painter Wilhelm Trübner (1851 to 1917). Following his estate, a Munich antiquarian bookshop obtained the manuscript and sold it to Heidelberg University Library in 1937.
The codex now carries the shelfmark “Cod. Pal. lat. 778” and is once again part of the Bibliotheca Palatina. It has also been digitized and added to the “Bibliotheca Palatina – digital” portal, which unites holdings from Rome and Heidelberg online.
Source: Universität Heidelberg
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
