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Johannes Balbus, Catholicon

Lemma T

F-485c

Odense, Syddansk Universitetsbibliotek, RARA K 256

Holck, Jakob Povl, ‘Et Stykke Af En Middelalderlig Ordbog’. In Dansk Senmiddelalder, Reformationstid Og Renæssance: Spiritualitet, Materialitet Og Mennesker, 81–100. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2023. , 81-100 , 81-100 (Printed, Handwritten, or Typescript)

General Information

Title Johannes Balbus, Catholicon
Shelfmarks RARA K 256
Former Shelfmarks RARA 1631; m 96.1
Material Parchment
Place of Origin Denmark?
Date of Origin Fourteenth Century
Script, Hands

Gothic book script, textualis libraria.
General Remarks

The fragment was re-used for the binding of a sammelband containing Johannes Meursius' 1631 edition of Aelnothus' De vita & passione S. Canuti and Roma luxurians. Sive, de luxu Romanorum, liber singularis printed by Joachim Moltke (the latter with Salomon Sartor) in Copenhagen. The volume was formerly owned by Fyens Stiftsbibliotek (the Funen Diocese Library).

Original Condition

Page Height at least 43 mm
Page Width at least 25 mm
Number of Columns 2
Number of Lines at least 50
Ruling Visible drypoint ruling for two columns á fifty lines. On the left side of each column, two vertical lines create a separate bar for the initials of each lemma.
More about the Condition

The fragment appears to be from a folio manuscript. The parchment is light and thin so that one can see the text on the other page (glued to the boards of the host volume) shine through.

Current Condition

Extent One leaf
Dimensions 430 x 250 mm
More about the Current Condition

Somewhat stained and rubbed off, particularly the part covering the host volume's spine, but still legible.

Book Decoration and Musical Notation

Description

Unadorned except for red underlining of each lemma and red markings in lemma initials.

Content

  • Content Item
    • Persons
    • Text Language Latin
    • Title Catholicon
    • Content Description

      Johannes Balbus' grammatical treatise Summa grammaticalis quae vocatur Catholicon (completed 1286, Catholicon for short) is made up of five parts. The fragment is from the fifth part, an alphabetical dictionary, and contains the following lemmata: Treuga -um, Tria, Triambos, Triangulus-i, Triarius -ria -rium, Trias -adis, Tria-?, Tribacus -ci, Tribula -le, Tribulis -lis -le, Tribulo -las, Tribulus -li, Tribunal -nalis, Tribunalis -lis -le, Tribuncius -cia -cium, Tribunus m, Tribunusplebis, Tribus-bus-bui, Tributarius -ria -rium, Tributim, Tributum -ti.
    • Back cover v
    • Glosses and Additions None
    • Edition Editio princeps: GW 03182 Balbus, Johannes: Catholicon. Mainz: [Printer of the Catholicon (GW 3182) (Johann Gutenberg?)], 1460. 2°

History

Origin

Perhaps written in or for a Danish dominican monastery. Alternatively for the Cistercians at Sorø.
Provenance

The title page of the host volume contains a handwritten dedication by the editor, Johannes Meursius, to doctor and Aarhus cathedral prelate Mathias Jacobæus:

Viro clarissimo, Domino Mathiae Jacobaeo,
Medico Regio, et Praelato Arhúsiensi,
affectús testandi ergo mittebam,
Joannes Meúrsiús.

It is repeated on the title page of the second title of the sammelband.

The sammelband was donated to Fyens Stiftsbibliothek in 1813, the year the library was founded, by printer and bookseller Søren Hempel. A note on the inside of the front cover reads:

Skænket Fyens Stiftsbibliotek af Hr. S. Hempel i Odense. 1813.
Persons and Institutions Fyens Stiftsbibliotek (Funen Diocese Library)
Remarks

It likely that Meursius had the book bound, but unclear where he sourced the parchment from. At the time of printing, he was professor at Sorø Akademi, and perhaps had access to the remains of Sorø's monastic library.

Host Volume

Title Ælnothus, monachus Cantuariensis, De vita & passione S. Canuti, regis Daniæ item, anonymus, De passione S. Caroli, comitis Flandriæ, ejus F. Joannes Meursius ex codice Bibliothecæ Hafniensis descripsit
Date of Origin/Publication 1631
Place of Origin/Publication Copenhagen
Shelfmark K 256
Remarks

Common seventeenth century laced-case binding made from re-used parchment with five spine bands. Restored by bookbinder Axel Pedersen (A.P. Kons.) in 1976 according to a stamp on the back endleaf.

Bibliography

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