Lectionary in Middle Dutch
Lectionary in Middle Dutch
- Collection ID
- MS.000337
- Type
- Manuscript
- Date
- ca. 1480
- Geography
- Netherlands
- Language
- Middle Dutch
- Medium
- Ink on paper, first and last flyleaves ink on parchment
- Dimensions
- iv + 212 + ii folios; 8.5 × 6.5 × 2.25 in. (21.6 × 16.5 × 5.7 cm)
- Exhibit Location
- On View in The History of the Bible, Translating the Bible
In the fifteenth century, communities of lay brothers and sisters linked to the “Devotio Moderna” promoted the translation of the Bible into the vernacular from Latin. Johannes Scutken (d. 1423), a member of the monastery at Windesheim in the Netherlands, translated the New Testament into Middle Dutch. This manuscript preserves part of his translation in the form of a lectionary. It contains the readings from the Epistles and Gospels for each Sunday of the liturgical year beginning with Advent. It also includes the readings for saints’ feast days. The text is in two columns of 28–31 lines, with rubricated initials, some of which also exhibit calligraphic flourishes. The original foliation in Roman numerals appears at the top center of each recto.
In the fifteenth century, communities of lay brothers and sisters linked to the “Devotio Moderna” promoted the translation of the Bible into the vernacular from Latin. Johannes Scutken (d. 1423), a member of the monastery at Windesheim in the Netherlands, translated the New Testament into Middle Dutch. This manuscript preserves part of his translation in the form of a lectionary. It contains the readings from the Epistles and Gospels for each Sunday of the liturgical year beginning with Advent. It also includes the readings for saints’ feast days. The text is in two columns of 28–31 lines, with rubricated initials, some of which also exhibit calligraphic flourishes. The original foliation in Roman numerals appears at the top center of each recto.
Created ca. 1480 in the Netherlands.[1] Ownership in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century by Annen van Steenbergen.[2] Acquired after 1872 by the Jesuit novitiate in Exaten, the Netherlands;[3] Transferred between 1895 and 1927 to the Ignatian College in Valkenburg, the Netherlands.[4] Acquired by an anonymous European collector. Acquired before September 2010 by Les Enluminures;[5] Purchased in November 2010 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Donated in 2016 to National Christian Foundation (later The Signatry), under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] According to the dealer’s notes, the script and dialect point to the Netherlands as the source. There are several feast days of saints associated with Cologne, Germany, but that probably reflects the exemplar this manuscript was copied from. [2] Her name appears twice in the manuscript on recto of the front two flyleaves. Marginal comments in the manuscript suggest that she may have been a Sister of the Common Life. [3] A library stamp at the top of folio 1 recto says, “Bibliotheca Collegii Exaeten,” which translates as “Library of the College of Exaten.” On the verso of the first flyleaf, there is a crossed-out shelf number, Ah III 17, which may have been the number at Exaten. The Society of Jesus used a castle in Exaten as a novitiate after the order’s expulsion from Germany in 1872 during Bismarck’s Kulturkampf. The Franciscan Order took over the property in 1927. For the expulsion of the Jesuits, see Róisín Healey, The Jesuit Specter in Imperial Germany (Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.: Boston, 2003), 73, accessed at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jesuit_Specter_in_Imperial_Germany/6hhREAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=jesuits+in+Exaten&pg=PA73&printsec=frontcover. For specific information about Exaten, see https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaten (in Dutch). [4] Circular library stamps in the lower recto of the second flyleaf and at the bottom of the recto of the first folio contain the symbol of the Society of Jesus in the center: the initials JHS (for Jesus) with a cross above the crossbar of the H and the three nails from the crucifixion below. Around this are the abbreviations Bibl. Col. Max. Ignat. Valkenb. for the Library of the Maximum Ignatian College of Valkenburg. This status meant that it was a seminary where members of the order could complete their theological training. Each of these stamps appears with the shelf number in pencil, Fm III 17, which matches the label that appears in conservation photos of the base of the spine taken in 2016. In 1942, the Nazis closed the seminary, but inhabitants of the town smuggled manuscripts and rare books out of the library; https://www.aachen-webdesign.de/verzet/biogrPS.php?lang=de#KelkenMisgewaden. After the liberation of the Netherlands, some were returned to the library, and in 1956, the entire collection was transferred to the library of the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochscule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt, Germany. According to the library’s director, this manuscript was never in the library in Frankfurt. It is uncertain when it left the collection in Valkenburg. [5] Les Enluminures listed it as Text Manuscript 421, see https://www.textmanuscripts.com/medieval/bible-lectionary-scutken-60698. The Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts records this appearance as SDBM_184511; https://sdbm.library.upenn.edu/entries/184511.
Created ca. 1480 in the Netherlands.[1] Ownership in the fifteenth or early sixteenth century by Annen van Steenbergen.[2] Acquired after 1872 by the Jesuit novitiate in Exaten, the Netherlands;[3] Transferred between 1895 and 1927 to the Ignatian College in Valkenburg, the Netherlands.[4] Acquired by an anonymous European collector. Acquired before September 2010 by Les Enluminures;[5] Purchased in November 2010 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Donated in 2016 to National Christian Foundation (later The Signatry), under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] According to the dealer’s notes, the script and dialect point to the Netherlands as the source. There are several feast days of saints associated with Cologne, Germany, but that probably reflects the exemplar this manuscript was copied from. [2] Her name appears twice in the manuscript on recto of the front two flyleaves. Marginal comments in the manuscript suggest that she may have been a Sister of the Common Life. [3] A library stamp at the top of folio 1 recto says, “Bibliotheca Collegii Exaeten,” which translates as “Library of the College of Exaten.” On the verso of the first flyleaf, there is a crossed-out shelf number, Ah III 17, which may have been the number at Exaten. The Society of Jesus used a castle in Exaten as a novitiate after the order’s expulsion from Germany in 1872 during Bismarck’s Kulturkampf. The Franciscan Order took over the property in 1927. For the expulsion of the Jesuits, see Róisín Healey, The Jesuit Specter in Imperial Germany (Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.: Boston, 2003), 73, accessed at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jesuit_Specter_in_Imperial_Germany/6hhREAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=jesuits+in+Exaten&pg=PA73&printsec=frontcover. For specific information about Exaten, see https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaten (in Dutch). [4] Circular library stamps in the lower recto of the second flyleaf and at the bottom of the recto of the first folio contain the symbol of the Society of Jesus in the center: the initials JHS (for Jesus) with a cross above the crossbar of the H and the three nails from the crucifixion below. Around this are the abbreviations Bibl. Col. Max. Ignat. Valkenb. for the Library of the Maximum Ignatian College of Valkenburg. This status meant that it was a seminary where members of the order could complete their theological training. Each of these stamps appears with the shelf number in pencil, Fm III 17, which matches the label that appears in conservation photos of the base of the spine taken in 2016. In 1942, the Nazis closed the seminary, but inhabitants of the town smuggled manuscripts and rare books out of the library; https://www.aachen-webdesign.de/verzet/biogrPS.php?lang=de#KelkenMisgewaden. After the liberation of the Netherlands, some were returned to the library, and in 1956, the entire collection was transferred to the library of the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochscule Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt, Germany. According to the library’s director, this manuscript was never in the library in Frankfurt. It is uncertain when it left the collection in Valkenburg. [5] Les Enluminures listed it as Text Manuscript 421, see https://www.textmanuscripts.com/medieval/bible-lectionary-scutken-60698. The Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts records this appearance as SDBM_184511; https://sdbm.library.upenn.edu/entries/184511.
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