Fulda Catalogues

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There are a number of medieval catalogues of the library of the Benedictine Monastery at Fulda in existence.  Three - V, P and F - are extensive.   All three mention some copies of works by Tertullian. There are also 7 other minor catalogues or fragments of them.  All this information is from Karl Christ.1

Catalogue 1 : 16th century : Codex Vaticanus Palatinus Latinus 1928 (V).

Paper MS, 205mm x 155mm (quarto). 86 folios written.  Arrived in the Vatican in 1623 with the library of Heidelberg.  Written around 1550 in a Latin cursive by a single hand.   The catalogue is divided into 46 ordines.    The first few and last few words of each volume are given (labelled with P(rincipium) and F(inis)).

Item 455 begins with the first words of Carmen de resurrectione mortuorum..., one of the spurious works, also listed at Lorsch.

Item 458 has P: of the Apologeticum, F: of Adversus Iudaeos.   This is the famous Codex Fuldensis.  Poggio saw this volume at Fulda in 1417.   Niccolo Nicholi mentions this volume in his Commentarium.   Rhenanus knew in 1521 that there was a Tertullian MS in Fulda, as he mentions it in his edition at the end of the preface.  Modius found opera aliquot Tertulliani in Fulda in 1584, as he tells Camerarius in a letter dated 22nd July 1585 (Lehmann, Franciscus Modius...(Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters. Bd. 3, H 1), Munich 1908, p.32, 80).  The text given of the Apologeticum here - in ipso rather than ipso, despicere for dispicere, is as the Modius collation (Not checked).

Ordo XXXVIIII

445. Liber MARTIANI…
....
455. Liber TERTULLIANI presbiteri.  Item calculatio VICTORII.
P. Quis mihi ruriculas optabit carmine musas,
     Et verni roseas titulabit floribus auras?
F. Hunc socii morem sacrorum, hunc ipse tenebo,
    Hac casta maneant in religione nepotes.
456. Summarius HENRICI gram. - Incipit liber primus de grammatica. De voce.
P. Vox est aer tenuissimus, ictus auditu sensibilis, quantum in ipsa est.

457. Liber artis PAPIRANI gramm.
P. Analogia est observatio similium inter se loquelarum, latine propositio dicitur.
F. Barbarismus nullo modo excusari potest?  Si a nobis per imprudentiam fiat, vitium, si a poetis vel oratoribus, virtus est locutionis, et appellatur grece <metaplasmus>.

458. Apologeticum TERTULLIANI, contra Judeos.*
P. Si non licet vobis, Romani imperii antistites, in aperto et edito in ipso fere vertice civitatis presidentibus ad iudicandum palam despicere.
F. Aut si non negas utrumque**, in eo sunt adimpleta in quem sunt propheta. Amen.
459. Precepta Pythagorica cum dictionario.
P. ...

*   contra judeos begins a new line, although the preceding line is not written to the end, and with a capital C.  There is no punctuation-mark after Tertulliani, but this is missing at the conclusion of other lines also.  We know that the Ms contained both works of Tertullian.  The other catalogues F, in IX 4,16 and P 275 group the two together.  A corrector, the same hand that in this catalogue (V) wrote Catalinario in entry 451, crossed-out Judeos and inserted Gentes, the normal word in the title of the Apologeticum, by mistake.(Christ, K. footnote).

** The corrector has changed this from utra que.

Catalogue 2 : Marburg, Staatsarchiv R 38 (F)

This is the inventory made in 1561.

[VI], ORDO PRIMUS

5. Oops!  missed this one!  The adv. Marcionem of Niccoli - go back and redo.

[IX] ...ORDO QUARTUS...

15. Philosophiae liber de naturalibus.  40. or.
16. Apologeticum Tertulliani contra Judeos. 39. or.
17. Liber agendarum. 47. or.

I presume the 'or' is the number of lines per page in the MS, as it's about the same in all the entries.

Catalogue 3 : Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale Lat. Nouv. acquis. 643 (P)

...
274. Psalterium graecum et latinum.
275. Tertulliani apologeticum contra Judaeos
276. Regula sancti Benedicti
...

Catalogue 4 : 800AD : manuscript F III 15a of Basle University Library   (A)

 

Catalogue 5 : 850AD : (2 fragments)

Given by P.Lehmann in Fuldaer Studien (1925), S.7 (not checked).

Catalogue 6 : 15th Century : Codex Vaticanus Palatinus Latinus 1877

Folios 36ff.  In the middle of the catalogues of Lorsch.

Catalogue 7 : Fragment

Copied from an old piece of parchment.  Appears in Becker (§13) and Lehmann(S.7.50).  Contains rules etc (1-14), Alcuin (15-21) and Hrabanus Maurus (22-33).(not checked).

Catalogue 8 : 9th Century : (2 copies in mss.)

See Lehmann (S.10).(not checked).

Catalogue 9 : Fulda Landesbibliothek Ms. B 1 (verso of last page)

Contains the Necrologium Fuldense.  12 MSS listed.  In Becker (§14).

Catalogue 10 : Basle Universitats-Bibliothek Hs. F III 15b

5 mss.  On the inside of the 'Vorderdeckels' of this Isidore MS.  Found and published by P. von Winterfeld, Festschrift für J. Vahlen (1900) S. 403.

References

See the bibliography for more detail on these.

1. Christ, Karl, Die Bibliothek des Klosters Fulda im 16 Jahrhundert. (Beiheft 64:) Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Leipzig 1933

This page has been online since 11th December 1999.


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