A Very Portable Boethius: De consolatione philosophiæ, MS 84 at the Beinecke Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Yale University

A Very Portable Boethius:
De consolatione philosophice, MS 84
at the Beinecke Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts
at Yale University
Margit J. Smith
Fig. I: De consolatione philosophice by Boethius (MS 84), at the Beinecke Library of Rare
Books and Manuscripts. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (photo: Beinecke Library)
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GIRDLE BOOKS
Before describing this particular book some remaTks about girdle books in
general are in order. In 2003, Jim Bloxam (Senior Conservator at Cambridge
University Library in England, who, unfortunately, had to end his association
6
with the project several years ago) and I began to survey and analyze the
documented three girdle books in the US, and the twenty-one in northern
Europe.1 It was our goal to write a monograph about them, as to date no such
comprehensive work exists with photographs and codicological descriptions of
all. I am not a medievalist, a Boethius scholar, nor a student of philosophy. I am
a librarian and bookbinder with a special interest in medieval books, and
particularly in one little-known format- the girdle book, and I am now carrying
on this project by myself?
Since early medieval garments did not have pockets, the ample hoods and
sleeves often served to carry small items. However, purses, channs and amulets,
1 Their locations, call numbers and content categories are,
in the US:
• I New York Public Library (Spencer Co! I. MS 39, religion);
• I New Haven at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University (MS
84, philosophy);
• I Chicago at the Newberry Library (MS f.38, religion);
in Europe:
• 3 Munich at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (lnc.c.a.220o, religion; CLM 19309,
religion; CGM 8950, law);
• 2 Copenhagen at the Royal Library (Gl.kgl.Saml. Nr. 3423 8o. Religion; Rostgaard Saml.
6 8o, Law);
• I London at the British Library (Add.Ms.l5700, religion);
• I Stockholm at the Royal Library (C 1 09, law);
• I Gothenburg at the Rhösska Museum of Design and Applied Art (RKM 519-15,
philosophy);
• I Tallinn at the City Archives (C.m.9 groß-So, law);
• 1 Torun at the Nicolaus Kopemikus University Library (Ob6 14498-4500, religion);
• I The Hague at the Museum Meermanno!House of the Book (1 F 50, religion);
• I Dessau at the Stadtbibliothek-Anhaltische Landesbibliothek (Georg 276, religion);
• I Berlin at the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Ms.Lat.oct.217, religion);
• I Halle an der Saale at the Universitätsbibliothek Halle (ThSGV 3148, religion);
• I Erlangen at the Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen (B 17, religion);
• I Nurernberg at the Germanische Nationalmuseum (HS 1723 1, religion);
• I Düsseldorf at the Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast (Inv.-Nr. 8309, religion);
• I Schweinfun at the Ono Schäfer Bibliothek (OS 1233, religion);
• l Isny at the Evangelische Kirchenarchiv (land register, law, taxes, gifts);
• I Kremsmünster at the Benediktinerstift (CC 391, religion).
The l 6th-century volume from the Quamforsiana Library, last owned by Marianne Bastad
Wistrand, was sold at an auction in 1998 in Germany and is now in private hands at an undisclosed
location. It is the only book I was not able to examine.
2 For my descriptions of other girdle books see: Das Meißner Rechtsbuch der Bayerischen
Staatsbibliothek in München: Ein Teil des Projekts zum mittelallerliehen Beutelbuch,“ Einbandforschung
20 (2007): 12-24; „City Rights of King Magnus Eriksson in Tallinn,“ in
Texteroch recken frän svensk medeltid, ed. Per-Axel Wiktorsson (Uppsala: Svenska
fomskrift-sällskapet, 2012), 27-42; „Anna, Dorothea, Katharina und Margarethe: Das Beutelbuch
im Besitz von vier Frauen des Mittelalters,“ land !I, Einbandforschung 23 (2008):
1 6-25, and 24 (2009): 12-24.
7
folded almanachs used by physicians and astrologers, keys, lockets, pomanders
and reliquaries, small tools and other implements were frequently attached to
belts, called the chätelaine. Newly wedded women wore keys to cellars and
storerooms on their belts as a sign of being ready to take on the responsibilities
of a household. The French word for girdle book, Iivre a l’aumoniere derives
directly from the almoner’s, or beggar’s purse attached to the belt, as seen in
many contemporary paintings.
Protective enclosures and containers for books have been in use since long
before the Middle Ages. Examples are the clay pots housing the Dead Sea
Scrolls, also the leather cylinders, the capsce, used to store scrolls and clay
tablets as in the library at Alexandria, the satchels still being made for Ethiopian
prayer books, and the cumbdachs, or book chests, used by Irish monks to carry
their precious manuscripts and prayer books from place to place, possibly even
to Iceland, which they reached as early as 700 CE.
lt is estimated that for every five medieval books still in existence in their
original binding, ninety-five have been lost, were destroyed, or worn out and
discarded after their function was fulfilled.3 This leaves a very small number of
original book structures that can be used for research into their history. Most
early book formats provide a sense of intrigue as to their origin and provenance,
and infom1ation about their production, distribution and use are being collected
and documented in increasing numbers of studies. Among others a project is
currently underway in Germany to document all medieval bookbindings,
through the „Arbeitskreis für die Erfassung, Erschliessung und Erhaltung historischer
Bucheinbände.“
The main purpose of the girdle book was the physical and spiritual protection
of the written word. To this was added a practical form of mobility,
resulting in the specialized form of the binding’s extension from the bottom
edge of the book. Among the already small mnnber of medieval books available
to us, the girdle book stands out because so few of its kind survive and
are known today, though they are often represented in the arts of the midfifteenth
to the mid-seventeenth centuries. Their production, however, does not
seem to have extended beyond the sixteenth century. So far we know of twentyfour
manuscripts and books in their original girdle bindings, though I have been
asked to examine more than half a dozen others referred to in library records as
girdle books. Due to extensive restoration, or repairs they were changed considerably
so that it cannot be said with any certainty that they were initially
girdle books. Over the span of several years, I was able to examine and photograph
all documented girdle books, except the one sold in 1998 in a Sotheby’s
auction to a private Ge1man collector.4
Why are girdle books so little known even amongst people who work with
rare books and are entJUsted with their care? Several answers can be suggested:
3 Janos A. Szirmai, The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), ix.
4 See note I .
8
Little known in part because of their already mentioned scarcity, partly because
relatively little research has been carried out into their construction and what has
been written is not always easily accessible. Their history and especially their
representation in the arts, however, were given more attention and began to be
examined early in the twentieth centw-y. Another reason has been put forth,
namely, that once books began to be shelved with their spines facing out (around
the sixteenth century), rather than being stacked on their boards, the leather
extensions became difficult to deal with and were frequently cut off. If !arge
enough they could be used to cover other, smaller books. Frequently they were
also disbound and the pages found new use as guards, reinforcements, pastedowns
and spine linings in other books. Not to be forgotten are the wars, feuds,
fires and other disasters that took a toll on !arge numbers ofbooks, as weil as the
Refmmation and Secularization of monasteries and convents.
The earliest recorded date, 1479, is in the Breviarium secundum chorum
Bambergensem. Pars aestivalis, a manuscript on paper, which is very weil preserved
in its original binding in Berlin. Earlier representations of a type of
binding akin to girdle books, appear in the visual arts before the mid-fifteenth
century, such as on the tombstone of the French woman Jeanne Brichard, a
member of the Beguines in Paris, with a date of 1312.5 She carries a book over
her arm with a lang loop that reaches almost to her knee – cettainly a forerunner
of the girdle book developed about 100 years later (fig. 2).
The use of girdle books by clerics and nuns who needed easy access to the
required daily prayers and services during their work and travel, as weil as its
use by pilgrims and devout men and warnen for private devotions is readily
apparent. In this context it is represented in contemporary a11s in paintings,
sculpture, drawings and prints in the hands of apostles, saints, the Yirgin Mary,
the devil, angels, priests, popes and merchants. It becomes the symbol of
knowledge, intellectual curiosity, leaming, but served among lay people also to
announce the material well-being of its owner, his use of specially produced
goods and sumptuously made items. And although ‚girdle book‘ evokes the
irnage of the book attached to the girdle, artists frequently depicted it being
carried by hand as in this sculpture (fig. 3).
We also see the girdle book in the service of judges and law clerks who
traveled the circuit to dispense the law as evident in the examples in Munich
(Das Meissner Rechtsbuch, Bayr. Staatsbibliothek Cgm 8950), the Law
Book of King Erik Magnusson (Tallinn, C.m.9, gross-8o), Breves expositiones
circa Leges Jutiae (Stockholm Royal Library, C 1 09), and Jyske Lov (Copenhagen
Royal Library, Rostgaard, Sam!. 6, 8o). The example in Munich is very
!arge and its extension is slit in the center to fasten the book to a saddle or carry
it over the shoulder. Although not meant to be attached to the belt because of its
5 Renale Neumuellers-Klauser, „Auf den Spuren der Beutelbücher,“ Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 55
(1980): 298.
9
size and weight, it is nevertheless bound in the style of the girdle book, and provided
protection from rain, snow, dust, insects and other damages.
Fig. 2: Tombs10ne of Jeanne Brichard, Church of St. Jacob, Paris, 1 3 1 2
(out of: Renate Neumüllers-Kiauser, „Auf den Spuren der Beutelbücher,“
Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 55 [1980): 298)
Fig. 3: Isenheimer Altar c. 1510-1 515. Carving of St. Jerome with girdle book
by Niklas Hagenauer. Musee d’Unterlinden, Colmar, France
(http://www. travelphotobase.cornls/FCOLM. HTM)
1 0
The appearance of a philosophical text in this format, however, adds
another dimension as it points to a widening inteliectual awakening in the population.
In this case it proves the importance Boethius had reached and sustained
over the centmies, extending to, and even beyond, the late Middle Ages.6 ln
centrast to the libri catenati, books chained to desks and lecterns in libraries
which could only be used in situ, this girdle book format provided its owner,
possibly a wandering scholar or teacher, with a portability usually reserved for
the nobility and clergy whose reading materials were securely transported
in custom-made boxes and specially constructed traveling libraries. The girdle
book format not only gave the owner the physical freedom to use the
book wherever he chose to carry it, it was also a symbol of the growing freedom
and desire to extend one’s study and inquiry in new directions – it became
the property of the ever increasing reading public. Thanks to the availability of
translations of frequently used works, a knowledge of Latin was no Ionger
required. At this point the owner of the philosophical text did not necessarily
HA VEto have it with him at every turn, he WANTED to have his copy available at
all times.
BOETHIUS, THE PERSON
Shortly before he died a martyr’s death in 524 Anicius Manlius Torquatus
Severinus Boethius wrote De consolatione philosophia! encouraging his readers
to find spiritual help in contemplation leading to the knowledge that true happiness
is not to be fotmd in riches and material possessions, but only in God’s
grace and mercy. In De consolatione “ … Philosophy [in the form of a Lady] is
represented as appearing in a vision to the author who is dejected by the collapse
of his temporal prosperity. Step by step she Ieads him up the mount of a
dialectical purgatory, as it were, to the edge of paradise, convincing him of the
justice ofGod’s ways to men and reassuring him of the efficacy of prayer.“7
Boethius, bom in 480 in Rome into a Christian family, was orphaned at
the age of seven years when his father, who had risen to Consul, died shortly
after being appointed. His young son was raised in the artistocratic family of
Quintus Aurelius Memm.ius Symmachus, to whom he refers affectionately in
De consolatione, and whose daughter Rusticiana he eventually married.
His education and knowledge of the Greek language and the works of the
Greek philosophers led him to write, as well as translate texts from the Greek.
He translated “ … Ptolemy for astronomy, Nicomachus for arithmetic, Euclid for
geometry. But the chief work of these prosperous days … was his commentaries
6 Howard Rollin Patch, The Tradition of Boethius: A Study of His Importance in Medieval
Culture (New York: University of O xford Press, 1935), claims that De consolationephilosophice
was the most widely read book after the Bible for about a thousand years.
7 Edmund T. Silk, „The Yale ‚Girdle Book‘ ofBoethius,“ The Yale University Library Gazette
17 (July 1942): 4.
I I
on the logical treatises of Aristotle . . . „s This ambitious project, to translate into
Latin, and comment on all of Plato’s and Aristotle’s works, thus creating a
synthesis of their philosophies, however, remained unfinished- cut short by his
execution. His translations and comments had, and continue to have significant
influence on the study of philosophy as among his wide ranging and extraordinary
achievements he is credited with developing the Latin tenninology
used to study medieval philosophy.9
As a scholar of arithmetic, geometry and mathematics, as well as music,
he was one of the first, if not the first, to suggest that the pitch of a note is
related to the frequency of sound. His writings, including treatises on logic,
which became known as Logica vetus remained Standard sources for materials in
the quadrivium, the course ofmedieval study in monasteries and the fledgling
universities of the twelfth and thitteenth centmies and throughout the Renaissance10
(fig. 4).
Fig. 4: Boethius teaching his students. Historiated initial in a manuscripl of De consolatione
philosophice, [taly, 1385 (MS Hunter 374 (V. l . l l), folio 4r;
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org!entry/File:Boethius_initial_consolation_philosophy.jpg)
8 Thomas Hodgkin, ltaly and her invaders, 476-535, vol. rrr, book IV (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1885), 528.
9 http://www.rafmiert.ch/sboethius.html. 10 J. J. O’Connor and E. F. Robertson, „Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius,“. http://wwwgroups.
dcs.st-and.ac.ukl-history/Biographies/Boethius.html; Eric W. Weisstein, „Quadrivium,“
in MathWorld-A Wolfram Web Resource (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Quadrivium.
html).
12
In about 520, King Theodoric11 who mied ltaly as a representative of the
Byzantine emperor appointed Boethius to serve as head of alt government and
court services as Magister Ofjiciorum, in which position he tried to mend
relations between the Church in Rome and the Church in Constantinople. It is
speculated that Boethius’s fall from favor stemmed from his attempt to reconcile
the two, as he was eventually accused of treason against the state and imprisoned.
During the trying days of his imprisonment and in a state of despair when
he knew that he would be executed shortly, he took refuge in his faith and wrote
De consolatione philosophice. He examined questions of chance, tried to reconcile
divine foreknowledge with human freedom, and probed the effects of
good and evil.
He has been called Rome’s last great intellectual and a model of the philosopher-
statesman embodying the Platonic ideal.12 His remains are buried in the
town ofPavia in the Church ofPietro in Ciel d’Oro (fig. 5).
Fig. 5: Tomb ofBoethius in Pietro in Ciel d’Oro church in Pavia, Italy
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F ile:Tomba di_ Severino Boezio.jpg)
11 Theodoric tbe Great ( 454- August 30, 526), known to tbe Romans as Flavius Theodoricus,
was king ofthe Ostrogotbs (471-526), ruler ofltaly (493-526), and regent ofthe Visigoths
(511-526). He bore the title of Consul of the Roman Empire from 484 and played a significant
role in helping to preserve and pass on the legacy of the Classic Age (http:l/www.
newworldencycloped ia.org/entry/Theodoric the Great). 12 See: O’Connor and Robertson, in http:l/www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.ukl-history/Biographies/
Boethius.html.
13
Recent Boethius studies, however, contradict 524 as his death date and
present another course of his life. On a website for the „Gesellschaft fiir
Gregorianik-Forschung,“13 an organization devoted to the study of Gregorian
Chant and its historical developrnent, his life is described as progressing
differently. His death date is given as probably shortly after 546. During
the intervening years he is supposed to have devoted hirnself to intense rnusic
studies in Rome. In order to cornpletely immerse hirnself in this effort he is said
to have changed his identity, and have taken up residence within a commune in
Campagna tagether with his wife, two sons and his father-in-law. In this deception
he was aided by King Theodoric and Pope Hormisdas. 14 As it was in their
own interest to see him continue his experimentation in music theory, they
circulated the rurnor of his imprisonment and execution, thereby letting him
work undisturbed and without outside demands on his time.
lt is said that he often travelled to Byzantium for research, and that the
reconstruction of Hagia Sofia with the help of the Emperor Justinian 15 was
partly carried out to provide an acoustically suitable space for his music.
Further travels took him to Alexandria, Greece, and through Persia to lndia
providing inspiration and material for further experimentation.
Finally it was Pope Vigilius16 who became suspicious of Boethius and his
group of followers, and decided to put an end to their activities. Probably in the
fall of 546 Boethius, tagether with his family and friends, was captured and
imprisoned. During his imprisonment Boethius was forced to ‚admit‘,
by writing De consolatione philosophice, that Theodoric had falsely spread the
mmor of his execution. Boethius, however, is said to have written it in such a
way that it could be read and interpreted to reveal the true information about his
incarceration and execution, and to give details about the chants that would save
them for future generations.
Notwithstanding his usefulness to the pope, in 546 Boethius and rnost of
his closest friends were rnartyred as heretics. Several of thern escaped and
continued to practice the new way of chanting in secret. Decades after Boethius’s
death Pope Gregor, hirnself a student of music, recognized the power of
the chants, adapted those that suited his own concepts and incorporated
13 http://www.gregorianik-forschung.de/boethius.htm. The writer has not found any corroberation
of the claims put forth by this website, or the „Gesellschaft.“ lt is presented here for
the sake of inclusiveness in the recounting ofBoethius’s life.
14 Saint Hormisdas, pope from 5 1 4 to 523. He reunited the Eastem and Western churches,
which had been separated since the Acacian Schism of 48. Date of birth unknown, elected
to the Holy See, 514; d. at Rome, 6 August, 523. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/
topic/271 802/Saint-Hormisdas. See also CatholicEncyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/
cathen/074 70a.htm.
15 Justinian (527-65; http://www.newadvent.org/cathenll5427b.htm).
16 Pope Vigilius reigned 537-55, date ofbirth unknown; died at Syracuse, 7 June 555; Catholic
Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen!l5427b.btm
14
them into his musical intetpretation of the Bible which became the basis of
his legendary antiphonary. 1
BY WA Y OF PROVENANCE
Very little is known about the manuscript’s history before it was presented
to the Beinecke Library by the Yale Library Associates in 1941 . It had been in
the collection of A. Edward Newton (1863-1940), author and publisher, who
was called „America’s best-known book collector“ by Geoffrey D. Smith. Smith
further states that Nev.rton ’s sizeable and eclectic collection to be auctioned
comprised some 10,000 books and manuscripts to be sold in three parts. Newton
did not require the libraty to stay together, rather “ . . . he wanted to give other
booklovers and collectors the same opportunity he hirnself had so enjoyed.“
He referred to the joy of searching, hunting for, and finding just the right volume
to add to one’s collection, instead of buying en bloc.18 The auction hause of
Parke-Bemet Galleries in New York conducted the sale in three sessions in
April, May and October; the girdle book was sold on May 14, 1941 to the American
book dealer Charles A. Stonehill.19
In his essay „The Yale ‚Girdle Bock‘ of Boethius“ Edmond T. Silk
observes that „There is abundant evidence that [this] girdle-book passed through
the hands of several contemporary readers. These were not students of the
elementary grade but mature and thoughtful persans anxious to read Boethius
aright and understand him to the full. Their pains have removed some obvious
enors, filled in one or two notable gaps in the text, jotted variant readings from
other manuscripts, and here and there contributed substantial marginal notes
drawn from what was still in the fifteenth century the reco􀀧nized authority on
De consolatione, namely the commentary of Nicolas Trivet.“ 0
In the fifteenth century books were still treasured items and owners often
indicated their ownership with inscriptions, coats of arms and other marks. This
volume, however, does not reveal who owned it before Nev.rton, nor where it
was written and bound. According to the writing style it is reasonable to assume
17 Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great, c. 540 – 604, became pope in 590, and is buried in
St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (The Houghton Mi.fflin Dictionary of Biography (2003) http://
books.google.com/books?id=2jMS6jiCOQC). His antiphonary, one ofthe liturgical books
intended for use in the choir, greatly influenced the Roman liturgy. lt is probably the first
collection of chants, a compilation of pre-existing material into a coherent and well-ordered
whole; see Catho/ic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01 576b.htm.
18 His article „Great auctions ofthe past: The A. Edward Newton Auction, part two“ in wbich
Smith quotes E. Swift Newton, A. Edward’s son, in The Ya/e University Library Gazette 17
( 1942); also online: http://archive.today/ZfSVz.
19 C. A. Stonehill – book dealer and author ofbooks on antiques. Together with A. Block and
H. W. Stonehill autbor a useful reference work for determining authorship of anonymous
works: Anonyma and Pseudonyma, 4 vols. (London: C. A. Stonehill, 1 926-27). 20 Silk, „The Yale ‚Girdle Book‘,“ 3-4.
15
that the scribe was English, but even the cataloging record is cautious and
puts a question mark after the colmtry.
Several inscriptions in a mixture of English and Latin, mostly the latter,
on the lined parchment fly-leaf in back are recipes against digestive problemsthe
most thorough a Medicyn for the Colyk. These notes suppott its English
origin, but was the owner a physician? A parent attempting to treat an ill child?
A bachelor given over to the easy life? Whoever penned these words at the end
of De consolatione attested to the fact that a eure for the distress of the soul,
and a eure for the ailing body should coexist to produce the whole person –
mens sana in corpore sano (fig. 6).
In two visits to the Beinecke Library I gathered details beyond what has
been doeumented before, nevertheless, much of the following desc1iption is
based on the cataloging record and supporting documents kindly provided by the
Library.
Fig. 6: Last textpage with medicyn for the Colyk (photo: Smith)
THE PORTABLE BOETHIUS
Today !arge numbers of copies, editions, versions in print and electronic
format, and translations into many languages, exist of the De consolatione
philosophice. Alfred the Great ( c. 848-899) and later Chaucer ( c. 1343/44-1400)
as weil as Queen Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century translated the work into
English; the French poet Jean de Meun (c. 1250-1305) and before him an
eleventh-century German monk, Notker Labeo of Sankt Gallen also rendered
De consolatione into their own languages.21 The work has been glos-
21 From: „Books and writers, Boetbius (c. 480- c. 524),“ which also lists a selection ofprinted
editions beginning with Koberger’s first book in 1473 in Nuremberg; it also included the
1 6
sed, explained, interpreted and examined from evety angle – its text, the
illustrations, the printings, the bindings, the notes, the marginalia.
Not much attention, however, other than in the immediate environment of
the Beinecke Library of Rare Books and Manuscripts, has been paid to the
binding of one particular volume, namely MS 84. As the majority of girdle
books is religious in nature, this volume stands out as only the second one to
contain a philosophical text; the other being the Soliloquium of lsidorus
Hispalensis in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the Röhsska Museum (RKM 519-
15) that is bound with a set of „Rules for Life“ in Latin, probably wtitten in the
thirteenth century.
Opening this fifteenth-century manuscript the reader comes face to face
with what is purp01ted to be a portrait of the author hirnself in the cham1ing
but somewhat crude, historiated initial ‚C‘ of the beginning line: Carmina
qui quondam studio florenie peregi. His face is tumed slightly to the left,
with tufts of hair framing his forehead, and a growth of beard on his left
cheek. His stem Iook must reflect the difficulties of his incarceration. The
initial and the portrait are executed in red ink, and further embellished
with flourishes spilling over into the upper margin that has been cropped (fig. 7).
Fig. 7: Portrait of Boetbius at tbe opening line of De consolatione philosophire (photo: Smitb)
Including the lower and upper extensions this unassuming volume with a
primary and seconda1y covering, measures 285mm x 87mm x 43mm at the
spine, and weighs 250g. With boards of l !Omm x 75mm x 4.2mm it is a very
comfortable size and fits easily into one’s hands. lt is devoid of any exterior
embellishments.
commentaries by Aquinas ‚(http://www.kirjasto.sci.fiiboetbius.btm). See also George H.
Putnarn, Books and Their Makers during the Middle Ages, vol. 1 (New York and London
1898), 100. He states that King Alfred chose for bis translations books likely to fill up
tbe greatest gaps in tbe minds of his countrymen, „some books most needful for all men to
know“ that iocluded De consolatione philosophire as a guide for botb layrnen and ecclesiastics.
17
The parchment folios are quite uneven in size, varying from 1 00-lOSmm
x 74-78mm x . 1 2-.32mm in thickness. The writing space of 64-68mm x 41-
48mm, is indicated with a frame all around, and the lines, mostly 1 2 to a page,
are ruled in reddish brown ink using prick-marks and slashes in the outer, and
sometimes upper and lower margins. The manuscript leaves were trimmed unevenly,
with a loss of some marginalia (fig. 8).
Fig. 8: Prick-marks and slashes in outer margin.
Note also the very irregular trirnming of folios (photo: Smith)
Three scribes worked on this manuscript in various styles of informal
gothic, semi-cursive scripts, sometimes changing every few lines:
• Hand 1 : ff. lr-33v, with a red running title Liber primo or /i pmo, and red
underlined catchwords preceded by ‚paragraph‘ marks. This section is
also mbricated throughout;
• band 2: ff. 34r-60v, and 1 1 2v-1 69r, has catchwords in the gutter, often
surrounded by rectangles, and shows red section initials throughout;
• hand 3: ff. 60v- 1 1 2v, shows many erasures; also cmTections by Hand 2,
but no catchwords. (They may have been trimmed off.) Various hands
added interlinear glosses and notes, and also contributed the notes on ff.
170v- 1 7l r (fig. 9).
1 8
– _
…,.􀃗-
_…,..
Fig. 9: lnconsistent headings, and marginalia (photo: Smith)
The scribes took great liberty in how they indicated the division of the text
into five books through various headings and margin notes:
• Liber p[ri]mo on facing ff. from Ir to 27r, either lib or l on verso
and pmo or 1 on facing recto;
• Secundus liber on 28r; 28v to 69v I, but 2 from 29r to 60r;
• [Liber} 3 begins on 60v, indicated in top margin as 2 li 3 and 3 on
6 lr;
• lib 4 is indicated in margin of I OSv and on 112r a special mark; this
pattern continues to 167v and l6 8r;
• book five begins with a rubricated initial D and the numbering
begins on 143r, with li on facing verso.
lncluding the fly-leaves there are 171 text leaves in 19 signatures not at all
uniform in size. The endpapers, or rather three fly-leaves, front and back, are of
vellum now without paste-downs, and expose the oak boards with little sign of
former adhesives; hewing marks are clearly visible, however. The parchment is
between .12mm and .3Smm thick, very similar to the text folios (see fig. 6).
The volume is sewn on three alum tawed slit thongs, 5.4mm wide, in the
all-along style in which each half of the thong is surrounded with thread, and
provides an extremely streng connection of the sections. Suiting the needle and
thread to the thickness of the parchment, the bind er used a I mm thick linen
thread. Instead of making simple head and tail bands of the wrapped style, they
are intrically constructed of braided strips of leather over a core of streng cord
(fig. I 0).
1 9
Fig. 10: Headband constructed ofbraided leather thongs (photo: Smith)
As expected on bindings of this period, the spine is nearly flat, almost
without a shoulder, but has become slightly concave as often now happens with
frequently used books (fig. 1 1 ).
Fig. 1 1 : Note the almost flat, slightly concave, spine (photo: Smith)
The supports are laced into the boards in an unusual pattern: Thong one is
laced in a straight path, thongs two and three converge in the center. This pattem
is reversed on the lower board. All thongs are pegged with small wooden pegs
pounded into the wood to hold them fast (figs. l 2 and 1 3).
20
Figs. 1 2 and 13: Inside upper and lower board without paste-downs, and reversed pattem
of lacing the three cords. Also note the neatly skived edge of lower turn-ins (photo: Srnith)
Whether the 4.2mm thick boards are beech or oak has not been determined
with absolute certainty. The cataloging record mentions beech and so
2 1
does Greenfield in her description.22 Edmund Silk identifies the boards as oak,
and an informal documentation note in the library’s files states the same23 with
which the writer agrees.
The manuscript is bound in a double-cever girdle book style, meaning it
was first completely covered with a traditional style binding, and the secondary
coverwas added as extra protection and to make it portable without having to
hold it by hand. Whether both were done at the same time is unknown. The
material of the secondary cover, however, is compatible with the primary cover.
Dating of medieval books and manuscripts is extremely difficult as in
most cases no dates are given for production, and certainly not for the binding.
What can be determined more closely is the date of the writing style on which
one may base a binding date. By comparing other binding elements of the times
such as styles of sewing, comer construction, headband constmction, skiving
or its absence, the quality of skin and paper or parchment, the kind and amount
of lining of the pages, illustrations and illuminations, handwriting, etc., an
approximate date may be established. In this case all elements point to a fifteenth-
century binding.
Both covers are constructed of deer skin, also often called chamois which
was treated during tanning with fats and oils to make it almost impervious
to moisture. Both covers are very thin; that the primary cover is only a
little more than l/2mm thick means that it was skived all over very skillfully.
The secondary cover is about 1 mm thick and extends across the fore edge to
cover nearly half of the board, and the extra flap of leather on the top edge
measures about 23mm. The secondary cover is attached by means of two
pockets of a reddish color, sewn into it with what was originally pink thread.
The cover is hemmed all around with the same pink thread to strengthen the
edges.
When closed, the entire book is covered by the extension from the lower
edge and the flaps on top and fore edges, providing complete protection from the
elements and outside influences. This protection was important for people on
joumeys and in everyday life which was lived, to a !arger extent than today, out
of doors.
The extension from the lower edge of the book ends in a quite beautifully
executed Turk’s head knot, 20mm high and 41 mm wide, constmcted of strips of
chamois about 5mm wide; it is attached to the extension with another strip of
skin (fig. 14).
22 Jane Greenfield. „Notable bindings XXV,“ Yale University Library Gazette 77 (2002): 91. 23 Silk, „The Yale ‚Girdle Book‘,“ [1].
22
Fig. 14: Turk’s Head Knot attached with thong to extension (photo: Smith)
This knot allowed the book to be suspended from the belt or to be carried
by band – in this fashion it hung with its head downward, but when swung up to
be read, the text was in the correct direction. Since the extension is slightly
Ionger than the book is high, it can be opened without straining the hinges or
spine (fig. 15).
Fig. 1 5 : Tbe generous extension allows the book to be opened without strain (photo: Smith)
23
Figs. 1 6 and 17: Similar brass fittings on the De consolatione at Beinecke Library
and the Soliloquium at Gothenburg Röhsska Museet (RKM 519-15) (photos: Smith)
24
As parchment is an extreme1y hygroscopic material and the books were
usually subjected to great fluctuations of humidity, most early books needed to
be kept closed with a strap or other device to prevent severe warping of the
boards and parchment. This volume is outfitted with a strap nailed to the upper
board under the secondary covering, it extends over the fore edge – one can feel
the nail head through the leather – and closes on a pin in the 1ower board. It ends
in a nicely designed brass fitting of a zoomorphic shape. This brass fitting
resembles the one on the volume in the Gothenburg R.0hsska Museet, and
like it is attached to the upper board, closing on a p in on the Jower board. (figs.
1 6 and 17)
Severa1 further similarities may be pointed out between these two volumes.
In both instances the edges of the covers are neatly hemmed all araund as
reinforcement. Both are covered with chamois, which may originally have been
dyed pink. Attached to the upper cover, the brass fixtures are at the end of a
1eather strap, they reach to the lower cover where the small operring on
the underside of the domed head fits onto a small pin. The sewing supports are
also 1aced into the boards in a simi1ar fashion. Upon further examination of the
two manuscripts, more common features may be found that help establish
a closer date, and reveal a binding 1ocation for one or both.
Throughout the years this small vo1ume has experienced much wear, has
sustained damage, some of it now mended, but overall the bookb1ock and
binding are in excellent condition. Holes and tears that have not been closed
on1y add to the overall feeling of age and use the volume has seen. Enclosed in a
custom-made box, it is availab1e whenever a scho1ar or researcher into medieval
books needs to consu1t it.
25