Fragment with Werner von Ellerbach, Deflorationes Sanctorum Patrum or Honorius Augustodunensis, Speculum Ecclesiae, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [Germany (probably south), probably first half of twelfth century] Rectangular cutting (cut laterally across a leaf), with remains of single column of 11 lines of a small and precise proto-gothic bookhand, using tall tongued 'e' as a capital and an extremely late use of the et-ligature as an integral part of '&iam' and '&enim' (this feature most probably locating this in the first half of the twelfth century when a handful of examples can still be found in German manuscripts, see the leaf in our rooms, 8 July 2020, lot 32, for discussion), recovered from reuse in a binding and hence with folds, small holes and stains, overall good condition and on good and heavy parchment, 63 by 175mm. Provenance: Acquired by from a private North American collector in 2019. Text: The identification of this cutting as one of two distinct texts requires some explanation. Werner von Ellerbach (d. 1126) was a Benedictine monk of St. Blasius in the Black Forest, and was among the brethren sent from there in 1093 to establish a daughter-house at Wiblingen, near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, where he became its abbot. Honorius Augustodensis (c. 1080-1154) was most probably a German monk (not of Autun as his name suggests, but another similarly named site as yet to be conclusively identified), who seems to have travelled to Canterbury and met Anselm and by the end of his life lived among the Irish monks of the Regensberg Schottenkloster (see E.M. Sanford in Speculum, 23, 1948, pp. 397-425; he may well have been Irish himself). The distribution of the early manuscripts of his work, as well as its impact in other texts supports the link to Regensberg and its vicinity. These authors were, for a decade or two, contemporaries and close neighbours, and they may have even known each other. Certainly, Honorius knew of Werner's Deflorationes Sanctorum Patrum, as a large collection of preaching material (the part here Migne, Pat. Lat. 157, cols. 1019-20), and copied sections of it into his own preaching manual, the Speculum Ecclesiae (Pat. Lat. 172, cols.1043-44) so that the readings here agree almost perfectly with both (the only variation is that of the repetition of the last three words on the verso here, due to scribal eye-skip). It is hoped that another binding-fragment from the same parent codex can be traced and be used to make a conclusive identification, but even without that both authors occupy important places as among the earliest definitively German authors. They are preceded by Hrabanus Maurus (d. 856) of Mainz, and his pupils Walafrid Strabo and Gottschalk of Fulda, as well as Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (d. 973), and are immediate forerunners of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Moreover, whichever text this is, this cutting may well contain the earliest witness to it, perhaps standing closest to the author's own copy. Manuscripts of both works are of extreme rarity on the market, with Werner's Deflorationes Sanctorum Patrum traceable in the vast Schoenberg database only in one manuscript copy (a part of the text in a compendium of c. 1500 sold on behalf of J. Ritman in Sotheby's, 17 June 2003, lot 34), and to that should be added a copy of the second half of twelfth century, ex. Phillipps, sold Sotheby's, 15-18 June 1908, lot 42, and now Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Preussicher kulturbesitz, MS. theol. lat. fol. 699. No witness of Honorius' Speculum Ecclesiae can be traced in sale records by us.
Fragment with Werner von Ellerbach, Deflorationes Sanctorum Patrum or Honorius Augustodunensis, Speculum Ecclesiae, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [Germany (probably south), probably first half of twelfth century] Rectangular cutting (cut laterally across a leaf), with remains of single column of 11 lines of a small and precise proto-gothic bookhand, using tall tongued 'e' as a capital and an extremely late use of the et-ligature as an integral part of '&iam' and '&enim' (this feature most probably locating this in the first half of the twelfth century when a handful of examples can still be found in German manuscripts, see the leaf in our rooms, 8 July 2020, lot 32, for discussion), recovered from reuse in a binding and hence with folds, small holes and stains, overall good condition and on good and heavy parchment, 63 by 175mm. Provenance: Acquired by from a private North American collector in 2019. Text: The identification of this cutting as one of two distinct texts requires some explanation. Werner von Ellerbach (d. 1126) was a Benedictine monk of St. Blasius in the Black Forest, and was among the brethren sent from there in 1093 to establish a daughter-house at Wiblingen, near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, where he became its abbot. Honorius Augustodensis (c. 1080-1154) was most probably a German monk (not of Autun as his name suggests, but another similarly named site as yet to be conclusively identified), who seems to have travelled to Canterbury and met Anselm and by the end of his life lived among the Irish monks of the Regensberg Schottenkloster (see E.M. Sanford in Speculum, 23, 1948, pp. 397-425; he may well have been Irish himself). The distribution of the early manuscripts of his work, as well as its impact in other texts supports the link to Regensberg and its vicinity. These authors were, for a decade or two, contemporaries and close neighbours, and they may have even known each other. Certainly, Honorius knew of Werner's Deflorationes Sanctorum Patrum, as a large collection of preaching material (the part here Migne, Pat. Lat. 157, cols. 1019-20), and copied sections of it into his own preaching manual, the Speculum Ecclesiae (Pat. Lat. 172, cols.1043-44) so that the readings here agree almost perfectly with both (the only variation is that of the repetition of the last three words on the verso here, due to scribal eye-skip). It is hoped that another binding-fragment from the same parent codex can be traced and be used to make a conclusive identification, but even without that both authors occupy important places as among the earliest definitively German authors. They are preceded by Hrabanus Maurus (d. 856) of Mainz, and his pupils Walafrid Strabo and Gottschalk of Fulda, as well as Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (d. 973), and are immediate forerunners of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Moreover, whichever text this is, this cutting may well contain the earliest witness to it, perhaps standing closest to the author's own copy. Manuscripts of both works are of extreme rarity on the market, with Werner's Deflorationes Sanctorum Patrum traceable in the vast Schoenberg database only in one manuscript copy (a part of the text in a compendium of c. 1500 sold on behalf of J. Ritman in Sotheby's, 17 June 2003, lot 34), and to that should be added a copy of the second half of twelfth century, ex. Phillipps, sold Sotheby's, 15-18 June 1908, lot 42, and now Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Preussicher kulturbesitz, MS. theol. lat. fol. 699. No witness of Honorius' Speculum Ecclesiae can be traced in sale records by us.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
